Rock Chick 01 (29 page)

“You need to go,” I said.

“Yeah.”

I started to pull away but his hand dropped,
his arm curled around my shoulders and turned me into him,
full-frontal.

“With Rick out of the way, you should be safe
but you need to be careful. Coxy isn’t a threat but he’s a
wildcard.”

I nodded.

“I want to come home to you,” he said.

My breath disappeared. I didn’t suck it in
and I didn’t let it out, it just vanished.

I did a mental shake and got myself
together.

“Sorry?”

“Tonight. I’ll phone you when I’m on my way.
All you need to get you into the parking garage and condo is on the
Crossfire’s key ring. Even after Luke gets out of surgery, I’ve got
things to do but when I come home tonight, I want you to be
there.”

I only hesitated a second. “Okay.”

He looked at me for awhile, his eyes got soft
and he said, “I’m sorry about this morning.”

“It couldn’t be helped.”

“We’ll finish tonight.”

Finally, something to look forward to.

* * * * *

Duke made six big posters, taping them in all
the big windows, announcing Fortnum’s was closed. Hard to open with
police tape stretched across your front door.

Thank God I didn’t have a mortgage.

I had the day yawning ahead of me and no
bodyguard following my every step.

It felt weird.

I went to Tex’s to give him an update and
help him with the cats. He’d been re-stitched and let go last
night. I wasn’t sure what his reaction would be Pepper Rick’s
demise, I guessed jubilation, but was wrong.

“We live, we die,” he said.

Philosophical.

Cats fed, litter boxes cleaned, laser lights
jiggled on the walls, I headed to Kumar’s to stock up on stuff for
the condo and have a gossip. He wasn’t there but I had a chat with
Mrs. Kumar who was behind the counter with Mrs. Salim motionless on
a stool behind her. I thought, but did not say, that they might do
better business if it didn’t look like a mummy was propped up
behind the cash register. Then I worried if God would strike me
with lightening for such a thought.

I got my bits and pieces from Mrs. Kumar and
headed to Ally’s.

She made me coffee and gave me more
ibuprofen.

“I know about the dead guy. Dad called Mom,
Mom called me. You okay?” she asked.

“I’m getting tired of this.”

“I bet.”

“What are you doing today?” I asked.

“Laying low, I got a shift tonight.”

Ally now worked at My Brother’s Bar down by
Platte River. They’d been around long enough for the wooden tables
and walls to look weathered and worn, they had the best bar food in
Denver, members of the symphony hung out there after performances
and they pulled an excellent pint of Guinness.

“I was beginning to think you’d quit,” I told
her.

“No, had a shift the night you got kidnapped
but apparently it’s cool to call off when your best friend is being
held hostage.”

“Good to know.”

She offered a manicure and pedicure and I
took her up on it. I returned the favor by washing and styling her
hair. I would have gone to beauty school if I hadn’t inherited
Fortnum’s. Since I’d hit teenage status, I always gave good hair.
With Ally, it wasn’t hard to give good hair, her hair was soft and
thick with just enough wave, it never looked bad.

“How’re things with Lee?” she shouted over
the hairdryer as I was roller brushing her hair.

“I’m totally freaking out,” I shouted
back.

“I sensed that.” She was still shouting.

I turned off the hairdryer and looked at her.
“He’s good at this stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“Relationship stuff. He’s a natural. It’s
weird, we’re new and we’re old. I can’t get my head around it.”

“He’s shit at relationship stuff. He’s only
good at it because it’s you.”

“Sorry?”

“You’re shit at it too, but only because it
was never him.”

Uh-oh, Ally was on her
you-two-were-meant-for-each-other kick.

I turned the hairdryer back on, subject
closed.

After visiting Ally, I went home, cleaned my
house, went through my mail and watered my yard and flowers. Then I
watered Tod and Stevie’s. Then I went to their front door and
knocked.

Stevie answered then looked beyond me in case
he could see a sniper.

“I watered your flowers,” I told him.

“That’s nice.”

“I’m sorry about last night.”

“I’m not sure I forgive you, though Tod says
you threw yourself on top of him to protect him from bullets so I
guess I’m not so mad. Tod thought it was a blast. Says it reminded
him of home.”

