“What?” he said into the phone and then barked out a clipped, “Details.”
Before he was done listening, he moved back into traffic. He flipped the phone shut and slid it in the console.
“I thought it’d be a quiet night. I need a quiet night,” he muttered to the windscreen, not talking to me.
“What are we doing?” I asked.
“We aren’t doin’ anything. I’ve got something to do. You’re waitin’ in the car.”
“Lee, that sounded like an order.”
“That was an order.”
Hmm.
Lee explained, “Luke was scheduled on call tonight but since he’s in the hospital, we’re a man down. I thought it’d be a quiet night, only one skip who can wait and most of the boys have been doubling up, working cases and doing stuff for you. All of your shit is either dead, behind bars or been offered employment at Fortnum’s. An informant’s called Ike whose manning the surveillance room. The skip has turned up. Bobby and Vance are on call but instead of at the office, I let them go home. Vance lives in a cabin outside Golden. I’m closest. Bobby’s comin’ as back up. He’s five minutes behind.”
“How do they know you’re closest?”
“All company vehicles have a tracking device, the Crossfire and your VW have one too.”
My VW? This was news.
“Really?” I asked.
“Really.”
“These days, my car never moves,” I told him, like he didn’t know since he took me practically everywhere.
“I know,” he said.
“Are you gonna take it off now that Rosie’s found?”
“You’re now covered by Nightingale Security.”
Er… what?
“I thought you weren’t doing security anymore.”
“Only special circumstances. The boys monitor the condo and now they monitor you.”
“I don’t know if I’m comfortable with that.”
“You will be when some nut job with a vendetta against me uses you to get to me and my boys get to you in five minutes rather than after you’ve been raped and murdered.”
Yikes.
I hit the mental control that set up Denial Zone around that subject and changed it to a new one.
“Who’s Ike?”
“Another of my men.”
“How many haven’t I met?”
“Luke, Mace, Jack and Ike.”
Mace? Who had a name like Mace? Where did these macho idiots come up with this shit?
“You got a guy named Mace?” I asked, I couldn’t help myself.
“His name’s Mason. Mason is a shit name. We call him Mace.”
That made sense.
“Oh,” I said.
We pulled up outside a bar off Colfax Avenue that I never knew existed, though I couldn’t say I spent much time on Colfax.
The bar looked rough.
Lee yanked the parking brake, turned off the car and twisted toward me.
“You stay here, stay down and keep the doors locked. Bobby will be here soon.”
I nodded.
He got out. I locked the doors and watched him go in. Then I leaned across the console, found the trunk release and grabbed the keys. I got out and went to the trunk. My belt was there. As far as I knew, Ally still had the pepper spray, Eddie had the taser which left me with the stun gun. I grabbed it, closed the trunk, bleeped the locks and walked toward the bar.
I did this for several reasons. Firstly, I felt more vulnerable and exposed in the car. Secondly, I’d never liked to be left out, not to mention, I was beginning to see why guys liked this shit, it was a rush. Lastly, I wanted to see Lee in action.
I walked into the bar and stood stock-still.
Even though it had been less than two minutes since Lee left me, a humongous black guy was laid out on the floor, long arms and legs sprawled, one of his wrists over his head and he was cuffed to the foot rail that ran the length of the bar.
Lee was in the middle of the room, some guy who was either drunk or not very good at what he was doing was aiming punch after punch at Lee. Lee dodged each punch with a calm jerk of his head and upper body, then out of nowhere, Lee’s fist came up and jabbed the guy in the left eye. Surprise and the power behind the jab sent the guy back three steps.
Lee was advancing on him when someone jumped Lee from behind and I could see another guy was approaching. Lee bent at the waist and flipped the guy over his shoulder. Mid-flip Lee’s torso lifted up. Using his strength and the guy’s momentum, Lee threw him, upside down, into the guy coming at them. The two guys went toppling backwards, slammed into a table and drinks flew everywhere.
This heralded the beginning of the brawl, including shouting, grunting, flying beer bottles and broken furniture. One second, Lee was the show, the next second, everyone was in on the act.
Two new guys came at Lee and he turned to one, not a small guy, not even average, though he wasn’t huge, and Lee grasped him by the collar of his t-shirt and belt of his pants, picked him up and threw him four feet across the room.
Just… like… that.
The guy that Lee jabbed was recovering and going toward Lee so I felt it was time to wade into the action. I hit the switch on the stun gun, it started to crackle and I moved forward and touched the guy with the prongs. He went still and went down.
Holy shit!
That was cool.
Lee’s eyes locked on mine, he gave a small shake of his head and then turned and dispatched another guy with a smooth uppercut. The guy went sailing.
“Hey, whitey! What the fuck you doin’?” I turned to see a black woman, hand on hip, head wobbling from side to side. “You can’t just stun gun my man… you can’t just… eek!”
I put the prongs to her, she went still then went down.
“Yo, bitch! Who you messin’ with?” The girl’s girlfriend was coming at me, all pissed off attitude, definitely in bitch smackdown mode. So I leaned forward, put the prongs to her too and she went down as well.
