Eddie’s hand went into my hair and, very gently, he pressed the uninjured side of my head against him.
“I’m okay,” I lied, looking up at him.
He looked down.
“You’re so ful of shit.”
That got him a grin.
*
He took me to his place, helped me undress and stepped into the shower with me. He turned me away from the spray and used the showerhead on me, and, careful to avoid the dressing at my temple, he shampooed the blood out of my hair. We patted ourselves dry, I combed out my hair and Eddie put me to bed naked and held me tight. After awhile, his warmth seeped into me and I started to feel safe again.
“I’m worried about Dad,” I whispered as if I was admitting to a grave sin. “I know I shouldn’t be but I am.”
“You wouldn’t be you if you didn’t,” he replied, his voice gentle and, I swear, maybe even a little bit affectionate (or maybe even a lot).
I lay there awhile, suddenly feeling even warmer.
“Eddie?”
“Sí, mi amor?”
“I’ve got to tel you something and you have to promise me you won’t get mad.”
He was silent.
“Promise?”
He sighed. “You’re kil in’ me,” he muttered.
I pressed into him. “You have to promise.”
“I promise.”
He may have promised but he clearly wasn’t happy about it.
I told him what happened, in detail, with Vince and Mace.
He listened without making a single noise but his body got more and more tense.
Then I told him about the kiss and he went total y stil .
“It was just… not what you think… it was, I don’t even know what it was. Mace told me not to say anything but—” Eddie interrupted me.
“Mace’s sister was murdered while Mace was forced to watch. Got her head blown off. Shot to the temple.” It was my turn to go total y stil while I felt my blood run cold.
Eddie went on, “Probably not fun to relive and probably worth a kiss from you when the ending was different.” I couldn’t help it, it was the flashbacks that kept entering my head, it was the ugly knowledge of why Mace was pissed off al the time, I burst into tears.
Eddie stroked my back and spoke softly to me in Spanish until, final y, I stopped crying and the adrenalin subsided. I started to get drowsy and snuggled deeper into him.
Right before I fel asleep, he said quietly, “Tomorrow, we need to have a chat.”
“I thought we were chatting,” I mumbled, half-asleep.
“This isn’t a lyin’-in-bed-naked-after-getting-a-gunshot-wound-to-the-head kind of chat. This is a wide-awake-and-listen-to-Eddie kind of chat.”
Dear Lord.
Not another one of those.
I suppose if I could survive being held at gunpoint, I could survive a listen-to-Eddie chat.
On that thought, I fel asleep.
Chapter Twenty-One
The G-word Turns into the W-word
(Um...Eek!)
The alarm went off, Eddie touched a button and rol ed into me.
I tensed, waiting for him to throw back the covers and drag me out of bed.
Instead he pul ed my back to his front and asked softly, “How’s your head?”
I did a ful -body scan. My knees hurt, my head hurt and my entire body felt stiff. On the other hand, I was breathing and not locked in a scary, sideways refrigerator at the morgue so I figured I was feeling pretty good.
In answer I said, “I cannot believe I have to get shot for you to hit the snooze button.”
His body went stil .
“Can we make a deal?” he asked, his voice stil quiet.
I wasn’t awake enough to make a deal with Eddie but was also not feeling like arguing.
“Maybe,” I said, thinking that was a good compromise.
“The deal is that was the last joke we’l make about you gettin’ shot.”
My breath caught and I held it.
His lips came to my neck.
“Deal?” he asked.
“Okay,” I agreed on a big exhale.
I had to admit, his words and the meaning behind them shook me straight to my soul. I didn’t have time to focus on my shaken soul, Eddie’s lips started roaming, gliding up my shoulder.
“Are we going to take a shower?” I asked.
He careful y turned me around so we were face to face and his hands slid down my back to my bottom. I tilted my head up to look at him and his eyes were on my temple.
“I figure it’s best we do this lyin’ down.” I nodded, because he was probably right. I’d survived a shooting, I didn’t need to die a tragic death while being given an orgasm in the shower.
Then he kissed me and I wasn’t thinking about tragic anything.
Then he made love to me.
It wasn’t hot, fast or rough like it seemed both Eddie and I liked it.
It was about a slow burn; it was gentle and it was sweet.
It was so slow, gentle and sweet that, in the end, it garnered an “ohmigod, ohmigod” neck arching orgasm, which was good since after, my body didn’t feel stiff anymore.