Rock Chick 08 Revolution (34 page)

“You don’t kiss people’s cheeks,”
he stated.

This was true.

But why had he come all the way
there and broken the most important breakup law there was in order to tell me
this?

“Zano—”

He pressed so close, I stopped
speaking. I also lost my ability to breathe when his hand cupped me under my
jaw and gently pushed my head back as his face came so close he was all I could
see.

Once he had me in position, he bit
out, “
Ren.
”

I blinked, and in that instant, I
pulled myself together.

Therefore, I put a hand to his abs,
firm and communicative, and snapped, “What the fuck is going on?”

“You wanna be a PI, there’s office
space across the hall from me. Dom enquired about it. The way shit is with this
economy, it’s been vacant for six months, no one even sniffing. They’re
desperate to make something on it, so they offered a large discount for the
first year. It’s not big; reception, big office, small office, small
kitchenette and decent-sized conference room. I signed the lease, bought your
first year.”

My mouth would have dropped open if
his hand wasn’t at my jaw.

So instead I just felt my eyes get
wide and stared.

He kept talking.

“I wasn’t going to make a big deal
out of it because I want you however you come to me. But I’ll say it now, it’s
important I bring up my family in my faith and it’s important my future wife is
a part of that. You offered me that possibility without me even asking.”

At that, I would have swallowed if
his hand wasn’t at my jaw.

So instead I just kept staring.

He got even closer so it was only
his eyes that I could see, and his voice dropped near to a whisper.

“You know what I do. You come from
who you come from, and I know your meeting with your family last night was
about that. And you wanted to give me the opportunity to be a part of that
meeting, also givin’ me the shot to start without delay in showin’ your people
what you mean to me. I do not know how you feel about what I do because you
just let me do it. My guess, I forced that issue, I’d learn you didn’t like it
much. You still just let me do it. You could have thrown that shit in my face
last night, but you didn’t utter a single fuckin’ word. Which shows me that
it’s so embedded in what you give me that it wasn’t even a consideration to
draw that blade. Which tells me you take me as I come.”

It was then, I was breathing
heavily.

But Ren wasn’t done

“And I didn’t return that favor.”

Oh my God.

Was this happening?

Hot hit my eyes and he kept right
on going.

“I’m not a maximum contact sleeper,
Ally.
You
are.”

I gasped because this wasn’t true.
I wasn’t.

That was, not with anyone but him.

Before I could sort that in my
head, Ren kept going.

“Never held a woman all night in my
arms in my life… until you.”

Oh shit.

I felt the wet in my eyes because I
was thinking this was happening.

He kept at me.

“And last night, because I was a
fuckin’ dick, I didn’t have you in my arms. I didn’t like that. Even when you
thought we were fuck buddies, you gave me that.”

Oh God.

“Ren,” I whispered.

“You want this. And what you want
to do means so much to you that you would let me be who I am, look into
accepting my faith, love me that much, but walk away. Then you take that hurt
so deep, you’re on autopilot, lettin’ out the woman inside you hold close and
only dole out occasionally, but give to me. And you do shit like kiss Smithie
to say hello when you never would do that shit. It means that much, then you
can have it.
And
me. I’ll worry, but
I’ll learn to trust you. All I ask is, when you got my babies inside you, you
take cases you know are safe, and once we got kids under our roof, you proceed
with the same caution. You with me?”

“I… are you… are you saying…?” I
took in a breath. “Are you saying that you’re okay with me starting a private
investigations agency?”

“No. I’m not saying that. I’m
sayin’ I’ll work at it and try to be.”

Oh
God.

I couldn’t stop it. A tear slid out
of the side of my eye.

Ren’s hand finally moved from my
jaw so it could cup my cheek, but his thumb kept moving in order to sweep away
the tear.

