Romero (12 page)

“I am.” She ran her fingers through his hair, as the second finger entered her. She moaned, squeezing his shoulder. Then he slid the third in.

He pulled his mouth away from hers and sucked her neck, all the while his fingers playing with her, his thumb tormenting. She squirmed, feeling the sensations run through her body like an electrical current. It was building, the more his thumb rubbed the more she felt herself losing control. “Romero!”

“Hold on, baby.”

He pushed her up slightly and pulled himself down to the edge of the bed. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but the jolt like lightning that torpedoed through her body when she felt his tongue on her, was not it. She cried out in pleasure. She’d already been so close. Her entire body trembled as he continued to work her with his tongue—his lips. Her hands fisted the blankets around her as she felt the incredible explosion of pleasure. She moaned, arching her back, willing him to stop. She couldn’t take anymore.

She felt him kiss her one last time before having mercy on her. The waves of pleasure still pulsated through her as she lay there, breathing heavily.

***

Waking up next to Isabel was a mixed feeling for Romero. On the one hand, he loved seeing her first thing when he woke up. On the other, he was afraid if he got too used to it he’d never want to wake without her again. He wasn’t sure if she was ready for that. His feelings for her had taken him by storm. He was afraid of freaking her out.

Hearing something in the front room, he sat up. He frowned when he realized he woke Isabel, but then smiled at her perfectly naked body. “That’s probably Valerie. What time is it?”

She found it, flung it on and hurried out of the room. Romero sat up and pulled his jeans on. He walked out into the bathroom. When he walked out of the bathroom, he saw Isabel hurry back into the room. The phone in the kitchen rang.

“I got it!” Valerie yelled from the front room.

It kept ringing, so Romero walked out into the kitchen. He froze when he came face to face with Valerie. She seemed surprised to see him, especially since he was still shirtless and barefoot. Her expression amused him. “You gonna get that?”

“No,” she said, her eyes obviously trying to avoid his bare chest. “The answering machine can pick it up.”

The machine went off just as Isabel came out of the room, now dressed in shorts and a blouse. Romero turned back to Isabel when the machine beeped.

“Isabel this is Michael. I just wanted to tell you I had a fantastic time with you Friday night…”

Isabel took a step toward the machine, but stopped when Romero stepped in front of her. The heat inside him was already on the rise. The kind of heat that made him do things he never wanted Isabel to be witness to. He swallowed hard, trying to understand what he was hearing. She’d said she was with her sister Friday night. He listened as the message went on.

“That’s a date! What else did you
just
do with him?” He had a vision of her with another guy and the guy’s words slammed into him. “You know what? I don’t wanna know.” The urgency to get out before he snapped had reached a disastrous stage. He rushed to the bedroom. “Whatever you did, it was
fucking fantastic!
”

Romero pushed the door to her room open, slamming it against the wall. There were only a handful of times he’s felt this way in his life and each time he’d exploded beyond his control. He didn’t want that to happen now. That side of him was off limits to most people he knew, but especially Izzy. He grabbed his shoes and slipped one on as she walked into the room, closing the door behind her. He couldn’t even look at her.

“I’m sorry, Romero. She’d set this up a long time ago.”

With his heart already pounding away, he attempted to speak. “Why would she still expect you to go if you’re with me now?”

She didn’t say anything. He stopped what he was doing and stared, feeling the hurt pummel through him. She still hadn’t told her sister.

“I just didn’t think it was a big deal to get—”

“Not a big deal? You lied to me!” She flinched when he yelled and he immediately regretted it. That was it, if he didn’t get out of there now, he might do or say something worse that he’d regret.

Feeling his temper reach a level there was no turning back from, he slipped on his other shoe and grabbed his shirt, rushing past her.

“I’m sorry, Romero,” she said, as he walked past a very stunned looking Valerie.

“I’m sorry, too. Go call him back, Isabel.
Make it happen
.” He grabbed his keys and wallet and rushed out.

He fought the incredible urge to go back and demand to know what the
fuck
was so fantastic about Friday night. No guy would call a date fantastic if nothing had happened. That’s the reason why he stopped her before she answered. If she so much as kissed the guy, he would’ve gone off the deep end for sure.

What confused him most, was he was used to the rage. That he’d been dealing with it all his life. And like today, he’d gotten pretty good at keeping it down to a roar. But the pain he felt now was new. At first because she lied to him, but then when he realized she was obviously too ashamed to tell her family about him.
Still
. Even after the bullshit about her not being sure about their status. That was harder to take than her having gone on that fucking date.

Not that he wasn’t
beyond
pissed about that. But it almost felt like the times when he’d been physically hurt as a kid. The lie had been the blow that knocked his teeth out, making him see stars. The realization that she was ashamed of him, was the swift knee to the groin that followed immediately after. That pain overpowered everything else.

