Rock Chick 02 Rescue (10 page)

“I’l give you five hundred dol ars to get back into bed.” My mouth dropped open and I didn’t say a word. There were no words to say.

“I’m absolutely serious. You get in bed and I’l give you five hundred dol ars. I’l go back to work. You rest, eat whatever’s in my fridge, watch TV, I don’t give a fuck. But you’re not going to work today. You’re not doing anything today.”

I could not believe my ears, mainly because it was unbelievable.

“I’m not taking your money and I’m not resting, I have things to do.”

“What things?”

“Things! Al right? Now back off.”

I put my hands to his chest and gave a shove.

He didn’t move.

Wonderful.

Wonderful.

I put my hands to my hips and glared at him.

“I have to go home.”

He didn’t move, didn’t speak, didn’t anything, just stared down at me with a set look.

I closed my eyes and took a mental breath.

“Do you know what I do for a living?” he asked.

I opened my eyes again so I could blink in confusion.

“Yeah. You’re a cop,” I answered.

“I’m a detective.”

“Okay,” I said. I didn’t know what else to say.

“Jet, my job is to put two and two together and make four.”

“And?” I asked, not knowing what he was on about and thinking this was a strange turn in the conversation.

His eyes got warm, his hand came up and he tucked some hair behind my ear. When he was done doing that, his hand curled around the side of my neck.

“I just made four,” he said quietly.

I couldn’t get caught up in Eddie, his warm, dark eyes, his quiet voice or the fact that he’d just figured me out. I’d think about it later. My life was in turmoil, I needed to focus and I couldn’t focus around Eddie. It was impossible.

“Eddie, I need to get home,” I told him in a voice that said I meant it.

He looked at me for a beat. Then his thumb came away from my neck and stroked my cheek and he said, “I’l take you home.”

He walked across the room, grabbed my shoes and brought them to me. I sat back down on the bed and silently brought them to me. I sat back down on the bed and silently put them on. I snagged my purse from the floor. Eddie walked me out the backdoor, helped me into his truck and took me home.

(Even if I had the money)

I saw the wrecker hooking up to my car when Eddie drove into the parking lot at my apartment building. Eddie saw it too.

I jumped down from the truck, wincing as my stil angry feet protested and looked at the wrecker. Eddie walked around to my side of the truck, his eyes on the wrecker.

Smithie’s friend was doing the tow, looking like he was wearing the same pair of filthy blue coveral s as yesterday.

He saw me and gave a smal wave. I waved back.

“You know him?” Eddie asked.

“That’s my car. I’m having slight car problems.” Eddie’s eyes moved to me. “Slight car problems require a jump. Serious car problems require a tow,” he said.

I shrugged. I wasn’t going to argue about it. I’d probably lose mainly because he was right and I was trying not to think about what serious car problems would mean.

I walked to the building and turned to stop at the front door. “Thanks for bringing me home,” I said to Eddie, making it clear that the front door was as far as he was going to go.

He looked at the doors, then at me, then his mouth turned up a little at the corners and he shook his head.

“Just Jet, my ass,” he muttered.

“What?” I asked.

“Nothin’.”

I heard him. I wasn’t going to argue about that either. It wasn’t as if I got held at knifepoint and was in bar brawls every day but I wasn’t going to point that out. Not a lot of girls would go out of their way to defend how boring they real y were, especial y not to guys like Eddie. Anyway, I’d gone that route and I didn’t win that battle either.

He took his wal et out of his back pocket and held a card out to me, putting the wal et back in his pocket.

“You need a lift, you cal me,” he said.

I didn’t take the card.

“I’l be okay.”

“Jet.”

“Seriously. I’l be okay.”

Al of a sudden, he took three steps forward, backing me into the corner of the overhang that shielded the front doors.

My back hit the wal , I stopped and Eddie came in close.

I looked up at him to protest and kept my silence when I saw his eyes al pissed off glittery.

