Rock Chick 07 Regret (61 page)

“Yeah,” he answered. “You’re the most complicated woman I’ve ever met.”

My brows drew together in confusion.

“Is that good?”

He grinned and his eyes went warm.

“Fuck yeah,” he told me through his grin. “Gotta tell you,
mi cielo
, you missed a few.”

This time, my brows went up.

“I did?”

His mouth touched mine but his eyes stayed open, staring at me. Then his head moved away an inch.

“Yeah. Crazy Sadie. Sweet Sadie. Funny Sadie. And my favorite, the Sadie who just let me fuck her the way I wanted and she got off on it, even more than me.”

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

My eyes narrowed.

“I did
not
get off on it more than you.”

This time he smiled and it was his wicked smile, so, even though I was angry, my belly still melted at the sight.

“You did,” he said.

“I did not,” I retorted.

His hands started moving on me and his mouth came back to mine, not to kiss me but instead he murmured against my lips, “
Mamita
, don’t you think I can feel you? You’re so wet, you’re slick. You feel like silk. You came hard, you always come hard. I know it, I can feel it. When you do, you get so fuckin’ tight…”

Oh my God!

Even as his words were turning me on (yes, again!), I interrupted him.

“You think a lot of yourself, Hector Chavez,” I snapped, lifting my hands to push at his shoulders, he moved away a few inches but his smile got bigger, whiter and far more glamorous.

“Yeah, and you do too.”

I gasped, outraged.

He bit his lip, watching me then said, “I see I got Attitude Sadie now.” Then his head bent and he nuzzled my neck. “I like her too.”

At his words, for some bizarre reason, ice water flooded my veins and my body froze.

“Don’t make fun of me,” I whispered.

Immediately, his head came up and I noticed his smile had vanished.

He stared at me a second, eyes dark, then he spoke.

“I’m not makin’ fun of you, Sadie. I’m
teasin
’ you. There’s a big fuckin’ difference.”

I watched him and realized belatedly that his smile had not only vanished, Mr. Mood Swing was getting downright angry.

He kept talking, proving me right.

“
Mujer
, you’re gonna have to learn, pretty fuckin’ quick, to trust me. I’m not like the people you know, the society bitches, the assholes your father recruited. You don’t have to shut down. You don’t have to put those fuckin’ shields up. Christ, I
want
you to be who you are.”

Yes. I was right. He was downright angry.

My heart lurched.

I did it again. I insulted him. Not as badly as last night but not good either.

“Hector –” I started.

“This is your gig, Sadie. I can’t help you. You’re gonna have to figure it out and fast. I’m not
walkin
’ on eggshells
wonderin
’ what fuckin’ reaction you’re gonna have to everything I say. I’m gonna say this once so pay attention. I’m not
passin
’ the time here,
enjoyin
’ a sweet, hot piece for the fuck of it. If you don’t get it yet, I’ll give it to you. What we got, it means somethin’. Do you understand?”

My heart lurched again but this time it felt nice and that warm, happy glow hit my chest.

“I understand,” I whispered.

“You better fuckin’ understand,” he bit out.

I closed my eyes tight then opened them again.

“I’m sorry.” He stared at me silently and I continued. “About just now and about last night. I was horrible, I said horrible…” I stopped and then started again, “I’m working through it, I promise.”

He kept staring at me, a second then two then his fingers slid into the side of my hair and I saw his mood swing again but not fully, he was holding onto some of his anger, I could see it.

“Jesus, you’re a pain in the ass,” he muttered.

“I’m sorry about that too,” I said instantly and I meant it.

His thumb came out of my hair and started sliding along my temple.

“I’ll make up for it,” I told him.

His eyes were watching his thumb but at my words, they came to mine. “Yeah?”

“I’ll buy you a building,” I offered.

His body went tight and his eyes narrowed.

“Or, an island somewhere,” I went on quickly. “I don’t know how much islands cost but there has to be one in my price range.”

It was then I felt him relax, his mouth did that fighting-a-grin thing, I knew he finally let go of his anger and the happy glow settled in.

Since what I was doing appeared to be working, I kept talking. “It might just be a beach and a palm tree but what else do you need on an island?”

He lost the fight with his grin, his head descended and I carried on, even when his lips were against mine.

“We’ll bring a cooler and a picnic basket…” I stopped talking because he started kissing me, open-mouthed and sweet.

His body settled on mine, his arms were sliding around me when his cell rang.

He lifted his head and I saw right away that he’d morphed again, this time looking frustrated.

He pressed into me as he reached to the nightstand to nab his phone.

“This is over,
mi cielo
,” his eyes came to me as he flipped open his phone, “
I’m
takin
’
you
to a fuckin’ island.” Then he put his phone to his ear and clipped, “Yeah?”

