Rock Chick

Chapter Five Cupcakes

I came to feeling very funky and unable to move my limbs.

I focused on what appeared to be the ceiling of a car and heard voices from what sounded like really far away.

By the time the car stopped, I was able to move a little bit but not much. I was feeling tingly all over and my head was fuzzy.

The door to the car was opened and I was hauled out with hands under my armpits. Whoever hauled me out put me on my feet, my legs buckled and I nearly went down before I was caught. It was time again to lament the mini-skirt as a girl doesn’t want to be tossed around by bad guys while wearing a short skirt.

“Shit, hold her up, you moron.”

Two guys, one of them I noted was Goon Gary (not The Moron), dragged me by my upper arms through a tidy garage and into a house. I was shaking my head, trying to clear it and thinking not much of anything except that I wished I was wearing jeans.

I was taken into a room and heard a man say, “Jesus, what the fuck?”

The answer came hesitantly. “We had to stun her.”

“What happened to her face?”

This answer was more hesitant. “She bit Teddy so he hit her.”

“Christ! Which part of ‘I want this to go smooth’ did you not understand? Nightingale’s going to have a shit hemorrhage. Get her some ice then call Teddy, get him out of town.”

I was planted on a couch and not processing much of their conversation. I was focused on getting my fingers to move. I was together only enough to notice Goon Gary and The Moron making a hasty exit and that the couch I was on was a really nice couch, fluffy and covered in cream silk damask. I’d only just bought my couch a couple of months ago and I was still in couch-assessment mode, the kind of mode that unconsciously comes whenever you make a major purchase.

I succeeded in lifting my head to look at the guy who’d been talking. He was wearing gray slacks, a maroon shirt with a monochromatic tie. He was short, had to be in his fifties and had jet-black hair with white at each temple. He looked like what I would guess a younger Grandpa Munster would look like. Except a lot more creepy and definitely scary but not in a comic way.

“You okay?” he asked me.

No, I wasn’t okay. I’d just been punched in the face and then kidnapped.

I just stared at him.

“I’m really sorry about his,” he said. “I’m having troubles with some of my employees.”

No shit.

I thought it but didn’t say it, I hadn’t recovered enough to form words.

Gary came back with an ice bag wrapped in a kitchen towel and handed it to me. I was happy I had enough limb coordination to put it on my face. My cheekbone hurt like hell.

“This didn’t go as I’d planned. I just wanted to have a chat. I heard Nightingale had a woman and I was curious,” the man said to me, his tone surprisingly conciliatory.

“Where’s Ally?” I asked.

First things first. I wanted to know Ally was okay and then I wanted to have a nervous breakdown.

Young Grandpa Munster looked at Goon Gary.

“She was with another woman, we stunned her too,” Goon Gary explained, “We left her in the car with the keys. Teddy’s behind watching the car to make sure she’s okay.”

“Ally?” Young Grandpa Munster asked.

Gary shrugged.

Mr. Munster’s face tightened. “As in Allyson Nightingale, Lee Nightingale’s little sister?”

Gary began to look a wee bit uncomfortable.

It would appear this was an “oopsie” moment for Goon Gary.

“I’m at a loss for words. You do know that this isn’t only Lee’s woman, she’s Tom Savage’s daughter? And her friend is a Nightingale.”

Gary shifted on his feet while the color rose in his face.

Young Grandpa Munster sat down, shaking his head. “This whole thing is a complete fuck up.”

He looked at me and his face had an expression that was somewhere between resigned and depressed. In normal circumstances, I’d probably feel sorry for him. Since I didn’t know if I’d live to see the end of this scene in the film that was my life, I was too busy feeling sorry for myself.

“The simple life is holding some appeal,” he said and I nodded because I could see where he was coming from.

My life had been simple a day ago. Work, coffee, rock ‘n’ roll. Now I was being shot at, dragged around by bad guys and propositioned by the love of my life who I had decided I didn’t want anymore.

The simple life seemed far superior to all of that.

“I’m Terry Wilcox,” he went on.

I nodded again. I was beginning to feel enough of myself to be scared, but not enough to be polite.

“You’re India Savage, Lee’s woman.”

