Rock Chick Rescue Read online

  His eyes locked on mine after he closed and secured the door.

  “Let’s find you a t-shirt,” he said quietly.

  I didn’t move.

  “What was that all about?” I jerked my head to the window. I had my arms crossed and I was trying not to look as exhausted as I felt.

  Eddie came up to me, flung an arm around my neck and took me into the bedroom. He let me go, opened a drawer and handed me a white t-shirt.

  I took it and stared at him.

  “What was that about?” I repeated.

  He turned square to me but didn’t touch me.

  “You’ve been branded.”

  I blinked.

  That didn’t sound good.

  “Pardon?” I asked.

  “Told Willie, called Lee and Darius. Word goes out tonight that you belong to me. Anyone fucks with you, they fuck with me, the DPD, all the boys at Nightingale Investigations and Darius Tucker. I’m callin’ in all my markers. I’m not takin’ any more chances with this shit. Now you got an army of protection, whether you want it or not.”

  I kept staring at him as that strange sensation took hold of my belly in a vice-like grip.

  “But…” I whispered, “why?”

  It was then he walked to me, put his hands to my neck and gently pulled me toward him until our bodies were touching. He looked down at me and his eyes changed. The warm, tender look was there but so was something else. Something I couldn’t read.

  “Because you make a fucking great chocolate sheet cake.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Out, Coffee and Breakfast

  I woke up, alone, in Eddie’s bed.

  I pulled myself up and looked at his side of the bed. He’d gone to bed with me, held me full-frontal, his arms tight around me, until I fell asleep. Now he was gone, the only thing on his side was a note on the pillow, next to it, a new toothbrush in its wrapper.

  I grabbed the note.

  Out, coffee and breakfast, was all it said.

  I got out of bed and went to Eddie’s bathroom. It had a claw-footed tub, a pedestal sink and new tile but needed to be painted. I searched in the medicine cabinet and found his toothpaste, brushed my teeth and washed away the scary remnants of my makeup with hand soap. My face immediately cried out for moisturizer. It was going to have to wait.

  I went into the kitchen to grab my phone and call Mom and heard my phone beeping inside my bag. I dragged my cell out of my purse and saw I had three texts and four phone messages.

  I stared at the phone. I’d never been that popular.

  Text one was Indy: Text back, let me know you’re okay.

  Text two; Tod and Stevie: This is Tod and Stevie, thanks for an exciting evening. Come over for cocktails, leave all gunmen behind, kisses.

  Text three; Ally: Next time don’t go alone, remember, we got your back.

  Tears filled my eyes after reading Ally’s text but I practiced deep breathing and forced them down.

  Next, I took on the phone messages.

  First message was Tex; “What the fuck, Loopy Loo! I thought I told you I was designated bodyguard! I mess up once and I’m out of the loop?” Disconnect.

  In an abrupt change of mood, Tex’s message made me a laugh out loud.

  Second message was Daisy; “Indy gave me your number. She thought it’d be okay. I’m not tellin’ Marcus, Sugar, ‘cause you asked me not to but I think we need to talk. We girls need to stick together. Call me,” and she left her number.

  Thoughtful and sweet, but still scary.

  Third message was Indy; “Lee told me Eddie’s taking care of you. Call me, honey. I want to know you’re okay.”

  Fourth message was Duke. He was already talking before the beep so I missed the first couple of words; “This kind of shit, girl. Dolores says to bring your Mom and stay with us in Evergreen. We live remote and Tex can set some booby traps. Think about it.” Disconnect, again.

  I leaned my hip against the kitchen counter, that weird warmth I kept feeling didn’t feel so weird anymore. I knew it was those hands that Eddie said people were holding out to me.

  I took a deep breath, because I was about to take an entirely different kind of serious plunge, and programmed some new numbers into my phone. Then I texted a general “I’m okay” to Indy, Ally, Daisy, Tod and Stevie (yes, even Daisy). Neither Duke nor Tex had cell phones.

  The backdoor opened and Eddie came in. He was wearing a tight, gray, long-sleeved tee, seriously faded jeans, no belt this time and running shoes instead of cowboy boots.

