Lorelei James - Bound

“Ronin!” she shrieked.

“Ssh, you wouldn’t want the people downstairs to hear you screaming my name. They might get the wrong idea.”

She twined her arms around his neck. “Close enough to the truth of last night.”

“And what an amazing night it was.” He nipped her neck and then lifted his head to stare into her eyes. “I don’t care if your friends know we’re sleeping together, but I do care if you give them a play-by-play.”

“I won’t.”

“I have to go.” He kissed her. “My sweet, bold Amery . . . I’ll call you later tonight, okay?”

By the time she left the bathroom five minutes later, there wasn’t any sign of him.

CHAZ avoided Amery all day. Molly seemed chattier than usual. How much of that was due to their conversation after class last night?

God. Had that only been last night?

How much things could change in a few short hours.

She had a productive day, including a few new client calls.

At five o’clock, Chaz approached her desk. “It’s officially the weekend and we’re kicking it off with happy hour.”

“First drink is on me. I’ll grab my purse.”

After she’d locked the front door, she dropped the metal screens in front of the windows.

“They really don’t look too bad,” Chaz offered. He looped his arm through hers. “Let’s head to Tracks.”

She stopped. “No.”

“No?”

After the advice she’d given Molly, she stood her ground. “While I love hanging out with you, I’m tired of you and Emmylou only taking me to gay bars.”

Chaz raised that imperious eyebrow. “What’s gotten into you?”

“Common sense maybe. In three years I haven’t once complained. I’m complaining now. I want to go someplace else. Someplace mainstream.”

“Oh, so you’ve finally got a man in your bed and you selfishly want to be the only one? I’d like a man in my bed too, Amery.”

“How can you throw that in my face?”

“Because you should’ve said something before now if you hated hanging out with me so much,” he sniped.

“I don’t hate it! For the last year you’ve harped on the fact that I don’t date.” She poked him in the chest. “Did it ever occur to you that the places you and Emmylou drag me to aren’t the right demographics for me?”

That shut down whatever smart retort he’d been about to make.

“Admit there are lots of awesome bars around here that we never go to and that’s just lazy on our part. I want to go someplace new. Be adventurous, Chaz.”

He rolled his eyes. “Why can’t you go to these bars with your straight friends?”

“I want to go with you. You’re my BFF,” she cooed.

“Girl. You are a totally different animal after you’ve gotten laid. Fine. We’ll both widen our horizons. I know just the place. I’ve heard their tapas are to die for.” They headed up the street, arm in arm. “I guess I should seize the chance to spend time with you because that’ll change soon enough.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Now that you’re doing the nasty with—omigod, could Ronin Black have a more banging body?—your free time will be at a premium. And the way he looked at you today?” Chaz sighed. “He wanted to karate chop me in the face for even being in the same room with you when you were naked.”

“Karate chop. Right. He’s a jujitsu master, not karate.”

He waved his hand. “Whatever. The point is, he didn’t even notice me drooling over his arms, his chest, and his abs. Most straight guys freak out about gays eyeing the goodies. He didn’t want me to get an eyeful of you.”

Amery rested her head on Chaz’s shoulder. “I love you. You make me feel better. Ronin is . . . enigmatic. I don’t know how long he’ll find me interesting.”

“Sugar cube, you’ve got enough baggage to keep him interested for a long time.”

“Oh, shut up. And for that, you’re buying the first round.”

PROBABLY a good thing she had a decent buzz when she got home and her cell rang. She needed a buffer for this call. “Hello, Mom.”

“Amery. How are you?”

“I’m fine. How are you?”

“Oh, you know. Busy, busy. We start summer session of vacation Bible school next week. Lots of prepreparation. I swear these women who volunteer are just there as a way for God to test my patience.”

She made a noncommittal noise.

“Have you heard from Aiden?”

“No. I think he’s lacking basic services in Afghanistan, not just phone service.”

“You don’t need to get snippy with me. I was just curious. He doesn’t keep in contact any better than you do.”

Don’t take the bait.

“It’s hard to answer members of the congregation about how Aiden is doing when we, his parents, don’t even know. To top it off, he doesn’t acknowledge the care packages the congregation sends him, which also makes your father and me look like we raised him to act ungrateful.”

