* * * * *
The second incident happened while everyone was chatting and the stragglers were finishing up their meals.
Hector had pushed his chair a bit away from the table and to my shock he pulled my casted wrist onto his thigh. Then the tips of his fingers touched the tips of my fingers that were exposed by the cast.
His touch made me go warm.
I turned to him and he was looking down at our hands.
“When do you get this removed?” he asked quietly.
“Wednesday,” I replied, wanting to pull my hand away if only for sanity’s sake but thinking it might not be a good move at Blanca’s table. I knew one thing, there was no way on earth I was going to survive another scene and I also knew I’d do just about anything to avoid it, including letting Hector touch my hand.
“Good,” he murmured.
I swallowed.
His black eyes came to mine and there was something burning there so strong, I felt my heart start to beat faster.
“She’s pulling away,” he whispered.
“Excuse me?”
He didn’t explain himself, instead he said, “Sadie, you’re safe here. You can be the girl I’ve seen the last few days.”
Oh my.
My body tensed and Ice Princess slid into my skin before I could stop her.
“I don’t know what you mean,” I replied coldly even though I knew exactly what he meant.
He lifted my casted hand to his mouth and (no kidding, right in front of everyone!) kissed the exposed fingers there.
Ice Princess melted in a steaming, hot puddle.
Then he murmured, “You know what I mean.”
Darn.
My eyes flitted to the table. Indy was watching me and when my eyes hit hers, hers slid quickly away but I could still see her smile. I saw Tex was also watching me but he didn’t look away. He was grinning at me broadly so it was my eyes that slid away. Unfortunately, they caught Blanca’s and hers were shining with tears (again!).
Blooming heck.
I looked back at Hector. “Please let me go,” I whispered.
He let me go and I took in a relieved breath but it stuck in my throat when his hand went to the seat of my chair. He gave a firm tug which pulled my chair right next to his chair so our thighs were pressed together. Then he sat back and draped his arm around the back of my chair.
There was no way I could scoot away or put him in deep freeze (which would have been my premier choice) so I just sat there, tense, while everyone tried to pretend they weren’t grinning at each other because of Hector and me.
So I tried to pretend they weren’t trying to pretend and told myself I could get through the night.
How much worse could it get?
* * * * *
The next incident happened when Blanca started to clear the table.
Jet and Indy got up to help her.