Kristen Ashley - Rock Chick

Unfortunately, those new life skills did not include being able to sleep while I was cuffed to Liam Nightingale’s bed.

I found a somewhat comfortable position and tried to sleep but I was spitting mad and every time I closed my eyes, all I could see was Tim and his brains that were no longer contained in his body.

What seemed like hours later, I heard the door open and my body tensed. I kept myself perfectly still and listened as someone walked through the house. They didn’t turn on any lights and they were quiet as a cat, the only noise a barely distinct rustling. Then, that someone walked into the bedroom, I heard something fall on the chair, then the whisper of movement of the sheets, then hands at my wrist, the smell of leather, spice and tobacco and when I was released from the headboard, I knew it was Lee.

No sooner was I released, I rolled away, toward the other side of the bed and freedom.

I got a roll and a half in before an arm hooked around my waist and I was stopped.

“Where are you going?”

“I’m getting a taxi home,” I said between clenched teeth.

“No.”

“Then, I’m sleeping on the couch.”

“No.”

Great. We were going to go through this rigmarole again.

“I’m sleeping on the other side of the bed.”

“No.”

“You’re an asshole.”

“Maybe.”

Shit.

Lee settled in, tucked my back to his front, his arm wrapped around my waist.

I laid there wondering if I should flip over, knee him in the ‘nads and take off.

Then, for some reason, the vision of Tim floated into my head and my body started trembling, like, a lot. Full-on human earthquake.

“Shit,” I whispered and Lee turned me to facing him and wrapped both his arms around me, tight.

I pressed into his warmth and tried not to cry.

“Did you know him?” Lee asked softly.

“No.” My voice sounded shaky, even on that one word. I took in a big, broken breath. “Though, I think he’d come into the store every once in awhile.” I took another breath to control the threatening tears. “It’s an ugly way to go. What are his parents gonna think?”

Lee started stroking my back and he didn’t answer, likely because he had no idea what Tim’s parents would think and didn’t want to dwell on it.

Lee started to play with my hair and I pressed my face into his neck. His body was hard and warm and I could hear his steady breathing. His hand at my hair relaxed me and his arm around my waist made me feel safe.

After awhile, I fell asleep.

I woke up in Lee’s bed, but this time, no Lee.

I didn’t have enough mental capacity to wonder where he was and certainly not enough to process my sense of disappointment. I told myself there should be no disappointment at the absence of a man who would handcuff me to his bed against my will, so I shoved it aside.

It was twenty past six and I decided when I had all that time to think when I was handcuffed to the bed that Fortnum’s was going to close for the weekend.

Sometimes it was good being the boss.

Truth was, working there wasn’t tough. There were four of us, five when Ally was around which was most of the time. We were open seven thirty to six on weekdays, eight thirty to six on Saturdays and ten to four on Sundays. Outside of the morning rush, most of that time was spent hanging around. We all came and went when we pleased.

With two staff down, it was beginning to seem like work. With me and Ally gallivanting across town looking for Rosie, Jane was taking the burden.

I didn’t make shifts or assign hours, everyone worked whenever they wanted, which was pretty much seven days a week, give or take a couple hours here or there to run errands, go to lunch with a friend, go shopping at Cherry Creek Mall, come in late if you were sleeping it off, leave early whenever or to tie one on at Lincoln’s Road House, the local biker bar. People took days off whenever they wanted and no one did more than the others. Gram had set the precedent. We all pitched in and, somehow, it worked.

I needed a break after the last couple of days and I was sure Ally and Jane needed one too. Hopefully, by Monday, now that the police were involved, this would be sorted and all would be back to normal. That was to say, normal with Duke back and normal as it would ever be.

Rosie, I knew after last night, was likely never coming back.

I just hoped whatever he did in not coming back, he did it breathing.

This made me sad, but I pushed that thought aside too.

I got up, staggered to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I was running on empty, not just my morning caffeine jolt but also the fact that I’d had a lot less sleep than I usually required. I stared in the mirror noting the bruising on my face was subsiding but not by much, or perhaps the scary dark circles under my eyes were running interference for the bruising.

