Hector (42 page)

Pushing the thought aside, she concentrated on the conversation,
glad that the curiosity had moved from Charlee and Hector to Nellie’s love
life.

A few hours later, Charlee said her goodbyes to everyone. The
only one she hadn’t said goodbye to was Abel, who was busy on the phone off to
the side of the yard. He got off the phone just as Hector and Charlee had begun
to walk off toward the side gate.

“I’m in,” Abel announced, walking back toward the group.

“In what?”
Hector asked what clearly
everyone else was wondering since they were all looking at Abel curiously.

“The cruise,” he held up his phone. “My publicist just
okayed
it. I’m good to go that week.”

Hector laughed. “As if there were ever any doubt.”

Charlee had no idea what Hector meant by that, but as funny as he
thought that was, Abel didn’t laugh. As usual, his expression was unreadable.
Ignoring Hector’s comment, he slipped his phone in his pocket. “You guys
leaving?”

“Yep,” Hector waved.

“Nice seeing you again, Charlee.”

“It was nice see you again too.” Charlee responded, still baffled
that she’d so easily and so quickly been accepted into this group of people.

Painless and uncomplicated was what Charlee had been shooting for
at most when she decided to do this that morning. But meeting his friends and
family so quickly and being completely unprepared had far exceeded her
expectations. She hadn’t even had Drew to help her plan her strategy to not
screw this up, and she’d gotten through it. In fact, after all the curious
questions from both his mother and the girls, Charlee had been able to relax
and enjoy the rest of the barbeque.
And
her pasta salad had been a hit.

“Why are you smiling like that?” Hector asked as he climbed into
his side of the truck.

She turned to him and lifted her empty salad bowl. “They liked my
pasta.”

Hector laughed, lifting her hand that was already entwined with
his and kissed it. “
That’s
what has
you smiling so big?”

Charlee shrugged, unable to tone down the smile. “Well, that and
everything else. I was
so
nervous
about how this would go, and it turned out great. I really like your friends.
They’re so down to earth, and your mom is a sweetheart.”

Pulling out of the driveway, he glanced at her pinching his
brows. “You were nervous? I didn’t pick up on that at all.”

“I was a wreck, but I think I’m getting pretty good at disguising
my lame fears.”

“No,” Hector shook his head adamantly. “Let’s not start that. No
disguising anything. Remember no guessing games. I suck at them.”

She leaned her head against his shoulder, amazed at how quickly
this felt so perfect. “Okay,” she said, taking in a very gratifying deep breath.

Thoughts of the girl at the fight with him came to her again. But
she’d since decided to leave well enough alone. This day had gone too perfectly,
and she didn’t want to sour it up with that kind of talk. Besides, it wasn’t as
if she were worried about it. Bianca’s comment about Hector not ever inviting
any girls to even the fights at the gym had only made her curious as to why
he’d invited this girl. Curious—not concerned. But she did make a mental note
that if it did begin to bother her she wouldn’t be letting anything stew, not
with Hector being so adamant about his no guessing games rule. She actually
liked the rule.

Her insides had begun to simmer as they got closer her place.
Knowing she had the house to herself for the entire night and as fast as things
were moving already, she wasn’t sure what to expect. As his hand caressed her
thigh, her heart began that thumping that had started to become less severe the
more comfortable she felt with him. But now here it was pounding away at her chest
as he drove into the driveway of Drew’s dad’s home. Switching the ignition off,
he turned to her and smiled. “My mom likes you.”

“I like her,” she smiled back, already feeling the comfort easing
back by just looking into his smiling eyes, “and your brother. He’s a bit more
serious than you are, but he seemed sweet enough and very polite when he did
talk to me.”

Hector raised an eyebrow, running his fingers through a strand of
her hair. “That reminds me. I still have a lot to catch up with. I don’t even
know if you have siblings.”

She leaned into him and kissed him softly. “Well, if you’re not
in a hurry, you can come in, and I can tell you about myself.”

The smile he already wore brightened even more. “I’m in
no
hurry at all.”

“Good,” she pulled away from him and grabbed her salad bowl.
“Then come on in.”

Talking she was good with. It’s what might happen after that she
was nervous about. But it was a good nervous: the kind that had her insides
going crazy already.