He drove past his apartment, knowing Isabel would most likely come by since she knew he’d taken the day off. The entire day—to spend with her. He didn’t want her to see him like this. If she already didn’t think enough of him to tell her family, what would she think if she saw him lose it? The way he felt now, he was one flick away from losing it completely.

Manny stalked over to him and grabbed the bottle out of his hands. “No! I won’t drop it!” He put the bottle back in the cabinet and slammed the door shut, pushing Romero into the chair behind him.

Romero put his elbows on his knees, and ran his hands through his hair, letting them both rest behind his head. Despite the pain and anger her felt, he wanted nothing more than to be with Isabel again.

“What’s your problem, boy?” Manny nudged him with his knee. “Business not so good?”

“Business is fine.” He knew his uncles well enough to know they wouldn’t let this go.

As annoyed as he was that he chose to come here, he knew why he did it. He needed to be near them. Needed to be the only place where he knew he was accepted even with all his flaws.

Romero jumped up, out of his chair and stood right in Manny’s face. “She’s not a skank. Don’t you
ever
call her that.”

Manny stared at him for a second, before smiling. “Well, well, well. Look’s like you got it bad.” He laughed. “Who is she? How come we haven’t met her?”

Romero was still breathing hard from what Manny had said. Max stared at him, looking more concerned, and not quite as amused as Manny. He thought of Manny’s question, and felt like a complete hypocrite. He’d always prided himself in that these were his uncles and he loved them no matter how unrefined they could be. If anybody didn’t like it, they could go fuck themselves—until Isabel. At least she’d told him about
her
family, warts and all. He’d hardly mentioned Manny and Max to her at all. He’d never actually admitted it to himself, but he had to now. He hadn’t really mentioned them to her because he was afraid of what she’d think.

He wasn’t really, but he was better. Only now on top of everything, he felt like an asshole. He took a deep breath. “You guys wanna go get some breakfast? I’ll tell you all about her.”

Manny and Max exchanged glances then Manny shrugged. “Sure, I already ate.” He glanced at his watch. “But that was about an hour ago. I can eat again.”

All day Isabel tried in vain to get a hold of Romero. She’d left messages, texted him and gone by his place twice. His car hadn’t been there. Valerie left to spend the night at Alex’s place again a few hours earlier and Isabel had finally allowed herself to cry like she’d really wanted to.

Banging her fist into her pillow, she cried like she’d never cried in her life. She’d finally met
that
guy. The one she couldn’t stop thinking of day or night. Even at work, she found herself constantly thinking of him. He was the first guy that made her feel sexy, but it wasn’t just about the sex. It was the way he looked at her. There was something so incredibly intense. He told her he thought she was perfect and almost made her believe it.

She didn’t feel like she had to impress him with her intelligence or her family, the only things she ever felt she
could
impress anyone with. This was the first time she didn’t even like to talk about her education because she didn’t want him to think she was rubbing it in and he’d been completely impressed with her anyway. She still didn’t understand why, only that she loved the feeling. She didn’t even realize how hard she’d fallen, until the possibility of losing him hit her.

For so long, she’d yearned to feel that magical feeling of true love. That feeling of needing to be around someone always, and as scary as that feeling was, it was also intoxicating. Then just like that, because of her stupid inability to stand up to her sister sooner, she’d blown it.

After one long sob into her pillow, she heard the knock at the door. She sat up, and tried to catch her breath, contemplating whether or not to answer it. Lawrence often came over unexpectedly to drop off or borrow a book. Sometimes just to chat. She was in no mood to talk to him or anyone.

“Izzy, you there?”

She jumped off her bed, not caring what a mess she must look like, and rushed to the front door. She opened the door with her hand over her mouth, feeling like sobbing again when she saw him.

Romero hesitated, then took the one step up and wrapped his arms around her.

“I’m so sorry.” she said, against his shoulder.

He squeezed her tight, kissing her temple and head, then pulled away to look at her. He wiped the tears with his thumb. “We need to talk.”

Romero closed the door behind him and took her to the sofa in the front room. They sat down, facing each other. Isabel was overwhelmed with relief, but more than anything, filled with a happiness beyond any she’d ever felt. Even with her stupidity, he’d come back to her. But she cautioned herself, she still didn’t know why or what exactly he wanted to talk to her about.

He moved a few strands of hair away from her face and wiped the corners of her eyes. He stared at her for a moment, too serious, and she wished to God, she could see that smug smirk of his again so she’d know everything was okay. His expression went suddenly even more rigid. “I need the truth.” His jaw clenched. “Did you do anything with him?”