Rock Chick 07 Regret (69 page)

My foot stopped jerking and I decided it was time to get serious.

So I told her, “Jet, she was a nice girl, he didn’t even remember when he slept with her.”

I heard her sigh. “Duke explains this better but it has something to do with the kind of men they are, the dangerous work they do, knowing who they are and what they want, recognizing it when they find it and not fucking around in making it theirs. Or… something like that. Anyway, whoever this girl was, she obviously wasn’t the one because, Sadie,
you
are.”

Oh
my
.

I didn’t know what to say to that because, what, on earth, did you say to that?

Then, for some reason, I blurted, “I saw him.”

“What?” she asked.

I took in a deep breath and shared, “That night, when he brought me to the hospital, after I was raped. I passed out and when I woke up in the emergency room, I saw them force Hector out of my bay. He didn’t want to go. Luke told me tonight that Hector asked if he could stick around until I woke up, they said no and he lost it.” I waited for her reaction to this announcement and when none was forthcoming, I pushed, “Really, Jet, how bizarre is
that?
”

“It doesn’t sound at all bizarre to me,” she answered quietly.

I shook my head thinking she was not getting it and sat up, pulling a hand through my hair and then dropping it into my lap. “You don’t understand. We didn’t know each other. I mean, we were around each other a lot when he was undercover and, one night, we had a thing that didn’t end well. But other than that…” I stopped then went on, “I don’t get it.”

“I don’t either,” she told me. “It even happened to me. One second, I was minding my own business, trying to avoid Eddie, the next second he informed me he was making me
his business and the next second after that, I was living with him. I watched it happen to Roxie, Jules, Ava, Stella and I knew it happened to Indy. I don’t know how these guys know, I don’t know how their minds work, it just happens, they just know. I’ve stopped trying to figure it out.”

Well.

It wasn’t an answer but it was one.

Still.

It was time to get to the heart of the matter.

“What do I do now?”

Jet answered instantly, “Do what they do. Go with your instincts. It’ll all work out in the end, I promise.”

That didn’t give me anything to go on.

“You okay now?” Jet asked.

I sighed then said, “No.”

“You will be, honey,” she replied softly. “It’s hard then, when you trust it’s for real, it gets a whole lot easier.”

I answered, “Okay,” but I didn’t mean it.

She changed the subject to a much better one. “We need to get you fitted for your bridesmaid’s dress. Can you do that tomorrow?”

At last. Something to look forward to.

“I think so. I’ll have to check with whatever bodyguard I have.”

She giggled. “Oh, I hope it’s Bobby. I bet he’ll
love
going to a bridal shop.”

I smiled into the phone even though I didn’t know Bobby, none of them were bridal shop type of men then I whispered, “Thanks Jet.”

“Anytime, honey.”

We disconnected. I did the getting ready for bed thing, gathered up my clothes and boots and walked into the bedroom.

The lamp was lit on the nightstand by Hector’s side of the bed. Hector was sitting up against all (yes,
all!
) the pillows, chest bare, legs stretched out in front of him, ankles crossed, wearing a pair of gray, drawstring sweatpants that had also been cut off (poorly) at mid-thigh.

He looked better than ever which, at that moment, I thought stunk.

A game was on TV but his eyes sliced to me the minute I walked in.

It took effort but I ignored him. I wasn’t quite finished being angry, though I wasn’t certain sure what I was angry about anymore, and I wasn’t quite ready to make amends and didn’t know how anyway. So, I dumped my stuff on my overnight bag and headed to the other side just as he angled off the bed and stalked out of the room.

I stared at his back until he went into the bathroom then I climbed in bed, stole two of the four pillows as should be my ration and propped them up on my side well away from his. I sat on the covers, arms crossed on my midriff, legs out, ankles crossed and I locked my eyes on the TV.

I didn’t watch sports, except tennis, those tennis players had finesse… and nice legs, so the football didn’t do anything for me but I watched it like it fascinated me beyond imagining, even though Hector wasn’t in the room (practice).

Therefore, when he came back, I kept my eyes glued to the TV and didn’t look at him except when he walked in front of the TV, of course. I didn’t look at him when he got to his side of the bed and I didn’t look at him when he resumed his position.

Then, all of a sudden, his arm sliced along the small of my back between me and the pillows, he yanked me across the bed until my body hit his then his arm bent, so my front was against his side.

I put a hand on his abs to push away but his arm went tight.

“What are you doing?” I snapped, looking up but he leaned across me and grabbed my pillows. Doing an ab curl, he shoved them behind him. “Hey!” I cried. “Those are my pillows.”

“Settle, Sadie,” he ordered in a low voice.

I. Did. Not.
Think
. So.

“Don’t tell me to settle! You just stole my pillows!”

I pushed away.

His arm got tighter.

I pushed harder, putting my full body into it.

His other hand came to my hip and held on.

I wrapped my fingers around his wrist and pulled it way.

His wrist twisted and then his fingers wrapped around
my
wrist.

Thus began The Tussle.

I had no chance in heck of winning but it didn’t stop me from trying.

