I was blinking, rapid and uncontrollable, as he kept sharing.

“Things happen, life is shit, decisions are made, paths are chosen. Your Dad chose the wrong paths but I suspect he chose them for good reasons, thinkin’ he was doin’ the right thing, wantin’ to give you and Lizzie a better life than what he had. I know this, Sadie, he loved your Mom. And she loved him. Back then, he was her world. So, I suspect what made you was love. They loved each other, Sadie, and that’s what made you. It might have gone wrong, it might have gone bad but that’s the way it started, that’s where you came from and that’s who you are.”

I heard my own breaths escaping my nostrils in sharp bursts and another violent noise sounded in the hall.

“Somethin’ else darlin’,” he went on quickly and his voice lowered. “Your Mom was here, she saw what I saw at your gallery, heard what I heard you say, it’d tear out her heart. Girl, it would just kill her to think you thought that of yourself. She made the ultimate sacrifice for you, don’t let it be for nothin’. Take hold of life and live it beautiful like she wanted you to do.”

I gulped down a sob but it tore through and now I was shivering for a different reason, tears flowing down my face, I pressed my cheek against his chest and wrapped my arms around his girth.

“Now, darlin’, there’s a man outside who’s likely to do somethin’ he’ll regret to men he respects if you don’t get out there and stop it.”

I pulled in my lips but as I did it, without thinking and without hesitation, I pulled free of Duke, walked on my frozen feet through the bedroom, living room, straight to the front door which I yanked open.

Ten feet down the hall I saw the backs of the Hot Bunch (and Tex). Lee, Hank, Mace, Vance, Luke (and Tex) were all there, their body’s held in a way that was just plain scary and the air in the hall was thick and hostile.

They heard the door, turned and parted and I saw Eddie and Hector, Eddie’s back to me, body confronting Hector, Hector facing me.

Eddie turned, Hector’s eyes sliced to me and I started walking forward.

Hector advanced.

I started running.

I ran straight into him and his arms closed around me.

I shoved my face in his chest, my fists gathering the material of his shirt by my cheeks and I cried hard, shoulder-shaking, uncontrollable sobs.

His arms went tighter and the heat of his body enveloped me.

“I’m an idiot,” I said into his chest.

“You’re not an idiot, mi cielo,” he murmured.

I shook my head but kept his shirt in my fists so my face was rubbing against his chest.

“I’m an idiot,” I repeated through my bawling.

“You’re a pain in the ass but you’re not an idiot,” he replied.

I tipped my head back and looked at him. I couldn’t see much of anything, he was blurry through my tears.

“I told you that you were going to have to cut me some slack!” I cried.

He stared down at me. “You movin’ to Greece?”

“No,” I said immediately.

I felt the tension leave his body then one of his hands drifted up my back, up my neck, his fingers sliding into my hair.

His head dipped down and he touched my lips.

“Good,” he said against my mouth. “Now let’s go home.”

Chapter Twenty-One

A Cooler and a Picnic Basket

Sadie

I woke in Hector’s bed, feeling Hector’s heat at my back, his mouth at my shoulder and his hands moving on me.

I sensed it immediately, the urgency and the tingles started.

“Hector?” I whispered.

He answered in Spanish, his mouth at my neck, words I didn’t even understand causing the tingles to grow into shivers.

I turned in his arms, pressing into his body. He fell to his back, pulling me on top of him. One of his hands went into my panties, the fingers of the other one slid into my hair.

I put my mouth to his, his hand put pressure on my head, we kissed and I melted immediately as the kiss shot straight to hot, hungry and wild.

I’d gone to bed wearing my panties and one of his flannel shirts and both were gone within minutes.

Luckily, Hector had gone to bed naked.

I used my mouth on him, his throat, neck, down his chest, my teeth dragging across his ni**les, my tongue outlining his tattoo.

Then down further, tracing his abdominal muscles with my lips, all the while my hand was wrapped around him, stroking until, finally, I went down even further.

When I did, I heard his groan and his fingers slid in my hair, pulling it back. While I worked him, my gaze drifted up his chest. I saw him watching me, eyes blazing, a thrill shot through me and I felt the wetness immediately gather between my legs.

He allowed this for awhile then pulled me up so I was on my belly at his side. Before I could turn, he did an ab curl and all of a sudden, he was over me, between my legs, lifting my h*ps so I was on my knees, he positioned me and then drove inside.

My head flew back, I came up to my hands then lifted my torso, reaching out to grab the headboard as he pounded into me. One of his hands went to cup my breast, finger and thumb doing an amazingly effective nipple roll. His other hand went between my legs, finger honing in on the target. His torso was bent to mine, his face was in my neck, I turned my head to him.

“I love,” I panted, too turned on by what we were doing to think about my words, “being connected to you.”

As an answer, he drove in deep and stayed there, grinding hard, his finger between my legs creating magic.

My head went back again, colliding with his shoulder as the glorious tightness gathered, intensified and exploded. It was so immense, it took me out of time, out of my world, into the world of a real Hector and Sadie, together, connected and everything about them very, very right.

* * * * *

After he finished, he gently pulled out, fell to his back, positioning me on top of him. One of his arms wrapped lightly around my waist, the fingers of his other hand traced mindless patterns on my bottom. My face was in his neck.

“Take hold of life and live it beautiful like she wanted you to do.” Duke’s words sounded in my brain.

“They’re gone,” I whispered.

His arm at my waist tightened, his other hand stopped moving and cupped my behind.

“Sorry?” he asked, his voice rough, probably from what just happened and I felt that roughness somewhere happy and deep.

“My Sadies,” I explained quietly, embarrassed and unsure, I kept my face in his neck and, taking a deep breath, I powered on. “See, like I told you, to get through, I needed the Ice Princess. But these last few weeks, trying to find my way, I created more of them, Attitude Sadie, Take Charge Sadie, Nice Sadie… I tried to find them last night to help me but they’re gone.”