Extraits

This doesn’t bode well for my future,” he told me.

“What?”

“My inability to say no to you,” he said before touching his mouth to mine and his hand slid slowly down my neck, my side, my hip and then over my bottom.

Olivia came by, we got to talking and got behind on the decorating. Then Olivia, as she always does, invited herself to the party. Then Tod and Stevie decided everyone needed new outfits so, even though we had no time at all, we took a trip to the mall.” I stopped at the dresser, babbling on, like they were actually listening to me (which they probably were not) and I looked over my shoulder at Luke. “I think I spent too much money.”

I heard a phone ringing and Hank moved to answer it as Luke’s eyes cut to the dining room table, he took in the bags then his eyes moved back to me.

“An outfit takes six bags?” he asked.

“I also bought shoes,” I told him as I heard another cell phone ring.

“An outfit and shoes take six bags?” Luke slightly amended his question.

Yeah?”

“It’s me,” I said.

“Babe, your name comes up on the display,” he informed me, a smile in his voice.

“Then why do you answer ‘yeah’ if you know it’s me?”

“That’s how I answer the phone.”

“Well, you could say something else like ‘hello’ or ‘Ava’ or even ‘babe’.”

“You want me callin’ you ‘babe’ now?”

“It’s better than ‘yeah’.”

“Let’s see if I got this right, now we’re arguing about how I answer the phone?”

Okay, he had a point.

like to be the one in control, babe.”

My eyes narrowed, I dropped down and started to roll but he foiled my escape plan and came with me. This meant both his arms went around me holding me to him and his thigh was pressed deep between my legs.

His hand fisted in my hair and tugged it back gently so I would look at him.

His face was not amused, it was soft. “I might not like that particular idea Ava, but I do like that you’re up for adventure.”

“I’ve just decided it’s missionary position until the end of time,” I retorted.

That’s when he face got amused. “Bullshit,” he murmured.

He was right, it was bullshit.

Still.

“Are we gonna fight over how we have sex?” he asked.

“Maybe,” I replied, sounding bitchy.

“So now that we don’t have anything to fight about, you’re inventing things?”

“I’m not inventing things! You’re not being fair. How come you get to cuff me to the bed and I don’t get to do the same to you?”

“Because I’m stronger than you.”

“Ava Babe.”

“Sleepy,” I replied as I snagged his pillow and hugged it to my body.

I heard a chuckle, my torso was pulled up, I kept hold of the pillow at my chest as I was twisted and the pillow and I hit something solid. I burrowed my face into Luke’s neck as I wrapped my arms around him (and the pillow) and I mumbled, “Kiss me quick so I can go back to sleep.”

I didn’t really want him to kiss me quickly but I did want to go back to sleep.

The pillow was tugged, it slid out from between us, my br**sts hit bare chest and my eyes opened.

“I don’t want to just kiss you, beautiful, I wanna f**k you,” Luke said.

What are you doing?” I cried, grabbing his upper arms in order not to stumble on my teetering heels.

His hands were on me, his head bent and his lips went to my neck. “I’m gonna f**k you, right here on Lee’s desk.” His voice was low again but not with anger this time, with something entirely different and a shiver slid across my skin. “The eighth part of your revenge is you walkin’ in there with your face soft, satisfied and sexy as hell like it is after I make you come.”

Ho-ly shit.

My special girl parts went into full spasm.

For your information, this dress is not for you. It’s for Noah.”

That got a reaction.

At first I saw I surprised him which surprised me because I didn’t think Luke could be surprised. Then the surprise faded fast and I saw he was ticked off. I knew this because his eyes narrowed, his brows drew together and the air in the room started closing in because his ticked off energy was electrifying it.

“Come again?” he said low but I was too angry myself to be scared of him.

Shit, Luke, you don’t put a ring on her finger, I will,” the blond guy said.

Now, that was the reaction I was hoping for.

“You got a wife and five kids,” Luke told him but didn’t take his eyes off me.

“Oh yeah, for a second I forgot,” the blond guy replied.

I’m sorry. I wouldn’t call but I’ve got a situation.”

Silence for a beat then, “Talk to me.”

“Well –” I started then stopped, mainly because I didn’t know where to begin.

“Ava,” Luke sounded impatient.

“See, the thing is…” I started then stopped again and before Luke could say anything I rushed on, deciding to let it all hang out. “We went to visit Winnie Conrad. She’s a nice lady but she didn’t have much for us. The thing is, her granddaughter, Olivia, showed up while we were talking with Winnie and apparently, somewhere along the line, both Indy and Jet had stun-gunned Olivia and Daisy got in a catfight with her. She wasn’t so happy seeing Daisy at her grandma’s place and there was kind of a mini-incident. Then she found out who I was, what happened to me and that we were after Noah so she decided to join the hunt, after we go to the mall and get Smithie out of the tree that is.”

I heard noise as his hand covered the mouthpiece of the phone. Then I heard words and they were indistinguishable but, even though I couldn’t make out what he was saying, I could tell whatever it was, it wasn’t happy.

Then he came back to me. “Let’s talk about why Smithie’s in a tree.”

“That’s why I’m calling. Two German Shepherds have treed him in a stranger’s backyard. He was canvassing Noah’s old neighborhood. I’m not clear about how that happened but the dogs aren’t happy and we can’t get him down.”

“Call the fire department.”

“He’s in a stranger’s yard and we don’t have a good story about why.”

“Call the fire department.”

“Luke, he’s in a stranger’s backyard. He’s a black man in a stranger’s backyard. And there are, like, twelve of the now-extended Rock Chick gang hanging out beside the house. We don’t have time for me to describe Daisy’s outfit and you’ve seen Tex. I’m not sure the fire department is going to let us slide.”

“Ava, call the fire department. I’ll call Eddie. Smithie won’t have any trouble.”

“I’m not quite done with my story.”

Silence. Or, more accurately, scary silence.

I continued. “See, my Mom and I had a nice chat after breakfast but I’ll tell you about that later. Anyway, your Mom and my Mom got worried about my troubles and they decided to follow us. They’re here too. Your Mom thinks we should get steaks for the dogs but she’s also counseling Olivia on her man troubles.”

Before I could run away or will my body to spontaneously combust, Duke walked up and stared at me, straight in the eye. “I know you’re tryin’ to protect Luke and I’m okay with that ‘cause you care about him and he’s a good man. He deserves to have a good woman carin’ about him. I’m not okay with standin’ out in the bright sunshine with the neighbors watchin’ and a black man in a tree. I’m not sure I want to explain to Luke Stark why his mother’s been fingerprinted. I’m equally unsure of my desire to explain to him why I let his woman get fingerprinted. What I am sure of is that you don’t want to explain it to him either.”

“Duke –” I began but he kept talking.

“I don’t disagree with what he’s doin’. Someone put their hands on my wife Dolores hell would get paid and I’d be the one huntin’ down the jackass who’d be payin’ it. You got a whole bunch a people caught in the middle here and your shit is so far south we’re hangin’ onto a pole by our fingernails. Pretty soon we’re gonna have some angry badasses descending if this shit doesn’t get sorted and fast. Girl, I’m tellin’ it to you straight, give up the ghost. You got no idea what you’re doin’. Sort this shit out and sort it out now.”