“Everything okay?” I asked.
I stopped next to Eddie. His arm went around my neck and he pulled me into his side.
“We wake you?” he asked softly, looking down at me, his arm still wrapped around my neck.
I shook my head and then stopped and stared at him. He must have worked out his anger earlier, his eyes were back to warm and tender.
I slipped into a mini-daze and murmured, “Felt you gone.”
His eyelids lowered a bit and his mouth relaxed.
“Go back to bed, I’ll be there in a minute,” he said.
I gave a nod, put my hand to his stomach to push away but Darius broke in.
“I’m outta here. Be in touch.”
I looked at him, he was talking to Eddie but looking at me, his face was blank but his eyes were assessing.
Eddie told me he was a drug dealer and he talked casually about ordering people’s deaths. I felt something very sad about that because I had this weird feeling he was a nice guy. I had a feeling that this wasn’t who he was but who he had to be.
Darius left, doing some kind of hand gesture to Eddie and not saying a word to me.
Eddie locked up after him and he and I walked back into the bedroom. He’d put on his t-shirt and jeans to talk to Darius. He took them off in the dark.
I took off my jeans, left on the sweater and got into bed.
Eddie joined me, his hands coming under the sweater and whipping it off.
“I’m cold,” I said to him.
He tucked me into him, front-to-front.
“You won’t be for long.”
He held me awhile and he was right.
I was nearly asleep, don’t ask me how, probably the warmth from Eddie’s body and something to do with his arms wrapped around me.
Then Eddie spoke and made me jerk awake.
“How much did you hear?”
Damn.
Caught.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, “A lot?”
Eddie didn’t say anything.
“It was wrong to listen,” I said by way of apology.
“I would have listened,” he told me.
I couldn’t help it, I smiled against his neck.
“You’re going to have to explain to me about Darius,” I whispered.
Eddie didn’t hesitate.
“When we were kids, we were close. He was a good guy, a little wild, less wild than Lee and me.”
From what I learned that night, I thought it would be difficult to be more wild than Eddie.
Eddie kept talking. “His Dad was murdered and he and his family had it rough. He took a road that seemed easy at the time, quick money and a way to work out his shit. That road became harder but he’d chosen the path and, now, refuses to look back.”
“That sounds very sad.”
And it did.
Eddie made no comment. Being Darius’s friend through it all, he knew just how sad it was.
“Why was he here in the middle of the night?” I asked.
Eddie paused, as if wondering whether it was safe to share. Then he spoke. “We work together sometimes, when it’s mutually beneficial, but we keep it quiet. The Department wants him taken out and they aren’t too happy with our relationship. I’m Vice and not tremendously popular with the brothers.”
“It’s not safe,” I concluded.
“No. It’s not safe.”
“For either of you?”
“No.”
“But you’re working together now?”
He didn’t answer.
“For me?”
He didn’t answer.
“I think you might be a little scary,” I told him.
He turned to his back and pulled me into his side.
“Don’t listen to my aunts. I’m not nearly as scary as they want me to be.”
He was wrong.
He was terrifying.
Chapter Sixteen
Coffee Maker
The alarm went off, Eddie touched a button and rolled out of bed.
I snuggled into the pillow.
He wrapped a hand around my wrist and pulled me out of bed.
“What are you doing?” I asked, half asleep, half pissed off and halfway across the room.
“Time to shower, then time to find bad guys,” Eddie replied.
Shower?
I was still waking up when he picked me up and put me under the hot water. I looked up at him in disbelief, blinking as the water came down on me when he joined me and pulled the shower curtain around us.
“Something to learn about me,” I told him, “I’m a Snooze Button Girl.”
He smiled down at me, reached around and grabbed the soap.
What he didn’t do was respond.
I turned my back on him, the best way to hide my naked body.
Why were men so okay with nudity? It wasn’t fair.
Of course, Eddie had a great body, he certainly had nothing to hide. If I had Eddie’s body, I’d probably wander around naked all the time. Not that I had a bad body, I had curves in all the right places. They were curvier a few months ago, when I had time to eat.
“I really don’t like you,” I said to the showerhead.
His soapy hands came around my middle, he pressed his body against my back and his mouth found my neck.
“Something I have learned about you, you’re grouchy in the morning.”
“I’m not grouchy in the morning,” I grouched.
His hands at my middle separated. One went to cup my breast, the other to cup between my legs.
“No, you’re grouchy all the time,” he said this like it was amusing.
I was only half paying attention. I was more interested in what his hands were doing. His fingers on one hand did a roll on my nipple as his other fingers pressed deep.
It felt nice.
My head fell back on his shoulder.
“I’ve also learned how to make you sweet,” he murmured against my cheek.
I had to admit, he’d definitely learned that.
I turned my head and ran my tongue down his neck.
I tasted water and Eddie, and I didn’t feel grouchy anymore.
* * * * *
After our somewhat prolonged and unbelievably enjoyable shower, I brushed my teeth, pulled on some underwear and one of Eddie’s clean t-shirts and wandered into the kitchen to make coffee.