It was on the tip of my tongue to say I was not Lee’s anything but these people seemed scared enough of Lee for me to decide that I should keep my mouth shut on that score.

It was then Wilcox really looked at me, from head to toe, and he sat back, getting comfortable, his face changing from depressed to assessing.

“Lee’s always had good taste in women,” he said quietly and something in his eyes made my skin crawl.

Serious euw.

Then he said, “I’m looking for Rosie Coltrane, do you know where he is?”

Great.

Rosie.

The bane of my existence.

I was pissed off enough with Rosie, who had got me into this mess and the one with Lee, to be a little snippy.

“If I knew where he was, why would I be sitting in my car outside his house?”

Something dangerous changed in Wilcox’s eyes and I realized I’d just let my mouth run away with me and that being a little snippy might not go over too well. Like with the guys who shot at me. Evidence was clearly suggesting that bad guys did not like snippy women. I should maybe have been more polite, maybe more meek, then again, I didn’t have a lot of experience with conversing with creepy, scary, bad guys.

“He has something of mine,” Wilcox continued.

“I know.” I felt it safe to admit.

“I was supposed to get it back this morning. Do you know what happened?”

Hmm, I’d never taken the “how much information to divulge during interview with bad guys who kidnap you” course at the local community college. I’d barely squeaked by with computers and business accounting. I was feeling a little bit out of my depth.

“He was staying with Lee but, this morning, me and Lee got kinda… er…” I stopped and searched for a word to describe that morning’s trauma, “busy… and we didn’t notice he took off.”

“Busy.” His eyes dropped to my chest, the Euw Look was still in them. I felt my stomach lurch uncomfortably and tried really hard not to let my lip curl in disgust. “I bet. Do you know where he might be?”

I shook my head. “I wish I knew. He’s my coffee guy. He didn’t come to work, if I lose him, it’ll affect my profit margin.”

“He’s a good coffee guy,” Goon Gary offered, “sheer talent.”

Wilcox was throwing a “shut the fuck up you idiot” look at Gary. Gary’s mouth snapped shut.

Then Wilcox turned back to me.

“Do you know where the diamonds are?”

This I knew, but I shook my head again. I wasn’t going to drag Duke into this mess.

Since I was such an accomplished liar, I think he bought it.

“It’s a million dollars worth of diamonds.”

My mouth dropped open.

Holy crap.

“It is?”

“Yes, and I think you can understand that I want them back.”

I nodded, this time fervently.

If I had a million dollars worth of diamonds, I’d definitely want them back. Rosie must grow seriously primo grass to get paid a million dollars in diamonds for it.

Gary moved slightly, looking out the window, then he murmured, “Nightingale’s here.”

This news sent a surge of hope through me as I immediately decided that, just for the next thirty minutes or so, I wasn’t avoiding Lee.

Wilcox didn’t say anything at first, he just watched me.

“Are you sure you don’t know where Rosie is?”

“San Salvador?” I tried, and I wasn’t joking.

He smiled, he thought I was amusing. It was an oily smile and my skin started crawling again.

Lee walked in. I turned my head to him, the ice still held to my face.

One look and I could understand why these guys were scared of him.

This was a Lee I’d never seen.

He was still wearing his jeans, skintight, navy tee and biker boots and his hands hung loose and casual at his sides. However, the minute he entered, any other presence was forced from the room as his invaded. His eyes were hyper-alert and sharp, he was emanating pure, brutal energy and he was seriously and obviously pissed off.

He stopped and glanced at the ice on my face.

A muscle in his cheek jumped.

Uh-oh.

He cut his eyes to Wilcox.

“I thought we had an understanding,” Lee said.

Wilcox had come to his feet. He put his hands up in a placating gesture.

“Lee, it was a mistake. I just wanted to have a talk with your girl here and things got out of hand.”

“Coxy, things are gettin’ out of hand a lot these days. Who hit her?” Lee’s pissed off glance slid to Goon Gary.

Wilcox looked to Gary and I looked to Gary.

Gary looked a little pale.

“Let me take care of it,” Wilcox said.

“You don’t tell me, I’ll go through every one of your men, that way, I’ll be sure to get the fuck.”