But his eyes never left mine as he
whispered, “I love you, Ally. I was pissed and worried. Lucky said you had a
gun on you and that undid me. You not callin’ and tellin’ me that shit was
gonna go down didn’t make things better. You came home and were immediately
cool. I was not in a place where I could be cool so I was a dick.” He dipped
his head, his mouth touched mine and he kept his lips there when he finished,
“I’m sorry, baby.”

Yep. Not only was this happening;
it happened.

I hiccoughed back a silent sob and
shoved my face in his neck.

Both his arms closed around me.
They did this tight and I felt this jaw press to the side of my head.

He was going to give himself to me
at the same time take me as me.

This.

Was.

Righteous.

Oh shit.

This was a disaster!

I took two deep breaths to pull
myself together, but kept my face firm in his neck when I started, “Uh… Ren—”

“Smithie’s got an issue and you’re
dancin’ for him,” he stated matter-of-factly.

I blinked against his skin.

Then I pulled my face out of his
neck and stared at him.

He didn’t look happy. He didn’t
look pissed, but he didn’t look happy.

“You’re on that case and you come
home from work, baby, I don’t wanna know,” he stated.

Was this Ren?

Or
was
there another dimension, and the Ren from that dimension slid
through?

“Do you feel okay?” I asked and he
grinned.

Then he said, “I shouldn’t. I got
shit sleep. And last night, I also got calls from both your brothers, up in my
shit.”

Uh.

Say
what?

Ren kept going.

“Then I got a call from Daisy, up
in my shit. This means I got a call from Marcus, also up in my shit. And this
morning I got a call from Shirleen, again, up in my shit. And last I got a call
from Smithie, tellin’ me you’re workin’ a case for him and he would not be
happy if
I
got up in
his
shit. Then I hauled my ass over here
to sort our shit. Now, you gotta call and let whoever know I’m gonna be at the
rehearsal dinner tonight, because I missed dinner with my woman last night and
that shit isn’t happening two days in a row.”

Our first semi-official date was
going to Luke and Ava’s rehearsal dinner.

How freaking cool was that?

I didn’t tell him I thought that.

I muttered, “I best call Tod.”

“And don’t bother calling Daisy.
She already sent your bags back to my place.”

God.

Totally
loved
Daisy.

“Last,” he went on, “you gotta be a
badass and call me Zano, that’s cute. I like it. But if things are deep with
us, shit’s raw, emotional or important, I’m Ren. I’ve asked a lot from you
Ally, and you from me. But you’re not a badass with me. You’ve let me into that
place in you that you don’t give anybody. So you don’t put up that shield to
hold me back when shit’s important. You’re you. You’re Ally. And I’m Ren.”

This kind of weirded me out how
much he’d figured out about me.

I also didn’t share this.

I whispered, “Okay.”

“Okay,” he replied.

“Can I ask what my brothers said to
you?”

“No,” he answered. “Just know those
two men love you. They’d break important alliances to take your back. And
they’d likely lay their lives down for you.”

Those must have been intense
conversations.

Nevertheless, I already knew all
that.

So, my insides so warm they were
melty, I smiled.

“Uh, sorry,” a voice said from our
side, and we both looked that way to see a thin woman wearing a brightly
colored tunic and jeans and lots of jewelry standing there. Her eyes were on
me. “I know you work here. Where can I find
Eat,
Pray, Love?
”

“Are you shitting me?” Ren asked
low, which meant dangerous.

Her eyes went from Ren to me and
she lifted her brows.

Clearly a regular.

“Have you looked in the G’s?” I
asked her.

“The G’s? It’s called
Eat, Pray, Love.
I looked in the E’s,”
she answered.

“It’s written by Elizabeth Gilbert,
and books are shelved by author in biography. So try the G’s. But, heads up, we’re
a used bookstore and that’s a popular title. Odds are we’ve had about fifty of
them and sold that same fifty, unless you’re lucky.”

She nodded. “I’ll look in the G’s.”

“Do that now,” Ren ordered.

She gave him a look, rolled her eyes
at me, and sauntered away.