“Someone offers to do something nice for you, you take

‘em up on it.”

“I’l be okay,” I repeated, kinda angry myself then too.

“I think it’s pretty clear you won’t be okay. You’re workin’

two jobs; one of them isn’t safe. You don’t have time to sleep. You don’t have a car. You’re taking care of your Mom who isn’t wel . Your Dad blows into town, cleans out your bank account and makes you the target of a thug. That’s not okay.”

“It’l get better,” I told him.

“When?”

“I don’t know but I have to believe that because if I don’t…”

Damn!

Tears started to fil my eyes; I bit my lip and turned my face away. Now was
not
the time to lose my cool. Not in front of Eddie.

“I have to go in,” I said and I did. I had to get away from him.

There was no getting away from him because his arms went around me and he drew me into his body.

I looked up at him, surprised, and saw his eyes had gone liquid.

My body tensed when it came into contact with his from our chests down our bel ies to our hips. Electricity shot through me, I tried to pul away, but one of his arms slid up my back, holding me in position while his head came down and he kissed me.

It was the worst kiss in the history of the world. I could not believe he was kissing me. Hot, handsome Eddie Chavez kissing me, plain, boring Henrietta Louise McAlister. It freaked me out; I went al stiff and this was not a good combination.

His head came up and he looked down at me.

I felt the heat in my face.

Such a bad kiss was humiliating and I knew it was al my fault. I would have been happy to be running from a charging elephant. Dancing around in a g-string at Smithie’s. Anywhere but there.

He didn’t say anything, he was just watching me and I started to squirm to get away but he held on tight.

“Let’s try that again,” he murmured.

“No, I don’t—” I started to say and then his mouth was on mine.

Since I was talking when his lips connected with mine, my mouth was open and, right away, his tongue slid inside.

Dear Lord.

The instant his tongue touched mine, my stomach curled, my bones turned to water and I melted into him. My arms went around his neck, my fingers slid into his hair, I tilted my head to the side and that was it.

His hands went under my camisole, I could feel them sliding across the skin of my back and it made me shiver. I pressed deeper into him, kept one of my hands in his hair and tucked another one under his arm, pul ing his t-shirt free of his jeans and then I slid it across the skin at his back. His warm skin felt yummy. In fact, the kiss was pure
yum
and I wanted it to go on forever.

“Jeez, Jet, get a room.”

I jumped and pul ed back; Eddie’s arms went slack (though not
that
slack, he didn’t let me go). Both Eddie and I turned to see RJ, one of my neighbors, maneuvering out the front door in his wheelchair.

My face felt like it was on fire.

My body
was
on fire.

“Hey RJ,” I said, stil trying to recover from the kiss. This was hard, considering Eddie hadn’t let me go.

“Who’s the dude?” RJ asked, looking at Eddie.

Eddie was looking over his shoulder, his arms stil around me.

“The dude is Eddie. Eddie, RJ, RJ, Eddie,” I said, feeling like a complete moron. I’d taken my hand out from under Eddie’s t-shirt but I was now clutching it at his side for fear my legs would give out if I didn’t hold on for dear life.

Eddie nodded to RJ making it plain RJ was interrupting.

In any other circumstance I might find this funny. Eddie and I were necking at the public entrance to an apartment building in broad daylight and Eddie glared at RJ as if we had a right to privacy.

However at that moment, I did not find it funny.

RJ did and his face cracked into a huge smile.

“Boy, Jet, can always count on you to be entertaining.” Wonderful.

I was never going to convince Eddie I was your normal, everyday, average girl.

RJ put his gloved hands to the angled wheels of his chair and pushed forward.

“Later dudes,” he said, taking the hint, and then he was off.

I looked back to Eddie and he was shaking his head. “I haven’t made out on someone’s doorstep in… fuck, I’ve never made out on someone’s doorstep.”

I smiled at him because he was funny and the minute I did it, his eyes changed and the change made my insides melt.

