Feet rooted to the spot, I froze.
Breaths coming at a quickened pace, my mind spun faster than a tilt-a-whirl. My Hendrix. Her words repeated on a carousel in my head, sending my heart into overdrive.
Recognizing the emotions unfurling inside me, Carmen palmed my cheeks, distress clear on her features. “What’s wrong?” she asked, words rushed. “If you’re upset because I said I wanted to meet the loco perra, I was just—”
“It’s not that.” My eyes narrowed. “But you’re sure as shit never stepping a single foot anywhere near that woman.”
Pulling her hands from my face, Little Miss Attitude crossed her lithe arms over her chest, putting her endless sass on full display. “Then what is it? Spit it out, pendejo.”
“You said my Hendrix,” I replied, watching her face. “Whether you realize it or not, you just claimed my son as yours.”
Carmen blinked. “Listen,” she sassed, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. “I hate to be the one to break it to you, James Cole, but if I’m going to fall head over heels in love with you someday soon, then I’m going to fall for Hendrix and Maddie as well.” She paused. “Shelby and your grandson too.”
At her words, my heart warmed.
“And as we’ve already discussed, I expect the same from you when it comes to mi chicas. If you can’t handle that, then—”
A surprised squeal slipped free when I quickly grabbed her hips and hoisted her high into the air. Hands flying to my shoulders, she gripped my muscles tight, holding on for dear life. “Dios mío!” she shrieked, eyes wide. “What are you—”
“Tell me, sweetheart,” I said, feeling my shattered heart continue to mend, piece by broken piece. “Do you feel as if you can fly?”
Her glossy lips trembled the slightest bit. “I do,” she whispered, a sweet smile curving her mouth. “And it’s all because of you.”
My arms shook with the need to hug her against me until every broken piece that existed in each of us healed. But wanting to see her smiling face against the backdrop of the twinkling Georgia stars just a little longer, I held off on lowering her to my chest, a place she’d always belong.
“Is that right?”
“Si, it is. Want to know something, Guapo?”
I nodded. “Tell me.”
Fingers digging further into my arms, she whispered, “For the longest time, I felt as though I was drowning. But then…” Inhaling softly, she closed her eyes and paused.
I held my breath, waiting for her to speak.
Come on, sweetheart…
Talk to me.
As if reading my thoughts once again, she allowed her eyelids to flutter back open. “But then you stormed into my life like an unapologetic wrecking ball, determined to rescue me, a woman whose life many don’t value, and now I feel as though one day I’ll be able to soar.”
I could see the last of her walls crumbling.
One by one, they continued to fall.
Soon, they’d be nothing but dust.
I licked my lower lip. “You will.”
“You think so?”
“I do.”
“How?”
I didn’t miss the skepticism in her voice. “Because, beautiful girl, it doesn’t matter how hard things get, I swear on everything I’ve ever loved that I’ll be your wings whenever you can’t find the strength to take flight.”
She hiccupped as tears, ones I guessed were a mixture of happiness and relief, cascaded down her cheeks. “And I’ll be yours,” she replied. “For as long as my heart continues to beat.”
Comprised of hope and the promise of a future different from the ones we’d both once believed was as certain as death, the vow we made that night was nothing short of magic, and one neither of us ever dared to break.
Twenty-Seven
Carmen
He’s up to something…
Suspicion overwhelmed me as James placed his possessive hand on my lower back and guided me across the street to where his truck was parked instead of walking me to the motel, which was within sight.
“I have a surprise for you.”
“Is that so?” Insides brimming with both excitement and anxiety, I tucked a wayward strand of hair behind my ear, trying my best to appear calm. “What kind of surprise?”
The sneaky pendejo remained mute as he popped open the passenger side door before once again gripping my hips and lifting me into the air as if I weighed nothing.
Depositing me on the buttery black leather seat, he leaned in and brushed his soft lips across my cheek in a teasing caress that sent my already pounding heart into overdrive thanks to the intoxicating smell of his woodsy aftershave that tickled the tip of my nose.
Dios mío, he smells so good.
High on his mere presence, I barely stifled a breathy moan when the back of his hand brushed against my dress-covered stomach as he pulled the seatbelt over my torso and locked it in place, ensuring that I was safe.
“James…”
“Yeah, beautiful?”
“Answer my question.”
Pulling back the slightest bit, he stared into my eyes, sending chills racing down my spine. For heaven’s sake, with just one look the man could wreck my system, capture my attention, and send the butterflies that lived in my belly into a frenzy.
It was a feat no one before him had accomplished and one that another would never achieve, because whether my heart was ready to accept the situation I starred in yet or not, the truth was irrefutable.
And that truth? I was his.
For now.
And for always.
Right palm landing on my bare thigh, his heat bled into my skin, warming me to the marrow of my bones. “I’m taking you some place that will help you remember.”
Hand gripping the front of his shirt, my brows furrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I’m going to ask you something, sweetheart, and I want you to answer me without thinking about your answer,” he said, hand skating toward the inside of my thigh. Heart nearly bursting out of my chest, my breath hitched. “Can you do that for me?”
I’ve said before, and I’ll say it again…
El hombre truly was loco!
With him touching me in such a way, answering a single question was nearly
