Kristen Ashley - Rock Chick Revolution

“Then I got a call from Daisy, up in my shit. This means I got a call from Marcus, also up in my shit. And this morning I got a call from Shirleen, again, up in my shit. And last I got a call from Smithie, tellin’ me you’re workin’ a case for him and he would not be happy if I got up in his shit. Then I hauled my ass over here to sort our shit. Now, you gotta call and let whoever know I’m gonna be at the rehearsal dinner tonight, because I missed dinner with my woman last night and that shit isn’t happening two days in a row.”

Our first semi-official date was going to Luke and Ava’s rehearsal dinner.

How freaking cool was that?

I didn’t tell him I thought that.

I muttered, “I best call Tod.”

“And don’t bother calling Daisy. She already sent your bags back to my place.”

God.

Totally loved Daisy.

“Last,” he went on, “you gotta be a badass and call me Zano, that’s cute. I like it. But if things are deep with us, shit’s raw, emotional or important, I’m Ren. I’ve asked a lot from you Ally, and you from me. But you’re not a badass with me. You’ve let me into that place in you that you don’t give anybody. So you don’t put up that shield to hold me back when shit’s important. You’re you. You’re Ally. And I’m Ren.”

This kind of weirded me out how much he’d figured out about me.

I also didn’t share this.

I whispered, “Okay.”

“Okay,” he replied.

“Can I ask what my brothers said to you?”

“No,” he answered. “Just know those two men love you. They’d break important alliances to take your back. And they’d likely lay their lives down for you.”

Those must have been intense conversations.

Nevertheless, I already knew all that.

So, my insides so warm they were melty, I smiled.

“Uh, sorry,” a voice said from our side, and we both looked that way to see a thin woman wearing a brightly colored tunic and jeans and lots of jewelry standing there. Her eyes were on me. “I know you work here. Where can I find Eat, Pray, Love?”

“Are you shitting me?” Ren asked low, which meant dangerous.

Her eyes went from Ren to me and she lifted her brows.

Clearly a regular.

“Have you looked in the G’s?” I asked her.

“The G’s? It’s called Eat, Pray, Love. I looked in the E’s,” she answered.

“It’s written by Elizabeth Gilbert, and books are shelved by author in biography. So try the G’s. But, heads up, we’re a used bookstore and that’s a popular title. Odds are we’ve had about fifty of them and sold that same fifty, unless you’re lucky.”

She nodded. “I’ll look in the G’s.”

“Do that now,” Ren ordered.

She gave him a look, rolled her eyes at me, and sauntered away.

Definitely a regular.

“Fuck me,” Ren muttered, and I looked at him to see he was staring at the space the woman used to occupy.

“Ren,” I called softly, and he immediately looked at me.

And thus I got his eyes.

Jeez, those eyes.

“Are you gonna kiss me, or what?” I asked.

That was when I got his smile.

A second later, I got his kiss.

“Uh… just to say…” We heard, and Ren growled into my mouth before he broke the kiss and we both looked to the side to see Indy standing there.

She looked to Ren then to me.

And she smiled huge.

“I approve,” she declared and disappeared.

She’d so totally been listening.

Before I could process this, Ren’s hand was again at my jaw. He turned my head back to him and then his mouth was again on mine, his tongue again in my mouth, and I wasn’t up for processing anything.

* * *

“You good?” Ren asked.

Oh yeah.

I was good.

So good.

My plethora of shopping bags were in Ren’s bedroom.

And I was in Ren’s arms in his bed after he gave me two orgasms.

So. Totally. Good.

“Yeah, honey,” I muttered sleepily.

“No, baby,” he replied, pulling my back deeper into his front and nuzzling his face in my neck where he went on, “Ava and Luke’s thing. You and me. That history. You seemed okay tonight at dinner. I just wanna make sure that’s where you are, not what you want people to see.”

I closed my eyes.

Seriously.

So.

Totally.

Loved this man.

Then I opened them and turned my head to look at him.

“That’s done, Ren. I don’t even think about it anymore.”

“Promise?”

“Yeah.”

“Nothing buried that will come out and bite either you or me?”

I bought this after burying what was between us for a year.

So I sought to pay up, and fast.

I turned a little in his arms and put my hand to his jaw. “That’s done. Now it’s just you and me. And honestly, cross my heart, I haven’t thought of it once since we had it out in a moderately priced motel in a small Colorado mountain town.”

I heard a deep, short chuckle before, “A moderately priced motel in a small Colorado mountain town?”

“AKA, my favorite place on earth.”

His body went still.

Then his mouth growled, “Ally.”

Right after, that mouth was on mine, I was on my back and Ren was on me.

I guessed we weren’t settling in to sleep.

Righteous.

I sat on Ren’s kitchen counter, Ren standing between my legs, our happy places touching, my phone ringing in my ear, my eyes on my man.

Mom answered, “Hello?”

“Hey Mom. You got two seconds?” I asked.

“Yes, he’s invited to dinner tomorrow, Ally.”

I bit my lip and gave big eyes to Ren.

Her knowing Ren and I were back together wasn’t a surprise. I was thirty-two, but she’d been in my business since I was born, and as far as she could be, never got out. Even so, it wasn’t exactly a secret, what with Ren charging me at Fortnum’s and us being at the rehearsal dinner together. Her informants were in attendance at both of these events. And her informants were big on informing.

I let my lip go and asked quietly, “You sure?”