They barely made it into the front room when they were already
locked in each other’s arms and Hector’s tongue infiltrated every inch of her
mouth. He pulled away, sucking in a very deep and dramatic breath. “I’ve been
dying to do that all day.”

Removing his arms that held her and taking her hand in his
instead, he led her to Drew’s dad’s big fluffy recliner. “There’s definitely
more of that to come, but first we talk. It dawned on me when my mom started
mentioning some of the things you two talked about today that she knows more
about you now than I do.” He sat down on the chair and pulled gently on her
hand, patting his lap.

Feeling the excitement bubbling in her again, she sat down across
his legs, and he promptly pulled her legs up so they’d hang off the side of the
recliner. “You know there’s plenty of room to sit in this house,” she said,
smiling.

He smiled then leaned in and kissed her neck softly. “I know, but
then I couldn’t do this.” Feeling the shivers race down her body, she tried not
to tremble, but it was impossible. “Okay,” he said, rubbing his hand up and
down the side of her thigh. “Let’s do this. So how many siblings do you have?”

“One,” she said, trying to relax and not have her body go into spasms
every time his fingers grazed her neck while he played with her hair. “He’s older
than me and probably what I miss the most about not being home.”

Hector stared at her, suddenly looking very serious.
“Really?
How old is he?”

“Twenty-five.”

Sitting up, suddenly Hector stared at her, looking a little
annoyed. “Shit. I don’t even know how old
you
are. I’m assuming eighteen-nineteen since Walter said this is your first year
in school.”

She nodded.
“ Eighteen
.
You too, right?”

“Nineteen,” he said, looking at her now as if he’d just thought
of a bunch of other things he didn’t know. “So that’s a pretty big gap between
you and your brother.”

Nodding, she ran her finger across his brow. It was now something
that made her
feel
at ease. She did so slowly, feeling
the same way she did when she used to rub her mom’s earlobe as a little girl.
It was almost lulling. “Ryan is actually my step-brother, and I didn’t even
meet him until my mom married my step-dad when I was nine and he was fourteen. I
only ever get to see him once in a while. His mother has always had full
custody, so I only saw ever him every other week for a couple of days and then
a little longer during the summer and the special holiday arrangements.”

“But he’s twenty-five now. You still only get to see him once in
a while?”

The last twenty-four hours had been such a thundering storm of
emotions, and Charlee had barely been able to sleep last night, thinking about
everything that had happened yesterday. As she continued to run her fingers
across his brow, she now felt as if she could easily fall asleep right there on
Hector’s lap. “He has Down Syndrome,” she explained, “a severe form of it. So
he’s still in the care of his mom. As he got older, my step-dad petitioned less
and less to have him over, so I got to see him even less, but I still miss
him.”

She didn’t want the conversation getting so heavy, and she knew
talking about her step-father could go there, so she kissed Hector before he
could ask anymore. Sitting up a little, Hector let his head fall back against
the chair, and this time Charlee did the devouring of his mouth. Running her
fingers through his soft hair, she kissed him deeper and deeper until she could
feel how undeniably aroused he’d become. Feeling him against her thigh, she was
tempted to lower her hand and
really
feel. But her heart felt as terrified as it did excited.

Adjusting herself in his lap so that she could better angle
herself and he could hold her even closer, Charlee was done talking. She had no
deep dark secrets that needed to be aired out. Her life for the most part was
vanilla compared to others. There was nothing about her that would have any
effect on their relationship that couldn’t wait until later, but her body
didn’t want to wait anymore for this.

When she pulled away to catch her breath after an especially long
kiss, Hector moved so that her head fell back, and he cradled it on his arm. He
kissed her neck then sucked for a moment, making her squirm. “You sure you
wouldn’t rather talk?” He murmured against her neck.

“Yes, I’m sure,” she gasped as she felt him bite down just under
her earlobe with a groan.

He worked his way up her jaw again and latched on to her mouth. His
big hand moved up and down her thigh just over her leggings. She’d yearned for
far too long to feel his hands on her, touching her in places she couldn’t even
say out loud. His hand moved up her inner thigh slowly as he sucked her tongue
softly then a little more roughly. Creeping slowly, she felt his hand making
its way up higher. Her body trembled as she burned for him to touch her
there
.