  It was the first time I’d seen him without cowboy boots and it affected me in a strange way, as if he’d taken off some kind of mask and was showing me a different Eddie, an Eddie no one else saw.

  He was carrying two coffees and a white bag. Before either of us could say a word, my phone rang.

  It was Indy.

  Eddie’s brows came up and I said, “Indy,” then flipped open my phone.

  “Hey,” I said.

  “Hey. You okay?” she answered.

  “Yeah,” I said.

  Eddie handed me a coffee and upended the bag on the counter. Two enormous blueberry muffins fell out.

  “Where are you?” Indy asked as I took a sip of coffee. Cappuccino, no sugar, just like I took it.

  Eddie knew how I liked my coffee.

  Um… eek!

  Eddie leaned a hip against the counter less than a foot away from me, tore off the muffin paper and took a bite, sliding the other muffin to me.

  “Eddie’s,” I answered Indy and looked fully at him.

  His eyes were on me and my face began to burn. Something about this was bizarrely intimate and I wasn’t ready for it. I’d had too many emotional traumas to stand around in Eddie’s kitchen calmly eating muffins like I did it every Sunday.

  I dropped my head and put my coffee on the counter. I tried to take the paper off my muffin one-handed and felt a new appreciation for my mother’s disability.

  “Lee tells me Eddie’s branded you. Never heard it called that before, but Lee did it with me during my ordeal. Beat the shit out of the guy who hit me, spreading a message. It’s a good thing, Jet,” she was obviously trying to talk me into trusting Eddie and not going into a full-fledged freak out.

  Too late, I was way passed freak out. I’d look back on my endless freak outs with happy nostalgia. Nope, I was in “Pissed Off Female with a Score to Settle” mode.

  Except, of course, when it came to eating muffins in Eddie’s kitchen.

  “Eddie explained it last night. I’m okay with it,” I told Indy.

  I’d managed to get the muffin cup off and tore the bottom of the muffin free. I took a bite and Eddie’s hand came into my vision.

  I looked up at him just as he cupped my jaw.

  “Say good-bye,” Eddie ordered, his eyes warm.

  My stomach clenched and I gulped down my bite.

  “Is that Eddie?” Indy asked. “Tell him hello.”

  “Indy says hello,” I said to Eddie.

  Eddie’s head came down.

  “Good-bye,” he muttered against my mouth.

  I turned my head away to escape his mouth.

  “Eddie says hello too,” I told Indy, feeling like an idiot but keeping her on the line as if my life depended on it.

  Eddie’s mouth detoured to my neck and tingles spread from my neck south.

  Indy laughed.

  “I heard what he said. I’ll let you go. See you tonight.”

  “No!” I said desperately, but she disconnected.

  I took the phone away from my ear and flipped it shut. One of Eddie’s arms wrapped around me and he pulled me tight to him. I felt his tongue touch below my ear and the tingles intensified.

  My phone rang again.

  His head lifted and just before I could flip it open and embark on a very, very long conversation with whoever called me, he pulled it out of my hand, looked at it and then opened it with his thumb and put it at his ear.

  “Yeah?�
�� he said, then he waited. “She’s fine. Call back later.” Then he flipped it shut without even saying good-bye.

  I glared at him as he slid the phone on the counter.

  “Who was that?” I asked and both his arms came around me.

  “Ally, checkin’ in.”

  “I would have liked to talk to her,” I said to him, my voice filled with attitude, an attitude I never knew I had before.

  “I know, Chiquita, you’re so scared of me, you’d talk to Ted Bundy if you thought he’d keep you out of my bed.”

  “That’s not true!” I lied.

  It was so true. Ted Bundy was gross but he’d be interesting to talk to and I was in a serious Eek Moment at the thought of being back in Eddie’s bed, especially with Eddie in it.

  “It’s true and it’s not gonna happen. I finally got almost an entire day where you don’t have to run around like a crazy woman, chargin’ through grocery stores or beggin’ bank tellers to stay open for you. And you don’t have to work. You’re mine all day and I have plans.”

