Chapter 5 #2
“Oh my god! Are you serious?” I squealed. “That’s the best news I’ve heard in weeks.”
Something moved over his face. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it rendered me immobile as he stepped in front of me and placed his fingers beneath my chin, forcing me to tip my head back to maintain eye contact.
“You know, I love this smile on your face. But it pisses me off that a goddamn functioning water heater’s the best news you’ve had. ”
It was then I realized he was looking at me with a barely banked fury. I’d temporarily forgotten myself at the news about the water heater and let my cool, unaffected mask slip.
Needing to break his touch and the heavy moment, I took a couple steps back out of the closet and spoke like I hadn’t heard him. “Well, um, I really appreciate you fixing it for me. I’ve been taking icy showers for days now. It’ll be a relief not to risk hypothermia just to bathe.”
Propping his shoulder against the jamb of the closet door, he stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his jeans, regarding me way more closely than I was comfortable with. “Holly okay?”
The genuine concern in his eyes moved me more than I was willing to admit. “Yeah. Yeah, she should be. I’m hoping it’s just a bug. She doesn’t get sick often, so when she does, it always makes me feel terrible.”
“She’s really important to you, isn’t she?”
My brows pulled together, an incredulous frown taking over my face. “Of course she is. She’s my sister. My brothers and sisters are the most important things in my life.”
“And you have five of them?”
His question made me pause. Sure, we ran in the same circles, and because of some trouble Tempie and Eden had found themselves in a while back, they’d gotten somewhat close to Marco, but he and I had never been particularly social.
We were cordial toward each other whenever we were all in a group together, but we’d never really talked.
“They were with you at Eden and Lincoln’s engagement party a couple weeks ago,” he answered my unasked question.
“Oh, yeah. That’s right.”
“And you raise them yourself?” At the bewildered expression on my face, he explained, “Been asking around about you, babe.”
My heart began thundering in my chest. He pushed off the doorjamb, and all of a sudden I was very aware that I was standing alone with Marco Castillo in my bedroom. With my big comfy bed less than two feet away. “You’ve been asking about me?”
“I have.”
“But… why?”
Arrogance and humor floated across his features, making him look even sexier—if that were even possible. “Were you not listening earlier when I told you I was attracted to you?”
Of course I’d been listening. That statement had been stuck in my head on repeat for the past fifteen minutes. “Marco—”
“You’re unbelievably sexy, Gypsy,” he stated bluntly. “One of the sexiest women I’ve ever laid eyes on. And when you smile? Christ, that just ramps it up to a thousand.”
Hearing that was like having a bucket of ice water dumped right over my head. “I’m so flattered,” I deadpanned, the skin around my mouth tightening with unhappiness.
I knew my harsh comment caught him off guard when his chin jerked back and he frowned in bemusement. “What?”
“For months you’ve barely looked in my direction. Now all of a sudden you’re interested?” I let loose a bark of caustic laughter. “Let me guess. You caught a glimpse of me up on that stage the other night, and now you’re itching to bang a stripper, right?”
I could practically see the storm clouds forming in his eyes.
He moved faster than any man his size should have been able to, crowding me between him and the foot of the bed.
“The first time I saw you, you were coming through the door of Evergreen Diner. You were picking up lunch on your break from the grocery store and were wearing a shapeless polo shirt and khaki pants, but it was your hair that caught my attention. A mass of gold that shined in the sunlight, it took my breath away.” I stared up at him, completely shell-shocked as he continued rocking my world.
“Then I noticed your eyes. I’d never seen such a unique color before.
But it was the shield I could see behind that sweet honey brown that drew me in, made me want to get to know you. ”
“Marco—”
“The first time I saw you smile was at The Tap Room,” he kept on, ignoring that I’d spoken his name.
“Eden said something that made you laugh, and for just a second, that shield lowered. Swear to Christ, the beauty in that smile made it hard to breathe.” I felt raw and completely exposed, but he wasn’t nearly done.
“You were wearing shorts at Trick and Nona’s barbeque the first time I noticed your legs, how goddamn long and smooth they were.
I wondered what it would feel like to have them wrapped around my waist while I was inside you, or my head when I had my face buried between your thighs.
So yeah, babe, the other night just solidified everything I was feeling, but that wasn’t when my interest started.
I don’t want to fuck a stripper, Gypsy. I want to fuck you.
I want to look into those eyes when I’m buried deep inside you and see that shield fall.
I want that smile pointed at me. I want all that hair spread out across my pillow.
I’ve wanted all that for months, and I intend to work my ass off to get it.
And I promise you, when you finally give all of that to me, I’ll make sure you know it was worth it. ”
Before I had a chance to respond—not that I could—my front door opened, and Odette’s loud voice carried down the hall into my bedroom. “Yoohoo! Gypsy girl. You here?”
My legs unlocked and I skirted around Marco, heading down the hall. “Right here, Detty.”
“Oh, good.” She bounced my baby brother in her arms as she said, “Lee here was starting to get antsy, so I thought I’d swing by so we could check on Holly together.” My sister came shuffling out of her room at that and nuzzled up to my friend’s side. “Hey there, precious baby. How you feelin’?”
“Better,” she mumbled.
“That’s good. I was worried about you—dear sweet Mother Mary. Who is that?”
I whipped my head around and found Marco had followed me from the bedroom and was standing only about a foot away.
“Odette, this is Marco,” I begrudgingly introduced. “Marco, this is my neighbor and close friend, Odette.”
“He calls Gypsy ‘sunflower’ in Spanish ’cause he says she’s pretty as a sunflower,” Holly chimed in.
Odette turned to me with wide, awestruck eyes.
“Sunflower, huh?” Practically shoving Raleigh in my arms, she pushed past me and held her hand out to Marco.
“Please, call me Detty, handsome.” There was no missing the salaciousness in her gaze as she let her eyes trail up and down his thickly muscled body.
“So, how do you know my beautiful, smart, caring girl, Gypsy?”
Oh hell, she was going into matchmaker mode. This was not good. “He came by to take a look at the water heater for me. He’s a friend,” I offered quickly.
“For now,” the jerk added, fueling Odette’s fire.
“Ooh-wee!” she cackled, fanning her face. “I like this one, child. I like him a lot.”
I shot him a killing look, hoping he’d get that he needed to keep his mouth shut. “Actually, he was just leaving,” I said, facing Odette once again.
He and Holly spoke at the same time.
“He is?”
“I am?”
“You are,” I said pointedly.
“But what about your brakes?” he asked, a sly smirk on his face. “You said yourself it’s a wonder they haven’t gone out already, and I really don’t like the idea of you driving in something that unsafe, girasol.”
“Girasol?” Odette asked.
“That’s sunflower,” Holly stated proudly.
“Hmm.” Odette looked between the two of us with no small amount of curiosity. “The dishwasher’s also busted,” she said, a teasing glint in her gaze as she looked to me.
“Bet I could get that working,” Marco said, his chest puffing up in manly certainty.
Knowing when I’d lost a battle, I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and gave in. “Fine. You can look at the dishwasher,” I replied snappily. “But not the brakes. I’ll get those handled by a professional, thank you very much.”
His smile was triumphant as he got to work on making the repairs I’d desperately been in need of. And although I did my best to act as if he didn’t exist for the rest of the time he was there, my body was trembling with awareness the whole time.
I was in so much trouble.