“Dante!” Lucian’s voice rang out. “Get your ass up here. We need the clothes for the girl to ring up.”
Sighing, Dante gave her a smoldering look, and then turned to carry his portion of her clothes to the front of the store.
Mary watched him go with amusement, and then headed to the intimate apparel section of the store. Without Francis there fussing, she was much quicker at picking things. Some white panties and bras, some flesh colored, a couple strapless, and then some sexy sets purely for Dante’s appreciation. Mary picked up some fishnet stockings too, purely for the bedroom. She was not going to actually wear them out of the air-conditioned hotel room. It was too hot in Venezuela for that, she was sure.
Having grabbed everything she thought she might need, Mary headed for the front of the store, surprised to see that the men were just leaving with about a dozen bulging bags of her clothes. She almost picked up speed and called out to them, but then caught herself and slowed instead, making sure they were out of the store before she neared the front.
The cashier was very friendly and helpful when Mary set her purchases on the counter and mentioned that Lucian Argeneau had left his credit card for her. She immediately called a second woman to the front so that she could fold and bag each item as it was rung up. Mary was out of there so quickly she thought she would probably catch up to the men if she moved quickly enough, so she didn’t.
Mary didn’t want to catch up to the men. She wanted to do something she knew none of them would approve of, and didn’t want interference. She glanced in the direction the men had headed as she slipped out of the store. Reassured that none of them were looking her way, she then headed in the opposite direction, in search of the nearest exit.
“I still think I should have stayed behind with Mary,” Dante grumbled as they headed toward the exit nearest to the parking garage where they’d left the SUV.
“She will be fine, Dante,” Lucian said grimly. “Let it—” He paused and sighed as music began to play on his person.
Dante raised his eyebrows, recognizing the tune as a song that had seemed to play quite frequently for a while. He thought it was called “Happy,” but instead of singing “Because I’m happy,” Lucian’s back pocket was singing, “Because I’m tacky.”
“It is Weird Al Yankovich, not Pharrell Williams,” Francis told Dante as if that should explain everything.
“Leigh annoyed with you again?” Russell asked with amusement.
“Obviously,” Lucian growled as he plucked his phone from his pocket.
“Lucian’s wife, Leigh, puts rather interesting ringtones on his phone when she is annoyed with him,” Francis explained to Dante, his lips twitching with amusement as the phone crooned, “Because I’m Tacky, wear my belt with suspenders and sandals with my socks.”
“I am guessing,” Russell said when Lucian merely peered at the phone face without answering, “That her irritation is because you will not let her go to Venezuela with you?”
“Yes,” he snapped. “Although to me her anger is completely unreasonable. She should be glad that I want her and the twins nowhere near the bastards who have been kidnapping immortals.”
“Because I’m Tacky,” the phone began again and he answered it impatiently and said, “I will call you right back, Derby.”
He hung up so quickly. There was no way this Derby could have responded, and then he turned to the men and said, “Take the bags to the car. I have something to do. I will meet you in the food court.”
Lucian didn’t wait for agreement, but turned his back to them and began punching at his phone.
“Why does he not just change the ringtone?” Dante asked curiously as they watched Lucian press the phone to his ear as he walked away.
“Because he does not know how,” Francis said with amusement.
“He knows how,” Russell said with certainty.
“Really?” Francis asked with amazement.
“Oh, yeah,” Russell assured him. “I showed him.”
“But then why does he not change it?” Francis asked with disbelief.
“For the same reason I wear salmon colored T-shirts on occasion,” Russell said dryly. “Because he loves his life mate.”
Dante bit back a smile at Francis’s expression at this news. The man looked like he was going to swoon.
“Come on,” Russell said affectionately. “I am thirsty and the sooner we get all this stuff in the car, the sooner we can get to the food court and get something to drink.”
They started moving again then, but after a couple of steps, Francis said, “I wonder what Lucian is up to?”
“What do you mean?” Dante asked absently as they negotiated the shoppers everywhere.
“Well, he had the two new guys, Derby and Hulkboy follow us into the city in an SUV. They followed us around the Eaton Center while we shopped.”
“Are you sure?” Russell asked, slowing to glance around at his partner.