Rock Chick 06 Reckoning (23 page)

Unh-unh.

No way.

On the other hand, Mace was a badass, hot guy. He and the Nightingale Team knew what they were doing. What happened tonight wasn’t his fault, it was Monk’s and it was mine. First, the boys wanted to give in and I didn’t let them with what I now considered my immensely idiotic “I want a vote” speech. Second, we played the gig knowing the danger and the security chal enge it represented. I knew Mace felt it was his fault which I found upsetting. I didn’t want to find it upsetting but I couldn’t help myself. I was over Mace (kind of, or at least I was stil going with that thought) but I wasn’t
that
over Mace.

However, I was trying to steer clear of Mace and Eric was giving me a golden opportunity.

Shit.

What to do?

When I hesitated, Mace, his eyes stil locked on Eric, spoke low. “Stel a.”

“My luck sucks,” I declared because I hadn’t made a decision and I was stal ing for time, and, of course, it was the truth.

“Stel a, sweetheart, get in the Blazer,” Eric coaxed, eyes stil on Mace.

“You cal her ‘sweetheart’ one more fuckin’ time, I’l shove your teeth down your throat,” Mace growled.

Oh no. It appeared the impossible was happening and things were degenerating.

Eric grinned a humorless grin and jerked his chin at Mace.

“Let’s go,” he invited.

Yikes!

Mace took a step forward. Eric stood his ground but brought up his fists.

“Oh for goodness sake, stop it!” I shouted, getting between them again and putting a palm on each of their chests. I made a split-second, scary-as-shit decision and turned to Eric. “What happened tonight wasn’t his fault, Eric. They had tons of men there. Monk’s an asshole, you know that. He was worried about the money. He didn’t do thorough searches so he could get people in the door.” Eric looked down at me. “You shouldn’t have been up there in the first fuckin’ place.”

He had a point.

“No, maybe not,” I al owed. “But we don’t play, Buzz and Leo don’t eat. We had no choice.”

“You’re dead, so are The Gypsies, then they
really
don’t eat,” Eric returned.

Another excel ent point.

I pressed on, “Eric, I have people who count on me. The band… my dog.” I petered out because that was kind of it and it sounded lame. Stil , I kept going. “I have responsibilities. I can’t disappear. The other Rock Chicks are on the line and I’m the one who put them there.” Eric took a step back. I felt a moment of relief that he was backing down and I dropped my hands. Mace took a step forward so we were close. Eric’s eyes narrowed on us and my relief was swept away but, unusual y luckily, Eric let it pass.

“How in the fuck did
you
put them there?” Eric asked me.

“Don’t answer that, Stel a,” Mace broke into our conversation and Eric’s brows snapped together in annoyance but before he could say anything, Mace continued. “You need to get inside.”

Mace was right. I’d been shot at twice in less than a week and hit once. It was a graze but stil . I felt exposed and I didn’t like it.

I moved away from Mace and got in Eric’s space, attempting some form of damage control.

“Thank you for coming tonight and wanting to help but I’l be okay,” I told him quietly.

He looked down at me and his face went soft, his eyes went warm and I realized, unfortunately belatedly in our relationship, that he wasn’t just good-looking, he was
really
good-looking.

And maybe he was a nice guy.

Sheesh.

My fucking luck.

“Yeah, you wil because I’l be keepin’ an eye on you,” Eric replied, his voice as soft and warm as his eyes. Then he leaned toward me and went on, “You need anything, Stel a, you know how to get me. Anytime, you cal .”

“Thank you for that too,” I whispered.

“We’re done,” Mace announced on a growl and my mini-moment with Eric ended when Eric’s eyes sliced angrily toward Mace. “Inside,” Mace continued.

“I’l be keepin’ an eye on you too,” Eric warned Mace, al softness and warmth out of his voice.

Mace put his hand in the smal of my back and pushed me toward the door.

What he didn’t do was respond.

* * * * *

Against my sleepy volition, my body shivered.

