Rock Chick 02 Rescue (51 page)

‘cause some fancy-ass celebrity is probably gettin’ hitched and we can steal ideas.”

“Righteous,” Al y said.

“I think that covers it,” Indy said.

“Fucking hel ,” Hank muttered, sounding horrified.

I shot him a grin.

He caught it, threw his arm around my neck and gave me a sideways hug, keeping me held against him in a modified, friendly Eddie’s Woman Hold.

My grin turned false and I ignored the painful crunch in my bel y.

I was going to miss these guys.

* * * * *

Tod and Stevie showed up, Chowleena in tow, a half an hour after we al got to Indy and Lee’s. They were carrying, between them, what looked like a dozen bottles of chil ed sparkling wine and a Yahtzee game.

“Since Lee moved in, we’ve been preparing. Now, we’l have room in our fridge,” Stevie said.

He and Tod took in the female huddle sitting in Indy’s living room, pouring over wedding magazines.

The men, (Lee and Hank had been joined by Vance, Matt and Bobby), were upstairs watching a bal game and drinking beer. Duke had gone home to Dolores, Tex had gone home to the cats and Jane just went home (she didn’t do crowds).

“Aiyeee!” Tod screamed, “Is that
Modern Bride
? I
love
Modern Bride
. Move over,” he said, not exactly moving me over but shoving me off an armchair so I landed on my ass on the floor and he confiscated the magazine I was flipping through by ripping it out of my hands.

“I’m thinking wedding colors green and yel ow,” Tod decided. “No, no, pale blush and burgundy,” he changed his mind. “No, sapphire and ice,” he changed his mind again.

I didn’t know “ice’ was a color.

Indy started giggling.

Stevie popped open a bottle of wine.

“Get the glasses!” he shouted, then looked around,

“What the hel , we’re celebrating and we have enough so that everyone can have their own.”

Then he took a swig straight out of the bottle.

* * * * *

We were al playing Yahtzee.

I was wel into my personal bottle of wine, wedged between Hank and Vance at Indy’s dining room table.

She’d opened it up so that it was huge but stil , it was a crush with eleven people sitting around it. It was my turn in a few goes when the phone in my back pocket rang.

I pul ed it out and saw the display said, “Eddie cal ing”.

“Damn,” I whispered.

Then I took a hearty tug on my bottle with both Hank and Vance watching. I was pretty sure they’d seen the display on my phone, which meant I couldn’t ignore it like I wanted to.

I flipped it open.

“Hey,” I said.

“Where are you?” Eddie asked.

I looked at the table, everyone had their eyes on me.

Wonderful.

I
hated
that.

“I’m at Indy and Lee’s, drinking sparkling wine and playing Yahtzee. Indy and Lee got engaged today and we’re celebrating,” I answered.

Silence.

“Eddie? Did you hear me? Indy and Lee got engaged.” More silence.

Hmm.

“Where are you?” I asked.

“I’m standin’ in my bedroom lookin’ at the empty space where your bag used to be.”

Eek!

I gave a weak smile to the table, got up and started towards the kitchen.

“I meant to tel you,” I said as I was walking.

“When?”

I hadn’t actual y meant to tel him. I had meant to avoid him until I had a chance to figure out what I meant to tel him.

Which meant, figure out my life, sort out Fortnum’s and Smithie’s and then say good-bye. I got sidetracked by the Smithie’s and then say good-bye. I got sidetracked by the informal engagement party, the sparkling wine and the Yahtzee.

I cursed wedding magazines, champagne and dice games and hit the kitchen.

“Maybe we can talk about this later,” I suggested.

“When?”

I figured Eddie was pretty good in an interrogation room.

“Eddie…”

“I’l be there in ten.”

No.

No, no, no.

“I’m leaving in a few minutes,” I lied. I didn’t intend to leave, I had the bonus points al tied up in that game and I was cruising to a win (or, at least, one of the top three). I only had a ful house and a chance left and Tod said ful houses were easy to get.