Definitely a regular.

“Fuck me,” Ren muttered, and I
looked at him to see he was staring at the space the woman used to occupy.

“Ren,” I called softly, and he
immediately looked at me.

And thus I got his eyes.

Jeez, those eyes.

“Are you gonna kiss me, or what?” I
asked.

That was when I got his smile.

A second later, I got his kiss.

“Uh… just to say…” We heard, and
Ren growled into my mouth before he broke the kiss and we both looked to the
side to see Indy standing there.

She looked to Ren then to me.

And she smiled huge.

“I approve,” she declared and
disappeared.

She’d so totally been listening.

Before I could process this, Ren’s
hand was again at my jaw. He turned my head back to him and then his mouth was
again on mine, his tongue again in my mouth, and I wasn’t up for processing
anything.

* * * * *

“You good?” Ren asked.

Oh yeah.

I was good.

So
good.

My plethora of shopping bags were
in Ren’s bedroom.

And I was in Ren’s arms in his bed
after he gave me two orgasms.

So. Totally.
Good.

“Yeah, honey,” I muttered sleepily.

“No, baby,” he replied, pulling my
back deeper into his front and nuzzling his face in my neck where he went on,
“Ava and Luke’s thing. You and me. That history. You seemed okay tonight at
dinner. I just wanna make sure that’s where you are, not what you want people
to see.”

I closed my eyes.

Seriously.

So.

Totally.

Loved this man.

Then I opened them and turned my
head to look at him.

“That’s done, Ren. I don’t even
think about it anymore.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah.”

“Nothing buried that will come out
and bite either you or me?”

I bought this after burying what
was between us for a year.

So I sought to pay up, and fast.

I turned a little in his arms and
put my hand to his jaw. “That’s done. Now it’s just you and me. And honestly,
cross my heart, I haven’t thought of it once since we had it out in a
moderately priced motel in a small Colorado mountain town.”

I heard a deep, short chuckle
before, “A moderately priced motel in a small Colorado mountain town?”

“AKA, my favorite place on earth.”

His body went still.

Then his mouth growled, “
Ally.
”

Right after, that mouth was on
mine, I was on my back and Ren was on me.

I guessed we weren’t settling in to
sleep.

Righteous.

Chapter Eighteen

Love Was in the Air

I sat on Ren’s kitchen counter, Ren standing between my legs, our happy
places touching, my phone ringing in my ear, my eyes on my man.

Mom answered, “Hello?”

“Hey Mom. You got two seconds?” I asked.

“Yes, he’s invited to dinner tomorrow, Ally.”

I bit my lip and gave big eyes to Ren.

Her knowing Ren and I were back together wasn’t a surprise. I was
thirty-two, but she’d been in my business since I was born, and as far as she
could be, never got out. Even so, it wasn’t exactly a secret, what with Ren
charging me at Fortnum’s and us being at the rehearsal dinner together. Her
informants were in attendance at both of these events. And her informants were
big on informing.

I let my lip go and asked quietly, “You sure?”

“You love him?” she asked back.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Then your father and I best get to know him.”

So totally told you my mom was the shit.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“See you in a few hours, honey.”

She disconnected. I did too.

I set my phone aside and addressed Ren.

“You’re invited to dinner tomorrow.”

He stared at me.

Then he asked, “How did that happen in the two seconds you were talking
to her?”

“It’s Mom’s way.” I curled my arms around him and pressed closer from
happy place to chest, and assured him, “It’s gonna be okay.”

His arms tightened. “I know, baby.” He then gave me a touch on the lips
before he said, “You gotta get goin’.”

I did. I needed to be primped and trussed in preparation for two people
I loved tying the knot.

Therefore, I smiled.

Ren smiled back at me.

* * * * *

“Oh God, honey.”

“Hurry.”

“
God, Ren.
”

“Hurry, Ally.”

We were in a cloakroom at Hotel Monaco where Luke and Ava were having
their reception.