“Yeah, Rowan is letting me stay.” I frown. “Were you looking for me or something?”
“We got a call about a fight at the Desert Eagle Motel last night. When I got there, the manager showed me a security tape of two beat-up looking punks dragging a third one into a van and roaring off. The room they wrecked with their shenanigans was under your name, and you weren’t there. So…” he tips his hat. “Yeah, I was a little curious where you might be.”
“Chief Creesh, I’m sorry, I should have gone to the station and reported it, I was just…”
I falter, looking for the right words. But the police chief just shakes his head. “Terrified?”
I smile weakly. “Pretty much.”
“Well, I’d like to hear what happened last night, but we don’t have to do it here and now. Why don’t you come down to the station later and we’ll go over some things.”
“Am I in trouble?” I pale. “Do I need a lawyer?”
“Oh, no. Not at all. I mean you can get a lawyer out here if you want, but I’m just lookin’ for your account of what happened. You can come tomorrow if you like, I’d just prefer the facts to be as clear as they can be. You can bring Rowan if you like,” he adds with a smile.
I smile back and blush, and I’m pretty sure there’s nothing remotely “coy” about my mannerisms when it comes to Rowan. Especially to a police officer. Chief Creesh grins. “He’s a good guy, Rowan. I’m glad you’re out here with him. Anyways, I won’t take up your day. Just wanted to check in is all. You’re okay though?”
I nod. “I am, yeah. Thanks, Chief. Oh, if you could…”
He laughs. “You’d rather keep this little vacation at casa de Rowan a secret, that it?” I blush and nod, and Chief Creesh grins. “Fair enough. These old lips are sealed. Stick with Rowan, you’ll be fine. And tell him I say hi. Take care now.”
I wave as he drives off, and then I head back inside for some more snooping and scoping out the amazing landscape. I make it as far as the kitchen though before I spot the rack of cookbooks, and I suddenly get a crazy idea…
10
Rowan
I don’t make it back as early as I thought I’d be able to. One of the waitresses at the diner ends up coming in with some brake issues on her Jeep, and old Mr. Till comes in for some new tires on his ancient pickup. I check in with Anna a few times though through the throwaway phone I gave her, and hearing her voice just makes my damn heart beat a little faster. Then she hints at what she wants to do with me when I come home, and that gets my cock rock fucking hard. It makes changing tires a little tough.
“Who do you keep calling, buddy?”
I realize I’m still grinning and staring at my phone as I step back into the shop after a call with Annabelle. I quickly lose the grin and stick the phone in my pocket.
“No one.”
Joaquin laughs. “You sure been spending a lot of time today talking to no one.”
“You get those brake pads machined down yet?”
“The kid’s working on ‘em.”
Levi is “the kid,” even though he’s twenty-four. Joaquin and I go way back, along with our friend Carter. We all served together in the same platoon and ended up coming out here to Arizona afterwards. Carter’s the only native. Joaquin’s from L.A. originally, and I’m from all over, but we all found a home here. Levi rolled into the shop one day on a vintage 60s Triumph Bonneville motorcycle looking like James fucking Dean. He had a mouth on him that almost got his ass kicked by the two of us. But motor nerds know other motor nerds, and it was clear he knew what the fuck he was talking about when it came to engines. It was also pretty clear he was running from something, but hell, who isn’t? Levi ended up staying in town for a week and swinging by the shop to talk bikes every single day. At some point, I just ended up hiring him.
“So what’s her name?”
I glare at Joaquin, since he clearly hasn’t gotten the hint to drop it. “Don’t you have work to do?”
“This coming from the dude who keeps leaving to go giggle like a fucking schoolgirl on the phone for twenty minutes at a time?”
“It’s my damn shop, remember?”
“Aren’t you supposed to lead by example?”
“Are you eleven?”
He laughs. “Alright, fuck it man. Keep it to yourself, then. At some point though, I wanna meet the chick who’s got you all smiley all of a sudden.”
“Yeah, well, we’ll see,” I mutter, going back tinkering with Anna’s Aston Martin.
“Oh, fuck me,” Joaquin suddenly says. I glance up to see him staring at me and the car. “Shit, is it the Aston owner?! Holy shit, brother!”
“We’re done talking about this. I mean it.” Joaquin seems to finally hear the warning in my voice, and he shrugs.
“Alright, fine. Do your thing man.” He grins at the sports car. “But congrats. Jesus Christ.”
Eventually, I duck out and let Levi and Joaquin close up. I drive back home with excitement rattling around inside of me. It’s not just that I’m psyched to go home and tear her clothes off, it’s that I’m excited that it’s Anna waiting for me at the end of a long workday. I turn of the truck and head to the front door, but when I open it, I’m hit with the scent of something burning and some acrid smoke.
“Anna!?”
I rush inside, only to find her looking miserable as she glances up from something black and charred she’s holding with oven mitts.
“I tried to make dinner,” she mumbles sadly. “Rowan, I’m so sorry! I tried to follow the recipe, but it freaking caught on fire or something! I totally ruined it!”
I laugh as I cross the room to her. I pluck the charred casserole dish out of her hands with a dishtowel and set it on the stove before I wrap my arms around her. “My little housewife, huh?”
“Well, I failed at it,” she mumbles.
I shake my head and pull back from her. “Nah. You in an apron and daisy dukes? Baby girl, that’s a wet dream come true.”
She flashes a smile before her mouth droops again. “Even without food?”
“You’ve been reading too much Cosmo shit about the way to a man’s heart being through his stomach.” She smiles another crooked smile, and I look her right in the eye. “But see, you already found the way to my heart,” I growl. I lean close and kiss her slowly, relishing the taste of her lips and the way she moans quietly into me.
“Let me cook tonight.”
“You cook?”
I give her a wounded look. “Did Michelangelo paint?” She finally giggles, and I grin as I take her hands in mine. “C’mon, I’ll get the grill going outside.”
Some steaks sizzling, the warm desert air, the stars above, a cold beer in one hand, and my arm around the most incredible girl I’ve ever met? Yeah, this might be heaven. Annabelle leans into me, her arm around my waist as she looks up at the stars.
“It’s so beautiful out here.”
“Amen to that,” I growl. “This is one of the reasons I fell in love with this place.”