“The grip you got on that guy’s junk, no hesitation, bringin’ him down to his knees. Fuck. His face,” Vance replied. “Half the team’s terrified of you. Bobby’s having nightmares. I had no choice. Jules and I want more kids. Don’t wanna piss you off.”
It was clear he didn’t feel like being serious so I lifted a hand and socked him in the arm.
He lifted a hand and caught me at the back of the head.
Then he shocked the shit out of me by pulling me in and kissing my forehead before letting me go and murmuring, “You did good tonight.”
“Do you kiss Mace’s forehead when he does well?” I asked and his eyes got intent.
“Learn now, you’re a woman. This is a man’s job, not because more women don’t have the stones to do it, but because they think they need to have stones in order to do it. The way of the world, men can do shit you can’t. What you gotta remember is, you can do shit that men can’t. You play to that. You use it. I am not gonna treat you like one of the guys ‘cause you’re not one of the guys. That doesn’t mean I won’t treat you with respect. And what you learn now is, even if you get treated differently, there’s no difference. Yeah?”
This was very profound. And wise. And I’d never thought of it like that.
But I liked it.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Now I gotta get home to Jules and Max,” he muttered.
“Right,” I replied. “Give Max a cuddle for me.”
“Will do,” he said, moving toward his Harley.
“Vance?” I called and he turned back. “Really. Thanks for tonight. I appreciate it.”
“You’re a Nightingale,” he replied then finished enigmatically, “Anything.”
He roared off on his Harley and I was in my car following him when it hit me what his “anything” meant.
He was an ex-con, recovering alcoholic. And Lee had taken him on, trained him, and offered him a different life. A better life. And when he won Jules then they had Max, he got the best life there could be.
And he appreciated it.
I parked outside Ren’s, the jazzed feeling I had expiring and fatigue setting in. So I wasted no time getting in and quietly changing into a nightie, washing my face and brushing my teeth.
I slid into bed next to Ren, turned into his heat by curling into his back and snaking an arm around his waist.
He grabbed my hand, slid it up his chest and held it there.
“How’d it go?” he mumbled sleepily.
I pressed closer.
“It was righteous.”
His hand gave mine a squeeze. “Good.”
He was right.
He fell back to sleep.
Not long after, I followed him.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Completely Happy
I moved into the middle aisle of bookshelves and did it stealthily.
If I found my target, I didn’t want to be disturbed.
It was the next day, late morning at Fortnum’s. The store would be closing in an hour so we could all get ready to go to Tex and Nancy’s wedding. But Jet, Indy and I were taking off in thirty minutes to hit the mall to buy dresses (and probably shoes).
So I didn’t have a lot of time.
I found her in the way back room, beyond the middle room with its table filled with crates, crates that were filled with vinyl.
She was shelving books in Women’s Studies.
Tall, extremely thin, dark hair that was graying and she left it at that.
Jane.
“Hey,” I called and she jumped.
Then she turned to me. “Hey, Ally.”
I got close and asked, “You going to Tex’s thing?”
