Rock Chick 01 (41 page)

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.

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 about
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?”

I had a lot of things I wanted to say, none
of them I was ready to say.

I asked, “When did you know you loved
me?”

He sighed and slid off me onto his side. He
brought me with him so we were face-to-face.

“I knew that last time you tried to seduce me
before you started avoiding me. When I was home on leave and you
tackled me in your Dad’s living room and I told you that I thought
of you like a sister.”

My heart lurched at the thought. That had
been the most hated, humiliating, horrifying memory of my life.

“I didn’t tackle you,” I said.

“It was close to a tackle.”

Jeez.

Moving on.

“Why then?” I asked.

“Because what I wanted to do was get in your
pants. It almost hurt physically to set you away from me. It
did
hurt when you got that look on your face after I told
you that you were like a sister. It hurt to hurt you, that’s when I
knew.”

“That was a long time ago,” I said to
him.

His hand was resting at my waist but it moved
around my back and pulled me to him.

“Yeah, we’ve wasted a lot of time. We’ve got
a lot to make up for.”

He was nuzzling my neck but I wasn’t quite
finished talking.

“You want to marry me?” I asked.

“No. I’m gonna marry you.” He lifted his head
from my neck. “You’re movin’ in this weekend. We’ll get settled,
get used to each other, spend some time up in the cabin, maybe go
away somewhere with a beach. In a few months I’ll get you a ring
then we’ll get married.”

I didn’t believe what I was hearing.

“You have it all planned out,” I said.

“Well… yeah.”

“That’s it?” I asked.

“That’s it. Isn’t that how it normally
happens?”

I guessed it was but still.

I felt his body move against mine and knew he
was laughing.

“Fucking hell, India Savage wants hearts and
flowers.”

I went up on my forearm. Hearts and flowers!
As if! I was a Rock Chick!

“I do not!” I snapped.

He was grinning at me. “Yes you do.”

“No I do
not,
” I retorted.

He rolled me on my back and onto me again.
His hands went into the hair at either side of my face and he
looked me in the eyes.

“I don’t do hearts and flowers but I promise
you won’t be disappointed.”

“You are so cocky.”

“Honey, I don’t give a fuck if you don’t
believe it’s gonna be good between us. I know we’ll both enjoy me
proving it to you.”

Wow.

My breath escaped me and I stared.

He ignored my stare, rolled off me again,
twisted me around and fit my back to his front and held me tight
against him.

I expected my mind to whirl, instead, I gave
into my exhaustion, his warmth and the sweet feeling in the pit of
my belly that I was exactly where I was supposed to be.

* * * * *

I woke up, my body snuggled against Lee’s
back, my cheek pressed against his shoulder blade.

I peered beyond him to the clock, it was five
after six.

Unfortunately, as warm and comfy as I was, I
was awake and when I was awake, I needed to get up.

Since Lee was still sleeping, I carefully
pulled away and started to roll to the other side of the bed.

He turned, snagged me by the waist and tucked
me into him.

I waited for something to happen and then
realized he was still asleep.

“Lee.”

“Mm?” he mumbled, all sexy-sleepy.

“Honey, I need to go to the bathroom.”

His arm loosened and I slid away.

I picked up the red lace underwear, which Lee
didn’t rip off me (though it was close). I put it on and slipped on
Lee’s shirt, buttoning it up the front.

I went to the bathroom, brushed, flossed and
washed my face. I grabbed an elastic hair band and tied my hair in
a messy knot on top of my head and dug through the cabinets until I
found my new toothbrush stash. I had three, not because I needed
them for overnight guests, but because I was freakish about dental
hygiene. I set one on the counter by the sink with the toothpaste
in case Lee got up.

I walked downstairs, started the coffee going
and let Chowleena out. I opened the gate between mine and Tod and
Stevie’s backyard so Chowleena had plenty of room to move.

I was on my second cup of coffee, sifting
through mail, sitting at my dining room table with both of my heels
on the seat in front of me and my knees to my chest when Lee
rounded the bottom of the stairs.

His hair was sexy messy and he had a day’s
worth of stubble. He’d put on his jeans but had only buttoned
enough buttons to keep them on his hips while he moved. His eyes
were still slightly sleepy as if he’d just that instant woken up
and they were on me as he stalked toward me.

“Hey,” I said.

He arrived at my side, wrapped his fist in my
hair, tugged my head back and kissed me, hard and deep with lots of
tongue.

When he lifted his head he said, “I don’t
like wakin’ up and you’re not beside me.”

My heart stuttered to a halt and I
blinked.

“Sorry,” I said.

He let go of my hair and stalked into the
kitchen.

Jeez.

Guess Lee needed his morning coffee too.

The doorbell rang and I got up, went to the
window and looked to see who it was at that ungodly hour. Likely,
the world was coming to an end and Lee needed to save the day.

It was Eddie.

Shit.

I went to the door, grabbed the key off the
hook beside it, unlocked and opened it, then unlocked the security
door.

Eddie was dressed exactly like yesterday,
except his jeans were even more worn, which meant they fit him all
the better, and the white thermal tee had been exchanged for a
black one.

I pushed open the security door and said,
“Hey Eddie.

He walked in, pulling off his mirrored
shades.

“Indy,” he said, “I’m lookin’ for Lee.” His
eyes dropped down to my body and he took in Lee’s shirt. “I guess I
found him.”

“Eddie,” Lee said and both Eddie and I looked
into the house.