I wracked my brain. Finally, ever the good hostess, it came to me.
“Do you want a drink?” I offered.
“How much time do we have before your friends get back?” he asked in return.
I, personally, thought this was a weird question but I didn’t tell Hector that.
Instead I shrugged. “I don’t know, since I moved here, they’ve never gone out without me.”
Then I realized Ralphie and Buddy never had gone out and left me home alone. Not for over a month. I was probably putting a major crimp in their social life.
And I didn’t even notice.
Now what kind of genuine friend wouldn’t even notice she was putting a crimp in her friends’ social life?
Oh my, it was high time to call the real estate agent lady and get out of their hair. If I didn’t, they might not like me anymore. And I couldn’t lose them this soon.
Hector broke into my thoughts about real estate and Buddy and Ralphie’s social life and said, “Then, no, I don’t want a drink.”
His answer confused me. I didn’t understand why the timing of Ralphie and Buddy’s return had anything to do with anything but I didn’t have a chance to ask.
Hector’s hands came to my h*ps and slowly he pulled me close. His arms slid around me loosely and his chin tipped down so he could look at me.
“We have to talk.”
Oh my.
With all that happened, I forgot about our talk.
All right, that was okay. I could do this. I could do anything. I survived dinner at his mother’s house, didn’t I?
“Okay,” I said, mentally girding for our talk.
He didn’t speak, instead his head bent and he touched my lips with his. My heart stuttered and I instantly ungirded.
All right, maybe I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t even stay mentally girded for a whole second!
“You just kissed me,” I accused him.
His mouth moved like he was fighting a grin (again).
“Yeah,” he answered.
“Kissing isn’t talking,” I informed him helpfully, like he didn’t already know this fact.
More fighting the grin. “No,” he agreed.
He pulled me closer so my body was lightly pressed to his.
“Well, are we going to talk?” I asked.
He was watching me closely and for some reason there was no grin fighting anymore.
Then he answered, “Yeah.”
I waited.
He pulled me closer so my body was not so lightly pressed to his. In fact, I was so close I had to lift my hands and put them on his chest, right below his shoulders.