AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Me, neither.” she offered. The wad in his hand was pinkish gray from blood and makeup. A glance in the mirror showed that she looked only shockingly bad, rather than out and out road kill.
“And besides, you’re a fine one to talk,” he said, still daubing.
She was so distracted by his scorching male vibes, she’d lost the thread of the conversation. “Huh? Talk about what?”
“Not drawing attention to yourself.” He jerked her coat open, dabbing at the blood on her chest. “Look at your outfit. Every man who looks at you will look again, and then stare. Why the fuck not? You invited him to. And he will remember every last detail of your face and body. I guarantee it. If you don’t want attention, dress down! Go drab!”
“But I did want you to notice me,” she blurted.
His hand stilled, and he stared at her with a small, puzzled frown. “Yeah. Ah. About that. We need to talk about—”
“No, we don’t. It’s not the time or place,” she said hastily. “I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I don’t mean to pick a fight with you.”
He grunted. “Yeah, right. You’re always on the offensive, Lily. Every damn thing that comes out of your mouth is provocative.”
She kept her gaze locked on the ragged edge of his T-shirt, staring at the threads dangling over his naked belly. “I guess so,” she said. “I’m just made that way. That’s probably why I’m single.”
“Ah. Could that have anything to do with all these people who are trying to kill you, by any chance?”
She jerked away from him, stung. “No! It does not! I may be a mouthy bitch, but those scumbags have never even given me a chance to insult them properly! I have no idea why they’re doing this!”
“Calm down,” he said. “Don’t yell. We’ll draw attention.”
She closed her scuffed, bloody coat with a jerk, belting it with numb, trembling hands. “Look, I understand your urge to scold me,” she said. “I get that a lot from guys. But could we do it outside? I’d prefer a drive-by shooting at this point than another noseful of this air.”
He got out of her way. “It’s not necessary, you know.”
“What?” She pushed out the door, and inhaled the relatively sweet perfume of car exhaust and gasoline gratefully. “What’s not necessary?”
“Being on the offensive,” he said, following close behind. “You don’t have to be. Not with me. I’m actually a pretty decent guy.”
“I noticed that,” she said tartly. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have jumped your bones. I do have some standards, you know.”
“That’s nice,” he said. “Come on in here with me. We’ll buy a burner.”
She followed him in, sticking close behind and keeping her head down, intensely aware of the cameras that had to be trained on them.
“It’s just hard for me, to switch out of offensive mode,” she said softly. “So don’t take it personally. In fact, I might never be able to switch out of it again, in this lifetime.” Not that she expected to live that long.
“That’s a grim estimate,” he said, dragging his wallet out and pulling out the cash.
The saleswoman was an older woman who looked too tired to pay attention to either of them, which was a blessing. She leaned close. “I’m going to piss you off again, probably soon,” she whispered. So I’ll just apologize in advance, for the next, oh, say, five times. After that, we’ll renegotiate. OK?”
His mouth twitched, wryly, as he tore open the packaging and pulled out the phone. “You are a piece of work, you know that?”
“That’s why I—”
“Yeah, yeah. That’s why you’re still alive, and all that doom and gloom shit. Now be quiet, and let me make this call.”
“What call? To who?” she demanded. “Let’s get outside, at least. Away from the cameras that might be watching.”
He rolled his eyes, but followed her outside willingly enough. “Remember what I said about trusting me?” he said.
“You’re not calling Zia Rosa, are you? Or your employees at the diner? Or your toy business? Or Kev McCloud, or his brothers?”
Bruno’s eyes narrowed. “How do you know about the McClouds?”
She made an impatient sound. “Oh, come on. Don’t be such an ingenue! They’re smeared all over your life. All you have to do is look. And if I looked, you can damn well be sure thattheylooked. It was all out there, for anyone to see. And I’m not even that good at it!”