There was a lot of grunting (Hector and me), some sharp cries (all me), panting (mostly me), rolling (both of us), more rolling… still more rolling. Then it changed from being all about limb maneuvering, strategy and strength to being about getting as close as physically possible, tasting, touching, kissing and even biting (me again).

He yanked off my pajama bottoms and panties. I tugged off his sweatpants. Then we went back at each other like there were ten seconds left before the whole of planet earth was going to explode.

Finally, I ended up on my back, my legs wrapped around his hips while he drove deep inside me, our mouths touching but we weren’t kissing, just breathing heavily. The delicious anticipation was hitting critical mass in my body, my nails tore up his back, he groaned against my mouth at the same precise second his last, deep thrust caused the sweet tension to release and explode and I gasped against his lips.

When we were both finished, his weight settled on me, his heat surrounded me, he stayed deep inside me, we were both panting and he rested his forehead against mine, eyes closed.

Then his eyes opened and he said softly, “Christ, Sadie, puttin’ up with you demonstrating how many more ways you can be a pain in the ass was worth every fuckin’ second if that was the end result.”

Someone, please tell me he did
not
just say that.

“You did not just say that,” I said to him.

He didn’t answer.

Instead, he abruptly switched topics. “Who’d you call?”

I blinked in confusion. “What?”

“In the bathroom.”

Not that it was any of his business, I answered, “Jet.”

“She sort you out?”

I felt my eyes narrow. “Do you
want
me to be mad at you?”

His hips moved slightly and I couldn’t help it, I was still tender, I let out a little moan.

When I was done moaning, he grinned at me wickedly and muttered, “I’m thinkin’, yeah.”

I glared.

His grin died, face and voice now serious, he said, “We gotta get by this,
mamita
.”

I kept glaring.

Then my mind flashed on the memory of Luke and the security guard forcing Hector away from me in the hospital when he didn’t want to go.

And, even though, if you asked me if I had any instincts, I would have told you
no
, I pulled them up from wherever they were lying latent and I went with them.

“Other than you, I’ve had two lovers,” I announced and watched his face grow dark and begin to morph toward angry. “No. I don’t want you to share yours. I’m just saying, neither of them, well, they weren’t…” I stopped and then started again, “You need to know, I haven’t let anyone close and tonight you found out why.”

“Maybe you should keep talkin’,” Hector told me, not yet fully morphed into anger, not ready to break into a grin either.

“That man at the bar, who was he?”

Hector’s head cocked impatiently at my off the subject question but he answered, “Knew him. Worked with him briefly. He’s in the business.”

I nodded then I lifted my hand to the side of his face and rested it there.

“What he said to you, about me, knowing you were with me, feeling he was okay to say that… Hector, even when they were beginning, I can’t imagine anyone walking up to Lee and talking that way about Indy. Or Eddie about Jet. Or any of them. But me, Seth Townsend’s daughter.” My voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m fair game.”

I saw an angry but understanding flare before he closed his eyes and my thumb moved to trace his bottom lip. When it did, his eyes opened again and the anger was gone.

“Sadie –”

I talked over him. “Enter Ice Princess. She was the only way to get by when people thought about me like that, talked about me like that guy. Or
to
me, like Jerry did this morning. I knew it happened, they never said it directly to me because of my father but I heard pieces here and there and I always
knew
. Until people forget, that’s not going to change, they’re going to think it’s okay –”

“It’s not fuckin’ okay. It wasn’t then and it isn’t now,” Hector broke in sharply and my hand drifted down to cup his jaw.

“No, you’re right, it wasn’t and isn’t. But they’re going to think it is and you can’t beat up every one of them.”

He didn’t say anything, he just stared at me.

So, as usual, I sallied forth.

“What Natalie said freaked me out,” I went on and his gaze darkened again but I shook my head, took my hand from his jaw and wrapped both my arms around him, squeezing his hips with my thighs. “Listen to me, Hector, it freaked me out because I was unprepared. I’d had a good day. I’d had a nice meal. I felt safe. I was happy. I wasn’t expecting that. It threw me. If I’d had time to think about it, which I didn’t, I would have worked through it on my own.”

Again, he didn’t respond, at least not verbally.

What he did was much better.

His head dropped and he nuzzled my neck with his nose then his mouth was there and my arms went tighter.

I turned my lips to his ear and whispered, “I won’t wear that skirt again but anything else, Hector, you have to let me be me. And the jerks can be jerks and they can think what they want but we’ll just come home and watch the game.”

Again, he didn’t answer.

Instead, his face came out of my neck and he kissed me, slow and sweet.

And, I figured, with his reaction, my instincts were right.

When his head moved away an inch, he looked in my eyes and asked softly, “Which Sadie is this?”

I felt my mouth form a little grin and I answered honestly, “I’ve no idea. I haven’t met her yet.”

He touched his forehead to mine a nanosecond. Then Smooth Move Hector did a push up, our bodies disconnected but his arm came around my lower back, he lifted me to him until my limbs wrapped tight around his body. His arm went away and he yanked down the covers under us and settled me in the bed. He joined me, snapping the covers back over us. His hands went into my camisole, he tugged it up and off and tossed it to the side of the bed. He finished by rolling us, him to his back, me tucked to his side and he settled the covers up around his stomach and under my armpit.