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“Holy hell,” Daisy breathed as Adam walked away. She looked at Abby, who was ready to fan herself. “Have…?” Daisy asked. “Have you two…?”
“No!” Abby cried, and shook her head vehemently. “Oh, no. Worse, in a way.”
Daisy stared at her. “Worse how?”
Abby wrinkled her nose. “Remember when I told you I had a tattoo of my own?”
Daisy nodded, then recalled Milo’s offer of information about said tattoo’s location.
“Oh,” she giggled. “Yeah, that’s why I don’t get ink there.”
She couldn’t imagine lying on a chair, face down, ass in the air while Adam stared down at it, for hours, possibly, depending on the art. Rather, now she could imagine it, and it sent shivers down her spine.
Breaking the awkwardness, Abby said, “Hey, you play poker?”
Daisy was momentarily tripped up by the question. “What? Do I-? Yeah. Yeah.”
Abby grinned. “Fantastic,” she said and took out a pen. She scrawled an address onto a napkin. “Every Thursday, my friends and I play at Sarah’s house,” she told Daisy. “You should come. It’s a blast.”
Daisy glanced down at the address and frowned.
“Oh,” Abby said quietly. “Yeah. Easy will be there. Awkward. Forget I said anything.”
“No,” Daisy protested. “It’s not that,” she insisted. And it wasn’t. She was long over that mistake. “I don’t have a car.”
“Oh,” Abby repeated and took back the napkin. “Oh, no problem. I’ll pick you up. If you’re sure it’s cool…”
Daisy nodded. She had no friends yet and Abby and her friends seemed nice. “Totally cool,” she assured Abby. “I’m so over that.”
Chapter 9
Daisy saw a cherry red muscle car pull up in front of her motel room and had to do a double-take to make sure it was Abby. The tall redhead opened the driver’s side door and stepped out, dispelling any doubts.
“Nice ride,” Daisy called out as she locked the door behind her.
Abby grinned. “Thanks,” she replied, patting the hood. “This is my baby.”
Daisy settled into the front seat and ran her hands over the leather. “You know, a few years ago, I’d have fallen hard for any guy who cruised around town in a ride like this.”
Abby looked at her over her sunglasses and put the car in reverse. “How about now? Have you seen the error of your ways?”
Daisy laughed. “Hell no. I just traded up. Nowadays it’s a hot guy on a hot bike.”
Abby joined in her laughter. “Can’t say I’m any better. My car- not my baby, mind you, a different car- crapped out on me on the highway on the day I came into town. Tex rolled up behind me on his huge, black Harley, and I just about wet my panties.”
“A guy like that would make any girl’s panties wet,” Daisy teased.
Abby giggled, slapped Daisy lightly on the arm, and pulled out onto the main road. As she drove through the city, Daisy leaned her head back against the seat. “Matt doesn’t have a bike. Or a muscle car. Just a beat up truck. Should’ve been my first clue his priorities were screwed up. You know how some guys you can look at the way they treat their cars and you can see how they’d treat you? Should’ve picked up on that.”
Abby smiled. “I know what you mean. The way Tex goes over every inch of his Harley, polishing it, testing it, I never wanted to be a motorcycle so badly in my life.”
“So, you’re Vegas from Vegas,” Daisy ventured. “I take Tex is from Texas?”
Abby nodded. “They all met in the Army. They’re all ex-Rangers.”
Daisy gave a low whistle. “Yikes,” she muttered.
“Shooter was a sniper,” Abby informed her, “as you might guess. Hawk’s into computers. Tex knows about eight languages and has a psych degree on top of that. Doc, Caleb, has emergency medical training, but he’s a cop now.”
Daisy glanced at her. “A cop?” she asked and tried to keep the waver out of her voice.
“Yeah. I think he’d had enough of the blood and guts on tour. He’s an officer now. I was surprised he’s not interested in becoming a detective or anything like that. He’s happy on the streets, I guess.”
“So, he’s pretty straight and narrow,” Daisy guessed, and couldn’t tell if that was a good or a bad thing.
But Abby surprised her and shook her head. “Not really,” she said quietly. “I mean, he wears the badge, but… I get the impression that he’s not all about the rules, you know.”
Daisy scowled. Even worse was a cop who thought the rules didn’t apply to him. She made a mental note to stay far away from Caleb.
“And Jimmy-” Abby glanced at Daisy to see if it was okay to talk about him. Daisy just shrugged.
“Jimmy’s got a degree in mechanical engineering. I guess he loves seeing how things work and putting them back together. He’s not a bad guy,” she insisted. “I think he just came out of it the worst, you know? Makes sense that he’d take the longest to recover.”