“You’re not there when I get there, I’l find you and it won’t be good when I do.”

Dear Lord.

“Eddie…”

But he’d disconnected.

Eddie showed up and, luckily, he was forced into the celebration by the very fact that it was a celebration. He gave Indy a hug and Lee a man-hug (one-armed, hearty slap on the back that would probably leave a bruise, al the while shaking hands).

Then his eyes locked on me.

They were glittery.

Not good.

Not good.

I was back to being wedged between Vance and Hank.

Hank slid his seat away from me, Lee found a chair and Eddie flipped it into a super-wedge in the space Hank left.

He sat beside me,
close
beside me, his hand curled around my neck and he pul ed me to him. His lips hit my cheek and moved to my ear.

“Don’t even think about it,” he said.

My stomach clutched and I was pretty sure I was having heart palpitations.

“Yahtzee!” Stevie shouted and I jumped.

Eddie let me go and sat in the next game drinking from my bottle of wine.

I kind of wanted to ask for another one, I was thinking drunk was definitely the way to go.

Once the game was over, Daisy got up and declared,

“Marcus’l be wonderin’ where I am.”

She said her good-byes with hugs and air kisses and left.

Tod and Stevie fol owed her and Bobby and Matt went home to their girlfriends (this was a surprise, I didn’t know they had girlfriends).

Vance took a cal that changed the expression on his face, made him send a meaningful glance to Lee and he left.

“Let’s play strip poker,” Al y suggested when the door closed behind Vance.

“That’d be a good idea, Jet’s a shit poker player,” Hank said.

Dear Lord, save me.

“But I’m not playin’ strip poker with my sister,” Hank finished.

Thank you God for one smal favor.

“Time to go home,” Eddie said, pushing his chair back to get up.

I looked at him. He may have been playing at being in the celebratory mood but one look at him told me he simply was
not
.

I looked at the table.

“Maybe we could play just poker, poker,” I tried.

His hand grabbed mine and he pul ed me up.

“Indy and Lee probably want to be alone,” Eddie said.

He was probably right. The look on Lee’s face said he was definitely right.

Everyone disbursed, more hugs and kisses and Eddie and I went out the front.

“My car is at Fortnum’s,” I told him.

“I’l take you to get it tomorrow morning,” Eddie replied, walking me to the truck. He bleeped its locks and I pul ed hard on my hand in his. It didn’t work.

He stopped at the passenger side door.

“I’m going home,” I said.

“Already told you, I prefer my bed,” he returned.

“Okay, you sleep in your bed and I’l sleep in my bed.” Wrong answer.

He pushed me against the truck with a hand at my bel y.

“You want to have this talk out here in the street or do you want to do it at my place?”

I didn’t want to have the talk at al . But I was wil ing to have the talk in a delayed-type fashion.

I went for it.

“I was thinking, maybe tomorrow.”

“You were thinkin’ wrong.”

Sweet Jesus.

“Eddie…”

He opened the truck door.

“Get in the truck, Jet.”

I pul ed out the attitude. Certainly, the scaredy-cat gambit wasn’t getting me anywhere.

I gave him a glare. “You’re incredibly pushy!” I snapped.

“Get in the truck,” he repeated.

I turned to walk away.

“I’m going to my car,” I announced.

I was pul ed back at the middle, his finger snagging the belt loop of my jeans.

He pushed me back against the side of the truck and got close.

“Remember what I said about no longer bein’ tolerant of your shit?”

He sounded pretty angry, so angry that words escaped me, so I nodded.

“I meant this shit too, now get in the truck.”

“I real y don’t like you,” I told him, stil trying to go with the attitude.

Again, it was the wrong choice.

His body got stil for a beat and then he got even closer.

“Now,” he said quietly, “you just threw down. So, I’m gonna have to prove you wrong. After I do that, we’re gonna talk.”

Eek!

What could I say?

I’d walked right into that one.

Stil , I gave him a glare before I got in the truck.