“The way Tod tells it, I don’t think I want
to go to Texas.”

Stevie didn’t say anything.

“Anyway, it’s easy for Tod to say it was a
blast, he was protected a foot deep by foam rubber.”

We both knew bullets would tear through Tod’s
rubber.

I kept talking, I knew Stevie was mad and
somehow couldn’t help myself.

“The dead body of the guy who started it was
set in the front door of Fortnum’s this morning.”

Stevie’s eyes widened.

Okay, so now I was beginning to let the shock
of it all wear through me. Not to mention, Stevie was mad at me and
I didn’t like people I cared about being mad at me. It wasn’t my
fault even though it felt like it was. Tears sprang into my
eyes.

“Talk to you later,” I said.

“Girlie, you’re a mess, get in here.”

He yanked me inside, gave me a drink and sat
me on the sofa. I let it all hang out, including the fact that even
though we’d get closer each time, Lee and I hadn’t
done it
yet.

Stevie listened, hugged me occasionally, got
me tissues when the tears threatened to spill and cast no judgment.
Then he took me home, snapped through the hangers in my closets,
opened and closed boxes of shoes until he found what he was looking
for, all the while he communicated His Plan.

While Stevie walked me to the Crossfire, he
told me that Tod was at Denver International Airport, he had a
flight and wouldn’t be back for a few days. Stevie was leaving late
the next morning to do the same and asked me to look after
Chowleena while he and Tod were gone.

“If I need to take her to Lee’s, would that
be a problem?” I asked.

“Just write us a note.”

Then, like a fairy godfather (pun intended),
he waved me off on my errands that would eventually end with
Lee.

I went to Cherry Creek and popped into Linens
‘n Things. I grabbed a few necessities and went over to Fresh and
Wild, got the stuff I needed for the night and added a few things
for the morning and just in case my stay at the condo was even
longer, carted it all, plus the stuff from Kumar’s store, the dress
and the shoes, up to Lee’s condo.

I dumped everything in the kitchen and living
room and started work. I made the chocolate cream pie first, then
prepared the au gratin potatoes, topped them with aluminum foil
ready to put in the oven. I trimmed the green beans ready to be
blanched. I left the steak in the fridge, I could broil it in ten
minutes and Lee told me he’d phone when he was coming.

I set the table and put out the placemats and
cloth napkins circled with napkin rings that I bought at Linens ‘n
Things. I tried to buy the most macho placemats, napkins and rings
I could find, as they would be adorning Lee’s table, but they
didn’t really do macho in that kind of retail.

In the center of the table I placed the high,
tapered candles in silver candle holders I also bought. I arranged
the flowers I got at Fresh and Wild in the vase I purchased. I got
out the deep bowled glasses I’d noticed in Lee’s cupboards and, as
a finishing touch, I put the expensive bottle of red wine between
them on the dining room table.

I didn’t exactly need to plan a seduction but
a little romance never hurt, or at least that’s what Stevie said.
And anyway, Lee was running himself ragged. I knew he liked steak,
au gratin potatoes and chocolate cream pie. Kitty Sue made it for
him every birthday, he deserved a treat and maybe after I gave him
one, he’d give one to me.

I went into the bedroom with dress and shoes
and stared at the chair. Both my bags were gone. I did a check in
the closet and a couple of drawers. Not only were my clothes put
away, the dirty ones were cleaned, ironed and also hung in the
closet or were folded in the drawers. I looked around the room and
the bed was made with fresh sheets, the carpets freshly
vacuumed.

Obviously Monday was a Judy the Housekeeper
Day.

I did the whole girlie thing, going overboard
with full, wild Tawny Kittaen hair, the front pulled loosely back
in a clip and dark makeup on my eyes. I put on the dress Stevie
chose, black satin, thin strapped, skimming my body in a clingy,
but not obvious, way, decent cleavage but the kicker was a killer
dip in the back. I put on Rock Chick sandals, high, death-defying,
thin heel with so many straps, you had to wrap some of them up your
calves. Subtle perfume, no jewelry because, in the heat of the
moment, who wanted to waste time taking off jewelry?

