Page 19 of Red Queen
“Buenos días, cariño.” A deep, raspy morning voice spiced with the hottest accent fills my ears, and my cheeks turn red instantly. Well, there goes me being mysterious. I slowly open my eyes, and I see his sleepy eyes already locking onto mine. “How did you sleep? How are you feeling?”
“Did we have sex?”
He bursts out laughing at my question. I don’t know what’s so funny, asshole. I just want to know if I should bury myself right away, or I should be relieved.
“Are you sore?” Why do people have to answer a question with a question?
“No,” I answer simply.
“There’s your answer.” I furrow my eyebrows at his nonchalant response.
“What the hell does that mean?” I ask with a slightly raised voice. I lift my hand from his chest to punctuate my annoyance, but with a gentle grab, he pulls it right back to where it was.
“You’d be sore if we were together, Rosa. You’ll remember every single thing when I have my way with you.” He puts his hand back on my waist, resuming the soothing circles he started before I made a complete idiot of myself. “Nothing happened, I promise. You were…under an influence, and Nathan and I brought you here. Then you puked, and you went to shower, and you kissed me, and I kissed you back. But nothing else happened.”
Okay, so we’re back to burying myself into the core of Earth, cause I’d be damned if this wasn’t the most embarrassing thing to hear. “Was I…flirty?”
“Very. Oh, and you shoved your breasts in my face. You should do that again, sometime, when you feel like it.”
“Excuse me.” He chuckles and tightens his hold around me when I try to get up.
“Where are you planning to go?”
“To the toilet. I’ll try to flush myself down to Diagon Alley, buy a wand, come back, and obliviate all your memories from last night.” He bursts out laughing again. He’s laughing at me for the second time this morning. I don’t like it.
“Please don’t. I don’t want to forget about those perfect tits ever.”
“What? These tiny balloons?” I snort. “Please. You don’t have to suck up to me.”
“Oh, I would gladly do that. And don’t talk about your balloons that way. They’re the perfect size.” I can’t take it anymore. My face is burning from embarrassment. I duck my head into the blanket and try to suppress the sound of Mateo’s laugh, cause again, he’s laughing at me.
“Would you please stop laughing at me? It’s not funny. I’m an adult, and last night I acted like a horny teenager.” His laugh only turns louder after I say this, and I feel a lump forming in my throat. Yes, I’m an adult, but I still can’t take it when people are openly laughing about my embarrassment.
He gently lifts my head, and his smile drops when he sees the tears swelling in my eyes. Am I ovulating or what the hell? Am I really about to cry over this ridiculous thing?
“I’m sorry.” He starts stroking my cheeks in a soothing way, and the lump slowly dies down. “Look, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. You are very desirable, Rosa. I found all of those things you did hot and sexy, not at all cringeworthy or humiliating. I was contemplating taking you to the bedroom a lot of times.”
“But you didn’t.” I try to look down, but he’s not letting my head fall.
“Let me finish. I only rejected you because I want you to be sober when you’re saying yes to me. I want you to fully feel what I’m doing to you, and what you’re doing to me, and that you actually like it.” He smiles so sweetly at me, and my heart turns into a puddle. There are really men out there like this nowadays?
“Okay. Thank you.” He nods, and I smile back at him. I am genuinely grateful. He didn’t take advantage of my state, and he still found me hot, even when I was puking into a damn bowl. Now that’s what I call a superpower.
“Good. Now, I’m gonna take a shower, but wait for me here, okay? Don’t sneak out. I’ll cook something for us. If Nathan has anything in the fridge, that is.”
I chuckle and respond with an okay. I was thinking of sneaking out after this absolutely mortifying conversation, but I changed my mind. I’ll give it a chance, see if this will lead anywhere. Into his pants, hopefully.
After he closes the bathroom door and starts running the water, I immediately search for my phone. I have to call Lana and announce who I shared a bed with, and if she thinks I should grab my stuff and leave as soon as I can or not. And also, I should check on Nathan too. I’m getting concerned about him. We slept in his house, and he did not come home. I hope he’s okay.
After I find my phone under the bed, I check if there’s anything urgent. I see missed calls and unread messages from a lot of people. I see Ivy’s worried messages, so I decide to call her first.
“Hey, Ivy, it’s me, Rosa.” I did an awful thing last night, and I really hope she will forgive me. She told us we can drink and have fun, that she’ll take it from there, but I crossed the line.
“Rosa! Oh, thank god. You’re alive. How are you?” She sounds relieved.
“Well, aside from a headache, I’m okay. I just feel bad about what I did. You gave us the go-ahead to have fun, but I drank toomuch. This was a mistake on my end, so I’m sorry if I messed up the night and let you down.” It’s quiet on the other end of the line for a while. I’m about to ask if she’s still there, but then I hear her voice.
“I gave you the go-ahead to have fun because all of you worked your ass off for days, weeks, and months beforehand. After midnight, I was good with less staff, because everything was settled. There’s nothing to be sorry for, I’m just glad you’re okay.” She’s too forgiving. She treated me like a long-lost friend when I first arrived two weeks ago.