Yes, it was always about appearances with her parents. Not the scary fact that Aiden was in hostile territory getting his ass shot off every damn day. And knowing her mother, she’d played that “my only son is fighting for our country” card just to get sympathy from members of her father’s flock anyway. Amery shipped Aiden a package once a month and he always thanked her. She suspected he didn’t want the guilt and “Jesus Saves” pamphlets in with baby wipes and lip balm from the church members, and no response would be the fastest way to put an end to it. Not so, apparently.

“Enough about your brother. I’m surprised you’re home on a Friday night.”

Amery wanted to beat her head into the wall. Either she was a whore out at the bars sinning, or being at home on a Friday night made her pitiable. She grabbed a bottle from the fridge and twisted off the cap. “I went out earlier.”

“With a man?”

“With Chaz.” Amery gulped down a mouthful of beer.

Her mother snorted a sound of disgust. “Spending so much time with a man like him will keep decent men away from you.”

“What’s a decent man?” slipped out before she could stop it.

“Honestly, Amery, you don’t have to be so snotty. Decent men see Chaz’s lifestyle for the perversion it is.”

“I don’t see why you care. Chaz’s lifestyle isn’t affecting you at all.”

“It is if being friends with him is preventing you from finding a decent man, getting married, and having children. Most of your friends are already married. Quite a few have babies. As a matter of fact, I saw Jillian in church last Sunday. Her little girl, Parlay, is adorable.”

Parlay? Who the fuck picked such a dumb name for a kid? “I’m sure she is cute. Jillian and Tommy got divorced, right?”

“Yes, such a sad thing. He likes to drink.”

“I heard that Candy and Billy-John called it quits too. Didn’t he smack her around and she finally had enough?”

Her mother got quiet on the other end of the line.

“Seems your definition of decent men and mine vary, because neither Tommy nor Billy-John is a decent man in my mind. So I’ll stick to hanging out with Chaz.”

Her mother chuffed out the noise that reminded Amery of an annoyed bull. “I see you’re impossible to talk to as usual. Lord, help me; I don’t know why I bothered.”

She hated the quick sting those words still gave her. “Then why did you call?”

“Two reasons. First, I wondered if your business was in some sort of financial trouble. I received a phone call this week from a very rude woman who demanded details on your business practices and your personal life. “

What the hell?

“No need to curse, Amery.”

Shit. She’d said that out loud?

“Anyway, I set her straight and hung up on her after she refused to tell me why she needed the information.”

“I appreciate that. And I’m not having business problems, but even if I was I don’t understand why you’d get a phone call.”

“Which is why I mentioned it. Your father doesn’t need it to get out that his daughter is under some kind of investigation.”

And there it was . . . the concern wasn’t about her but about the pastor’s sterling reputation.

“The other reason I called was to remind you of your father’s anniversary party. Thirty-five years serving the Lord is a very big occasion in his life, and we expect you to be here to help celebrate it.”

Since she worked for herself she couldn’t claim her boss wouldn’t give her the time off. “If I come I’ll probably stay at the Super 8.”

“Aren’t you staying with us?” her mother asked sharply.

Hell no. “I assumed you’d save beds for out-of-town guests so they didn’t have to book a hotel room.”

“Oh. That’s probably a good idea.”

“I’ll let you know after I’ve made my reservation what day I’m flying in.”

“Flying in? That seems a little frivolous when you’ve got a nice car.”

Ten hours in the car one way? Uh. No.

“It would be nice if you’d get here a few days early to help with the cooking and cleaning.”

Maybe you should guilt Dad’s parishioners into doing it. She really needed to get off the phone before the snarky comebacks in her head started popping out of her mouth. “I’ll let you know about my, uh, schedule.”

Her mother’s disapproval hummed across the line. “I’ll be in touch. God bless.” She hung up.

“And bless your heart too.” She refused to let her mother ruin her good day and happy buzz. She popped a huge bowl of popcorn and settled in for a marathon night of bad TV until Ronin called.

BUT Amery didn’t hear from Ronin that night.