My gaze was on Hector’s face, my thoughts were on being on an island with Hector and in the very, very back of my mind, I figured my Mom would like that. I mean, I wasn’t altogether certain my Mom would be thrilled about Hector’s creativity in the sack (or my response to it) but what he did to me
was
beautiful in its way and he made me feel good so she had to approve of that.

Right?

Then I saw his face grow tight and thoughts of my Mom’s approval of Hector disintegrated.

Oh no.

What now?

“No joke?” Hector said into the phone, his eyes moving to me and I did not like what I saw. Not at all.

“Right,” he went on. “We’re comin’ down.”

Without saying good-bye, he flipped the phone shut, tossed it on the nightstand and then stared at it, face still tight, body now tense.

“Hector?” I called.

His chin dipped and he looked at me.

“Maybe we’ll go to an island today,” he murmured.

Damn and blast!

“What?” I asked.

His face went soft and he muttered, “Shit, Sadie.”

“
What?
” I snapped.

He rolled us and once he got to his back, he did an ab curl, his hands tugging at the backs of my knees so we were sitting with me straddling him. His head tilted back, mine down, my hands on his shoulders, his arms loose around me.

“Your gallery has been torched,” he told me.

Convulsively, my hands moved to his neck and my fingers squeezed.

“Oh my God,” I breathed.

“Fire started at five this morning. It’s out now, they don’t know how much damage yet but it didn’t spread.” He paused then asked, “You insured?”

I was speechless so I nodded. For some reason, all I could think of was my lovely gift wrap and organdie ribbon, now probably reduced to ash.

And
Lisette’s
paintings!

I closed my eyes tight and, not even thinking about it, I dropped my head until my forehead was resting on Hector’s.

“
Lisette’s
paintings,” I whispered, his arms tightened and I opened my eyes.

“You wanna go down there?”

“No,” I told him. “But I’m going to go.”

His hands went to my waist, he lifted me off him and to the side. He came over me, off the bed, hands back to my waist, he pulled me out of bed and set me on my feet.

Without a word, he tagged my hand and led the way to the shower.

* * * * *

After Hector and I had our (yes,
our!
) shower, I called Buddy and Ralphie to give them the news.

Buddy answered and I felt weird. After last night, I thought they’d be mad at me but Buddy’s voice was its usual soft and sweet.

“You okay, sweetheart?” he asked.

“Yes. Did Ralphie –?”

“He told me. He’s upset, thinks he hurt your feelings,” Buddy interrupted.

“He didn’t hurt my feelings. I was worried I hurt his.”

“No, he gets what you were trying to do. He overreacted, as usual.”

“It wasn’t his fault.”

Buddy changed the subject. “Are you really movin’ to Greece?”

“Not anymore,” I answered.

Silence for a second then, teasing, “Damn, there went my vacation plans.”

I smiled into the phone, relief rolling over me for a brief shining moment then my smile faded and I said, “I’ve got bad news.”

More silence then I told him about the gallery.

Then he shouted, “
What?
”

I winced.

I heard him cover the mouthpiece and even though it was covered, I heard Ralphie’s shrill scream.

Buddy came back to me. “Ralphie, YoYo and
me’ll
meet you there.”

“See you soon,” I said and we disconnected.

I dressed in my Lucky jeans, a
slimfit
, long-sleeved, white t-shirt, the black belt with the rose buckle and motorcycle boots that Daisy, Roxie, Tod and Stevie gave me. I left my hair long to dry in crazy, natural waves and ringlets and did a half-assed pass with blusher, shadow and mascara (though, I spent more time on my lip gloss, you had to be careful with lip gloss, even when you were about to view your burned out building, if you didn’t you’d look like a clown).

Hector and I climbed into the Bronco and headed into town.

We hit
LoDo
and I saw Hector avoid the Nightingale garage which would be the perfect parking opportunity.

“You can park in the garage,” I told him as he navigated early morning downtown traffic.

His eyes came to me briefly then went back to the road.

“I’m thinkin’ you’ve scaled enough mountains for now,
mamita,
” he muttered and his casual kindness made that happy glow grow a smidgen wider.

He drove until he found a spot on the street three blocks from the gallery and he parallel parked.

Then Hector and I walked hand-in-hand toward the gallery.

As we approached, I saw the crowd forming a U in front of what was left of Art. Traffic had been diverted, there were barricades up in a wide arc in front of the gallery, the fire trucks and police cars were still there and people were standing around the barricades in the street.

Without apology, Hector shoved his way through the crowd to the barricades and walked right through.

A uniformed officer looked at him and gave him a chin lift. Hector and I walked into the opened area where firemen and police were milling about.

I stared at my building. The brick on the outside was blackened, the windows had shattered, the inside was blackened too and water was everywhere.

Hector walked us to Detective Marker who was standing watching us approach. We got close and stopped.

“Jimmy,” Hector said, dropping my hand but his arm slid around my shoulders and he pulled me into his side.