Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries) (35 page)

"We've had
d
a very s
h
cary evenin
k
. Alcohol w
as
definitely
necsheshary
," said Lily
as she
hiccupped
.
She looked at him and sighed. “Prinshe of schecsky darknes
h
,” she slurred
,
smiling
goofily at him.

Solomon looked at me. “What did she say?”

“I have no idea.”

Lily turned away and
waved her fingers at the barman she had been eyeing
during the past three drinks
. She
pointed to her
glass
, making a
“
one more
”
sign. "Ex
sh
c
oozh
e me. Bash
room,
"
she said to us before knocking
back her drink and walked shakily to the bathrooms at the rear, her skirt swinging
cutely
around her knees.

"She's going to have a terrific hangover," said Solomon. "What was so scary about this evening that you needed to drain the bar?"

"Someone left
roses
on my car, except all the heads
were
cut off. Then Lily thought there was a murderer hiding in the car so we had to get out. And then..." I'm ashamed to say I did some kind of crazy arm wa
ving move.
"
…
And then
she pretended to get pulled into the trunk
,
and I thought she was being murdered and
needed
rescuing
. You can't tell anyone!"
I slammed to a stop.

Solomon considered that
as if I had told him something completely normal
.
"Why would your friend think there was a murderer in the car?"

I thought about Martin Dean
with the bullet
hole
between his eyes,
and his girlfriend with
the one
in her chest. "It seemed plausible at the time."

"Fair enough."

"You can't tell Maddox."

"We're not drinking buddies."

"Good job. Two smokin' hot guys
sitting
together would cause
most of the female population of
Montgomery to wilt."

"Smokin' hot, hmmm?" Solomon paid the bartender and took a long sip of his beer, his eyes closing momentarily. Smokin' sexy, I thought,
watching him,
but somehow kept my mouth shut. Alcohol had an
embarrassing
effect on me. It made me too talkative and too prepared to do things I would love to
do
,
but regret later. It had
no effect on Lily whatsoever
,
other than making her silly and moon
e
y
ed
.

"I won't remember I said it in the morning."

Solomon smiled.

"Why don't you like Maddox?" I asked
, resting my elbow on the bar, my chin in my hand
.
I tried,
but
failed, to
stop myself from
gaz
ing
at him.

"I didn't say I didn't like him."

"But you're not drinking buddies."

"That's right."

"Why are you leaving the you
-
know
-
whos?"

"The FBI?"

"Are you allowed to say that?"

He leaned in, his mouth close to my ear and I held my breath. "Yes," he said, his breath tickling the hair resting at the nape of my neck. "I like this
top
," he said. "Very feminine."

I
gulped and
ignored
his comment,
for fear of jumping him. He shouldn't make my heart
race
fast like that.
He shouldn’t look so good. Why did fate have to curse me with two of the sexiest men I had ever seen
at the same time
?
"So, why are you leaving?"
I
asked, moving onto safe
r
ground as the
“B
londie
”
comment popped into my head.

"I feel like a change."

"I feel like a change too. I hate temping."

"Do you have plans
to do
something different?"

"No." That was always the fatal flaw in my plan. I had no idea what I wanted to do. Not in college, not in the years after.

"How come you're not a cop?"
Solomon asked, surprising me
.
T
hen
he added
, “I read your file.”

Of course he had.

"I d
id
n't like the
uniform
."

Solomon laughed and I
grinned
, thinking
how lovely
his eyes were when he smiled. They crinkled slightly at the edges, enough that I thought he was older than
I
, but not so much that fancying him was icky.
“So, I’m here to rescue you.”
He took another sip.
"How do you know I'm not going to take advantage of you tonight?"

"How do you know I wouldn't let you?" Oops. That just slipped out.
A squeak tried to
emerge from
my throat
,
but I
stifled it
and attempted to appear
nonchalant. It would have been
much
easier four vodkas ago.

Solomon did that sexy half smile thing again, like he was
having
really dirty thoughts. I felt heat flush through me. My
intoxication
shut
-
off point was approximately two drinks ago
,
and I
couldn’t be
sure if I w
ere
being sexy or just a lush as I met his eyes. I waited for Solomon to offer to undress me and do wicked things to my body
,
but instead
,
he sipped his drink, contemplating me. Finally, he said, "What's going on with you and Maddox?"

"
John
Solomon
, gossip," I laughed. "Who knew?
”

He waited silently and I shifted uncomfortably on the stool.

"Nothing's going on," I said. At least
,
as far as I knew
,
nothing was going on.
So Maddox had
stayed over a couple of times,
politely
taking the
couch like a decent man
. He brought me dinner and made me breakfast
,
but the
“
date
”
word had only just reared its pretty head
and
wasn’t set in stone
. So far as I knew, there was some kissing, and a lot of interest, but nothing that could possibly indicate any kind of girlfriend/boyfriend
exclusiv
ity
or any
promise
that there would be some
.

I did like Maddox a whole lot more now
that
I knew his secret side, but it wasn't just the undercover thing
that excited me
, and
which I found very
sexy. I felt like I knew Maddox a little bit. Not his favorite color, or his favorite baseball team, but I knew he was kind and caring and
not
afraid of bad guys with guns. I knew he had
Garrett
's respect
, which
counted for a lot because it meant he could probably survive my family.

I wasn’t totally sure that he wasn’t just being nice to me so that I would help him on the case.

"Do you want something to go on?"
asked Solomon, appraising me with his dark eyes.

Now there was a question.
Did I want that
? O
r was it lust?
"I don't know. Maybe.”

"Do you want something
to go
on between you
and me
?"

Oh boy.
"I don't know. Maybe,
"
I said, before
considering
it.

Solomon arched an eyebrow.

"Not tonight though. I'm too drunk and I'd rather remember." I do
n’
t know where that came from.

"You wouldn't forget."

Oh! Boy!

Lily took that moment to stumble back, hopping onto her stool and gripping the bar for stability. "I feel less drunk," she said,
slowly and decisively, following it up with
another
hiccup. Somehow, between going to the bathroom and
returning to our table
, her top had opened a couple of buttons and her face was flushed. Plus
,
the barman seemed to be wearing her lipstick.
I resolved to never use the bathroom here.

Solomon shook his head
, h
is eyes twinkl
ing
with amusement.
"C'mon. I'll take you two home."