Effing hel .

“Mace,” I breathed, my voice throatier than normal with sleep and other things besides.

He didn’t respond. Instead, his other hand slid under my body, going up to cup my breast, the trailing fingers of his hand at my bel y starting to move downward.

Both felt nice.

Real y nice.

Shitsofuckit!

Last night, after the Eric Fiasco, Mace had taken Juno out for a bathroom break while I got ready for bed. When he returned, he got on the phone and Juno and I hit the hay. To my surprise, even after al the drama, I crashed almost immediately, fal ing asleep listening to what I suspected was Mace debriefing with who I assumed was Lee.

Now, I was laying partial y on my bel y, partial y on my side, my leg crooked deep, Mace’s body pressed tight to me, his leg crooked into mine.

“Mace,” I repeated, my sleepy-weak resistance already flagging.

We needed to talk about a lot of things and I needed
not
to have sex with him again. I was beginning to think I was giving him the wrong impression.

Hel , who was I kidding? How could he
not
have the wrong impression?

“Quiet, Kitten, I wanna listen to you come,” Mace murmured into my neck as his hand pushed into my panties.

His words made my body shiver again.

“We need to talk,” I told him, holding onto my failing resistance but his finger honed in on the target and pressed deep.

Oh lordy be.

My hips jerked and involuntarily, I started purring. I couldn’t help myself, it felt nice.

What was the matter with me?

Did I have
no
wil power?

“We’l talk later,” Mace declared, his deep voice smooth as velvet.

“We need to talk now,” my mouth protested even as my hips pressed into his hand.

“Later,” Mace returned and I wanted to say something, honest I did but there was some lovely circling at the target honest I did but there was some lovely circling at the target then his hand moved lower and his finger slid slowly,
deliciously
inside.

“Oh my,” I whispered, my eyes closing and my head tilting back until it hit his shoulder.

Al of a sudden, I didn’t care what impression I was giving, I just wanted his finger never to stop what it was doing.

I turned to face him and he didn’t hesitate. His mouth was on mine and he was kissing me, hard and deep as his finger moved slowly in and out and my hips moved with it.

It felt effing
great
.

“Sweet, wet, silk,” Mace whispered against my mouth, his words trembled through me and I purred against his lips.

It was then the sound of a buzzer I never heard tore through the room.

Erm, what was
that?

Mace’s finger stopped, my eyes opened slowly and he muttered, “Fuck.”

“What’s that?” I asked just as the buzzer went again, this time for longer.

“Fuck,” Mace repeated, his finger sliding gently out of me. I felt his heat leave me as his body moved away.

“Sorry, babe, door,” he said as explanation, kissed my shoulder, threw the covers back and knifed out of bed.

Juno, who was standing by the door staring up at the alarm panel, woofed in doggie confusion. She’d never heard the buzzer either.

I watched Mace stalk naked to the door and tried to get my body back under my control.

This was difficult, mostly because I was seriously turned on but also watching Mace’s naked body doing anything only managed to make me more turned on.

Okay, this was ridiculous. Somehow, I was going to have to get control of my Inner Mace Slut.

Mace hit a button and bit out, “What?”

I saw Hector’s face fil the video screen. “We got a problem.”

My body went tense as I watched Mace’s do the same.

“Everybody okay?” Mace asked.

“Yeah, this is a different problem,” Hector answered.

Beautiful.

Just what we needed.

A
different
problem.

“Shit,” Mace cursed, obviously agreeing with me. “Come up.” Then he hit a button and turned to me. I watched, my breath catching as his hard face grew soft and his voice dipped low. “Kitten, you need to get dressed.” The soft face/sweet low voice thing was another one of those seven hundred twenty-five thousand things I missed about him most of al .

I ignored how that made me feel and kept my eyes on him while I threw the covers back.

