His arms moved around her heavy, sleeping body, his fingers found her right hand, he lifted it and the fingers of his other hand slid Tiny’s ring on her pinkie.
When he did, she moved, nuzzling back into him and muttering groggily, “Grenades. Jeez, babe, Swen and Ulrika are gonna be pissed.”
Then her body settled and Mace knew she was again asleep.
And he lay in the dark listening to her breathe.
It was the most beautiful sound he ever heard.
Then her words hit him.
And he couldn’t help it, his arms closed tight around her, he buried his face in her hair, smel ed mint, decided he seriously fucking loved that smel and he burst out laughing.
*
Stella I woke and blinked at the tight hold of the arms around me and the sound of Mace laughing into the back of my hair.
That’s weird, has he cracked up? My brain asked me.
I listened to his laugh, felt his warm strength curled al around me and considered this for a mil isecond.
Then I decided, if my man had gone insane and Mace’s brand of insanity meant he was holding me close and laughing, I didn’t give an ef.
And on that thought, I went back to sleep.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rock Chick
Jane
One week later…
Jane slid through the shelves of Fortnum’s unnoticed by customers. Then she slid behind the front counter unnoticed by Rock Chicks, unnoticed by Hot Bunch, unnoticed by Tex and unnoticed by Duke.
“It has to be somebody, ” Al y stated and Jane looked to the couch faced by two armchairs al of which sat in front of the huge front window.
Mace was sitting on the arm of the couch, Stel a held close in front of him between his legs. Daisy and Shirleen were in the sofa. Hector was seated on the other arm of the sofa, unlike Mace, who had one foot in the sofa seat, one on the floor. Hector had both feet on the floor, his back slightly to the couch, slightly removed.
His mind was somewhere else.
Jane briefly wondered where it was.
Then her eyes moved to Al y who was in one of the armchairs across from the couch. Stevie was in the other one, his dog Chowleena on her bel y beside his chair taking a snooze.
Tod was on a flight. Seeing as he was a flight attendant, that frequently happened which meant he often missed the action. This annoyed him and he let this be known as only Tod could do. Then again, he had drag queen outfits to buy and something had to pay for them so off he went, grumbling and/or throwing attitude al the way.
Jane found this amusing.
Then again, Jane found a lot that happened in Fortnum’s amusing.
Her eyes moved again and she saw Roam and Sniff sitting at a table, coffee cups in front of them. Roam was lounged back, one long leg bent, foot to floor, one long leg stretched out. He had his phone to his ear. Sniff was sitting across from him, shoving the contents of the bag of fast food he’d brought with him into his mouth.
Three girls around Roam’s age were at an arrangement of chairs two tables away from him. Al of the girls had been in before. Al of them frequently. Al of them were now staring at Roam which was what they did if they were lucky enough to time their visit when he was hanging. And al of them were doing it in a way that it was clear they wished it was the other way around.
Jane knew why. When she first saw Roam some months ago, she thought you had to be blind not to see the promise of good looks. They were stamped on him. In just months, this had grown with his confidence, the bulking out of his body along with his understanding of what it could do, his quick and acute awareness of his surroundings, his alert eyes that held a wealth of experience far beyond his age and just simply the fact that he was maturing into his looks.
It was plain to see he was going to be beautiful mostly because he was nearly there now.
It was also plain to see he was fol owing close in the footsteps of his Hot Bunch mentors. Jane knew this because he was oblivious to the looks he was getting.
Completely.
The girl who caught Roam’s eye and held it would not look. She would do the opposite and he would thril to the chase.
It was just the way of the Hot Bunch.
They didn’t do easy.
Wel , that wasn’t true. They did a lot of easy they just didn’t instal it in their bed for a lifetime.
Jane’s eyes continued to move and she saw Tex and Duke behind the espresso counter, bickering. About what, Jane couldn’t hear at that moment but, with practice, eyeing them for a moment, she knew everyone would hear it in approximately two point seven five minutes.
Jane continued to scan and she saw Eddie standing at the end of the espresso counter, Jet in his arms. Jane couldn’t see Jet’s face and only could see Eddie’s profile.
His head was bent and he was whispering in her ear. As he did, Jane watched observantly and noted Jet pressed closer then closer.
And Jane knew, for Eddie and Jet, the world had ceased to exist. There was Eddie and al there was for him was Jet.