Rock Chick Revolution

Chapter Seventeen You’re Ally. And I’m Ren.

I opened my eyes and stared at the early morning light peeking through Daisy’s curtains.

I knew I hadn’t slept long. This was because I cried most of the night.

Yes. Me.

But I did it in Daisy’s pillow so she nor Marcus would hear.

When I arrived the night before, she took one look at me and gave me space. That was, she took me to a room, asked my preference and brought me a glass and a bottle of tequila.

Then she touched my cheek and whispered, “We’ll talk in the mornin’, sugar.”

She closed the door on her way out.

I didn’t take even a sip of her top shelf tequila.

I’d never been heartbroken, not like this, but I’d stood behind a bar countless times listening to those who were. And I’d noted, repeatedly, imbibing didn’t much help. Although that had been my preliminary plan, with the bottle and glass available to me, I instead chose the pillow and giving myself the opportunity to let loose the shit crawling inside me in an effort to get it out.

This didn’t much help either.

I’d had two calls in that time. One from Indy, the other from Roxie.

This meant Daisy nor Hank and Lee had shared with anybody, except my brothers told their wives. But Indy and Roxie told nobody. If they had, my phone would never quit ringing and The Castle (or Daisy’s house, which looked like a castle; no joke, complete with moat), would be descended on by Rock Chicks.

I was grateful for that, so much you wouldn’t believe. And I texted both Indy and Roxie to tell them I’d connect with them later, I needed some time, and they texted back that they’d give that to me.

By the way, Ren had not phoned. He had also not scaled the wall and broken in the window in order to press his suit.

This was not a surprise. I’d been pretty inflexible with the way I ended things.

But this meant I definitely wasn’t a Rock Chick. None of their men ever gave up.

That wasn’t bitching. It was just an observation that didn’t feel real great. Anyway, with the way I felt, I was glad Ren didn’t do this. This was mostly because, when I had time to let myself feel all the things I was feeling, I knew if he came back to me and pushed it, I’d cave.

Again.

Yes. Me.

Ally.

Caving.

That was how much I loved him.

So I told myself maybe it indicated how much he loved me that he was going to let me go, which was the only way he could give me what I needed.

And although this thought was cool (kind of, in a rip your heart out way), it didn’t make me feel any better, mostly because it ripped my heart out.

But now was now and I had a day to face.

I also had money to make. I had to find somewhere to live. And I had to find a way to get through Luke and Ava’s rehearsal and dinner without totally losing it in front of everybody.

So I got up, got a shower, sorted through my bags and got ready.

I did this being careful. Not externally. Internally.

I was vulnerable. I knew this.

Yes, me.

Ally.

But I was.

I’d been shown the life I wanted. Tasted the fairytale. Then I let it slip away from me. I had doubts, second thoughts, and carried pain you wouldn’t believe. Hell, I didn’t even believe it.

So I had to forge ahead but handle me with care.

And that was what I was going to be doing.

My first trial was when I hit Daisy’s huge kitchen to find Daisy at the counter beating something in a bowl and Smithie and Shirleen sitting at Daisy’s kitchen table.

All eyes came to me and I knew they knew.

Whatever.

“Yo,” I greeted, strolling in.

“Ally,” Smithie replied, eyes never leaving me.

“Come sit by Shirleen, child,” Shirleen called, also keeping her gaze locked on me.

“You want pancakes, sugar?” Daisy asked as I moved toward the table.

I didn’t. The idea of food made me want to hurl.

“Sure,” I said and walked right up to Smithie.

Then I leaned in and kissed his cheek, muttering a distracted, “Hey,” as I moved around him and did the same with Shirleen.

After that, I sat down.

I looked out the window knowing that these people were nuts, but they loved me and they’d be careful with me. It’d be far easier to handle if they acted normally. But they were too kind to even think of doing that.

Therefore, I was bracing.

And in bracing, I didn’t see Daisy, Shirleen and Smithie giving each other wide-eyed looks.

“Uh… Ally,” Daisy called.

I tore my eyes away from the window and my mind away from noting there were ducks in her moat and I looked at her.

“Yeah?”

“Know you had a tough night, honey bunch, but Shirleen and Smithie are here for a reason,” she told me.

Fabulous.

I looked between them and asked, “Which one first?”

“Me,” Shirleen said so I focused my attention on her. When I did, she didn’t delay in declaring, “Your brother declines cases.”

My head jerked.

