We stopped in front of him, standing shoulder to shoulder, watching his fingers fly over the strings. People crowded around us, pushing us closer together. Santi’s hand came up in a protective grip on the back of my neck, keeping me close, but also warding off anyone who tried to get close tome. At least, that was what it felt like.
I couldn’t say I minded. I should’ve. He had no business putting some kind of claim on me. But growly men with big hands and protective natures were my one true weakness. Besides cupcakes. They might have been a tie.
“He’s good,” I said, leaning close so he could hear me.
Santiago turned, tipping his chin down, his nose almost brushing mine. We were closer than I’d thought. “Yeah. He is. I could probably stand here all day, you under my hand, listening to this guy play. Wouldn’t be a hardship.”
I tried to shrug him off, but he laughed at me, keeping his grip firm, so I had to get sassy and show him he wasn’t in control of me. Even though I liked it…a little too much.
“You bein’ my daddy cat, carryin’ me around by my scruff?”
His expression turned horrified. “You really know the right buttons to push. Don’t you, you little fucking devil?”
“I’m not judgin’ your kinks, Santiago. I’d never do that.”
He exhaled through his nose, and while I kept my eyes on the guitarist, his remained on me, drilling into me.
“You were eighteen when we met.”
That had me looking up at him. “I’m well aware.”
“I saw you by that pool, in your polka dot bathing suit, and I was gone. Absolutely wrecked and done in. Couldn’t get you out of my mind, but Mo said you were off limits, and I respected that. Then...in the kitchen, you were eating grapes and looked so pretty. The second I found out how old you were, that you’d just graduated high school...Maeve, I was a twenty-five year old man who’d done nothing but dirty things my whole life. You have to understand why I had to stay away.”
“I felt it too.”
I did understand why he stayed away. He couldn’t have known the eighteen-year-old girl he met had been no innocent flower, although I’d had the part down pat. My true nature was well hidden from everyone except my closest friend and the handful of people who’d seen me drum. I was a rocker down to my bones, even in my pretty dress and headband.
“Felt what?” he asked.
“The pull. The attraction. I felt it.”
He let out a gust of breath, then started walking us away from the crowd, keeping his hand firmly on my neck. He was right; being under his hand like this was no hardship. His rough, warm palms fit my neck like a puzzle piece.
We stopped by a fountain. Water sprayed from the top, and a light wind caused it to mist in our direction. I closed my eyes, letting it hit my face.
“That water’s probably got Hepatitis and shit,” Santiago warned.
I snorted, keeping my eyes shut. “I’m vaccinated. Let me live my life, bad decisions and all.”
“I’d be a bad friend if I didn’t try to save you.”
My eyes fluttered open. “Your version of savin’ me made you a bad friend in the first place. Anyone who says you have to be cruel to be kind is a flapdoodle.”
Santiago reared back. “What the fuck is a flapdoodle?”
“Oh, yeah, that’s Haven’s influence. She knows every name for a dick that has ever been uttered.”
“You’re saying I’m a dick?”
He made me smile and let out a short laugh. “I’m sayin’ you were a dick back then, and you might be a little bit of a dick now. Doesn’t it sound better when I say flapdoodle, though?”
“No. I could go the rest of my life without being called that again.”
“Then you better not hang around Haven. There’s no chance it won’t come out of her mouth.”
His hand moved from the back of my neck to the side, and his thumb rubbed the underside of my jaw. “Guess I’ll have to take the risk.”
“Why?”