“Go!” She pointed to the front door. “You don’t have to explain yourself. I don’t mind guessing, Hector. Just leave.”

He took her hand, and she tried pulling it away, but he held it tight. “Listen to me.”

“No!” She was crying now, and it killed him, but he wouldn’t let go of her hand even when she continued to try to free herself from him. “I don’t even wanna hear it anymore. Just leave. I don’t want you here!”

“Charlee,” he tried, speaking calmly in order to calm her, but she was really crying now. “Listen to me, baby,” he said as he backed her up to the wall, pressing his body against hers, trying to pin her down so he could talk to her—explain. But she kept squirming and fighting to get away from him. “I think I love you.”

His words silenced her, and she stopped moving, staring at him as she continued to breathe harshly. He kissed the tears that continued to drip down the side of her cheek.

“I don’t understand,” she whispered, searching his eyes for answers.

Finally letting go of her hand, he cradled her face in his hands now. “I didn’t even realize it until a few minutes ago,” he wiped the corners of her wet eyes with his thumbs. “But I think I’m love with you, Charlee, and if that’s the case, I don’t know if I can handle doing this and you changing your mind later.”

She shook her head, her questioning eyes still searching his. “Why would I change my mind?”

“Sweetheart, you’ve never been with anyone else. How do you know for sure this is it for you?”

“I don’t? Do you?”

He stared at her for a moment, feeling a little disappointed. Secretly he’d hoped she’d say she was, but her throwing it back in his face made him think. Was he?

“I don’t know. All I know is if this happens—if we do this—I won’t be able to handle it if you do.”

She brought her hand up to his face and caressed it. For the first time since she’d become so upset, she smiled. “I think that’s the chance everyone takes when they give into their hearts. I don’t think I’d be able to handle it either if you changed your mind.” She glanced away, giving way to that timid smile he knew he was in love with now. “I think we just got a little taste of how I’d handle it if you did.” She kissed him softly, and he kissed her back, wrapping his arms around her waist. “I’d still be willing to chance it if you are.”

Squeezing her even tighter, he buried his face in her neck, breathing her in. He loved the way she smelled, loved the way her small frame fit so perfectly against his body.

“I can promise you one thing,” she whispered in his ear as she ran her hands through his hair. She had his attention, and he pulled away to look at her. He sensed a little hesitation before she spoke again, and there was a hint of insecurity in her eyes. “Unless I’m way off, and I have been in the past, unless you are this talented of an actor and the sincerity I’m feeling when you speak of your feelings for me—this trust that you’ve talked about taking so seriously isn’t all real—then I promise you that can’t imagine anything making me change my mind about you.”

Seeing the insecurity in her eyes gave him a little hope that he wasn’t alone in just how damn scared this made him. His brother may be older and wiser, but when it came to love, he was just as inexperienced as Hector. This wasn’t something you just decided you were going to do. It was something that happened, and there was nothing in your power to stop it.

“I love you,” he whispered, and she smiled, her big blue eyes immediately flooding with tears.

“This is crazy, but I love you too.”

His heart pounded away with fear, excitement, and now exhilaration of knowing she was in love with him too. Picking her up like he had yesterday, he kissed her deeply. With both her arms and legs wrapped around him now, he started toward the sofa, but she pulled away and pointed. “My bedroom is that way.”

God help him. This was really going to happen. Screw the fear. Hurrying toward her bedroom, he kissed her madly. He’d deal with his fears later. There was no choice now. Either he learned to handle what Abel thought and what Hector had begun to believe that he couldn’t handle, or he walked away, and he wouldn’t even consider that now.

Laying her down gently on the bed, he scooted onto it with her. Their lips never once parted even as he lifted his body over hers. Continuing to kiss her, he stopped every now and then to stare at her lips. He loved how red and swollen they were. The fact that he was responsible for how damn sexy they looked now drove him nuts.

Bringing her arms up above her head like he’d pinned her down earlier in the front room, he laced his fingers through hers, staring into her eyes. He leaned in and slowly began to kiss her freckles like he’d imagined doing when he first noticed them. He started on her forehead, kissing each freckle softly, and then he worked his way down her temple.

Rubbing himself against her leg, he wanted her to feel just how aroused doing just this made him. She squirmed in reaction to feeling him, and he began to sway his body very slowly against her like he’d begun to earlier but had stopped. Only now, he didn’t stop, and she swayed with him, spreading her legs a bit. Knowing if he adjusted himself just slightly he could be rubbing up against the very spot that would drive them both crazy, he didn’t. He wanted to—needed to—take this as slowly as possible. This may be the first time for her ever, but it was a first for him as well, and he wanted to savor every moment. Savoring it drowned out the enormous fear he’d begun to feel earlier about making love for the very first time, putting his heart out there as he never had before.