  Dear Lord.

  Eddie had plans.

  I felt my doo-da quiver.

  “Eddie, I have to call my Mom. Then I have to go get some flowers for your Mom. Then I have to make something, I don’t know, cookies or a pie, so we don’t go to Blanca’s empty-handed. My Mom would just die if we went to your Mom’s without some sort of baked good. Then I have to…”

  He picked up my phone and handed it to me, then his arm went back around me.

  “You have five minutes to call your mother,” he said.

  My mouth dropped open.

  “Five minutes! What? Are you going to time me?”

  “Yep,” he said.

  All right. So I’d programmed new friends in my phone and went ahead with this branding business without a fight. There was only so much a girl could take.

  Maybe there was something between Eddie and me and maybe I’d be stupid not to explore it. But I had bad guys to track down, first and foremost, my fucking father. I couldn’t spend the day in Eddie’s bed.

  At least, that was what I was telling myself was my excuse. Not that I was scared shitless of being bad in bed and disappointing him. Or worse, being truly happy for the first time in my life and having it not last.

  I pulled out the glare again. It wasn’t working but I’d keep trying.

  “You can’t make me go to bed with you.”

  The dimple came out and one of his hands dipped down and went under my t-shirt, making a bee-line for my breast while he said, “Chiquita, I won’t have to make you.”

  He cupped my breast and my lips parted when his warm hand held its weight.

  Damn.

  Damn, damn, damn.

  “I really don’t like you,” I told him.

  “Call your Mom,” he said, his hand leaving my breast and trailing down my side to my back.

  I called Trixie and shoved the entire bottom of the muffin in my mouth. Eddie didn’t let me go but I heard him chuckle.

  I continued with The Glare. It might not work but it made me feel better.

  “Hello?” Trixie answered.

  “Trixie?” I said through a mouth of muffin.

  “Jet? Is that you?”

  I swallowed, painfully.

  “Yeah, how’s everything?”

  “Groovy tunes. Your Mom and I just got back from IHOP and we’re thinking about hitting Target. You need anything?”

  I tried to think of a list of things I needed. Not one thing came to mind.

  “No,” I replied, dejected.

  “You home?” Trixie asked.

  I looked at Eddie. He was watching my mouth move.

  “I’m with Eddie.”

  “Good. Have a great day. We’ll see you at 5:30.”

  “Right,” I said. “Can I talk to Mom?” But she’d already disconnected.

  Damn!

  Everyone was conspiring against me.

  I flipped the phone shut. It rang again immediately but Eddie plucked it out of my hand.

  “Stop doing that,” I snapped.

  He tossed it in my purse and then turned me so my back was to the door and started walking forward, forcing me to walk back.

  “They’ll leave a message,” he said. One of his hands was still up my shirt, his other hand went low and up the shirt as well. They met, then separated, one going up my back, the other one cupping my behind. The whole time, he walked me backwards.

  His mouth came to mine and he brushed his lips there and then they trailed down my neck, we cleared the kitchen door and he was moving toward the bedroom.

  I thought wildly of how to delay.

  “I’ve decided what I want to say,” I announced, even though I hadn’t, but if he stopped, I’d wing it.

  “Later,” he said against my neck, his hand on my bottom coming up and then dipping in my undies, to cup me skin to skin.

  It felt good.

  Jet, focus, I told myself.

  “It’s important,” I said out loud.

  He pushed me into the hall, his mouth coming to mine.

  “This is important, that’ll wait until later,” he said against my mouth and kissed me, his tongue sliding into my mouth.

  Next thing I knew, my nipples were tingling, my doo-da was quivering, I was kissing him back and my legs hit the bed.

  The minute they did, he stopped and his hands swept away the t-shirt and he tossed it aside.

  “Eddie…” I was half in a daze, half in denial.

  He pushed me back a bit and looked down at me.

  “I haven’t even seen you properly, Cariña,” he muttered. He took a long look and then his hands went to the middle of my back and gently pushed up, arching it. He was murmuring in Spanish and I was thinking my last thoughts of escape before his head bent and his mouth found my nipple.

