Please, someone tell me, just… plain… no.

Ren’s eyes scanned the room, coasting across Blanca with a quick, “Mornin’,” and then coming to a halt on me. His face gentled and without hesitation he walked to me, smiling.

“Sadie,” he said softly.

“Ren,” I replied.

To my shock (because he’d never done it before, not once), his arm slid around my waist and he pulled me to his body in a hug. After he was done with the hug, his arm loosened but didn’t let go. I arched back over it, hands on his chest and looked up at him.

Eyes on my face, he murmured, “Beautiful as ever.”

Oh my God.

He’d never done that before either! What was that all about?

I searched for the Ice Princess.

The Ice Princess never much liked coming out around Ren (although, of course, she did) but this time she flatly refused.

That was why New Sadie asked, “Are you well?”

“Yeah,” he returned.

I smiled at him. “Good.”

His gaze dropped to my mouth then his lips formed a grin. “Jesus, Sadie, never seen you smile,” he remarked.

I cocked my head in confusion. “I’m sure you have,” I replied.

His eyes moved back to mine. “Trust me, I would have remembered.”

It was then I felt the electric current snapping through the room right before I heard Hector, his voice not happy, saying in the form of a question but meaning it in the form of a demand, “Zano, you wanna step back?”

I realized Ren still had an arm around me right before he dropped it and stepped back.

Both Ren and I looked across the room.

Hector was standing, feet planted, arms crossed, eyes dark and looking beyond unhappy. So beyond unhappy, he looked downright angry.

No, one could say he’d gone right past downright unhappy to pretty extreme fury.

Blanca had a similar expression and she was holding a wooden spoon, a wooden spoon I thought she had a mind to use for something other than cooking.

“Chavez, you know Sadie’s a friend,” Ren told Hector in a low, placating tone.

“Yeah, but now she’s a friend you don’t put your hands on,” Hector replied.

Oh my.

Why was he being so rude? This was Ren Zano we were talking about! Ren was a very nice man. There was no reason to be rude.

“Hector –” I started and Hector’s eyes cut to me. The minute I saw the look in them, for self-preservation’s sake I snapped my mouth shut.

“Coffee and we finish our talk in the other room,” Hector told Ren.

“I’ll get the coffee,” I offered quickly and jumped to get Ren’s coffee, needing something to do to keep my mind off the look in Hector’s eyes. I asked Ren’s coffee preference, hurried through the preparation and handed him his mug. He smiled his thanks, nodded to a still-frowning, closely-watching Blanca and walked from the room.

Then I gave Hector his mug, got scorched by a Hector glare that made my lungs burn and he walked from the room too.

I picked up my own mug and tried to stop my hands from shaking and my heart from racing. I took a sip and realized I also had to stop breathing so heavily. I was panting like I’d just run a race.

That’s when I noticed Blanca’s eyes were on me.

“I think I made Hector mad,” I blurted before I thought better of it.

Something flashed across her face, it looked like anger, warring with confusion, warring with compassion then she asked, “You think?”

“I…” I started, stopped and walked the five steps to Blanca. “What did I do?” I finished on a whisper.

I watched her face soften as compassion won and she put a hand on my arm. “My Hector, he’s a little hotheaded. You have to handle that boy with care. Queridita, first lesson, you don’t let a man touch you, ever. If Hector’s there to see it or he’s not. But especially if he’s there to see it. Sí?”

The light dawned. I might be fledgling New Sadie in my head but in his head, I was His Sadie. Period, dot, the end.

I nodded to Blanca.

She patted my arm and went back to cooking. I grabbed my mug and went back to sipping, finding I was so uncomfortable with the idea of making Hector angry at me that it made my heart hurt.

Ren materialized at the door and jutted his chin at me. “Sadie, I’m leaving.”

I decided my safest bet was to stay all the way across the room from him and this was exactly what I did.

“Bye, Ren,” I said on a wave.

Ren grinned at me like he thought I was funny, his eyes moved to Blanca and he said his good-byes. Then he was gone and Hector was in the doorframe, his gaze was still scorching and it was on me.

“Mamita, a word.”

It was not a request and he didn’t wait for my response, he turned and moved away as I heard the front door open and close behind Ren.

I stood frozen to the spot. Then my eyes flew to Blanca.

She gave me a reassuring wink (which didn’t reassure me) and gestured to the door with her spoon.

I pulled in my lips, put down my mug, took a deep breath and searched for Hector who was not in the living room, not in the cluttered other rooms but upstairs, in his bedroom. He was waiting at the door and the minute I cleared it, he threw it to.

Blooming heck!

He opened his mouth but before he could say a word, I launched in.

“He’s never touched me before. I swear it. It weirded me out!” I cried. “Honest to God, I wouldn’t even call him a friend. More an acquaintance. The Ice Princess always protected me from people getting near. When he hugged me, I tried to call her up but she was just gone. She keeps disappearing these days. Even when I need her. I’m used to having her around. I know you cannot imagine but, Hector, believe me, it’s beyond annoying.”

I stopped talking when I noticed that he’d stopped looking angry. Instead, his eyes had warmed and his mouth was doing the fighting-a-grin thing.

I replayed what I said, my hands clenched into fists, my eyes closed tight as my body went stock-still and waves of embarrassment flowed over me.

I’d done it. Now he knew everything.

How did I let that happen?

He was going to think I was absolutely, certifiably, insane.

Then I found myself snatched into strong arms, my soft body colliding with his hard one and his face went into my neck. I opened my eyes as he turned me and started walking me backward toward the bed his arms still locked around me.

Well, maybe he didn’t think I was certifiably insane. But I was beginning to think he was.