His eyes narrowed, not understanding. Then he saw her expression change slightly. “I’m just saying it’s not all Sydney, Angel. I don’t know for sure what’s gonna happen with my mom. She may be out by then.”

The last thing Angel wanted was to talk about her mom. As selfish as it felt he didn’t want anything to ruin the night. Not this night. He kissed her softly. “Let’s not worry about that now, okay?”

He ran his hands all over her naked body, and closed his eyes inhaling deeply. Having her this close with absolutely nothing in between them drove him nuts. He was ready again.

He kissed her harder this time, wanting to swallow her. As much as he wanted to make love to her again and again he knew she was sore, and he wasn’t about hurt her. That’s not how he wanted her to remember their first time.

But he made good on his promise to make it up to her. After catching his breath, he worked his way all the way down her. Feeling her tremble as he kissed the inside of her thigh made him smile. Oh, she wouldn’t be forgetting this night. He’d make sure of that.

*

Valerie drove Sarah to the mall. They were all going out for Angel’s birthday later that evening. Sarah was picking up her gift to him and Valerie wanted to buy a new outfit. Alex was going to be there so of course she was hoping to make him drool.

Sarah was nervous about her gift. The bracelet Angel had given her was so special she wanted her gift to be just as special. Angel wasn’t one for flashy jewelry but she felt this called for some kind of jewel. She’d picked out a simple silver chain and had it engraved. Forever Yours, Sarah.

Sarah was his, in every way now. She wanted something that would remind him of that every day, especially when she went back to Arizona. It had been over two weeks since she’d given herself to him for the first time. Ever since then they’d done it every chance they got. It got more enjoyable every time. Just thinking about it made her warm.

Both she and Valerie examined the chain when the clerk handed it to Sarah over the counter.

“Hey, that’s real nice.” Valerie said.

Sarah crinkled her nose. “You think so? It’s not too cheesy?”

“No, not at all.” Valerie traced the engraving. “Oh, he’ll love that.”

Valerie walked out to answer her phone and Sarah finished paying for the chain. By the time she was out of the shop, she caught the tail end of Valerie’s conversation and knew she was talking to Alex. She turned to face Sarah.

“What’s that smile about?” Sarah teased.

They walked slowly through the mall.

Valerie shrugged. “He’s funny, but I don’t know. I hate getting my hopes up.”

“What did he want?”

“To know if I’m going tonight.”

Sarah was surprised. She knew Alex was still calling Valerie but she didn’t expect him to still be trying to see her. “Is he?”

“Yeah, he said he was hoping he’d see me there. He wants to talk to me.”

“Well, that’s good. Right? “ Sarah frowned, thinking of how she’d egged Valerie on before and how it had come back to bite her. She was doing it again.

“Not really. I told him I’ve been talking to Reggie again. I didn’t lie. He really has been calling and texting me lately. He asked if I was going back to him and I told him I wasn’t sure. That was a lie.” Valerie’s face soured. “I don’t want a boyfriend. Especially not feeling the way I do about Alex. I think he’s just being a Moreno. The whole Reggie thing struck a nerve, I’m sure.”

“You still have feelings for him?” Sarah couldn’t figure Valerie out. She thought she got over guys so easily. But Alex had made her cry pretty bad.

Valerie’s expression said it all and Sarah felt for her. “I was doing fine until he started calling again. If I see him tonight I know it’s gonna be even worse.”

Sarah stopped herself before saying something too hopeful. She wasn’t going there again. “Well, no sense in worrying about it now. Just play it by ear.”

They finished up their shopping and were headed home in the car. Valerie stopped talking about Alex and Sarah didn’t want to bring it up again. She was flipping through a Cosmo when she got a text from Sofia that almost stopped her heart.

OMG Romero walked in on me and Eric! Can you talk?

Sarah bolted upright and hit the send button. Sofia answered on the first ring.

“What happened?”

“I went over to pick up a DVD I wanted to borrow.” She giggled “Hold on.”

Sarah waited stunned. For the life of her, Sarah could not figure out how Sofia could find anything about this whole situation humorous. From the first time Sofia had mentioned Eric kissing her, she could hardly contain herself. Ever since, much to Sarah’s horror, she’d filled her in on every stolen moment her and Eric had. Each one got heavier than the last. Her heart was racing, and Sofia was giggling!

She heard a door close then Sofia’s voice again. “Okay, I came outside, Angel just got home. Anyway, Eric was home alone but had just gotten out of the shower. He only had a towel on and we started making out.” She lowered her voice “Sarah, his towel came off and I saw everything!”

Sarah was going to need smelling salts soon. She fanned herself with the magazine.

Valerie glanced at her, “You want the air on?”

Sarah shook her head, “Then what?”

“I turned away. He felt really bad, kept apologizing and asking if I was okay. I was. It just really took me by surprise. But it was exciting.” She giggled again, unnerving Sarah to no end. “Then we heard a knock on the door. Romero didn’t even wait. He came right in. I grabbed a DVD off the shelf and ran out of there.”