Regardless of the bedlam, people were giving me, and my crackling stun gun, a wide berth. Then, two hands settled on my waist. I was lifted up and my butt was planted on the bar. Lee bent, grabbed my ankles, swung my legs around to the back of the bar, then with a hand between my shoulders, he gave me a shove and I fell over to the other side.
Bobby came in and spotted Lee immediately. He fought his way to Lee, they both bent down and I couldn’t see them over the bar. The place was pandemonium and twice I had to duck, once to dodge a flying beer bottle, the second time to duck and run from a flying chair.
Bobby and Lee came up with the humongous guy, cuffed now at the back.
Bobby pushed humongous guy forward, half-walking him, half-scooting him along. The big guy was either mostly knocked-out or stunned. Bobby, who was even bigger, in fact bigger than anyone in the room, didn’t have a problem handling humongous guy or wading through the crowd.
Lee jumped the bar, lifted me up and planted me on the bar again, reverse action. He went back over the bar, snagged me around the waist and hauled me out of there.
Sirens were blaring and a cop car had already rolled up. Willie and Brian were headed into the bar as we came out and I saw another squad car approach.
Brian’s mouth dropped open when he saw me.
Willie’s eyes turned to Lee. There was some nonverbal male communication going on that I couldn’t decipher except I had a feeling that Lee was not going to win the Cop’s Daughter Boyfriend of the Year Award.
“I’m droppin’ Indy, I’ll meet you at the station,” Lee informed Bobby as Bobby shoved the humongous guy in the backseat of an SUV, then pulled out some ankle shackles.
I was jazzed. I’d never been in a bar brawl before, if you didn’t count what happened at BJ’s Carousel. Personally, I was classifying that as a shootout rather than a bar brawl.
I discovered I loved stun guns, stun guns were righteous when they weren’t used on you.
And Lee could kick ass.
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He was calm, cool and totally in control.
No one touched him, no one even got near him.
Lee drove down Colfax, going fast, weaving in and out of traffic and not saying anything.
“You’re thinking of cuffing me to the bed again, aren’t you?” I asked.
“No, I’m wondering if I should skip town before getting lynched.”
Hmm.
“Can I keep the stun gun?” I asked.
Lee didn’t answer.
He pulled up in front of my house and I turned to him, I couldn’t contain my excitement any longer.
“Is it a bad thing that I’m, like, totally jazzed?”
Lee twisted toward me, his face in shadow. “No.”
“Did you learn to fight like that in Special Operations School?”
“I learned to fight like that in bar fights.”
“Aren’t you jazzed?” I asked, he seemed so calm.
“Yeah, I’m jazzed. And I’d like you to get out of the car so I can go to the station and deal with the paperwork and get home so I can work that feelin’ out with you.”
Holy crap.
“Okay!” I chirped, leaned forward and gave him a quick peck and hightailed it out of his car.
Lee took off when I was safely inside.
I let Chowleena out the front for a change of scenery.
I ran upstairs and yanked out my red lace undies and garter belt.
There was gratitude owed not to mention I was allowing happiness to seep through those walls Lee said I had built around me.
And I had one seriously hot, badass, good-looking boyfriend.
I didn’t have any stockings that weren’t black so black would have to do. I had a pair of black pumps with a dangerously pointed toe, a thin stiletto heel and a saucy ankle strap and I yanked them out of their box. I pulled off my clothes, put on the underwear, threw on a short robe, and ran and called Chowleena in. Then I smoothed on the stockings and lit the room softly with a small lamp on my dressing table that gave just enough light to see but not enough light to see.
Then I paced, waiting for Lee. It couldn’t take that long and he was jazzed, he’d want to get home.
I put the shoes by the side of the bed so I could put them on when I heard him come in.
I laid down on my bed to wait.
Immediately my adrenalin crashed and I fell asleep.
Chapter Twenty-One
We Aren’t Practice for the Real Thing
I heard Lee mutter, “Fuck,” and my wrist was circled by his fingers.
I opened my eyes and saw him lay back in the bed, his hand at his jaw.
“Hey,” I said sleepily.
“You didn’t wait long,” he answered, letting my wrist go.
“I crashed.”
He was settling against the pillows, shirt unbuttoned all the way down, belt gone from his jeans. He looked warm and comfy so I snuggled up to him, burrowing my face in his neck. One of his arms slid around my shoulders, the other hand was rubbing his jaw.
“Why are you rubbing your jaw?” I asked.
“I was gettin’ into bed, you turned and clocked me.”
Oopsie.
“Sorry. That happens sometimes. I’m an active sleeper.”
“So you’ve said.”
I snuggled deeper into him and wrapped my arm around his abs. I closed my eyes, my cheek against his shoulder.
“What are you doin’?” he asked.
“Going to bed, I’m sleepy.”
“What happened to being jazzed?”
“No more jazzed,” I murmured and settled in, “sleepy.”
He turned and one of his hands went to my hip and pushed it back. My body went with it and I opened my eyes.
His hand went from my hip to smooth over the material of the robe at my ass.