“You love him?” she asked back.

“Yes,” I whispered.

“Then your father and I best get to know him.”

So totally told you my mom was the shit.

“Thanks, Mom.”

“See you in a few hours, honey.”

She disconnected. I did too.

I set my phone aside and addressed Ren.

“You’re invited to dinner tomorrow.”

He stared at me.

Then he asked, “How did that happen in the two seconds you were talking to her?”

“It’s Mom’s way.” I curled my arms around him and pressed closer from happy place to chest, and assured him, “It’s gonna be okay.”

His arms tightened. “I know, baby.” He then gave me a touch on the lips before he said, “You gotta get goin’.”

I did. I needed to be primped and trussed in preparation for two people I loved tying the knot.

Therefore, I smiled.

Ren smiled back at me.

* * *

“Oh God, honey.”

“Hurry.”

“God, Ren.”

“Hurry, Ally.”

We were in a cloakroom at Hotel Monaco where Luke and Ava were having their reception.

I had my back to the wall, my arms and legs curled around my man, and Ren was exploring the functionality of the deep slit up the front of my killer aqua column bridesmaid dress with a chiffon overlay that exposed a pure Ava rock ‘n’ roll stretch of midriff.

Ren and I were doing the business.

In other words, love was in the air.

Totally good luck that Tod had picked up and kept hold of all the bridesmaid dresses until the big day. If mine had been in my apartment, semi-tragedy.

But my mind wasn’t on escaping a semi-tragedy.

It was on something way better.

“I’m… it’s… Ren,” I gasped, whimpered, then came.

Glorious.

“Fuckin’ fuck me,” Ren growled. He shoved his face in my neck, thrust deep and groaned.

I held on tight as his shuddered though him and mine me.

After it was over, I kept holding him until he kissed my neck, indication to let go.

I did. He slid me up, sliding out of me. His mouth came to mine, his eyes glued to mine, as he put me to my feet. He held me against the wall and I felt him do up his trousers.

Then he touched our lips together before crouching in front of me and ordering, “Foot, baby.”

I lifted a silver strappy, stiletto-heel shod foot and he slid one side of my discarded thong over it. I lifted the other and he repeated, then slid my thong up my legs.

This caused another shudder.

He settled my panties on my hips and rearranged my skirt so it fell properly, but before he got to his feet in front of me, he kissed the inside of my right knee.

And another shudder.

Then he was on his feet and I was no longer leaning against the wall because I was in Ren’s arms.

“You got sex hair, honey,” he told me, eyes moving around my head.

“So?” I asked, and his gaze came to me.

That got me a smile, which led to another touch on the lips. This one harder, it lasted longer and it included our lips opening and both of us adding tongue.

Yummy.

Ren ended the kiss, landed one on my jaw and grabbed my hand.

He led me to the door, opened it and shoved me in front of him, still holding my hand as he pushed us out.

And thus we ran headlong into Sadie and Hector.

Sadie, in a baby blue dress the same style as mine, stared up at me.

Her face got red.

Hector muttered, “Fuck,” and pulled her back. He gave a chin jerk to Ren, and then sauntered away, clamping an arm around her waist and disappearing around an opening to the corridor.

I looked up at Ren.

Ren’s eyes were to where Sadie and Hector disappeared, but when he felt mine, they came down to me.

When they did, I burst out laughing.

Ren’s arm slid along my waist and he propelled me forward as he joined in my hilarity.

Yep. Love was in the air.

* * *

After hitting the bathroom for a necessary errand due to Ren and my cloakroom activities, I entered the function room and scanned the crowd looking for Ren.

My eyes stopped on Luke, who was standing with his mom and Ava’s mom.

Ava’s mom was clearly babbling, and it was clear she’d been doing this for a while because Mrs. Stark was nodding but the smile was fixed on her face and it was obvious her mind was miles away. This was also clear because Luke looked like he wanted someone to shoot him. But still, he was standing there holding his mother’s hand, and I thought this, particularly from badass Luke, was all kinds of cool.

I continued my scan and my eyes stopped again when I saw Tex and Duke standing close, Tex looking weird (and not just because he was wearing a suit instead of his uniform flannel shirt and jeans) and Duke smiling and clapping him on the shoulder.

Tex had a personality set to crotchety and Duke worked with a bunch of crazy women and had for decades. Thus they did not get along in a normal way. They got along by bantering (sometimes heatedly), bonding when shit got crazy and they agreed that the women amongst them were loons, and the rest of the time ignoring their own craziness in order to focus on the crazy around them.

This did not mean they weren’t tight. They’d known each other awhile and had both ridden the turbulent waves of the Rock Chick/Hot Bunch Courtships from the very beginning, and those kinds of rides formed unshakable bonds. Trust me.

But they were men. They didn’t have heartfelt conversations or hug it out. I’d never seen one touch the other. I didn’t think I’d even seen them smile at each other.

Now Duke was smiling big.

However, Tex wasn’t.

He just nodded, said something, turned jerkily away and his eyes caught on me.

He then lumbered toward me.

When he got close, I greeted, “Yo, Tex. What’s up?”

His eyes moved over my hair then back to me and he noted, “I think sex in a public place is illegal.”

“That’s only a problem if you get caught,” I returned.

“This, the Ally Nightingale Life Philosophy,” he muttered on a low boom.

I grinned. “You bet your bippy.”

He stared at me, and it was then I noticed he still looked weird.