He was eyeing me carefully, probably making sure I wasn’t going to attack again, as I picked up my cell and glanced at it. There wasn’t a single reply from her or Guillermo. And I told him so.
“Stay here then until Connie gets back to you in that case. Yeah?”
“If you don’t mind.”
He picked up the remote, looking me dead in the freaking eye.
“I’m joking! Yeah. Okay. Yes.”
The corners of his mouth curled up even more. So I wasn’t totally expecting when he pulled the comforter and sheets off the bed and slipped under them. And I wasn’t expecting him to lean forward so that his back was curved and shimmy his shoulders. “You can pay me back by scratchin’ my back like Mama Lupe used to.”
He wanted me to…?
Was it a dumb idea?
Nah.
We were adults, and he was asking me because we were friends, and I would just be touching his back. I mean, he had masseuses and trainers who were always rubbing all over him. With his teammates, he was used to being very hands on. It meant nothing to him.
Fine with me.
“I’ll do it for you, if you do it for me,” I tried to bargain.
One blue eye aimed itself at me. “Deal.”
Before I even moved over, he’d tugged his shirt up along his shoulder blades and he was back to shimmying. I grinned to myself before getting up on my knees, right at his hip, and scratching his back, starting right around his trap muscles and working my way down one side, trying to ignore the freckles along his back… and how soft and blemish-free his skin was.
What I couldn’t ignore were his fucking moans though.
And his “Please, right there. Right there.” Then his “That’s incredible.” And a couple “I’d pay you to do this every day.”
I shook my head as I did one more pass from the top of his back all the way to the bottom of it, right where the elastic of his boxer briefs started. And before I could talk myself out of it, I sat flat on my butt, so close to him that my thigh was pressed to his through the comforter, and pulled the pillow back in front of me before shaking my own shoulders. “My turn. I’m ready, old man.”
He paused as he sat up. I held my breath for a second, expecting him to scratch over my shirt. But that wasn’t what happened. Instead, he tugged it up, taking his time to roll it over my shoulders, and in the next breath, his blunt fingernails were there, light and amazing on my skin. Moving from my shoulder blades downward. Taking his time.
I squeezed my arms to my sides to hold my boobs in. It was too good. Way too good.
I only let him get one pass before I sat back, still beside him. “Perfect, thank you.”
I glanced at him over my shoulder. He already had his hands in his lap, those light blue eyes on my face. I scooted over a little bit until we weren’t touching.
All right then.
He yawned, and then so did I.
“I’m gonna keep my phone right here just in case I fall asleep and Con calls, okay?” I asked him, patting the phone I set on my chest as I leaned back against the headboard.
It was maybe only a second later that he asked, “Bianca?”
“Huh?”
“You really thought I was perfect?”
I made a face to myself. “I said pretty much perfect. And that was a long time ago, when I was young and innocent.”
“What was wrong with me back then?”
I snorted and shot him a look. He was smiling. “You really want to do this? Yeah? First of all….”
He was already trying not to crack up.
“There were the girls. You dated just about all of them and broke all of their hearts from what I remember you and Boogie talking about.”
He groaned. “Never mind. I’m good. Forget I asked.”
It was my turn to laugh. “You’re sure?”
“Positive.”
I snorted.
Then after a moment, he said again, “Bianca?”
“Yeah?”
“You really almost married that asshole?”
My ex. “Yup.”
“Why?”
I made a face but didn’t look at him. “I don’t know. Because I liked him. He paid a lot of attention to me for a while, at least up until the end when he lost interest, and I guess I was lonely. He was cute. I don’t know, Snack Pack. I don’t mind being alone, but I hate being lonely. Do you know what I mean? I guess I just wanted someone around. Or at least, someone who would come back. That sounds really ungrateful now that I hear it out loud, because I know how many people love me but have their own lives, and I can’t expect them to make me the center of the world. I hope you get what I mean.”
If he looked at me, I had no idea, because he was only quiet for a moment before saying, “I get what you mean. I hated how much your parents left. I still don’t get how they could just stay away so much. And I remember how sad you were when Connie moved away to go to school after community college.”
“I didn’t get how they could leave so much either, not for a long time. I’ve tried talking to them about it, but all they said was that they thought I’d do better settled somewhere. That I was safe and in good hands. That I could ask Connie how much it sucked moving around every year. Honestly, even though I was perfectly fine without them, I still resent them a little for just leaving us with Mamá Lupe, even though I know how much they help other people with their work. It makes me feel guilty. Selfish. But you know, everyone has to go and live their lives and fulfill their destinies so… I try to focus on myself too. And I know better now than to expect too much from
