That wiped the smile from my face.
Eddie’s slack arms tightened around me. “Un-unh, no retreat. I’ve gained ground here, I’m not gonna lose it in two minutes.”
“I have to go upstairs,” I told him.
“I’l let you go upstairs when you agree to have dinner with me tonight,” Eddie said.
Eek!
I hadn’t had the chance to process kissing Eddie, I certainly wasn’t ready for a date.
Luckily, I had an excuse.
“I can’t, I have a shift at Smithie’s.”
Eddie was not deterred.
“Tomorrow.”
Damn, I had the night off from Smithie’s tomorrow.
Before I could think of a plausible excuse, Eddie grinned. He knew he had me.
“Six o’clock. I’l pick you up here.”
He didn’t give me a chance to say anything, his lips came down and touched mine. I could feel most of his body pressed up against me, his arms were around me, I could smel him and he’d just touched his lips to mine. Therefore, I lost the ability to think.
His lips went away and he asked, “How’re you getting to work tonight?”
I blinked to clear my Eddie Daze.
“Smithie found out about the knife thing. He says I have to be escorted to and from the building and, while my car’s out of commission, he’s arranging for one of the bouncers to take me to work.”
Eddie ran his fingers through my hair at the temple and, I had to admit, it felt nice.
“Maybe he isn’t the ass**le I thought he was,” Eddie said.
“He takes care of his girls,” I told him.
“At least that’s one person trying to look out for you, though if last night’s any indication, he’s not doing very well .”
“Last night was a fluke,” I tried to reassure him.
“Last night is every night at a strip club. You dress like that around drunk guys, shit’s gonna happen.” I stared at him.
“Do you want me to get mad?” I asked.
His eyes changed, they got warm but serious.
“Chiquita, I’l take anything I can get from you.” I didn’t know what to say to that so I didn’t say anything at al and just kept staring at him.
Eddie let me go and held the card up between us.
“I gotta get back to work. You need anything or your Mom needs anything, cal me.”
I took the card. Although I kinda wanted a repeat of what happened when I didn’t take it, I really needed to check on Mom. Then I needed to check on Dad. Then I needed to do a mil ion other things.
“Thanks Eddie,” I said.