I walked out of the bedroom to make coffee and stopped dead, staring at the Command Center door, which was open.

I expected that Lee was gone, off for a run, off to command mercenary troops in a drug war in Peru, off to put tracking devices on my car.

Instead I heard him talking on the phone like it was an everyday room and not the nerve center for an international commando cartel.

Normally, curiosity would have forced me to walk right in or at least eavesdrop on his conversation.

Instead, I went straight to the coffeepot.

Priorities.

The pot was almost full.

I emitted a sigh of delight.

I filled a cup, splashed in the milk and walked it to the balcony off the living room, sipping my coffee and staring at the beauty of the Front Range.

Lee had a killer view.

As the caffeine permeated, I allowed my foggy brain to plan my day.

I was going to call Jane and Ally and go put a note up at Fortnum’s. I was going to go get Tod and Stevie’s car, go home and make macaroni salad so it had time to ferment before the barbeque. Then I was going to go to bed until I had to wake up to make the brownies and get ready for the barbeque.

If I felt like it, I might lay out in the sun rather than sleeping in my bed.

That was going to be my day.

It sounded like a good day.

Two hands, undoubtedly connected to arms which connected to Lee’s body, settled on the balcony railing on either side of me. I felt his warmth at my back.

I had a moment where I felt I should turn around, screaming like a banshee and scratching his eyes out for having the audacity to handcuff me to his bed.

Then I thought about how he held me while I trembled and played with my hair until I fell asleep and decided against it.

“Hey,” I said as he moved my hair with his chin and kissed my neck.

“How’re you feelin’ this morning?” His voice sounded in my ear and tingles slid across my skin.

“Okay.”

I realized I forgot to factor Lee in my plans for the day.

I didn’t have time to perform any mental recalculations as he turned me around, took the coffee cup and put it on the teak table that was just within reach. Then his arms slid around me, I opened my mouth to say something, anything, and then he kissed me.

The tingles intensified by about one hundred percent and started to target specific zones.

After the kiss, his lips trailed along my cheek to my ear, I had my hands pressed against his chest and I said, perhaps stupidly and definitely shakily, “What are you doing?”

He answered, “Saying good morning.”

He said, “good morning” really, really well. Far better than he said, “thank you”.

Okay, I decided, something had to give here.

All this playing around was all well and good (some of it really good). The thing was, I’d made a decision about keeping my distance from Lee a decade ago and I wasn’t so sure I wanted to go back on that decision.

Well, if I was honest, I had to admit I wanted to, no doubt about it. It was Lee and I’d spent a lifetime wanting exactly this.

But, there was a lot at stake here. What happened if it didn’t work out? What happened if he got bored and moved on? It would change everything. I’d be devastated but also there were relationships to consider, family, people that meant a great deal to both of us.

“Lee, we need to talk.”

“Mm?” This was mumbled before his tongue ran from the skin at the hinge of my jaw, down the line of my neck.

“Lee!” My toes were curling, my nipples were hard, this was getting serious.

“Talk,” he said. “I’m listening.”

He was not listening. His hands had gone up under my shirt and were sliding up my sides.

“We need to talk about what’s happening between us.”

His mouth came to mine again. “Okay, shoot.”

Then he kissed me, this time serious tongue action and I was forced to put my arms around his neck to remain standing.

When his mouth went away, one of his hands went to cup my ass and pull me closer and I could feel his God-given talent pressing against my belly. Tingles shot down the insides of my thighs.

“I’m not sure about this,” I told him even though I was kind of sure and my body was definitely sure and getting surer by the second.

“No?” he asked, his head coming up and he was looking at me. His brown eyes were melty-chocolate and one look at them made me catch my breath.

The hand at my ass came up and in and then cupped my breast, the rough pad of his thumb sliding across my hardened nipple. I bit my lip as electricity shot straight from my nipple to my nether regions.