Holy shit.

I nearly wet myself.

The way Lee said that made me shiver and not in the usual way Lee made me shiver.

Wilcox sighed, obviously overwhelmed by the stupidity of his workforce. Clearly, sometimes it’s tough being the leader of the bad guys.

“It was Teddy,” Wilcox answered.

Lee nodded, walked toward me and pulled me off the couch.

“It was nice to meet you,” Wilcox said calmly as Lee escorted me out of the room, his hand curled around my upper arm.

I looked over my shoulder and said (perhaps feeling a bit tougher now that Scary Lee was with me). “The pleasure was all yours.”

I heard him laugh as we left.

Lee did not laugh, Lee ignored the whole exchange.

Lee put me into the passenger seat of his silver Crossfire and got in the driver’s side, started the car and we shot from the curb. Before I could say a word, he grabbed his cell and punched a number.

“Pick up Teddy and take him to the office,” he paused, “Coxy’s boy.”

Then he hit a button and tossed the cell on the console.

Yep, angry.

“Ally...” I started to say.

“She’s fine.”

I took in a breath.

“How did you know where I was?”

“I’ve got a man at Rosie’s. He saw the whole thing.”

Uh, say what?

“Why didn’t he do something?” I asked, somewhat loudly.

“He didn’t know who you were,” Lee paused, “now he knows.”

Yikes.

I decided not to talk loudly anymore.

“You have a man?”

His eyes moved to me, his face was blank, he was still angry. He turned back to the road.

“I have a lot of men.”

“Oh.”

I found that surprising but I decided that maybe it was not the time to give Lee the third degree about his secret life, such as how many men he had and how he knew lowlife kidnapping scum like “Coxy”. I wasn’t even certain I wanted to know about his secret life, in fact, I think I was more certain I didn’t want to know.

Maybe it was the time to begin planning how to avoid Lee again. However, I didn’t know how to accomplish that when I was actually with Lee.

The house I was taken to was in the Denver Country Club area, very ritzy, very wealthy. Lee hit Speer Boulevard and drove faster than was allowed or safe, changing lanes on the three lane road deftly and often. I decided it was probably best not to say anything about this as Lee’s energy wasn’t exactly inviting conversation and definitely not admonishments about driving safety.

He passed the turn to Broadway.

“I need to go back to the store,” I informed him.

He ignored me.

“Lee, I need to get back to the store,” I repeated.

He continued to ignore me and headed downtown, toward his condo.

Damn.

I sat back and crossed one arm on my stomach, still holding the ice to my cheek and I evaluated my situation.

Firstly, I clearly was not in any position of power here. Lee was driving, Lee was angry and Lee was, as per usual, going to do whatever he damn well wanted to do.

Secondly, I’d been kidnapped. I tried to ignore that.

Thirdly, I’d been kidnapped. I couldn’t ignore that.

Big, bad, steroid-fuelled guys dragged me out of my car, made me go unconscious somehow and took me someplace I didn’t want to go.

Post-traumatic stress settled in and my hands started shaking.

Lee drove into the underground garage, parked and came around to open my door. We walked to the elevator, Lee’s hand at the small of my back.

We stood together in the elevator. Curiosity and a desire to end the frightening silence made me say, “They did something to make me black out.”

“Stun gun,” Lee replied shortly, his features showing his thoughts were grim.

I started shaking some more. Someone had stun-gunned me.

Holy crap.

I’d never even seen a stun gun before, now one had been used on me.

He let us into his apartment and I followed him into the kitchen. I was mildly surprised when he took a gun out of the back waistband of his jeans and set it on the kitchen counter.

Being the daughter of a cop, guns didn’t scare me. Dad taught me years ago how to respect a firearm. He did this by showing me how to use them, taking me to the shooting range a couple of times a year and lecturing a lot. He was always careful with his guns in the house, what with me, Ally and all of our friends running around. Nevertheless, Lee casually setting a gun on the kitchen counter like it was a pizza cutter was a trifle frightening.

Then he turned and opened his mouth to speak.

Or, by the look on his face, perhaps roar.

Before he could get a word in, I threw up both of my hands, waving around the ice bag.