I didn’t expect to hear this. Demands to know what happened between Ren and me. Or how Ren wasn’t good enough for me. Or alternately how I should maybe give it more than three days of together together before I ended us. Or just kindness, and maybe sympathy.

Not a random detail about my brother’s business.

“Okay,” I replied cautiously.

“He does what he does. In other words, he makes decisions and doesn’t share why with me. But I see a pattern,” she went on. “He declines when we have a full caseload and the boys are stretched to the max. Usually, though, he declines if it isn’t enough of a challenge for their badasses to bother with.”

Suddenly, what she was saying cut through my melancholy.

I straightened in my chair.

“And?” I prompted.

“And part of my job is takin’ down the preliminaries of a possible case and reporting those to him. If he’s going to decline, usually he does it without a meet. That means he doesn’t decline, I do.”

I nodded.

She kept talking.

“He never says no without givin’ them a referral. Most of the shit goes to Dick Anderson. Occasionally he’ll want something referred to Sylvie Bissenette. There’s a player in town called Hawk who has specialties that aren’t Lee’s specialties and he’ll punt shit to him, too. This is rare. Most of his refusals go to Anderson.”

“Okay,” I again said cautiously.

“And now, some of them will go to you,” she finished.

Oh my God.

This was righteous!

“Shirleen—” I started, and she lifted a hand.

I swallowed annoyance at getting The Hand and shut up.

“Darius has talked to me and he says you’re good. He also says he’s gonna keep workin’ with you. Brody says the same. Lee has not come down on this and I’m waitin’ to see if he will. But regardless, my nephew doesn’t talk shit to me. He says it straight. So if he says you’re good, and I’ve seen the way you are, girl, I know you got somethin’, then I’m good with punting refusals to you. But Lee trades on his reputation, and the reason he refers to Anderson, Bissenette and Hawk is that he trusts them to take care of the business he refuses. Referrals reflect on him. You fuck up, that reflects on your brother. Not only ‘cause you got the same name, but you got the business because of his referral. But his referral is one given by me. You make me regret that once, that will be the only time I regret shit.”

“Shit happens, Shirleen,” I told her. “But whatever shit happens, I’ll bust my ass to be sure you won’t regret this. And I sure as hell won’t do anything that will reflect poorly on Lee.”

She nodded. “I hear you. I believe you. Now, take into account that he’s not gonna know I’m doin’ this until he finds out I’m doin’ this. And he knows pretty much everything, so I figure it’ll take him about a day to find that shit out. I’ll handle him. In other words, I’m throwin’ myself in that lion’s den. For you. Don’t make me regret that shit either.”

There were two people who could “handle” Lee. Indy. And Shirleen. Mom couldn’t even do it and had given up trying years ago.

Though Indy’s batting average was better with that.

Still, what Shirleen was saying was that she intended to go to the mat for me.

“Thank you, chickie,” I murmured on a smile.

She smiled back, reached out a hand, took mine and gave me a quick squeeze.

Then she let me go and announced, “I need a refill. Java, Ally?”

I nodded to her and watched her get up, grab her mug and give me rolled eyes before she took the mug Smithie had lifted her way in silent demand for more coffee.

She headed to the pot.

Daisy was at the grill of her massive, restaurant-quality stove flipping pancakes.

Smithie spoke to me. “Shirleen can give you business. I already got some.”

I looked at him and the chill that was left on my insides after ending things with Ren started warming.

“No shit?” I asked.

“None at all. I got a situation at the club,” he told me. “And I ain’t payin’ Lee’s prices ‘cause that shit is highway robbery. And anyway, he don’t got no bitches on staff and he took this job, Lord knows what he’d find me. I gotta have a girl backstage, which means onstage, so she’s gotta be right.” He tipped his head to me. “You’re right.”

Oh fuck.

This didn’t sound promising.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“I don’t know. That’s what I’m gonna hire you to find out,” Smithie answered.

“Okay, what’s happening?” I amended my question.

“What’s happenin’ is, bitches are quiet. My bitches are never quiet. None of ‘em. Waitresses. Dancers. Even the one female bartender I got bends my ear so much it’s a wonder it ain’t torn clean off. They got boyfriend problems. They got car problems. They got childcare issues. They’re on the rag. They didn’t get their rag—”

I rolled a hand at him and said, “I get it. Move it on, Smithie.”

“Right. Now?’ He shook his head. “None ‘a that shit. Not one thing,” he stated.

