Rock Chick 08 Revolution Read Online Free PDF Page A

to
sloppy, stupid and unattractive.
    And once the event was put behind
us, he didn’t once bring up Ava or Luke.
    He asked about me.
    And he sounded interested.
    And last, along with being hot, in
a hot guy way that was totally cool, he was funny.
    So in the end, it was almost like a
date.
    A good one.
    Maybe even the best I’d ever had.
    And it got better when we got to
know each other, got more comfortable, and the questions became more
meaningful. The banter became teasing. Then suggestive teasing. Then the
physical distance evaporated when Ren slid closer to me in the booth seat,
pinning me against the corner. Something I was wishing he’d do, and he did.
    But it was more. In doing this,
focusing his attention solely on me, he made the bar melt away and made me feel
like I was the center of his universe.
    I’d never felt that.
    But I bet Indy, Jet, Roxie and
Jules had.
    And none of it was about booze and
earlier emotional upheaval.
    It was about connecting.
    Ava and Luke and what happened that
night drifted away, and it was about Ren getting to know me and me returning
the favor.
    And enjoying every second of it.
    The end of it went like this:
    “You have to give me a minute,” I
told him, “I’m having trouble fighting the urge to run shrieking from the bar.”
    He grinned. I watched it and I
liked it.
    “Babe, not a crime to be a Bears
fan.”
    “Zano, totally a crime to be a
native Denverite and be a Bears fan,” I contradicted with the God’s honest
truth.
    His arm was on the back of the
booth and suddenly his fingers glided through my hair, sliding it off my
shoulder, then moving away; a smooth there-and-gone-making-you-want-more move
that worked on me huge.
    “Lived in Chicago
a long time after my dad died,” he said after the smooth move, and at his
words, I focused through my buzz closer on him. “Mom couldn’t deal, moved us
back to her hometown to be closer to her sister and cousins. I was there from
three to thirteen. I was born here, Ally, but bred to be a Bears fan.”
    Well, if there was a reason to dis
the Broncs, that was it.
    But what he shared was deep. It
felt good he trusted that little bit to me and so it couldn’t be ignored.
    “Sorry about your dad,” I said
softly.
    Something I didn’t get moved through
his face before he said, “Long time ago.”
    I found that an interesting
response.
    “Indy lost her mom when she was
five. I was five when we lost her, too. Auntie Katie was around all the time,
so she was like a second mom to me.” I reached out a hand and curled it around
his thigh. “I know when people try to understand where you are, they can’t
understand because they’re not you. But even so, even though I don’t get you, I
still kinda do.”
    It was then something moved into
his eyes, stayed there, and I got that. It was a mixture of sweet and heat that
I liked a whole lot.
    His hand covered mine on his thigh
and he murmured, “Thanks, honey.”
    “And, not to be flippant about the
death of a parent,” I started in order to move us to less deep, melancholy
waters. “But I will say it does provide you with an acceptable pass on being a
Bears fan in Broncos Country.”
    That got me another grin.
    Then his eyes locked to mine and he
asked, “Your brothers, your family, I’m thinkin’ you know me.”
    Oh I knew him all right. I also
knew what he was asking.
    I’d lived in Denver all my life. I
had a long string of friends that covered a wide spectrum of the population.
And I had two cops and a private investigator in the family. Not to mention,
I’d been doing my thing, nosing around, and sometimes that took me into the
underbelly of Denver.
    I knew all about the Zanos.
    Particularly the fact that Ren’s
Uncle Vito was a crime boss. What he did, I steered clear of. You didn’t make
an enemy of the Zanos and you didn’t get in their business, no matter how you
might do that.
    I also knew Ren worked for his
uncle.
    Word on the street, he was in
charge of the