I looked at him. It was dark but I could still tell his eyes were warm and intent.
Mm.
I took a not so wild shot in the dark. “You’re still jazzed.”
“Totally pumped,” he answered then his mouth connected with my jaw and ran the length of it and dipped down to my neck.
His hand went under the robe, encountered the garter and froze.
I’d forgotten.
“Um… I had a little surprise planned for you before I fell asleep,” I told him.
His fingertip followed the garter down to where it attached to the stocking.
“Yeah, I can feel.”
He turned away from me, the bedside light went on, all soft, romantic lighting was gone.
“Lee, the light…”
“Quiet,” he said, “I wanna see.”
He untied the robe and spread it wide. I kind of felt like an idiot. I mean, I actually bought this underwear to wear. I found stockings more comfortable than hose. The underwear had never been used for this purpose.
Lee looked down at me, then up and his eyes locked with mine. There was a hint of what I saw in the locker room at his offices and I got a thrill at the sense that he was just barely hanging onto his control.
“It’s like Christmas,” he said.
He traced the lace over my breast with his fingertip. Then his hand went away and his tongue traced the lace.
I found instantly I wasn’t sleepy anymore.
Lee’s mouth came up my chest, over my chin to my mouth.
“Is there sentimental value to this underwear?” Lee asked.
My brow furrowed with confusion. I wanted to kiss him and he was talking about sentimental value to underwear. Was this a jealous-possessive thing? Did he think some guy bought me the underwear?
I twisted into him and wrapped a leg around his waist, my arms around his back and I pressed against him.
“No, I bought it for myself, entirely utilitarian,” I answered.
“So if I rip it off, I can replace it and you won’t have a tantrum?”
Oh… my… God.
I looked into his eyes. The control was slipping and Lee Beast was coming out.
I didn’t trust myself to speak so I just nodded my head.
“Good,” he said.
* * * * *
When we were done, I was on top, straddling him, my knees tucked into his sides, my upper body pressed the length of his and my face in his neck.
When I got my breath back, I whispered, “Am I too heavy?”
“No.”
His hands were idly running up and down my back and over my bottom. I was glad I wasn’t too heavy because I was considering staying where I was for the rest of my life.
His hands came up and with both of them he gathered my hair in a bunch and gave it a gentle tug.
I lifted my head and looked at him. His eyes moved over my face and then a slow grin spread on his.
“What?” I asked.
“I like the look on your face after I’ve finished with you. You look happy, relaxed…” he paused and the grin grew into a smile, “satisfied.”
I gave my head a tug and he released my hair. It fell over both of us and, as I nuzzled my face in his neck again, he swept my hair away by running his fingers through it at the side of my head.
“Cocky,” I mumbled into his neck.
I felt his body move with laughter as his arms came around me again.
“I like that,” I said sleepily.
“What?”
“Feeling your laughter. You used to laugh all the time, you don’t do it so much anymore.”
“You were avoiding me, I wasn’t around you that much.”
“So, you’re saying you laugh all the time I just don’t see it?” I asked.
“No. I’m sayin’ I used to laugh all the time because I was with you. You’re crazy, you’re funny. It’s one of the things I love about you.”
My entire body froze.
“What did you just say?” I asked.
“You’re funny.”
“No, the last part.” He didn’t answer so I lifted my head and looked at him. “One of the things you love abou
t me?”
We locked eyes.
“Yeah,” he said.
“What else do you love about me?”
He had that soft look, his eyes were melty and he had his own satisfied expression that was supremely sexy but I had the feeling that he was very alert.
“I love your ass, your hair and your legs,” he answered.
“That’s it?”
“No, I also love your eyes.”
The eyes he loved narrowed. “That’s it?”
“Maybe I should say I especially love your ass.”
I pulled up but he rolled me over and pinned me under his body.
“I just wanna make sure I know what’s happenin’ here,” he said. “Is this sleepy after-sex talk and you’re gonna drift away to dreamland any second or are we havin’ a serious conversation?”
We were having a serious conversation all right. I wasn’t sleepy anymore, I was freaking out and my heart was hammering in my chest.
“We’re having a serious conversation,” I told him.
“Okay, then now I wanna know if you’ve had the opportunity to throw up the defenses or are we gonna have an honest conversation, one you’re gonna participate in?”
Hmm, that was a much more difficult question to answer.
He looked at me.
“I didn’t think so,” he said.
Shit.
Shit, shit, shit.
“For what it’s worth, I’ll share my intentions. You and me, we aren’t practice for the real thing. It isn’t that too much is at stake with family and friends, it’s because I love you. You’re funny, beautiful and you care about people. I like the way you look at me, especially when you think I don’t notice it. I like that we have history and our kids will have a big family and share that history because there was never a time when their Mom and Dad weren’t together. If you were a terrible lay, I might have second thoughts but you and I are dynamite together. I intend to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you. If that freaks you out, tough, because now that we’ve started this, there’s no goin’ back.”
After a couple of beats, I realized I wasn’t breathing so I made a conscious effort to start again.
Lee was watching me.“Do you have anything you want to say?”