She arched her body as his hands reached that hot, aching place, and
he stopped kissing her to look at her. Spreading her legs gently, his hand
cupped her between her legs, and she wondered if her leggings were wet, because
she knew damn well her panties had to be.
“You a virgin, Charlotte?”
She nodded, biting her lower lip, unable to refrain from continuing to tremble
as he moved his hand and began to stroke her between her legs. Her leggings
were so thin she was certain he could feel just how hot she was. “Well, then,
we gotta take this slow.”

Closing her eyes, she gulped, almost ashamed that she didn’t want
to take it slow. She needed him to do more, and as if he sensed it, he stopped
stroking her up and down. Instead, he focused on the one place that had her
body quivering all over and she turned her face into his shirt. “Don’t hide
your face, Charlee. I wanna see it.” She turned her face up to him but let her
head fall back, needing to spread her legs as he continued to stroke her in a
circular motion right there, right where it was building too quickly, and she
began squirming, tempted to hide her face in his shirt again so he wouldn’t see
her moan. “That’s it,” he leaned in and kissed her, biting her lower lip as the
sensation began to erupt, making her gasp and moan a little louder. “Come,
baby,” he moved his arm when she began to moan into his shirt, grabbing a
fistful of it.

Feeling how hard he was against her ass only heightened the
explosion between her legs. She moaned again and again and squirmed uncontrollably
as the waves of pleasure continued. Hector now sucked her neck gently. Charlee
began to breathlessly plead for him to stop. She couldn’t take it any longer.
The sensation ran clear down to her curling toes as he softened the pressure
but continued stroking lightly.

He kissed her, groaning against her lips. “
Damn
, that was hot.” She lay back on his arm, and the waves of
pleasure continued but began to weaken. Her heart still pounded as she lay there
breathing hard with eyes closed. “When’s the last time you felt that?” Hector
whispered against her lips.

No way was she telling him. Purposely she kept her eyes closed
and smiled. “I’m not telling you.”

“What?” He poked her ribs, making her jerk sideways, and her eyes
flew open. “Ah,” he smiled wickedly, “you’re ticklish.”

He poked her again, and she jerked instantly, laughing.
“Stop!”
Curse her
ticklish ribs!

“I will,” he said, poking her other side now, and she laughed
even more, trying to squirm out of his hold, “as soon as you tell me.”

He tickled her again, and she was laughing so much now she could
barely get the words out. “Okay, okay, a few days ago!”

Hector froze, staring at her. As her laughter slowly subsided,
she noticed the rigid way he looked at her. She’d just admitted she was a
virgin. Surely, he couldn’t be thinking . . . and just a few days ago? She
rolled her eyes, sitting up since she’d squirmed herself nearly off his lap.
“It was D.I.Y.”

With a pinch of his eyes, he looked and sounded almost annoyed
now. “What the hell does that mean?”

“Think about it.” She held his chin with one hand and kissed him.
“Please, don’t make me say it.”

He thought about it, and slowly the glare turned into a smile so
big she nearly blushed. “You can’t ask for details,” she said, already
anticipating his next question.

In the next instant, she was laughing again as he poked her
several times in her now-sensitive ribs. “Oh, can’t I?”

“No fair!” she said, rolling off his lap onto the plush carpet.

She tried rolling away and making a run for it, but he came after
her and pinned her down, placing his hands over hers against the carpet. He
stared at her for a moment as her laughing calmed without saying anything. She
stopped laughing completely and just stared at him silently before he said the
very thing she was thinking of him. “
God
,
you’re beautiful.”

They stared at each other for a few more silent moments until he
brought his body down over hers and kissed her. The kiss was so tender and gentle
it made her sigh. It wasn’t at all like the feverish kisses they’d shared just earlier,
but it held an intensity she’d only felt from him a few times. Extending the
gentle kisses down her chin and onto her neck, he stopped at her ear. “I can
hardly believe you’re all mine,” he whispered. She smiled, knowing her inner
feminist was probably crossing her arms and tapping her foot on the ground. But
Charlee couldn’t help it. She loved the idea of being
his
.