“You got an idea why?” I asked as Shirleen slid mugs in front of Smithie and me.

“Got a bouncer. Hired him, good guy, checked out. I think he snowed me ‘cause my girls… they’re scared of him.”

The skin at the back of my neck prickled.

“Usually,” he went on, “that kinda shit happens, it’s because he’s creepin’ and I just fire the asshole. But he wasn’t creepin’, not that I could see.”

I nodded.

Smithie kept talking. “But I fired him anyway. When I did, he told me he was filing a wrongful termination suit. I have no idea what that shit is. I just know I don’t want that kind of bullshit hassle. So I kept him on, kept my eye on him and set Lenny on him. Lenny’s close to graduating from DU so he’s got other shit on, but it don’t matter. Neither of us is findin’ anything. We need a girl in there to keep her eye on shit and either give me a valid reason to can his ass or give me reason to beat his ass until he’s close to not breathing. I prefer number two. But I could live with the number one, long’s it happens fast.”

“So you need me to waitress,” I tried.

And failed.

“I need you to dance.”

Oh shit.

“Uh, Smithie—”

He cut me off. “The waitresses don’t often go backstage. Whatever’s happening is happening back there. Bouncers will go back, provide presence, protection or so they can walk the girls to their cars. I usually ask another one to do that shit, but he comes up on rotation ‘cause I gotta be careful not to single him out and give him shit that he can give me shit about.”

“I don’t dance,” I told him.

“Daisy’ll teach you.”

She would. She’d taught Lottie, Jet’s sister, Smithie’s headliner, and the premier stripper in the western half of the United States (not kidding).

Shit!

“We have another problem, and that is that I’m a regular there so your guy has probably seen me. He’ll know my name, particularly my last one, and he might figure out what’s going on,” I shared.

“I already got that covered, seein’ as I been hearin’ about what you do from Darius and I been thinkin’ about talkin’ to you,” Smithie replied. “So I set it around that you got your apartment exploded and lost your job. You need money, and it ain’t like you got judgment on the girls for what they do since twice a month your ass is at a table by the stage cheerin’ them on. All ‘a them are where they are ‘cause they got in tight places. No doubt about it, you’re in a tight place. Not one a’ them will blink, your ass hits my stage.”

He had it all covered.

Crap.

I drew in a breath, sat back and grabbed my mug to take a sip, my eyes on Smithie, my mind whirling.

On the one hand, this sounded like a juicy case the likes I would not hesitate sinking my teeth into (if it did not require me taking my clothes off in front of an audience). On that same hand, Smithie was in the posse; he meant something to me and he cared about his girls. He wanted them protected, he was worried about them, was powerless, and I knew this was likely striking deep. So I wanted to help him.

On the other hand, this job required me taking my clothes off in front of an audience.

Well, at least this gave me one good reason that I ended things with Ren the day before. If we were together and he heard about this, he would lock me in his bedroom and not let me out until I was his pregnant love slave.

That might seem overkill, but trust me, with this, it wasn’t. Love slave wouldn’t be enough. Pregnant wouldn’t be enough. Both of these would mean I was tied to him in a way I couldn’t come untied, and therefore both would be the only acceptable requirements for release.

Then he’d probably ask a priest to marry us there, standing by his bed with its wine-colored sheets, me wearing a cream nightie.

Then he’d let me out.

Alas, at that moment, all of this seemed good to me.

Ugh.

So it was decided.

“Right, I’ll take on the job,” I told Smithie. “I’ll dance, but only if it’s up to me if I go all out with that in a top off kind of way. Your girls and customers will have to deal if I go with keeping on the bra. It might be I’ll rise to the occasion or the stripper vibe will carry me away and I’ll go all in. But right now, that’s freaking me, so you’re going to have to ride that with me.”

“Done,” Smithie immediately agreed, and that was when I knew how deep this was striking.

He was way worried.

“I have to be all about Ava the next couple of days, Smithie. But soon as I can, I’ll work with Daisy. I’ll also set Brody on an electronic search, Darius on looking into things. I’ll need a name, address and social and if you got it, car info, including the plates,” I told him.

“You’ll get it within an hour,” he told me.

I looked to Daisy to see her making her way to the table balancing three plates up one arm with the other hand carrying a bottle of syrup.

I looked back at Smithie, “You need to set up an account with Daisy. She’ll discuss rates and payment information.”

Daisy gave me a huge smile, set the syrup down and placed a plate in front of me.

