Rock Chick Regret (Rock Chick #7)(36)

I stopped in front of Hector but turned to Ralphie.

I leaned up to kiss his cheek and then whispered, “Shut up.”

He grinned at me.

I turned to Buddy, he helped me on with my to-the-hip, black trench coat, handed me my deep-green, patent leather Lanvin bag with the chain link strap and then I kissed his cheek too.

“Seriously, Sadie, you’re gonna be late, you phone,” Buddy said to me but his eyes were on Hector.

“I’ll phone,” I promised.

With that, Hector took my hand and we were out the door.

Darn.

Here we go.

Hector walked me to the Bronco so fast I nearly had to run to keep up. Once there, he opened the passenger door, helped me in then slammed it when I settled. He rounded the front and got in the driver’s side but instead of turning on the truck, he twisted toward me.

“Give me your cell,” he demanded.

I blinked because everything was happening really fast.

“Excuse me?” I asked.

“Your cell,” he repeated.

Confused at this strange start to a date, I pulled out my cell phone and handed it to him. He took it, flipped it open, punched numbers into it and then hit the green button.

In a second, I heard his cell phone ringing. He pulled it out of the inside pocket of his jacket and flipped my phone shut. Then with me still silent and watching him, he hit buttons on his phone, loads of buttons. My phone rang; he flipped his shut, mine open and returned his to his jacket pocket. Then he started to hit buttons on my phone, loads of those too, even more than what he did on his phone.

“Do you,” I tried to be polite after he kept on hitting buttons, “mind telling me what you’re doing?”

He flipped my phone shut and handed it to me, his eyes coming to mine.

“You’re programmed into my phone, I’m programmed into yours,” he told me. “You got my cell, my house, the office and the control room at the office. The control room is set as the top choice in your phonebook. You ever have a situation, any situation, you call there. Someone is there twenty-four, seven and they’ll take care of you. Got that?”

Slowly, not certain sure how to react to Hector giving me his cell phone and home phone and office phone and offering me twenty-four, seven access to someone who would “take care of me”, I nodded.

“Now,” he went on, his voice softer, he was leaning closer and I wasn’t keeping up. “I’m gonna kiss you, because, mamita, the way you look right now, I gotta f**kin’ kiss you.”

Oh my.

I guessed Ralphie was right, my outfit was perfection.

He got way closer, his fingers slid into my hair at the side and they cupped my head.

“You all right with that?” he asked quietly, eyes looking into mine.

Again, slowly, I nodded though I also wasn’t certain sure I was “all right with that”.

“Thank Christ,” he muttered.

Then he kissed me.

It started soft, sweet and then I put my hand to his shoulder and felt the heat there. I liked it and moved in closer so I could feel the heat from his body.

His arm slid around my waist, bringing me even closer right before his tongue touched my lips. I opened my mouth at the touch and that was it. It was rewind to my father’s study.

I curled my arms around his neck, pressed my body to his and the kiss went from soft and sweet to hot and wild.

Within minutes, he pulled me out of my seat, twisting me so I landed in his lap and both his arms went around me, one locked at my waist, the other one sliding up my neck and into my hair.

I kissed him back like I couldn’t exist without my lips on his, his tongue in my mouth. I was out-of-control and didn’t even care.

Then he tore his mouth from mine and buried his face in my neck. For a second, we both just sat there, breathing heavily.

“You taste better than I remembered,” he said into my neck and his voice sounded deeper than normal.

I swallowed and closed my eyes tight. My heart was beating wildly. I felt safe and snug in his lap with his arms around me. I was excited in a good way. And his heat was seeping into me everywhere and I liked it.

I liked all of it.

His head came out of my neck and he looked at me. “And the way I remembered it, you tasted f**kin’ great.”

My rapidly beating heart tripped.

“It’s my lip gloss,” I said stupidly.

A slow smile spread on his face. “Mamita, trust me, it isn’t your lip gloss.”

I didn’t answer mainly because I was in his lap, I just made out with him (again) and he was smiling at me close up.

Where was my Ice Princess now, I ask you? There were moments I could still use her. What was she? On vacation?

“Time to feed you,” he told me.

Thank God.

Relief from full on Hector, his mouth, tongue and heat. I could use that quite desperately. I needed to get my head together. This was not going well mainly because it was going well.

It wasn’t supposed to go well. It was supposed to be a disaster.

“Okay,” I agreed but didn’t move.

He kept smiling as he leaned in and gave me a brief kiss then twisted me back in my seat. He started the Bronco, I put on my seatbelt, he put on his and we took off.

Considering how the first ten minutes of our date went, I was a little worried about the rest of the night.