His head jerked with surprise right before his face changed and he looked like he was about to laugh.
Now, really, seriously, truly there was absolutely nothing funny about this.
“You’re not allowed?” he repeated.
“My tattoo,” I explained. “The tattoo guy said –”
He interrupted me again. “It’ll be okay.”
I cocked my head and asked, “You sure?”
One of his arms came from around me and his hand went to my neck then up, his fingers sliding into my hair. Instead of tilting my head back, he tilted it down and I felt his lips moving against the top of my head.
“I’m sure.”
Then he kissed me there.
After that, he and I went out into the hall and I took over “seein’ to Jack”.
*
“Back in the news today is Nightingale Investigations. Some months back the private investigations firm achieved local fame while guarding the lead singer of a popular local band. This afternoon, on Broadway, a gunfight played out between –”
The newscaster was cut off when Hector pressed a button on the remote and the TV screen went blank.
I lifted my still wet haired from the hot tub head from his chest and I looked up at him.
“I was watching that,” I protested.
He threw the remote on the nightstand, his body turned into mine and I found myself on my back with Hector mostly on top of me.
“I don’t wanna watch the news,” he told me, his eyes locking with mine. “I wanna fool around with my girlfriend.”
My belly melted even though we’d just “fooled around” in the hot tub not an hour ago.
“We just fooled around in the hot tub,” I reminded him, as if he could forget. One thing was certain sure, I couldn’t forget. Hot tub sex was amazing.
(Oh Lord, I hoped he couldn’t forget).
He grinned wickedly (he didn’t forget) and his head started descending. “Don’t care.”
“What if they said something about me on the news?”
His mouth hit mine. “Don’t care.”
“What if they said something about you?”
Since I persisted in talking, his lips left my mouth, trailed down my cheek, along my jaw to below my ear. “Don’t care.”
“What if they said something about my father?”
His tongue touched the skin below my ear and then moved down and forward to my throat, I shivered then he said, voice deeper now, “Don’t care.”
“Hector,” I called, my arms going around him, one going up into his hair. Truth be told, I really wanted to have sex (yes, again, but he did just call me his girlfriend and I liked it, I liked it loads, and I felt like I should get to celebrate). But, as hateful as it was, I had to know so I went on, “What happened today?”
He pulled up and looked at me. Then one of his hands came to rest on the side of my head.
Then he did something strange.
His thumb came out and slid across the scar on my cheek and his eyes, warm and intense, watched it move while I held my breath at this gentle, yet somehow weirdly profound, gesture.
His gaze came back to mine.
“Today, we got one step closer to this bein’ over.”
This surprised me.
“One step?” I asked, confused. “But Ricky’s in jail. Marty and Donny are in the hospital under armed guard –”
His mouth touched mine and I quit talking then he said, “One step, mamita. There’s still more clean up to do.”
“What clean up?”
He stared at me a second then two then on the third second he continued, “I just wanna make sure you’re safe.”
“But –”
His thumb moved from my cheek to my lips, effectively quieting me.
“One night, Sadie. One night just you and me and this bed and your body and none of this shit comes in. For one night, I wanna forget it. Can you give that to me?”
I pulled in my lips.
I really wanted to know what happened that day and why, with the Balduccis gone, he thought he still needed to make sure I was safe.
But I realized two things at once and they hit me with the strength of an oncoming train.
First, he’d never asked me for anything.
That wasn’t strictly true. He’d taken things and he’d given things but he’d never asked for anything except to take care of me, for me to trust him and to give him this and none of those things took anything from me, they just gave.
Second, earlier that day, he’d called me mi amor, “my love”, according to Jet, the ultimate Spanish endearment.
Because of those two things, I nodded.
Then I watched, close up and fascinated, as his face went soft.
Then his mouth came toward mine.
Then we forgot everything and it was just him and me and our bodies in his bed.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Christmas Dinner at the Big House
Sadie
I woke up, alone, the bedclothes tucked tight all around me.