“Don’t start!” I yelled and let the trembling take over my body just as I felt tears sting the backs of my eyes.

Definitely delayed reaction.

To keep from crying, or collapsing, I started shouting.

“Oh. My. God! I’ve just been stun-gunned and kidnapped and hit in the face by a guy! And it hurt!” Lee closed his mouth and started toward me but I threw out my arm to ward him off. “No, no, no! Don’t come near me!” He stopped and crossed his arms on his chest.

I paced to the sink, and then back, then to the sink, and so on, holding the ice to my cheek with one hand and waving the other one around in the air, the whole time babbling.

“I mean, this is unreal! Rosie’s disappeared and he’s half-idiot so who knows where he is. I’ve been shot at, stun-gunned, pulled out of bed in the middle of the night by my ankle! There’s a million dollars worth of diamonds out there and that dude wanted to have a chat with me about them. I don’t know anything about them. I haven’t even seen them! What’s worse, I think Grandpa Munster has the hots for me and I think you’ve just done something that makes me owe you another favor, which does not make me happy.” I took a breath and continued. “Not to mention, I’m dog-tired. I’ve not been able to have my nap yet today and last, but definitely not least, I’m starving because I had cupcakes for lunch! Cupcakes!”

I’d stopped my tirade standing in the middle of his kitchen, my arms straight down, my hands clenched into fists, the ice bag dripping and I was trying not to cry. I’d been brought up by a man without a wife who loved me to death but also wanted a boy. Crying wasn’t something that was tolerated. Crying was sissy.

I took a shaky breath to control my emotions and I think my bottom lip may have trembled. Lee assessed that the shouting was over and took a step toward me, grabbed the bag of ice, threw it in the sink and slid his hands around my waist.

“Cupcakes?” he asked.

I hauled in another shaky breath.

“Yes, cupcakes.”

The wrinkles next to his eyes creased.

“We need to get you some food.”

I nodded in agreement.

His grim thoughts were gone and so was his anger. His face had changed, the tightness relaxed, something entirely different there.

One of his hands went to my temple by where Terrible Teddy socked me in the face and Lee tucked my hair behind my ear. Then he let his hand rest against my hair with his thumb splayed and gentle on the underside of me cheekbone. His gaze rested on my cheek for a couple of beats then he looked in my eyes.

“First, maybe we should do the nap,” he said quietly.

I ignored his soft touch and his words, which held a little promise of what might happen before or after the nap (or both).

I’d had enough.

I needed a bottle of red wine and a darkened room and the Disco Nap to beat all Disco Naps. And not one that happened with Lee next to me, preferably one that happened with Lee not even in the same state as me.

“I’d like to go home please,” I requested, trying to sound calm and rational, over my tirade and unaffected by his intimate gesture.

He changed the subject.

“I told you this morning to stay in the condo,” he said this with just a hint of soft menace but more accepting-yet-frustrated-annoyance (yes, I could read all this in his tone, I’d known Lee a long time).

“I don’t often do what I’m told,” I noted.

He shook his head, likely a gesture to indicate he thought of my stupidity as irritating but cute (at least I hoped so).

Then he brushed his lips against mine (that counted as a half a kiss too, which put me at four kisses from Lee in one, single day).

“These are really bad guys. They may seem like imbeciles, but they’re not nice guys,” he said. “You don’t mess with these guys.”

“They’re scared of you,” I told him.

“I can probably protect you from them, I likely can’t protect you from yourself. What did you think you were you doing?”

“I was looking for Rosie,” I said out loud.

“I thought I was looking for Rosie.”

“If I find him first, then I don’t owe you anything.”

“You owe me for this afternoon.”

“That wasn’t that hard, you just walked in and took me out. That’s only worth, say, me making you a batch of cookies.” His lips twitched. I decided to change the subject. “Please take me home.”

He shook his head and watched me for a beat.

“Leave Rosie to me,” he demanded.

I didn’t respond. I may have been shot at, stun-gunned and kidnapped which would make any logical-minded person back off. Not me. Now, I was on a mission. I was going to find Rosie, beat the crap out of him, turn the diamonds over to Terry Wilcox and then move to Bangladesh to avoid Lee, and, possibly, Terry Wilcox.