Juno woofed again, just to remind us of her presence, her need for a bathroom break and, probably, her desire to have breakfast. I got out of bed as Mace ruffled the fur on Juno’s head then walked to the edge of the platform, grabbed his jeans and pul ed them on commando.

There was something very sexy about Mace going commando.

Very sexy.

Down Mace Slut!
My brain commanded.

I shook thoughts of Mace going commando out of my head and went to the closet. I yanked on a pair of jeans, a bra and a purple t-shirt that read “Olde Town Pickin’ Parlor” over the headstock and neck of a guitar. While I was dressing, I heard Mace open the door and greet Hector.

By the time I came out of the walk-in closet, Mace and Hector were in my smal kitchen and both were standing, hips against the counter. Mace had pul ed on a white tee, had a copy of the
Denver Post
in his hands and he was reading the front page.

“Hey Hector,” I said, speaking to him directly for the first time in my life.

His hot black eyes came to me and I felt their scorch like a physical touch on my skin.

“Stel a,” he replied.

Wow.

It must be said, Hector had great eyes.

Mace’s head came up from the paper and he looked between Hector and me. Hector didn’t take his eyes off me nor did those eyes cool.

My body did another involuntary shiver.

Mace’s mouth got tight right before he said, “Could you make coffee, babe?”

At that moment, I thought coffee was an excel ent idea, At that moment, I thought coffee was an excel ent idea, even better than I normal y thought of the idea coffee and let’s just say I liked my coffee (a lot). Making it would give me something to do other than think of Mace (
and
Hector).

I nodded, mumbled, “Sure,” and scooted toward the coffeepot through what smal kitchen space was left with two tal , muscled men in it.

I started to prepare coffee and heard the paper rustling.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Front page news,” Hector answered what I thought was nonsensical y.

I turned to him, empty coffeepot in my hand, my mind on how to get to the sink Hector was leaning against without coming into contact with Hector and I said, “What?” He jerked his head to the paper Mace now had opened and I saw the front page.

I looked at it and my eyes widened in shock when I saw
me
on the cover.

It was a half-body shot from the hips up, guitar in my hands, the mic in front of me, my head tilted down and to the side to look at my guitar, a smal smile on my face. The photo was taken at a gig that I suspected (from the t-shirt I had on, which I hadn’t worn in ages) was at least a year ago.

Next to my photo was the same size picture of a younger-looking Mace at the bottom of a snowy mountain in ful -snowboarder gear, hair tousled and wet with sweat, board under his arm, other photographers surrounding him, he was ignoring them and caught on the move by the cameras.

The headline read,
Local Celebrities under Fire
.

“Effing hel ,” I breathed right when the phone rang.

“Damn it,” Mace muttered, tossing the paper on the counter and reaching up to the ledge where I kept my phone. He put it to his ear and barked, “What?” I was too much in a dither to mind Mace being rude while answering my phone. I was focused on being front page news
and
being referred to as a “celebrity”.

I knew Mace had been famous but when did
I
become a celebrity?

“She has no comment,” Mace said into the phone, hesitated then continued, “I have no comment either,” then he beeped it off and put it on the counter.

I stared at him a beat, letting the words “no comment” permeate my stunned brain and with effort came unstuck, handed the empty pot to Mace and snatched the paper off the counter.

I was beginning to feel weird. Way weird. Panic weird. I didn’t know why but it didn’t feel good.

“Stel a…” Mace started to say but I wasn’t listening.

I wandered out of the kitchen area. Juno got close and gave a little whine.

“In a minute, Juno,” I mumbled, my eyes scanning the page.

“I’l take the dog out.” I heard Hector say but I didn’t pay attention.

I arrived at the end of the bed platform and sat. I no sooner got my ass on the platform when the paper was sooner got my ass on the platform when the paper was snatched from my hands before I’d been able to read a single word.

My head snapped up.

“Hey! I was reading that,” I semi-lied to Mace who was standing over me.

The door closed behind Hector and Juno.

“Fuck it, Stel a. We need to stay focused,” Mace replied.