Just because.

Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Talk

I came up with a strategy on the silent ride to Eddie’s.

He parked in the garage and we went into the kitchen. I put my purse down on the counter and he walked into the living room. I took a deep breath and fol owed him.

He turned to me, planted his hands on his hips and stared at me.

“You wanna explain why I came home to find you’d moved out?”

The good news was, he’d given up on the idea of proving me wrong about not liking him.

The bad news was, we weren’t going to sit down and relax in front of a bal game before our talk.

Oh wel , it was now or never.

I walked up to him and slid my arms around his middle. I pressed my body to his. I tucked my face into his neck and, with my lips pressed against the side of his throat I said,

“Not real y.”

“
Chiquita
…”

I went up on tiptoe, my lips moved and I kissed him behind his ear.

I’d never had to seduce Eddie. Eddie was kind of a take-charge type of guy when it came to sex (wel real y, Eddie was kind of a take-charge type of guy al the time), as in, he wanted it, he took it.

I’d never actual y had to seduce anyone and I didn’t exactly know what to do. I was hoping just to get the bal rol ing and then Eddie could take over.

“Jet, I asked you a question,” he said.

My hands moved up his back. He had a nice back and I could feel the definition of the muscle under my fingers. I could also smel him and the combination of the two was pretty heady stuff.

“I heard you,” I said against his skin and then moved my mouth around the front and kissed his throat in the dent where it met his neck.

“You gonna answer me?” he asked and I got the feeling he wasn’t going to fal in line with my plan. The reason I thought this was because he stil had his hands planted on my hips.

That was a bummer considering I was liking my plan more and more as the seconds ticked by.

I pul ed my arms from his back and put them around his neck, my fingers went in his hair and I tilted my head back as I pressed his down.

“I’l answer… later.”

Then I kissed him.

I should have tried that first.

In the beginning, he didn’t respond, but then I got going and touched the tip of my tongue to his closed lips. The second I did that, his arms went around me and he kissed me back. Then he took over the kiss, his mouth opening over mine, his tongue sliding inside.

My body melted and my stomach curled.

He lifted his head and I said, “Yum.”

I didn’t real y mean to, it just came out.

I opened my eyes and his were liquid.

Then he started walking us toward the bedroom, arms stil around me, I was moving back, he was moving forward, his hands were active and he kissed me again.

This
was more like it.

It was awhile later (a
long
while), after he’d let me take over again (for a
little
while), then he took over (for a
longer
while), when he flipped me on my back, spread my legs and final y, slowly, slid inside me.

“
Chiquita
.”

I opened my eyes at his cal as he pressed deep.

“Yeah?” I whispered, wrapping my calves around his thighs.

“I like where you were goin’ with this but you’re stil gonna talk,” he told me.

Eddie had me
so
figured out.

* * * * *

After, I was pressed up against his side, Eddie was on his back. He had his hand low on my hip and his fingers were moving absently.

My plan was to distract him from the talk, at least until the morning. In the bright light of day, I could figure out how to say what I wanted to say. There were other, better, more important parts to my plan.

It would give me one last time to be with Eddie. I needed it. I deserved it. To make love and sleep next to him, smel him in my nostrils and feel him against my skin. To make one last memory so I could keep it with me for a long, long time.

And we’d made a real y good memory. I wrapped my arm around him and snuggled into his side.

His fingers curled on my hip.

“You think you got away with it,” he muttered and I could tel he found this amusing.

“No,” I said honestly, “But I’m hoping you’re feeling mel ow enough to wait until the morning.”

“Jet…”

I pul ed up and looked down on him.

“Eddie, please. Can I have this one night where we don’t argue? Please?”

He looked at me a beat, then his hand came up and slid in my hair and pul ed my face down for a lip touch.

“One night,” he said against my mouth.

I smiled at him.

His hand moved to my jaw and his thumb traced my smile while his eyes watched.

“I’m hopin’, with your shit finished, I’l see more of that smile.”