“I don’t like what I’m seeing,” Lee said. “You look like you looked when your Dad told you that you couldn’t go to Vegas to see Whitesnake in concert.”

Hmm. That was a good concert and very worth the month’s grounding I got when I returned.

Lee’s arm around my waist brought me closer, in direct, full-frontal contact.

“You better be worth the trouble you’re undoubtedly gonna cause,” he said softly, his lips very close to mine.

Somewhere along the line I got mesmerized by his dark brown eyes.

“Of course I’m worth it,” I whispered.

Damn it all! I was losing control and beginning to flirt.

I tipped my head back and licked my lips, my tongue touching his lips as I did so.

“Jesus,” Lee muttered.

The door buzzer went.

He ignored it, his hand at my face moved back to tangle in my hair, his other arm tightened further at my waist.

I went up on tiptoe to get closer.

The door buzzer went again, this time, whoever was pushing it didn’t let up.

“Maybe it’s Rosie,” I said.

“Shit,” Lee let me go and walked to the door.

Two minutes later, the entirety of both our families walked through the door.

“We’ve decided we’re going to have a celebratory dinner,” Kitty Sue announced as she came in.

“You decided, the rest of us were all just hungry,” Malcolm said, starting to smile at me then the smile froze on his face.

Indeed, everyone stopped dead when they saw me.

“What happened to you?” Dad shouted.

Hmm. I hadn’t seen my face but clearly it looked as bad as it felt.

Malcolm Nightingale’s sons looked like him, even now that he was getting older, he looked fit and lean and his face was still handsome and interesting. He kept in shape by running, a lot, sometimes traveling around the country to do marathons.

Tom Savage was tall, with a still-handsome face, sky blue eyes and most of the time, he could be very charming. He had salt and pepper hair and had been built like a defensive lineman when he was young. Over the years, that had given way to just a bit of a pot-belly fueled by beer and his obsession for Mexican food.

He turned to Lee. “You hit her?”

I took in a sharp breath at this insulting question and so did everyone else.

Lee stared at Dad for a beat and then I watched as his face closed down. He leaned his hips against the kitchen counter and crossed his arms on his chest and didn’t deign to answer.

Dad loved Lee, Dad thought about Hank, Lee and Ally like Malcolm and Kitty Sue thought about me. I knew Dad even admired Lee.

But Dad was a cop and he knew things about Lee and his past that I didn’t know, things of which he didn’t approve. Things that made Lee being involved with his daughter not a happy circumstance to celebrate.

Regardless, I had the weird and irrational desire to kick Dad in the shin.

“No, he didn’t hit me. Jeez, Dad,” I said.

“Of course he didn’t hit her, Tommy. How could you think such a thing? What happened?” Kitty Sue, ever the diplomat, brushed off Dad’s idiotic remark and came toward me.

I looked at Ally who had dropped another bag on the floor. This one was not an overnighter. This one was bigger, stuffed full, undoubtedly packed with enough of my clothes to get me through a week of staying at Lee’s, by the end of which I would likely be pregnant or Lee’s love slave, or both.

If I wasn’t so worried about her and didn’t love her with every fiber of my being, I would have strangled her.

“You okay?” I asked.

Ally nodded.

Kitty Sue stopped and looked between the pair of us. “Oh no, what are you two up to?”

I answered quickly, “Nothing. As for my cheek, Dad, I got hit in the face with some books falling off a shelf. Lee came over and got me so he could take a look at it and put ice on it.” I walked to the sink and showed Dad the ice bag, then, for some reason, I leaned my shoulder into Lee.

Don’t ask me why I did this. I just didn’t like the way my Dad spoke to him and I didn’t like to see Lee’s face close down like that.

“You have ice at Fortnum’s,” Dad said.

Oopsie.

This was true.

“Lee’s ice is better,” I replied.

Lame. I was losing my touch.

“I bet Lee’s ice is better,” Ally muttered and both Kitty Sue and I gave her a killing look.

Hank and Lee were exchanging glances. Hank sighed and rocked back on his heels. Lee uncrossed his arms and draped one around my shoulders. I didn’t even try to decipher what the Lee/Hank glance was all about, it had been a scary enough day.