“Done,” Smithie muttered, his eyes on the plate she was setting in front of him.

But it was then, it hit me.

And it hit me hard in a good way that at that moment in my life I really needed.

This wasn’t happening.

It had happened.

I had my first official client.

I was an investigator.

I grinned down at my plate and picked up the fork and knife Daisy put there.

“I’ll get the butter,” she murmured and I looked up to her to see her moving away.

But she was doing it looking at me.

And when I caught her eyes, she winked.

She’d done this, my kickass Daisy. She’d planned and instigated this so my morning wouldn’t totally suck.

God, freaking loved Daisy.

I kept grinning.

Shortly after, I ate five of Daisy’s pancakes.

I did this because I hadn’t eaten the night before.

And I was hungry.

“You good, honey?” Stevie asked in my ear.

It was early afternoon. I’d made my calls to set Brody and Darius on Smithie’s case. I was working at Fortnum’s and Stevie had just called me.

Also, word had gotten around about Ren and me. I knew this because not only were Indy and Jet at Fortnum’s (like normal) but Roxie, Sadie, Stella and Ava were also there. Jules was at the shelter for runaways where she worked, and since we were all heading out early to go to the church for the rehearsal, she had to stay there and sort some stuff before she left. I knew this because she called and told me.

They knew, but no one got in my face or space.

But that didn’t mean all of them, including Tex (Duke was still a no-show), weren’t being watchful, though cool.

It felt nice.

I knew that the word would spread, but I was glad the ones who knew last night gave me that time, and when they let the word out, they made it what it was.

Safe for me.

And I knew by Stevie’s tone he was going to do the same.

“I’m hanging in there, Stevie,” I told him.

This was when he proved me right by letting that go and asking, “T minus two hours and twenty minutes before rehearsal. You’re there?”

“Absolutely,” I answered.

“You still in for dinner? Because I can call the restaurant and change our numbers without them charging us. Tod will be cool. We have a big enough party and folks are ordering off the menu. It’ll be good.”

“I’ll be at the dinner too, honey. Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I replied.

“Okay, sweetie. See you soon.”

“’Bye, Stevie.”

“’Bye, baby.”

I smiled into the phone, slid it into my back pocket and my head snapped up when I heard Indy breathe, “Holy crap,” and felt the vibe all around change.

But I made no move and uttered not a sound.

This was because Ren had entered the store and he was currently stalking to me.

Then he’d stalked to me.

Then he’d grabbed my hand and tugged me from the table I was about to clear and he yanked me down the center aisle.

He turned us at the self-help section and tugged me down the row to the side aisle which had a wall of books.

Once there, he pulled me around, pushed me into the shelves and got in my space and my face.

Deep in the first, way close to the other.

“You kissed Smithie?”

I was not following. I had no idea how I was one second in one place, another second standing with Ren in my space. And I had no idea because I was totally freaked due to his actions breaking a very important breakup law.

Maybe the most important there was.

That was, if you shared friends and acquaintances, during breakups any guy who wasn’t a dick didn’t show their faces for ages. Ren was also classy. And classy guys gave you plenty of time to get over it so the hit when you saw them again didn’t kill you. It just maimed.

So by my estimation I had at least five months and twenty-nine days before I saw him again.

And anyway, what he asked made no sense whatsoever.

“Come again?”

He pushed deeper into me and growled, in a statement this time, “You kissed Smithie.”

Was he suggesting I’d made out with Smithie?

And thus, was he high?

“I… no, I…” I trailed off.

Pull it together Ally!

“You kissed him on the cheek,” Ren gritted out.

Oh.

I did do that.

“Well, uh, yes. I did that,” I confirmed.

“You don’t kiss people’s cheeks,” he stated.

This was true.

But why had he come all the way there and broken the most important breakup law there was in order to tell me this?

“Zano—”

He pressed so close, I stopped speaking. I also lost my ability to breathe when his hand cupped me under my jaw and gently pushed my head back as his face came so close he was all I could see.

Once he had me in position, he bit out, “Ren.”

I blinked, and in that instant, I pulled myself together.

Therefore, I put a hand to his abs, firm and communicative, and snapped, “What the fuck is going on?”

“You wanna be a PI, there’s office space across the hall from me. Dom enquired about it. The way shit is with this economy, it’s been vacant for six months, no one even sniffing. They’re desperate to make something on it, so they offered a large discount for the first year. It’s not big; reception, big office, small office, small kitchenette and decent-sized conference room. I signed the lease, bought your first year.”

