I raised both my eyebrows right back at him, clinging onto this, wanting this familiarity. “Are we going to pretend this didn’t happen or…?”

“Oh, I’m not pretendin’ shit, darlin’.”

It was my turn to blink.

And this jerk grinned even wider. “What? I’m not. Want me to lie to you?”

I nodded.

He laughed. “I’m never forgettin’, so….”

“So what you’re saying is we’re doing this?”

“Yeah, because I’m not forgettin’ you used to like me—”

“Oh hell no.” I rolled onto my hip and freaking went for him.

Not for his head but for his ribs. His weak spot.

“What the fuck, Bianca!” Zac literally fucking shouted as he threw his body and head back against the headboard, his arms slamming down into place against his ribs... and my fingers.

I cackled, digging my fingers even deeper into his sides. “You remember now? Who’s your daddy, huh?”

Those big, strong arms jerked up and down along his sides, trying to disengage me as he tried to melt into the headboard to get away from me. “You said you were gonna noogie me! What the hell are you doing? Stop it!”

“Duh. Ouch!”

He instantly stopped moving, and so did I in surprise that he’d actually stopped after his elbow clipped one of the bones on my wrist.

Zac’s face was flushed red, eyes bright, and I decided to take pity on him. So I smiled, keeping my fingers where they were but not digging in anymore. “You thought I didn’t remember?” I asked him before dipping my face in even closer. Then I whispered, like a psycho, “I remember everything.” I tapped my fingers lightly along his sides, feeling him flinch. “Especially you being ticklish.”

Those blue eyes bore into mine, and his mouth went damn near flat. Zac’s voice was almost a whisper too as he said, “Did you ask me who my daddy is?”

I nodded gravely.

His voice was still a whisper when he went on with, “You’re my daddy now, I guess.”

Pulling my fingers away, I sat back on my knees and laughed. “Deal. I promise not to use that against you unless I have to.”

His nostrils flared, and he stared at me right in the eyes as he said, still quietly, “Bianca.”

“Yes?”

“I remember things too.”

What?

Before I could process who this man was, what he did for a living, and what talents he’d polished over the years, he came at me with one of those hands that were lightning fast and accurate. Zac licked the tip of his index finger and shoved that turd into my ear just as I started yelling, “Don’t you dare!”

He dared.

By the time I pushed him away, we were both breathing hard and laughing, and I had to talk myself into looking at my phone to see if I had a response instead of waiting around for it leisurely.

He was eyeing me carefully, probably making sure I wasn’t going to attack again, as I picked up my cell and glanced at it. There wasn’t a single reply from her or Guillermo. And I told him so.

“Stay here then until Connie gets back to you in that case. Yeah?”

“If you don’t mind.”

He picked up the remote, looking me dead in the freaking eye.

“I’m joking! Yeah. Okay. Yes.”

The corners of his mouth curled up even more. So I wasn’t totally expecting when he pulled the comforter and sheets off the bed and slipped under them. And I wasn’t expecting him to lean forward so that his back was curved and shimmy his shoulders. “You can pay me back by scratchin’ my back like Mama Lupe used to.”

He wanted me to…?

Was it a dumb idea?

Nah.

We were adults, and he was asking me because we were friends, and I would just be touching his back. I mean, he had masseuses and trainers who were always rubbing all over him. With his teammates, he was used to being very hands on. It meant nothing to him.

Fine with me.

“I’ll do it for you, if you do it for me,” I tried to bargain.

One blue eye aimed itself at me. “Deal.”

Before I even moved over, he’d tugged his shirt up along his shoulder blades and he was back to shimmying. I grinned to myself before getting up on my knees, right at his hip, and scratching his back, starting right around his trap muscles and working my way down one side, trying to ignore the freckles along his back… and how soft and blemish-free his skin was.

What I couldn’t ignore were his fucking moans though.

And his “Please, right there. Right there.” Then his “That’s incredible.” And a couple “I’d pay you to do this every day.”

I shook my head as I did one more pass from the top of his back all the way to the bottom of it, right where the elastic of his boxer briefs started. And before I could talk myself out of it, I sat flat on my butt, so close to him that my thigh was pressed to his through the comforter, and pulled the pillow back in front of me before shaking my own shoulders. “My turn. I’m ready, old man.”

He paused as he sat up. I held my breath for a second, expecting him to scratch over my shirt. But that wasn’t what happened. Instead, he tugged it up, taking his time to roll it over my shoulders, and in the next breath, his blunt fingernails were there, light and amazing on my skin. Moving from my shoulder blades downward. Taking his time.

I squeezed my arms to my sides to hold my boobs in. It was too good. Way too good.

I only let him get one pass before I sat back, still beside him. “Perfect, thank you.”

I glanced at him over my shoulder. He already had his hands in his lap, those light blue eyes on my face. I scooted over a little bit until we weren’t touching.

All right then.

He yawned, and then so did I.

“I’m gonna keep my phone right here just in case I fall asleep and Con calls, okay?” I asked him, patting the phone I set on my chest as I leaned back against the headboard.

It was maybe only a second later that he asked, “Bianca?”

“Huh?”

“You really thought I was perfect?”

I made a face to myself. “I said pretty much perfect. And that was a long time ago, when I was young and innocent.”

“What was wrong with me back then?”

I snorted and shot him a look. He was smiling. “You really want to do this? Yeah? First of all….”

He was already trying not to crack up.

“There were the girls. You dated just about all of them and broke all of their hearts from what I remember you and Boogie talking about.”

He groaned. “Never mind. I’m good. Forget I asked.”

It was my turn to laugh. “You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

I snorted.

Then after a moment, he said again, “Bianca?”

“Yeah?”

“You really almost married that asshole?”

My ex. “Yup.”

“Why?”

I made a face but didn’t look at him. “I don’t know. Because I liked him. He paid a lot of attention to me for a while, at least up until the end when he lost interest, and I guess I was lonely. He was cute. I don’t know, Snack Pack. I don’t mind being alone, but I hate being lonely. Do you know what I mean? I guess I just wanted someone around. Or at least, someone who would come back. That sounds really ungrateful now that I hear it out loud, because I know how many people love me but have their own lives, and I can’t expect them to make me the center of the world. I hope you get what I mean.”