And anyway, all I could think was that their coming over meant I was off the hook with the Lee Nap. It had been getting pretty flirty there and I needed to restore control.

“Where are we going to dinner?” I asked happily and Lee’s eyes slid sideways and his look made a definite promise of “later”, shattering any illusions of my being off the hook.

“Sushi Den,” Ally answered.

At those two words, Ally and I both immediately threw up our hands, index finger and pinkie extended in the famous, devil’s horns, “Rock On!” gesture and squealed, “Sushi!”

“We’re not having sushi,” Malcolm declared.

“We decided this. We’re having sushi,” Kitty Sue said.

“Sushi’s shit,” Malcolm stated.

“Sushi’s good for you,” Kitty Sue returned.

“Mexican is good for you,” Dad said.

Kitty Sue rolled her eyes.

I went to the bag excitedly.

I loved sushi, but I loved Sushi Den even more. It was one of my favorite restaurants in Denver. It was on Pearl Street, next to Pearl Street Grill and across from Stella’s Coffee Haus.

Sushi Den was made out of cement and glass, they had hostesses filled with attitude who, with a look, could make lesser mortals feel small and even suicidal and they had the best sushi I’d ever tasted. They never took reservations because they were always wall-to-wall people. Ally and I went to Sushi Den at least twice a month and had an ongoing battle to out-attitude the hostesses (with hostesses winning).

“Did you bring me a Sushi Den outfit?” I asked Ally.

You didn’t go to Sushi Den in jeans and cowboy boots. Sushi Den demanded something else entirely. Clothing… black. Shoes… stiletto. I had a full section of my closet devoted to Sushi Den clothes.

“You bet your ass,” Ally replied.

I woke up in Lee’s bed again and my first thought was sake.

I didn’t even like sake but I drank it with Ally at Sushi Den because that’s what you had to do.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

When at Sushi Den, drink hot sake.

I was on my belly, left leg crooked, right one straight, left arm bent with my hand resting on the pillow, right arm crushed between me and what I knew had to be the weight of Lee’s warm, hard body.

In one night, Lee had perfected a strategy of keeping me in one place while I was sleeping. He was pressed against my back, a good deal of his body resting on mine, his arm around me, his left leg bent into the crook of mine and his thigh pressed against my nether regions. This was surprisingly not uncomfortable, it was cozy and warm and made me feel, somehow, safe.

Fucking hell, how did I get myself into these situations?

I thought back to our sake-soaked, family “celebration” dinner and was thankful to discover that I remembered everything.

Eat, drink sake, eat more, drink more sake, get drunk.

Let Lee put me in his Crossfire while I blew kisses to Ally, Hank, Dad, Kitty Sue, Malcolm and the parking valet

Come back to Lee’s condo, stagger into his bedroom, take off clothes, confiscate another wife beater, fall face first in Lee’s big bed because of drunkenness and lack of Disco Nap, and fall asleep.

With my left hand, I checked the status of my clothing.

Panties, check.

Wife beater t-shirt, check.

Either Lee didn’t ravish my drunken self or he dressed me when he was done. I figured it was the former.

My left cheekbone felt tight and there was a dull ache that, without sake working its way through my system, I could now actually feel.

I quickly strategized my next twenty minutes as best as I could without the aid of caffeine.

I needed to get away from Lee without waking him, call a taxi and go home.

Fine, good, sounded like a plan.

I inched forward, trying to be sneaky.

And failing.

“Un-unh,” Lee mumbled behind me, his arm tightening.

Foiled at the first hurdle.

I tried again using yesterday’s successful excuse for escape.

“I need to make coffee.”

Lee’s arm went away, but the weight of his body was enough to keep me where I was. He slid further onto me, bent and I felt his lips touch my shoulder at the same time I felt his hand travel up the side of the thigh of my crooked leg, stopping at my hip.

“You can have coffee after,” he said in my ear.

Every muscle in my body tensed even as my stomach melted.

“After what?”

His hand moved forward from my hip and his fingers traced the waistband of my underwear just below my navel.