I couldn’t find his coffee maker, in fact, I couldn’t find much of anything.
I went back to the bathroom, knocked on a door that was already opened and entered at Eddie’s call. He was standing at the sink, wearing jeans and nothing else, shaving.
“I can’t find your coffee maker,” I said.
His eyes slid to me.
“I don’t have one.”
I stared.
Everyone had a coffee maker. This was America.
Even more, Eddie was a cop. Everyone knew cops drank lots of coffee and ate donuts.
I looked at Eddie’s rock-hard abs.
Okay, so maybe Eddie didn’t eat donuts.
I shook off my surprise.
“I can’t find your kettle or any instant,” I tried.
“I don’t have a kettle or instant coffee.”
I kept staring.
“What do you do for coffee?”
His eyes went back to the mirror.
“I go to Fortnum’s.”
“Well then, what do I do for coffee, like, right now?” I asked.
“Get ready for work?” he suggested.
I put on The Glare.
“You need a woman,” I told him, trying to be uppity and throw some attitude.
It wasn’t a smart thing to do.
His eyes came back to me and his expression turned my bones to water.
Eek!
I left the bathroom.
I slapped on minimal makeup, put on jeans and a v-necked, scarlet-red, long-sleeved t-shirt that Mom bought me and yes, you guessed it, it was skintight. I blew my hair dry and p
ulled it back in a ponytail holder. Because I felt in the mood, I put on a pair of kick-butt, high-heeled, tan boots and a belt so wide, it strained the limits of my belt loops.
Eddie pulled on a long-sleeved, white, thermal t-shirt, his jeans, boots and belt, took his gun and cuffs from the drawer in the bedside table and clipped them to the belt on his jeans. His final touch was to grab his badge from the dresser and hook it on his belt.
I picked up my purse and we rolled out the backdoor.
We were halfway across the yard when I noticed Eddie scanning. My stomach clenched and I started scanning too, looking for heads peering over Eddie’s tall fence. He unlocked the garage and we were in the truck, waiting for the garage door to open, Eddie watching it through his rearview mirror, all the while fishing in his pocket. Then he held out a set of keys to me.
“Keys to the house,” was all he said.
I took them. My stomach clenched again and he started the truck. He was about to put the truck in gear when I put my hand on his forearm. He didn’t move his hand, but his eyes came to mine.
There were a lot of things to say.
“Thank you” being the biggest one on the list, but the words weren’t good enough.
“I’m sorry to be a pain in the ass” was another one that was way up there.
I knew I should say something, anything, but I didn’t know what to say.
“I don’t know what to say,” I said.
His eyebrows came up.
I took my hand from his arm and looked away.
“Chiquita, is this about the keys?” he asked.
“It’s about everything,” I told the window.
Silence.
“Hey,” he said quietly and I looked at him.
His eyes were serious.
“I’m guessin’ you feel you owe me big just about now.”
I nodded.
He smiled slowly. First the dimple, then his lips curved, then his white teeth came out.
I narrowed my eyes at him, turned away, did my seatbelt and crossed my arms on my chest. “I really don’t like you,” I said.
He laughed.
“I’m not joking.”
“You’re so full of shit.” But he said it like it was a good thing.
Wonderful.
* * * * *
We walked into Fortnum’s together. It was a few minutes before opening but there were already two people waiting to get in. I let them in and left the door open.
Jane and Tex were behind the coffee counter. They both looked up when we arrived and Tex opened his mouth to boom but I got there first.
“Eddie doesn’t have a coffee maker. Coffee! Now! No lip!” I snapped.
I went directly behind the counter and stared at Tex as he banged around the espresso machine, making me a strong Americano at the same time he made Eddie a cappuccino. The whole time, he was grinning.
I handed Eddie the cappuccino that Tex gave me, sloshed milk into my Americano and took a sip without stirring it.
I looked at Tex. He was still grinning.
“What’s funny?”
“You, Loopy Loo.” His eyes moved to Eddie, “Sorry Chavez, but she’s a lot more fun when people are shootin’ at her.”
“You’re a nut,” I told him.
“That I am, darlin’,” he replied, unperturbed, and turned to the first customer.
Eddie backed me into the counter behind the espresso machine.
“Gotta go,” he said, his arms sliding around me, one hand still holding the cup.
My hands were between us and it was either wind them around him or spill coffee over both of us. As coffee was a life force at that moment, I wound my arms around him.
His eyes had that warm and tender look.
“After work, we’ll go shoppin’ for a coffee maker,” he said.
Dear Lord.
Shopping with Eddie for a coffee maker.
How did this happen?
I just stopped myself from checking to see if my hair and eyebrows had burned off considering our relationship was progressing at the speed of light.
He watched me and then his face came closer to mine. “I hate to say this, but part of me likes that you’re forced in a corner, that way you can’t retreat and I can see you really want to.”
It was my turn to watch him.
“What happens when I’m out of that corner and I don’t need you to rescue me anymore?”
It was the six million dollar question and I held my breath waiting for the answer.
