Rock Chick Regret (Rock Chick #7)(57)
“You…” Buddy’s eyes were wide then he shook his head in disbelief. “You didn’t want to wake us?”
“That’s right,” I told him, my voice pure ice but I watched with a sinking heart as Buddy started to look mad and I knew he was mad at me.
I hated it that he was mad at me but I kept going and this time my glacial gaze slid across the whole room including in its frosty path Hector, who was now standing by the island, leaned against it, taking in my performance with a blank face and his arms crossed on his chest.
“Now, what you all don’t understand, but I’ll explain to you, is that this isn’t unusual for me. Dealing with these kinds of people, this kind of behavior, it doesn’t faze me. It’s been my life for twenty-nine years. I will admit that I’ve never been the target but I also know how these people work. These are my people, this is my world and you have my sincere apologies for dragging you all into it with me.”
“Sadie, sweetie –” Ralphie was getting up but I lifted my hand and shook my head. He took one look at my face, blinked slowly and settled, wordlessly (a miracle!), back on his stool.
“I don’t know what to do but I’ll figure something out and I’ll inform you of my plans when I’ve come to some conclusions. In the meantime, I know that the situation is grave and I appreciate all your help in keeping me safe.” I was barreling toward my grand finale and I swept across the room, snatched my coffee cup from the counter and started toward the door. “Now, I’m getting ready for work.” My eyes went to Hector. “Enjoy the brioche and have a nice day,” I finished.
Then on that I made the best exit I could on bare feet with no makeup, my heart in my throat, my stomach in a knot and while wearing silky, lacy pajamas and a robe that, I realized belatedly, I should have tied closed.
I got to the foot of the stairs thinking I’d made a clean getaway and no one would hear me if I cried in the shower when an arm sliced around my waist, laying waste to any hope of a successful exit.
In a smooth move that had to be in contention for the Smoothest Move in the History of Man, Hector curled me around to face him, took my coffee cup out of my hand, leaned to the side, placed it on a stair (without spilling a drop!), came back to me and locked his other arm around me, both of them going tight.
When he was done with this, my heart was hammering, I looked up at his blank face, Sorceress of the Antarctic thankfully still firmly in place.
“Let me go,” I demanded.
“Not a chance,” Hector returned instantly, the blank look disappearing as his eyes flashed with annoyance. Then he said what I personally thought was bizarrely, “Spent a year hopin’ you’d give me the opportunity to try this. Now that you have, I’m gonna take it and we’ll see how it plays out.”
Before I could ask what he was talking about or demand him to let me go again or, better still, tear out of his arms and make a run for it, one of his hands slid up my back into my hair, his head lowered, I opened my mouth to protest and his mouth was on mine.
I put my hands to his shoulders to push him away at the same I pulled my head back but his head came with mine, his tongue slid inside my mouth and (damn and blast!) my Sorceress of the Antarctic disintegrated right on the spot.
His heat hit me (and another kind of heat hit me in other places) and my hands stopped pushing at his shoulders. I went up on tiptoe, my casted hand curled around his neck, the fingers of my other hand slid into his thick hair.
Apparently unable to control myself, I pressed into him and kissed him back.
This was one of his urgent, fiery kisses. The ones that tore through me, taking all reason and rational thought with it and leaving me with nothing but the heat and the desire to lose myself completely in the kiss and in him.
Right when it was getting good and, later, when I thought about it, when I knew that he knew that he had me right where he wanted me, his mouth broke from mine. He lifted his head barely an inch but he kept me locked to him.
His eyes were as fiery as the kiss and back to intense and they scanned my face quickly before he said, “Now that my Sadie is back, I’ll tell her that I’ll be at the gallery to pick her up and take her to the hospital to have the cast removed. I don’t give a f**k if Bex is there, mamita, you aren’t f**kin’ goin’ without me and I won’t be pleased if you make me look for you. I’ll also tell you that tonight, we’re goin’ out to dinner, just the two of us. We’re gonna enjoy the goddamned meal and after we’re gonna have another talk. If I’m not at the gallery to pick you up at closing then I’ll be here at the house at seven.”
I was breathing heavily and trying to sort out my thoughts when he continued.
“You do somethin’ stupid, Sadie, Buddy, Ralphie and I’ll have a conversation and we might have to rethink your situation and you may not like what we come up with. But I’m tellin’ you this, I’m keepin’ you safe and you agreed to let me take care of you and that’s what I’m f**kin’ gonna do whether you like it or not.”
Then without another word he let me go.
I teetered a bit without his arms around me and his body to lean into and before I got myself sorted, he’d walked around me without looking back.
When I turned and stared into the living room doorway, he was nowhere to be seen.
After a couple of seconds, I heard Ralphie ask from the kitchen, “Is she okay?”