“She’s sweet as sugar, but born to be an old lady, so yeah. Wouldn’t read that on her you looked at her, but she’s all in to go to the wall for someone she loves or something she believes in.” His expression changed. “Chaos seems to attract that kind of thing.”
Wow.
That felt nice.
So nice, I had to cover it by giving him shit.
“In your case, it’s your big dick.”
His expression changed again as he started chuckling.
“And your eyes. You have pretty eyes,” I shared.
He just kept laughing.
“And your hair. Love your hair. And totally digging the beard.”
“You need shades,” he said.
“What?”
“On your window. You need a blind or something. You don’t have one means I can’t show on your set, make you take fifteen, and fuck you on your desk.”
“A further delay in you dropping me at Ride so you can go out and hunt your final enemy since we’re going to Lowe’s,” I announced.
He burst out laughing.
“’Bye, Rebel!” I heard and turned to see Meryl walking by my office. “I’ll email to tell you how far we got while you were gone, and I’ll see you on Monday!”
She called me Rebel.
She’d see me on Monday.
God, both those felt good.
I lifted my hand her way.
“See you on Monday!”
Two thirty-eight, that afternoon . . .
“I’m feeling very Tawny Kitaen right about now,” I announced as I walked through the garage to where Rush was bent over the engine of a one hundred percent kickass car.
My guy: hot.
My guy kicking my asshole brother’s ass: hotter.
My guy bent over the engine of a fucking sweet muscle car: hottest.
Okay, so Rush wiping the floor with Gunner was the hottest, I just didn’t have that visual right then.
I had this one.
And it was good.
He tipped his head back and grinned at me. “Hold that vibe, the others go home, we’re workin’ it out.”
I stopped opposite him. “No way. The others go home, since you aren’t hunting your enemy, we’re going to my place and I’m making you an anniversary dinner.”
He retracted himself from the engine and declared, “We’re goin’ out for steaks.”
My brows flew up. “We aren’t goin’ out for steaks.”
“No way in fuck I’m havin’ my first anniversary with my girl and making her cook.”
Hmm . . .
My stomach felt melty.
“We’re goin’ out for steaks,” he decreed. “You can cook me an anniversary dinner next Monday,” he paused, “or Tuesday.”
I put my hands to my hips. “I’m not waiting until next Monday to cook for you, Rush.”
He looked beyond me then back at me, ignoring my words to ask, “You get your proposal done?”
“No. But Tyra is reading over what I’ve got so far.” I looked down at the car then at him, “Why aren’t you out hunting?”
“No leads.”
“Bummer,” I muttered.
“We have to wait for him to make another move.”
Oh boy.
That was sure not to be good.
“Bummer,” I repeated.
“Yeah,” he agreed.
Then his head turned.
After that it tipped back so he could look to the steel-raftered ceiling.
He did that for a beat, and during that beat I heard the sharp staccato of heels hitting cement. But I didn’t glance in that direction because Rush shifted his attention to me.
“Brace,” he said right before . . .
“Yo! What the hell?”
I turned to the female voice only to see a black woman in a swank dress and fantastic shoes, for some reason glaring at Rush like she was super pissed at him.
The dress was awesome. The shoes more awesome.
But I’d taken on Benito Valenzuela on the hunt for a murderer, and her expression still scared me.
“You claim a biker babe, you don’t run her by me?” she demanded to know.
“Elvira . . .” Rush muttered.
My focus went back to the black woman because Tyra and Tabby had talked about her and the way they did, I’d wanted to meet her.
It also explained the ’tude.
“Hey,” I greeted.
She turned narrowed eyes to me. “You, the girls, me, Club, tonight. Cocktails and girl talk. Though you gotta be cool when you’re giving us the skinny. Tyra and Tabby don’t need to be hearin’ how your man gives you the business. And I can’t handle knowin’ a man’s place on the scale of givin’ pleasure. I like Rush. I wanna be able to look him in the eyes for the next six months. You with me?”
I wanted to start laughing.
I didn’t because Rush butted in.
“We’re going out to dinner tonight, Vira. It’s our