His arm around my waist curled and his other hand came to my hip, he turned me and pulled me into his lap.
His eyes warm on my face, his arms around me loosely, he asked, “You doin’ okay?”
“Yes,” I answered.
He gave me a mini-squeeze. “Tough day for you,” he said softly.
Something about that question hit me somewhere deep.
It wasn’t fun, reliving what Ricky did to me in front of a camera in an interrogation room, even if Bex was with me, Detective Marker was really nice and I knew Daisy and Shirleen were out in the hall. It also wasn’t fun reliving what Harvey did to me.
The fact that Hector would realize this would take its toll, even if I was trying to set it aside and not make a big deal of it, meant a lot.
I pulled in my lips and bit them.
I could have gone all Ice Princess on him but when he was being nice and I had nothing to keep myself shielded from that would just mean I was a bitch.
So I whispered, “I’ll be okay.”
At my whisper, he grinned. “I knew you could do it.”
The warmth in his tone and the approval in his eyes made my stomach pitch.
It was then I decided I needed my Ice Shields up.
“Nobody likes a know-it-all,” I said coldly.
His grin got bigger, he shook his head and I got the impression he thought my Ice Shields were lame and scrawny.
He got to his feet, taking me with him then setting me on mine.
With his head tilted down to look at me, his hand slid around to the back of my neck and up into my hair and I just barely controlled a delicious shiver (but I did it).
“I gotta get home. Get some sleep,” he told me.
I felt a wave of disappointment hit me. I’d spent all but about five hours in the last twenty-seven with him (yes, I’d counted). It would be weird for him just to go.
I didn’t tell him that. Instead, I nodded.
He dropped his hand but caught mine and took me with him as he walked to the door.
Once there, he stopped, turned to me, his fingers wrapped around my cast and he looked down at it.
“Who’s takin’ you to get this removed?”
“Bex.”
His gaze lifted to mine. “She can’t do it, you call me.”
It wasn’t really a request but I still said, “Okay.”
He dropped my cast, tugged on my other hand, I leaned forward, his head came down and he kissed me, slow and sweet.
He lifted his head an inch and murmured, “I wanna hear the locks.”
I wasn’t breathing really well so I decided not to try to talk and simply just nodded again.
He left, I went to the door, turned the locks and put my ear to it so I could hear his boots walking away.