“One thing at a time,” he said.
Not the right answer.
“No, I really want to know. What happens when I’m not getting shot at and I’m not interesting anymore?”
His eyes changed and he looked at me as if I’d asked him if I could spend the afternoon painting his house in shades of Pepto-Bismol and adorning the front yard with plastic flamingos.
Then he said, “You think I’m a little scary? I think you’re a little crazy.”
Okay, so it was time to let it all hang out.
“I’m not crazy, I’m anything but crazy, I’m so not crazy that I’m anti-crazy. Eddie, I hate to tell you this, but I’m boring.”
He waited a beat, watching me, and then burst out laughing.
My mouth fell open.
Then his head dropped and he nuzzled my neck.
“Definitely crazy,” he muttered against my neck and then lifted his head and looked at me, “and totally full of shit. You couldn’t be boring if you tried. And if this is your next tactic to try to get me to give up, go for it. It’ll be amusing to watch you try to be boring. Almost as amusing as it was to watch you pretend to be normal.”
Well, what could you say to that?
Except, I’m so… very… sure.
He didn’t read my look of supreme unhappiness, or more likely, ignored it. Instead, he touched his lips to mine and he was gone.
Yeesh.
Even the truth didn’t work.
* * * * *
Mid-morning, Indy swung through the door.
“How’re you doing?” she asked when she got to me, her eyes concerned.
“After work, Eddie and I are going shopping… for a coffee maker,” I answered, thinking she’d understand my plight.
She blinked.
“No, I mean with the guy who’s threatening to rape you.”
I waved my hand and went back to steaming milk.
“Oh that. I’m over that,” I said.
Her mouth dropped open.
She snapped it shut and said, “Last night, with that phone to your ear, you looked like you were going to have a coronary.”
“That was last night, I was taken off guard. Now I feel like throwin’ down, kickin’ butt and takin’ names and… whatever,” I petered out, not having any more macho-speak at the ready, “I’m done with being scared.”
“Right on, Loopy Loo!” Tex encouraged, pulling a portafilter off the espresso machine with brute force, even though he didn’t need to, and slamming the grounds out of it.
“What are you going to do?” Indy asked.
I looked at her. “I have no idea, but I’ll think of something. The only thing I know I’m not going to do is nothing.”
She looked at me for a beat, then she smiled.
* * * * *
It was close to noon when the bell went over the door and Mom and Blanca walked in.
“Great, Tex, here she is,” I said to Tex, “Now you can meet my Mom.”
Tex looked up and across the store.
Then his face froze. “Un-unh,” he muttered.
“Hey, doll face,” Mom called.
I smiled and waved at Mom and Blanca but turned to Tex.
“What do you mean, ‘un-unh’?” I whispered frantically.
Tex was still frozen.
Mom made it to the coffee counter and she gave him her majorette smile.
“You must be Tex,” she said.
He made a kind of guttural noise, grab
bed my arm and marched me out from behind the counter. He frog-legged me to Indy, who he also grabbed by the arm and he shoved us down the aisle of books turning into fiction, the M-N-O section. Then he stopped and glared at me.
“You didn’t tell me she was pretty,” he said.
I looked at Indy, Indy looked at me.
“Give me your phone, woman,” Tex said to Indy.
She handed over her phone, he flipped it open and started to push buttons at random.
Indy snatched the phone out of his hand.
“Who do you want to call?” she asked.
“Chavez. Get me Chavez.”
Indy scrolled down her phone book and hit Eddie’s number. Tex seized the phone from her hand and put it to her ear.
“Chavez?” Pause, “We got a problem.”
He walked down the aisle and muttered something.
I looked to Indy, she was smiling. I smiled back.
“Uh-huh,” he said, nodding, “Uh-huh,” he said again, still nodding. There was a pause, “Fuck no!” This was an explosion and I jumped. Then, “Right.” Then he threw the phone back at Indy who caught it and flipped it shut.
He looked at me.
“All right, Loopy Loo. Let’s go meet your mother.”
We walked back to the front of the store and, I couldn’t help it, I was near to laughing.
Tex thought my Mom was pretty.
Mom and Blanca were looking concerned.
“Let’s try this again,” I said when we approached them. “Tex, Nancy and Blanca. Nancy and Blanca, Tex.”
“You like cats?” Tex boomed to my mother.
Mom jumped, stared up at Tex and nodded.
Anyone would nod, even if they hated cats.
“Then this’ll work. I’m goin’ home at one, can you wait that long?”
“Sure?” Mom asked and answered, not certain which way to go.
Everyone stood around and looked at each other.
“Maybe you can make them a coffee?” I suggested.
Tex turned to me, blank faced.
I felt a little sorry for him, I mean, I knew how he felt.
“What’ll it be?” Indy asked, “Tex is the best barista in the Rocky Mountains, whatever you want, it’ll be fantastic.”
“Latte?” Mom said.
“Just coffee for me,” Blanca said.
Tex lumbered behind the counter.
“He’s a little strange, isn’t he?” Mom leaned in and whispered to me.