It was getting late, so I slid the au gratin
potatoes in to cook, even if Lee was really late, I could warm them
easily enough when I broiled the steaks.

I found a John Grisham and started reading. I
took the potatoes out and went back to reading. Then later, I got
up and went to the kitchen, got my cell and Lee’s cordless and put
them both on the coffee table so they were within easy reach and
went back to reading. I settled on my side to get more comfortable
and kept reading.

Then, being who I was and seeing as it was
late, I fell asleep.

You Didn’t Say Anything about Pie

My hair slid off my shoulder and fell down my
back.

I opened my eyes and Lee was sitting on the
couch in the cushion exposed above by my curled legs.

“Hey,” I said.

“Hey,” he replied.

“You didn’t call,” I told him.

“It was late, I was worried I’d wake
you.”

I got up on my elbow.

“What time is it?”

“Comin’ on midnight.”

I did a mini-stretch and came up a bit more.
As I was doing this, his hands found my waist and twisted me around
onto his lap. My book fell to the floor but neither of us went for
it. He settled into the sofa and I settled into him, putting my
head on his shoulder and wrapping my arms around his middle. One of
his arms was around my waist, the other hand resting above my
knee.

“You planned dinner,” he said. “Is it
ruined?”

“I made stuff that would fit into an
uncertain schedule. We can have it tomorrow or I can make it
tonight. You hungry?” I asked.

“Not for food.”

His hand slid up my thigh, taking the hem of
my dress with it.

My stomach did a dip.

“Are you tired?” he asked.

“I was asleep,” I stated the obvious.

“That wasn’t what I asked.”

“Aren’t
you
tired?”

“I was, I’m not anymore.”

“Oh.”

Yikes.

His hand came up more and his head bent so he
could touch his mouth to my neck.

“How’s your man?” I asked.

“Alive,” he said to the skin below my ear.
“Critical but he’s a fighter.” His tongue touched my skin and I
shivered.

“That’s good, I guess.”

“Do you wanna go to bed?”

“Yes,” I told him.

He lifted his head and his hand slid around
my thigh, going under the fabric of my dress. The tips of his
fingers glided across the edge of my panties at my leg.

“Let me rephrase that, do you wanna go to
sleep?”

Was he high? Did I want to go to sleep? What
kind of question was that?

I tried to be cool.

“Not really.”

He smiled The Smile.

My stomach melted.

“Good,” he said then he kissed me.

It was a fucking great kiss, long, slow, deep
and hot. When it was over, his mouth slid across my cheek, down my
neck and across my collarbone. His hand at my waist went up my back
and he tugged at my hair, making me expose my neck and then his
tongue dipped into the indentation at the base of my throat.

He let go of my hair, his hand cupped the
back of my head and he kissed me again. A repeat of the first but
better, lots of tongue. One of his hands was holding my head, the
other one went to slide across my breast over the fabric of my
dress.

This was all well and good, in fact it was
beautiful. The problem was, Lee was acting like we had all the time
in the world. He was acting like, at any moment, the door buzzer
wasn’t going to buzz out some secret code tearing him away, leaving
me high and dry, or, more to the point, panting and wet.

I pushed up, changed position and straddled
his hips. I yanked his t-shirt free of his jeans and pulled it over
his head, throwing it wherever. I slid my hands down his chest,
scratching his abs just a touch with my nails, watching his muscles
tighten reflexively, and I went straight for the button fly on his
jeans.

I got the top button undone when his hands
grabbed my wrists and stopped them.

My eyes went to his and I saw the crinkles
deepened at the corners.

“In a hurry?” he asked.

“Uh…” I said in a “duh” tone, “yeah.”

“There’s no need to rush.” He pulled my hands
away, let them go and slid his up my sides.

“You were in a rush this morning,” I told him
as he watched his hands slide up, then stop at the sides of my
breasts. His right hand curled and he slid his knuckles along the
side right to the nipple. It hardened and he watched that too.

I bit my lip at the shock that went from
nipple to nether region then said, impatiently, “Lee.”

His eyes moved from my breasts to my
face.