Page 77 of Her Wicked Hero

Zed really wanted to stay and listen, so he bent down and pretended he had to tie his shoe. The lady asked if a man named Carlos had been by after Delores had died.

“Don’t speak his name.” His grandmother spit on the ground.

The young woman had started to cry, then so did the baby. The baby who was so important to Zed.

“I need to find Carlos,” the young woman begged. “Hunter needs food.”

Mr. Fuentes grabbed Zed’s hand and practically dragged him to Abuelita’s car, but not before he saw his grandmother give the girl some money and a kiss on the cheek. She also kissed the top of the baby’s head, then made the sign of the cross.

When his grandmother got into the car to take them back to their little house, he asked, “Who were they?”

“Nobody.”

He stared intently at his grandmother’s sad and tired features.

“Can they come live with us?” Zed asked.

“Don’t be silly.” He watched as tears leaked down her face.

When they pulled into their tiny little driveway, he saw Mrs. Robinson standing at their door with a plate of cookies in her hand.

“Look, she brought you cookies,” he exclaimed, hoping his grandmother would feel better.

“You’re such a good boy,” she smiled wearily.

Marcia stretched on the bed, and a sharp wind of possessiveness, protectiveness shot through him. She looked over at him, her eyes wide and luminous. Marcia’s laughter peeled through the room.

“Yes?” he inquired, raising an eyebrow.

She sat up in the bed and laughed even harder. He felt his own lips twitch.

“You totally lost it. You went into total caveman mode.”

He waited.

She crawled off the end of the bed and walked over to him naked as the day she was born.

“Do you know what was even better than that?” she asked softly as she sat down on his lap.

“You loved every minute of it?” he asked drily.

“Well, there is that. But you trusted me.” She did a fist pump. “And I trusted myself enough to go cavegirl.”

“Yes, you did,” he grinned.

They just looked at one another and smiled, realizing they had everything. She kissed the bottom of his jaw.

“So where do we go from here?”

“You can only go back to DC when we know Jefferies doesn’t have you in his sights. That’s not up for negotiation.”

“So, until then?”

“I want to tell you a story.”

15

Marcia got out of the shower and headed to the kitchen. It smelled fantastic.