Rock Chick Revenge (Rock Chick #5)(161)

“Because I’m stronger than you.”

This was true. This also didn’t make me happy so I scowled at him.

He got close or I should say closer. “Make you a deal. Tonight, I’ll bring the cuffs. Whoever manages to get the other cuffed to the bed gets to play.”

That was hardly a good deal for me.

“You just pointed out the obvious, you’re stronger than me.”

“Babe, you’re not using your imagination.”

I have a good imagination, Bad Ava reminded me, her voice dripping with anticipation.

Me too, Good Ava surprised me, her voice sounding dreamy.

I smiled slowly.

Then I said, “Deal.”

He touched his lips to mine, eyes open, and murmured, “Never thought life could be this sweet.”

My stomach got melty. “Really?” I whispered.

He rested his forehead against mine. “There are two kinds of women. The ones you go to bed with and the ones you wanna wake up with. Lots of the first, not many of the last. If a man’s lucky, he’ll find the last.”

He touched his mouth to mine again and I took that as a definite sign I was the last.

Oh… my… God.

My whole body went melty.

“You got somethin’ you wanna say?” he asked softly.

He knew. He knew I loved him. And he wanted me to tell him.

Eek!

I shook my head.

“I’ll wait,” he said then he kissed my nose and rolled off the bed. He dressed while I watched, came back to me, sat on the bed, pulled me into his arms and kissed me long and deep.

Then he was gone.

I cuddled into the pillows, smiled to myself and went back to sleep.

* * * * *

Wake up call number two:

My phone in my purse all the way across the room started ringing.

I pulled myself out of bed, ran across the room, nabbed my purse and yanked the phone out, flipping it open and putting it to my ear.

“Yo,” I said.

“Hi there, sweetie. Your sisters and I are going to breakfast. Do you want us to come get you?”

It was Mom.

I was definitely digging the New Mom. However, I’d rather have a tooth extracted without Novocain than go to breakfast with my sisters.

Still, they were family.

“Okay,” I said. “But I need a change of clothes, can you bring some?”

“Sure thing. I’ll have Sofia go up and –”

“No!” I interrupted sharply. God only knew what horrors Sofia would drag out of my closet as payback for yesterday. “You pick,” I told her. “Jeans, t-shirt, belt, flip-flops and bring some of my silver jewelry.”

“Which pieces of jewelry?”

“Any of them.”

“Can do. We’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”

I told her my room number and we disconnected. Then I scrolled down to Luke and pressed the green button.

“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.

“Sorry,” I mumbled.

“Dexter was wrong, you don’t taste like cherry pie, you taste a f**kuva lot sweeter. If you didn’t, babe, you’d be a pain in the ass.”

“Did you just call me a pain in the ass?” I asked.

He sighed.

Time to move on.

“Where are we staying tonight?” I changed the subject.

“Your family gonna be in town?”

“I don’t know.”

“The hotel if they are, your place if they’re not.”

I looked at the bed. It had a padded headboard, no slats for cuffs.

“If we stay here or at my place, we can’t play our, um… game.”

“We’ll play another night.”

He didn’t sound too broken up about it.

“Lotsa games to play, babe,” he went on softly. “I’ll get creative.”

I felt my knees wobble. If he hadn’t already been creative, I was looking forward to creative.

“Okay. Did Vance and Hector get Noah?”

“No.”

My stomach clenched. What did he mean “no”?

“No?” I asked.

“They didn’t go to Durango. Got a tip. He’s in town, they’re trackin’ him and they’re close. I’m just about to go out to assist. I want you to stay at the hotel. This shouldn’t take long.”

“But I’m going to breakfast with my family.”

Silence for a beat then he told me, “I’ll get a man on you. Don’t leave the room until he knocks on the door. You’ve met everyone now, it’ll be one of ours.”