Page 46 of King of Hearts

“Hormones hitting you pretty hard?” he lightly joked, smoothing his fingers down the length of my hair until it stopped at my breast. The backs of his knuckles grazed my hardened nipples, and I let out a small whimper.

“Yeah.” When had my voice become so breathy?

“Check out my tub—there’s a pretty nice jet system in place that might help out.” He winked, letting my hair go.

My face burned with embarrassment. Of course he wasn’t interested in helping me himself. After that night on my bed, we hadn’t had any more moments where we almost crossed another line. He made sure of that.

“Yeah, okay. Thank you.” I ducked my head, shoving my frizzy hair behind my ears. He still hadn’t moved away from my space, and now, after his comment, it was awkward.

“I’m going to check on things downstairs. Don’t come down wearing that shirt…my guys are down there.” Juan’s jaw clenched as his whiskey gaze moved over my peaked nipples, down to the fabric of the shirt, barely covering my thighs.

“Why does it matter if they see me in this?” I laughed lightly, still feeling the heat of his eyes on me, wishing he’d touch me, hoping he wouldn’t. It would be easier if he kept this distance between us.

“Because I don’t want them to look at you, Taylor. Not fully clothed, not partially clothed, sure as fuck not like this when you look like you were recently fucked. You probably have no idea how you look right now, but over my fucking dead body is anyone else seeing you like this.”

He began to walk out of my space, away from me, and my veins were made of acid now. I stood, watching his muscled back as he bent to grab a pair of sweats.

“Why would you say that to me but refuse to touch me?” I stammered, wishing my voice had come out a little stronger.

He stood, his fingers still wrapped around the band of his lounge pants. “Why would you think I don’t want to touch you?” His eyes stayed on the phone he’d grabbed off the dresser like this conversation was the last thing on his mind.

I crossed my arms over my chest, hating how now that I was standing, I had to pee.

“You just…” What could I say to explain this to him without feeling stupid?

“I’m giving you space. You seemed to want it…or did you forget that night where you pulled away from me without explanation?”

My mouth opened, but before I could respond, someone knocked on the door, just like the night before. I was already over these guys being in the house. Juan gave me a soft smile before ducking his head.

“Gotta go. See you down there.”

Then he was gone, and I was left wondering what in the hell I had done to ruin the chance I had with him.

* * *

The feelingin the house was tense.

When I opened Juan’s bedroom door, there was a man standing guard. I gave him a small smile, but he didn’t return it; he only lowered his face and moved to the side. It served as a reminder that I’d somehow been thrust back into a world similar to the one I came from.

I kept my eyes up and roaming as I descended the stairs. My feet briskly made their way past the living room, where several dead bodies had lain the previous night, until I was treading into the kitchen.

My eyebrows crinkled in confusion as I tried to piece together what was in front of me. A female, short and round with greying curls and deep brown eyes, was dicing green chilies on a cutting board. A taller woman, somewhat close in age but with eyes that matched Juan’s, stood next to her, tossing chopped tortillas into a skillet.

“No me ha dicho nada de ella,” the taller woman said in the same lilted accent that Juan had when he spoke to me in Spanish. The memory of the night before surfaced, the way his lips moved against my ear and the cadence of those haunting words. It felt as though he was confessing something, but I had no idea if that were true. He could have been calling me a massive cow for all I knew, but it felt tender and real.

The women looked up right as I placed my hands on the back of the barstool.

“Hello.” I smiled, trying to be kind. Something told me these women were Juan’s family, or somehow part of all the family that had shown up.

Both women stared at one another, the taller one whispering something to the other under her breath in Spanish.

“Hello, I’m Marie.” The shorter woman wiped her hands on her apron, moving around the island. “Juan’s aunt.”

I shook her hand and tried to relax as her eyes dropped to my belly.

“You’re so big, my goodness…but all belly. The rest of you is so thin.” She held her hands out, a wide smile erupting on her face.

No one had really acted in a positive way about my belly bump except for Juan, so it was different seeing her smile, as if me being all belly was a good thing.

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