My mouth would have dropped open if his hand wasn’t at my jaw.

So instead I just felt my eyes get wide and stared.

He kept talking.

“I wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it because I want you however you come to me. But I’ll say it now, it’s important I bring up my family in my faith and it’s important my future wife is a part of that. You offered me that possibility without me even asking.”

At that, I would have swallowed if his hand wasn’t at my jaw.

So instead I just kept staring.

He got even closer so it was only his eyes that I could see, and his voice dropped near to a whisper.

“You know what I do. You come from who you come from, and I know your meeting with your family last night was about that. And you wanted to give me the opportunity to be a part of that meeting, also givin’ me the shot to start without delay in showin’ your people what you mean to me. I do not know how you feel about what I do because you just let me do it. My guess, I forced that issue, I’d learn you didn’t like it much. You still just let me do it. You could have thrown that shit in my face last night, but you didn’t utter a single fuckin’ word. Which shows me that it’s so embedded in what you give me that it wasn’t even a consideration to draw that blade. Which tells me you take me as I come.”

It was then, I was breathing heavily.

But Ren wasn’t done

“And I didn’t return that favor.”

Oh my God.

Was this happening?

Hot hit my eyes and he kept right on going.

“I’m not a maximum contact sleeper, Ally. You are.”

I gasped because this wasn’t true. I wasn’t.

That was, not with anyone but him.

Before I could sort that in my head, Ren kept going.

“Never held a woman all night in my arms in my life… until you.”

Oh shit.

I felt the wet in my eyes because I was thinking this was happening.

He kept at me.

“And last night, because I was a fuckin’ dick, I didn’t have you in my arms. I didn’t like that. Even when you thought we were fuck buddies, you gave me that.”

Oh God.

“Ren,” I whispered.

“You want this. And what you want to do means so much to you that you would let me be who I am, look into accepting my faith, love me that much, but walk away. Then you take that hurt so deep, you’re on autopilot, lettin’ out the woman inside you hold close and only dole out occasionally, but give to me. And you do shit like kiss Smithie to say hello when you never would do that shit. It means that much, then you can have it. And me. I’ll worry, but I’ll learn to trust you. All I ask is, when you got my babies inside you, you take cases you know are safe, and once we got kids under our roof, you proceed with the same caution. You with me?”

“I… are you… are you saying…?” I took in a breath. “Are you saying that you’re okay with me starting a private investigations agency?”

“No. I’m not saying that. I’m sayin’ I’ll work at it and try to be.”

Oh God.

I couldn’t stop it. A tear slid out of the side of my eye.

Ren’s hand finally moved from my jaw so it could cup my cheek, but his thumb kept moving in order to sweep away the tear.

But his eyes never left mine as he whispered, “I love you, Ally. I was pissed and worried. Lucky said you had a gun on you and that undid me. You not callin’ and tellin’ me that shit was gonna go down didn’t make things better. You came home and were immediately cool. I was not in a place where I could be cool so I was a dick.” He dipped his head, his mouth touched mine and he kept his lips there when he finished, “I’m sorry, baby.”

Yep. Not only was this happening; it happened.

I hiccoughed back a silent sob and shoved my face in his neck.

Both his arms closed around me. They did this tight and I felt this jaw press to the side of my head.

He was going to give himself to me at the same time take me as me.

This.

Was.

Righteous.

Oh shit.

This was a disaster!

I took two deep breaths to pull myself together, but kept my face firm in his neck when I started, “Uh… Ren—”

“Smithie’s got an issue and you’re dancin’ for him,” he stated matter-of-factly.

I blinked against his skin.

Then I pulled my face out of his neck and stared at him.

He didn’t look happy. He didn’t look pissed, but he didn’t look happy.

“You’re on that case and you come home from work, baby, I don’t wanna know,” he stated.

Was this Ren?

Or was there another dimension, and the Ren from that dimension slid through?

“Do you feel okay?” I asked and he grinned.

Then he said, “I shouldn’t. I got shit sleep. And last night, I also got calls from both your brothers, up in my shit.”

Uh.

Say what?

Ren kept going.

