I decided not to make a big deal of it like burst into tears, throw myself in his arms and declare my everlasting love for him.
Instead, I asked, “Did you ever go to camp?”
He grinned and it was a new grin, an effective new grin because it was so wicked, it made my belly melt. “If you count three months in juvie when I was fourteen then, yeah. But we didn’t have s’mores.”
My mouth dropped open.
Then I asked, “You, Agent Hector Chavez, did a stint in juvie?”
He was straightening out the hanger and still grinning. “Yeah.”
It was too much, I couldn’t help it.
I burst out laughing.
My eyes were closed so I didn’t see him move until his arm was wrapped around my neck, I was yanked against his body so hard, I slammed into him and he kissed me, hot, wet, open-mouthed and long enough for me to melt into him (and then some).
Then his mouth broke from mine, he touched his forehead to mine for a nanosecond before he moved away and I felt my breath catch at the sweetness of it.
“Like it when you laugh, mamita,” he said quietly and I stared at him then I swallowed.
He didn’t wait for a response, maybe didn’t need one. I didn’t know and I didn’t ask. Instead, he handed me the hanger and took the marshmallows from me, opening the bag with his teeth.
“What’d you do?” I asked.
“Probably better to ask what I didn’t do.”
I let out another small laugh as he made me hold my hanger up to his hand and he fed some big, fat marshmallows on it.
“Okay, what didn’t you do?”
He gave me one of his glamorous smiles. “I never killed anyone.”
My body started shaking with laughter.
Through my laughter, I said, “So I take it you’re one of the ones who f**ked around enough to cause your parents problems.”
He guided my hanger over the grill and dumped the bag of marshmallows on the side shelf but kept his arm wrapped around my neck, his eyes trained on my marshmallows.
“Carlos, Rosa and Elena were the good kids, Eddie, Gloria and me… not so good.”
I felt this somewhere deep and the laughter left my body.
Hector’s arm gave my neck a squeeze. I knew he wanted my attention so I looked up at him.
He was watching me closely.
“Now what’s in your head?” he asked softly.
“She loves you all the same. The good and the not so good,” I whispered, referring to Blanca.
“Always has,” he replied.
Immediately I replied, “You’re very lucky.”
At my words, he curled me so my front was against his and his face dipped to mine.
I saw that look in his eyes, the warm, intense, eyes-soft, face-hard, signifying-possession look but something else was there. Not pity but maybe understanding that he had something beautiful that I had not. I knew instinctively he didn’t feel sorry for me but he felt something.