Page 26 of Hot Shot

He nods approvingly. “¿Como esta?”

“Muy bien.”

“Mi nombre es Marco. ¿Como te llamas?”

“Carrie?”

He chuckles at my question. “Sí. Tu nombre es Carrie.”He pauses. “¿Quieres joder?”

I blink at him. “No entiendo.”

“Bueno.”

I frown. “Why is that bueno?”

He shakes his head. “I was being a jerk. I asked if you wanted to fuck.”

My eyes fly open. Then I say, “Say it again.”

“Why?”

“In case I want to say it to someone.”

A muscle twitches in his jaw. “¿Quieres joder?”he says through gritted teeth.

I repeat it with a smile.

“You want to learn Spanish so you can pick up men?” he demands. “Or so you can go to a store and ask how much something costs?”

I bite back a smile. “Both.”

“¿Cuánto cuesta este?”

I repeat the phrase.

“How high can you count in Spanish?”

“Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco. . .”I get to sixteen before I flounder.

“Dieciséis, diecisiete. . .”Together we count to a hundred, pausing a few times for him to make me repeat some words, patiently correcting my pronunciation.

Shit. His Spanish accent is turning me on. Sayingnumbers,for the love of ghosts.

We go over some common phrases that I might find helpful in day-to-day situations, but I’m not sure I’ll actually remember them. “Maybe I should get a book.” I tap my bottom lip. “One of those phrase books for travelers.”

“Just get the app on your phone. We can practice your pronunciation. Maybe even a little grammar.” He grimaces. “Although I suck at grammar.”

I tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear. “How is it that you speak Spanish?”

“One night I drank so much tequila I woke up the next morning speaking Spanish.”

He says it with such a straight face it takes a few seconds for me to burst out laughing. “Oh my God.”

His lips twitch.

“Did your parents speak it when you were growing up?”

“Yeah.” The corners of his mouth and eyes tighten. “They came here from Mexico. My sister and I were born here, but we grew up pretty much bilingual. We spoke English at school and out in the world, but at home we were surrounded by Spanish.”

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