Rock Chick Revenge (Rock Chick #5)(114)

I nodded.

He kissed my nose then his hand went away from my neck, his arms went around me again and he (thankfully) changed the subject.

“The bad guys know they gotta work out their issues with Vito. That’s why Zano’s called off Santo. You’re in the clear but I don’t trust it yet. I still want you callin’ into me regularly.”

I nodded again. I had enough dealing with the emotional trauma of Luke and the possibility of bearing him three sons. I didn’t need to get kidnapped again.

“What are your plans for today?” he asked.

“Sort out my Range Rover. Go see Sissy. Workout. Shop for groceries. Maybe Shirleen and I’ll go see Bobby. And I need to go to your place and get my stuff.”

“No.”

I looked down at him. “What?”

“Leave your stuff at my place, you can go there to unpack but leave it.”

“A lot of stuff I need is there.”

“You’re goin’ to the store. Double up.”

Shit.

Doubling up on necessities between my house and Luke’s. Okay, so maybe I needed five hundred and seventeen hours to cope with all this shit.

“Luke, maybe we have more talking to do,” I made a suggestion that I didn’t think was a suggestion, as such.

His arms became tight. He leaned in, kissed my neck and then got up, taking me with him. He turned, set me back in the seat and put a hand on the seat on either side of me so his face was close to mine.

“Life’s too short, I’m through talkin’. This is happening, we both know it, we both feel it and you even admitted it. Ava Babe, stop fighting it.”

I sighed, because in the heat of one of my many freak outs, I did admit it.

I was such a dork.

This meant I was with Luke Stark. I was Luke Stark’s girlfriend. Worse, I was Luke Stark’s woman. There was a nuance of difference between being a man’s girlfriend and a man’s woman, but that nuance was pretty f**king significant.

Fuckity, f**k, f**k, f**k.

This should have made me happy. In fact everything that morning should have made me doing-cartwheels-of-joy ecstatic.

Instead, what I felt was scared. Shit scared to the depths of my soul.

I sighed again and told him. “I need my computer.”

“I’ll get Matt or Jack to deal with it.”

“Luke.”

He leaned in and kissed me, hot and heavy, proving he was indeed through talking.

When done, he lifted up and lightly kissed my nose. “Call in,” he ordered softly.

Then he moved away as I watched, my stomach still melty, my heart in my throat.

I wanted to be excited. I wanted to think Good-Ava-twirling-in-the-mountains-like-Maria thoughts but all I could do was think about what it would feel like when he walked away for good.

When he was at the door, he stopped and turned back to me. “One more thing,” he told me.

Shit, I didn’t think I could handle one more thing.

“What?” I asked, deciding it was best to get it over with quickly.

“I’m gonna get serious shit about this hickey today, beautiful. You owe me.”

Crapity, crap, crap, crap.

He gave me his sexy half-grin and I knew he didn’t care, not even a little bit, about the shit he’d get or the hickey.

“Lucas Stark, I do not owe you,” I shouted at his back but he was gone.

Chapter Twenty-One

Earning Retribution

After Luke left, I made coffee, poured myself a cup then I went to get my phone and walked back to my porch.

First up, I called Shirleen.

“Oowee, girl!” Shirleen yelled in my ear. “You are workin’ on bein’ the Premier Rock Chick, what with Luke Stark fightin’ in a parking lot over you. I heard there was blood. Was there blood? Oh wait…” she stopped and I listened as she shouted, “Oowee!” again but not in my ear, to someone in the office. Then she came back to me. “Luke just walked in. Girl, you are the Premier Rock Chick. Even with that nasty gash, that boy looks like the cat who just got his cream. He musta got the cream if that hickey is anything to go by. A hickey! I love it!”

Shit!

Why did I give Luke a hickey? Why? I was never going to live it down.

Shirleen kept on in my ear. “Did he get his cream? If so, how many times. I want details.”

I wasn’t going to talk about Luke getting his cream, not any of the three times he got it.

“Shirleen, I’m calling about Bobby. Any updates?”

“Fit as a fiddle, except that fractured skull. Functions coming back, two and two make four again. If all keeps goin’ good, they’re releasin’ him tomorrow to finish recuperatin’ at home.”

“Thank God for that,” I said and I meant it.

“Now, details,” Shirleen returned.

“No, now I want to know what’s up with my car.”

“Car’s bein’ delivered this mornin’, any time now.”

“Do they expect payment on delivery or are they going to invoice me?”

“Luke’s taken care of it.”

I went silent.

“Ava, you there?” Shirleen asked.

“What do you mean Luke’s taken care of it?”

It was Shirleen’s turn to go silent. Then she muttered, “Uh-oh.”