“This is gonna happen,” he said and I didn’t need him to explain what “this” meant. Then he said, “Now.”

Holy shit.

Belatedly I felt the evidence of his determination against my behind and my heart started racing.

Since I knew that such a thing as sex existed, I wanted to do it with Lee.

Now, faced with the imminent act, I was terrified.

“I have a hangover,” I tried.

Lee’s lips were at my neck, either he didn’t hear me or he didn’t believe me and thought my lie unworthy of a response.

He pressed his hips into my ass as his hand slid up my belly and I felt tingles shoot down my legs.

Holy, holy, shit, shit, shit.

I sank my teeth into my lip to stop from groaning as pure electricity raced from everywhere in my body, with pinpoint accuracy, straight between my legs.

I tried again.

“I have a headache.”

His hand went up my shirt and stopped just under my breast, his knuckles brushing along the swell of the underside.

“Probably tension, don’t worry, I know how to ease tension.”

I bet he did.

I gave it one last shot.

“My face hurts.”

I felt his tongue right behind my ear before he said, “I can take your mind off that.”

“Lee –”

His hand splayed on my midriff and his weight and thigh went away. He pushed me on my back and leaned over me.

“Give me one good reason not to do this,” he demanded, looking me straight in the eye.

His hair was sexy wild again. His face was both soft and hard. Soft with whatever-it-was I’d seen the last couple of days whenever he looked at me, hard with determination and desire.

In the face of that, without my morning coffee, I had difficulty answering.

“That’s what I thought.” His head started to come down when the phone rang.

“Are you gonna answer that?” I asked against his lips, his arms were going around me, pulling me to him.

“Fuck no.”

He kissed me and I melted into him, immediately, happily, the fight simply just went out of me. He was that fine of a kisser.

So be it, I was finally going to make love with Liam Nightingale.

My whole body rejoiced.

He fell to his back and pulled me over him, his arms wrapped around me, holding me tight.

The phone rang again and then something clattered on the night table but he ignored them as he dragged his lips along my jaw to my ear.

I shivered.

One of his hands slid over my ass while the other one held tight at my waist.

“I love your ass,” he murmured in my ear. “I’ve always loved your ass.”

His words shivered through me. I had no idea he loved my ass, the very thought thrilled me to the core, so much so, I kissed him for all I was worth.

I heard him groan under my kiss and that thrilled me too.

The phone was ringing again and the thing on the night table vibrated and clattered. Lee’s hand was in my underwear and my hand was at his belly, exploring his washboard abs on a downward descent.

Then the door buzzer went, three quick buzzes and then a longer one.

Lee’s hand stilled.

“Fuck!” he clipped from behind clenched teeth.

“What?”

He flipped me on my back as if I weighed no more than a sack of feathers and gave me a quick kiss.

“Don’t fucking move,” he warned and angled out of bed.

He grabbed a pair of jeans before he walked to the door and I watched him go, frozen solid and fascinated by my first, unadulterated view of his perfect, naked body including the particularly generous gift with which God had chosen fit to endow him.

At the sight and the realization that I was sleeping next to a naked Liam Nightingale, I’m not embarrassed to admit, I think I had a mini-orgasm.

I heard voices, tried to get my body back under my control (and failed) but then in mere moments, Lee came back into the room.

He walked straight to the bed and hauled me out. I slammed against him and he kissed me, hard and deep, but unfortunately not long.

“I have to go,” he told me.

I wanted to scream, “No!” I was beginning to get seriously hot and bothered, he’d just admitted he loved my ass and always had, and I wanted to explore his God-given talents.

Instead, I just kept holding on to his shoulders because that was all I was capable of doing after his kiss.

He smiled.

Damn the man.

“I’ll pick you up at Fortnum’s as soon as I can. Promise me in the meantime you won’t get into trouble.”

I nodded my head.

He stared at me a second, then sighed.

“You’re lying.”

“No I’m not,” I replied.

“Just don’t do anything too stupid.”

As if!

He brushed his lips against mine. He let me go, headed straight to the bathroom, took a shower, dressed and left.

I called and asked Ally to come pick me up.

We had a long, busy day ahead of us if we were going to find Rosie.