“Then I got a call from Daisy, up in my shit. This means I got a call from Marcus, also up in my shit. And this morning I got a call from Shirleen, again, up in my shit. And last I got a call from Smithie, tellin’ me you’re workin’ a case for him and he would not be happy if I got up in his shit. Then I hauled my ass over here to sort our shit. Now, you gotta call and let whoever know I’m gonna be at the rehearsal dinner tonight, because I missed dinner with my woman last night and that shit isn’t happening two days in a row.”

Our first semi-official date was going to Luke and Ava’s rehearsal dinner.

How freaking cool was that?

I didn’t tell him I thought that.

I muttered, “I best call Tod.”

“And don’t bother calling Daisy. She already sent your bags back to my place.”

God.

Totally loved Daisy.

“Last,” he went on, “you gotta be a badass and call me Zano, that’s cute. I like it. But if things are deep with us, shit’s raw, emotional or important, I’m Ren. I’ve asked a lot from you Ally, and you from me. But you’re not a badass with me. You’ve let me into that place in you that you don’t give anybody. So you don’t put up that shield to hold me back when shit’s important. You’re you. You’re Ally. And I’m Ren.”

This kind of weirded me out how much he’d figured out about me.

I also didn’t share this.

I whispered, “Okay.”

“Okay,” he replied.

“Can I ask what my brothers said to you?”

“No,” he answered. “Just know those two men love you. They’d break important alliances to take your back. And they’d likely lay their lives down for you.”

Those must have been intense conversations.

Nevertheless, I already knew all that.

So, my insides so warm they were melty, I smiled.

“Uh, sorry,” a voice said from our side, and we both looked that way to see a thin woman wearing a brightly colored tunic and jeans and lots of jewelry standing there. Her eyes were on me. “I know you work here. Where can I find Eat, Pray, Love?”

“Are you shitting me?” Ren asked low, which meant dangerous.

Her eyes went from Ren to me and she lifted her brows.

Clearly a regular.

“Have you looked in the G’s?” I asked her.

“The G’s? It’s called Eat, Pray, Love. I looked in the E’s,” she answered.

“It’s written by Elizabeth Gilbert, and books are shelved by author in biography. So try the G’s. But, heads up, we’re a used bookstore and that’s a popular title. Odds are we’ve had about fifty of them and sold that same fifty, unless you’re lucky.”

She nodded. “I’ll look in the G’s.”

“Do that now,” Ren ordered.

She gave him a look, rolled her eyes at me, and sauntered away.

Definitely a regular.

“Fuck me,” Ren muttered, and I looked at him to see he was staring at the space the woman used to occupy.

“Ren,” I called softly, and he immediately looked at me.

And thus I got his eyes.

Jeez, those eyes.

“Are you gonna kiss me, or what?” I asked.

That was when I got his smile.

A second later, I got his kiss.

“Uh… just to say…” We heard, and Ren growled into my mouth before he broke the kiss and we both looked to the side to see Indy standing there.

She looked to Ren then to me.

And she smiled huge.

“I approve,” she declared and disappeared.

She’d so totally been listening.

Before I could process this, Ren’s hand was again at my jaw. He turned my head back to him and then his mouth was again on mine, his tongue again in my mouth, and I wasn’t up for processing anything.

“You good?” Ren asked.

Oh yeah.

I was good.

So good.

My plethora of shopping bags were in Ren’s bedroom.

And I was in Ren’s arms in his bed after he gave me two orgasms.

So. Totally. Good.

“Yeah, honey,” I muttered sleepily.

“No, baby,” he replied, pulling my back deeper into his front and nuzzling his face in my neck where he went on, “Ava and Luke’s thing. You and me. That history. You seemed okay tonight at dinner. I just wanna make sure that’s where you are, not what you want people to see.”

I closed my eyes.

Seriously.

So.

Totally.

Loved this man.

Then I opened them and turned my head to look at him.

“That’s done, Ren. I don’t even think about it anymore.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah.”

“Nothing buried that will come out and bite either you or me?”

I bought this after burying what was between us for a year.

So I sought to pay up, and fast.

I turned a little in his arms and put my hand to his jaw. “That’s done. Now it’s just you and me. And honestly, cross my heart, I haven’t thought of it once since we had it out in a moderately priced motel in a small Colorado mountain town.”

I heard a deep, short chuckle before, “A moderately priced motel in a small Colorado mountain town?”

“AKA, my favorite place on earth.”

His body went still.

Then his mouth growled, “Ally.”

Right after, that mouth was on mine, I was on my back and Ren was on me.

I guessed we weren’t settling in to sleep.

Righteous.