“Christ, Jet, you should do that more often,” he said.

“What?”

“Smile.”

That wiped the smile from my face.

Eddie’s slack arms tightened around me. “Un-unh, no retreat. I’ve gained ground here, I’m not gonna lose it in two minutes.”

“I have to go upstairs,” I told him.

“I’l let you go upstairs when you agree to have dinner with me tonight,” Eddie said.

Eek!

I hadn’t had the chance to process kissing Eddie, I certainly wasn’t ready for a date.

Luckily, I had an excuse.

“I can’t, I have a shift at Smithie’s.”

Eddie was not deterred.

“Tomorrow.”

Damn, I had the night off from Smithie’s tomorrow.

Before I could think of a plausible excuse, Eddie grinned. He knew he had me.

“Six o’clock. I’l pick you up here.”

He didn’t give me a chance to say anything, his lips came down and touched mine. I could feel most of his body pressed up against me, his arms were around me, I could smel him and he’d just touched his lips to mine. Therefore, I lost the ability to think.

His lips went away and he asked, “How’re you getting to work tonight?”

I blinked to clear my Eddie Daze.

“Smithie found out about the knife thing. He says I have to be escorted to and from the building and, while my car’s out of commission, he’s arranging for one of the bouncers to take me to work.”

Eddie ran his fingers through my hair at the temple and, I had to admit, it felt nice.

“Maybe he isn’t the asshole I thought he was,” Eddie said.

“He takes care of his girls,” I told him.

“At least that’s one person trying to look out for you, though if last night’s any indication, he’s not doing very wel .”

“Last night was a fluke,” I tried to reassure him.

“Last night is every night at a strip club. You dress like that around drunk guys, shit’s gonna happen.” I stared at him.

“Do you
want
me to get mad?” I asked.

His eyes changed, they got warm but serious.

“
Chiquita,
I’l take anything I can get from you.” I didn’t know what to say to that so I didn’t say anything at al and just kept staring at him.

Eddie let me go and held the card up between us.

“I gotta get back to work. You need anything or your Mom needs anything, cal me.”

I took the card. Although I kinda wanted a repeat of what happened when I didn’t take it, I
really
needed to check on Mom. Then I needed to check on Dad. Then I needed to do a mil ion other things.

“Thanks Eddie,” I said.

He smiled at me, dimple and al , ran his knuckles along my jaw and then he walked away and, without looking back, I
ran
away.

* * * * *

“Is that Eddie?” Mom asked, not turning her head away from the window.

I went to the window and saw Eddie standing and talking to Mr. Greasy Coveral s.

“Yeah.”

“The Mexican man or the black man?” Ada asked, her eyes not leaving the window either.

“The Mexican man,” I told her, watching Eddie. He had put his mirrored sunglasses on and had his hands on his hips while he talked. He looked very cool and very hot.

“He’s cute,” Mom said.

Only Mom would describe Eddie as “cute”. He was a lot of things but he was not cute.

Eddie started to move away and looked up at the apartment building. I jumped out of the window as fast as I could, not wanting him to catch me checking him out. I had enough to worry about with the looming date to have him thinking I was some love struck cocktail waitress staring longingly out the window at him.

Mom and Ada were stil playing nosy neighbors.

“Get away from the window,” I said to them.

“That sure is a fancy truck he has,” Ada said.

She wasn’t wrong, it sure was.

Neither of them moved from the window and I could swear I saw Ada wave.

I groaned and went to the bathroom, because I was dying for a wee. Then I looked in the mirror and let out a little scream. I stil had half my makeup on and it wasn’t the good half. One word: scary. And Eddie had kissed me looking like this.

How weird was that?

At least my sexy hair held up.

I washed my face, went to my bedroom and put on some jeans and a t-shirt. I rol ed up Eddie’s shirt and tucked it under my pil ow, as a keepsake. I’d give it back if he asked for it but if he didn’t, I was stealing it and I didn’t care what that said about me.