  “Yes,” I whispered, my mouth not controlled by my brain.

  His mouth moved on me and I lost all thoughts of escape. Instead, I pulled his t-shirt free of his jeans and slid my hands under it, taking a moment to explore the muscles and skin on his back as his mouth moved to my other breast.

  Then I was done with exploring his back and even though it dislodged his head, I pulled the tee up, he came up with it and I yanked it free. His mouth came down on mine but it was me who kissed him and that was, well… that.

  It all went totally out of control; mouths, hands and tongues, everywhere. Eventually I managed to undo three of the buttons on his jeans, then gave up with impatience and slid my hand down his crotch outside the jeans. Feeling him rock hard, I decided I wasn’t happy with the jeans in my way so I went inside the jeans and wrapped my hand around him.

  He was going commando.

  Um… yum.

  He growled into my mouth, his hand went around my wrist and pulled it away. I made a sound of protest that was lost when he pushed me back. I fell onto the bed and started to come up but instead, watched him flip off his shoes and pull down his jeans. I had the barest second to catch a glimpse of him, and, in that second, feel a hint of panic at his size. Then he reached forward and tore my panties down my legs, tossing them aside.

  I was so stunned and turned on, all thoughts of his size flew out of my head.

  He put a knee to the bed, spread my legs and moved over me, his warm body settling on me, pressing against me, everywhere.

  “Please tell me you’re on the pill,” he muttered in my ear.

  I suffered terrible cramps and hemorrhaging during my periods, I’d been on the pill since I was seventeen to control it.

  Of course, I didn’t tell him this.

  “I’m on the pill,” I said.

  Immediately, he slid inside me.

  His mouth had moved and was against mine and, the minute he moved inside me, mine opened in a silent groan. He was big, he filled me deep and it felt beautiful.

  He moved, not slow, not gentle, not leading into anything and not messing around.

  It was fast, it was hard and it was roug
h.

  I wrapped my legs around his hips, my arms under his pits, hands holding onto his shoulders. I just managed to whisper the word “harder” into his ear before it overwhelmed me and I came.

  Not quiet, not delicate, but a full-on, neck arching, limbs tensing, “ohmigod-ohmigod” moaning orgasm.

  * * * * *

  “Now you can tell me what you have to say,” Eddie said.

  It was well after, heart rates and breathing had slowed and we were front-to-front. Eddie had hooked my knee around his hip and tucked my face in his throat.

  Normally, I would have been in a freak out both at being naked next to a naked Eddie after just having sex and him calling me on my earlier lie. But I’d come too hard, his solid body felt too good, he smelled great and I was just too tired of worrying about it all.

  “I forget,” I lied.

  He was stroking a hand along my spine and he stopped, lifted his head and, in my ear, he whispered, “Mi pequeña mentirosa.”

  My head came up and nearly hit his. I pulled out The Glare, which was getting a lot of use that day, and snapped, “I’m not a liar.”

  He grinned at me, eyes warm and satisfied and looking at them made my belly feel funnier than ever, but in a good way.

  “Yes you are,” he said, cupping the back of my head and pressing it into his throat again. “You have no idea what you want to say.”

  “Do too,” I grumbled against his throat.

  “Then say it.”

  Damn.

  Damn, damn, damn.

  “Well…” I drew the word out long until I felt his body shake and I had the feeling he was laughing.

  My head came back up.

  “Are you laughing?”

  He wasn’t only laughing, he was smiling, white teeth, dark skin, dimple and all.

  “Chiquita, you’re adorable.”

  “I’m not adorable,” I snapped.

  He shook his head and rolled over, taking me with him so I was on top. I pulled up with my forearms on either side of him.

  “You are,” he said when I was looking down on him. “You’re the only woman I know who can come that hard and start arguing five minutes later.”

  “I didn’t come ‘that hard’,” I lied.

  His face changed, the satisfaction deepened and I held my breath.

  “You did. I watched.”

  Wonderful.