Page 48 of Blood & Lace
I glared. "Don't push it."
Lucero moved closer until his fingers brushed the fabric of my robe. His fingers brushing against my thigh made tinglescover my body. As he touched me, however, I felt like I was going to slip and end up landing on his dick.
"I'm still mad at you," I muttered as I drank my tea.
"I know," he said. "I tried to get out of work, but I missed so much that it took me forever to make up for it. I tried to tell them…" he muttered.
"I don't care. You didn't even bother to text me. I sat up until one a.m. and you didn't come in until after four."
Lucero frowned, but bit his lip. "So you were still waiting for me to come home?"
I blinked at him. "That's it. Get out of my face."
"No!"
Lucero grabbed me before I could get past him and plopped me onto the counter. Tea sloshed and hit my robe.
"Hey!"
"I'll make it up to you," Lucero panted. "I know what you like. Everything that you like." His hand wandered between my thighs.
"Hey!" I smacked his hand away. "You can't just try to get in my panties because you want to apologize."
"Why not?"
I stared and stammered over my words. "That's not how life works!"
"Why not?"
Oh. My. God. He was endlessly frustrating. I wasn't sure how I hadn't killed him yet, but he was getting me closer and closer to doing just that. When I opened my mouth to protest, he pressed his lips against mine. Heat flooded me, my body tensing. Slowly, he pulled back and when he gazed at me, I panted. There was a little smile on his lips as my heart was tripping and pacing.
I slapped him.
"Don't think you can just do whatever you want," I snapped.
Lucero held his cheek, even though I knew my slap had hurt nothing except maybe his feelings. I jumped off the counter, and pushed him out of my way. I quickly drank a huge mouthful of tea to wash the kiss away.
"I shouldn't have done that," Lucero muttered.
"No, you shouldn't have." I stopped as I stood in the entryway of the kitchen. He stared at the floor, a frown still on his face as he rubbed his cheek. "Sorry, I shouldn't have hit you. I panicked," I admitted.
"It was my fault. Won't happen again."
My stomach tightened. Ugh, what was it about him? Whenever I hurt his feelings I actually felt a little… off. Even if that's what I should have been doing from the start. The more I pushed him away, the less he smiled. The more I got to him, the faster he would leave me alone and let me go back to my quiet life. It was what needed to be done.
So why was it so hard sometimes?
I went back to my room. Facing Lucero would have to wait until later. Right now, my body felt heavy, and I wanted to drag myself back into bed and forget about everything else.
******************
When I woke up for the second time, I groaned. Something had ripped me out of the sweet release of sleep and I couldn't figure out what it was. Blinking, I heard it again. Thumping, dishes moving, and music. Lucero was obviously in my kitchen, probably cooking lunch or dinner. I checked my phone on the nightstand. Dinner. I slept for a long time.
Swinging my legs over the side of the bed, I groaned and stood up. I walked out of the room swiftly, the robe swishing around my body as I stalked toward the source of the sound.
"Hey, can you quiet down? I'm trying to?—"
I froze. Standing in my kitchen, with a wooden spoon in her hand, was Lucero's mother. She smiled at me, wrinkles aroundthe outside of her eyes crinkling as she waved me forward. I turned and ran.
