Rock Chick Rescue (Rock Chick #2)(101)

This was a lot, trusting Eddie, doing something for Eddie and worrying about Eddie al at the same time.

I made a split-second decision.

“Cal Lee,” I gave in.

He talked in Spanish again, his voice now soft, I knew some of the words and they were sweet.

Then he said, “When you’re done, you’re comin’ to my place.”

He wasn’t asking.

“Yeah,” I said, feeling the warmth curling in my bel y, I couldn’t say anything else; I was in an Eddie Daze.

“Leave your sister with Tex.”

“Okay,” I was stil in The Daze.

“Be careful.”

“You too,” I said quietly, meaning both words and meaning them a lot.

He was silent for a beat and then he said, “This is the part that makes you worth it.”

I blinked again, not keeping up with him.

“Pardon?”

“You got two kinds of sweet and I like both of ‘em.” Then he disconnected.

Dear Lord.

Chapter Twenty

War

The afternoon passed in a whir.

We went back to Fortnum’s, then Duke took me to the bank (my second ride on a Harley) so I could deposit my tips and the (very generous) col ection from the folks at Smithie’s.

While I was gone, Lottie trailed Mom and Tex home in her rental in order to visit with Mom and get settled at Tex’s.

Tex seemed surprisingly content with his house fil ing up with women. Indy explained Tex had been a loner and kinda hermit for years before he met her, so she figured he was making up for lost time.

Duke and I went back to Fortnum’s. I helped close and then Lee and Indy took me to my apartment to find something sparkly to wear. I’d packed for Eddie’s during a mammoth flip out and thus, didn’t do it very well . I was going to use the opportunity to pack more (a girl’s gotta have options).

Lee made Indy and I stand in the front hal while he did a walk-through of the apartment. I felt kinda stupid standing there, not to mention uncomfortable. The favors people were doing for me were spreading far and wide, so far and so wide, I’d never be in a position of payback.

“Al clear,” Lee said with a chin jerk.

Indy fol owed me into my bedroom while Lee hung out in the living room and flipped open his cel . Before going into my room, I glanced at him as he moved around my living room and a thril went up my spine. He was just talking on the phone but he’d somehow completely claimed the space. In fact, his presence fil ed the entire apartment with a kind of dangerous, badass magnetism.

“He kinda scares me,” I admitted to Indy when we’d entered my room.

She threw herself on my bed to watch me pack.

“He’s kinda scary,” she told me.

I stopped digging through my closet and stared at her.

“How do you get over it?” I asked, then immediately started digging again. It was a nosy question and real y wasn’t my business.

Then, I couldn’t help myself, I had to, so I decided to share.

“I’m only asking because Eddie kinda scares me too.

He’s a cop, he says something’s ‘going down’ tonight. I don’t know what but it doesn’t sound good. It flips me out.

How do you take the worry?”

Clearly not thinking I was nosy, she shrugged, “I love him.”

Simple as that.

Though, I guess that would do it.

We went to Eddie’s to dump my bag, Lee doing the walk-through/al -clear thing again.

I pul ed out what I was going to wear that night and then we went to Indy and Lee’s.

Indy and I got dol ed up together in their bedroom. Lee silently brought us a spiced rum and Diet Coke, then disappeared. The way he did it, I was beginning to realize why she loved him (other than the fact he was hot). Not because he got her a drink (which was nice), but the way he got her a drink. He didn’t ask, he didn’t make a big deal about it and it was a sweet thing to do. It was tremendously cool and, deep down inside, I hoped for something like that for myself one day. A lot closer to the surface, I liked Indy and I was glad she already had it.

While we got ready, we talked and giggled and I swear, it felt like I was back in high school getting ready to go to a dance in the gym.

I didn’t have anything sparkly so Indy loaned me some glitter dust to put on my col arbone and some cream that made my cheekbones glisten. It wasn’t a lot of sparkle, but it would have to do.

I wore a silky, deep-purply-gray tunic, with a low slash at the throat, which if I turned right could give a hint of cle**age. Other than that, it was kind of perfectly demure (I bought it myself), with long sleeves that got ful er down the length. The thing that made it kind of demure rather than total y demure was that it had two slits at the sides which were about two inches higher than they real y needed to be and therefore, they showed some skin.

This topped jeans and black flats (just in case I had to make a run for it). I went heavy on the makeup, not exactly Smithie’s but not my everyday look either and I did the deep part, sultry-thing with my hair.

I thought I looked al right, though nothing to write home about. I felt safe in the jeans and hoped Daisy wouldn’t quibble.

See, jeans were multi-purpose in Denver. An invitation could say “semi-formal” and there would be people at the party wearing jeans. It was just the way of the Rockies. A true Denverite would wear jeans to meet the Queen of England and somehow pul it off.