That, for Mace, apparently was that.

He did a push up, exited the bed, got dressed, grabbed the lead and whistled for Juno. As he was doing this, I pul ed up the sheets, laid in bed and watched. When he was gone, I got up and stomped to the bathroom. I was out of the shower and standing at the sink wearing my robe, my wet hair combed back, brushing my teeth when Mace walked into the bathroom. He came up behind me, put an arm around my waist and kissed my neck where it met my shoulder.

His eyes came to mine in the mirror. “Done bein’ pissed at me?”

I wasn’t.

But as I stared into his beautiful green eyes, I noticed they were a strange mixture of wary and amused, as if he was preparing for a negative response but any response he was going to get would make him laugh.

I kept brushing and looking at him in the mirror noticing something was missing.

For a second, it escaped me.

Then I realized it was the guard. The guard was not down over his eyes.

And there were no demons.

It was just Mace and me in the bathroom.

My eyes moved to his throat and I saw his sister’s tiny ring resting there.

I wanted to take a moment and mental y do a triumphant war dance of glee at my trouncing of the demons. Instead I took the toothbrush out of my mouth and answered through a mouthful of foaming toothpaste, “Yeah. I’m done.” Just like I thought, what I said made him laugh.

I watched that too. Then I leaned forward and while I spit and rinsed, I al owed myself a mini-mental war dance of glee.

Ha!

Die demons die!

He was stil behind me when I straightened and his other arm joined the first around me.

“That didn’t take very long,” he told me.

“You’re infuriating and bossy but you’re hot. You’re lucky you’re hot. You weren’t, I wouldn’t put up with you,” I said it but I didn’t mean it (at least not al of it) and it didn’t sound like I meant it either.

His mouth went back to my neck.

“Bul shit,” he muttered there.

I ignored that and asked, “Is your suit for the wedding here?”

“Nope, tux is at the office. We’l drive by there on the way to Daisy’s to pick it up.”

“You’re wearing a tux?” I asked, surprised. It was an evening wedding but stil .

“I’m in the wedding,” he informed me and my eyes grew round.

“You are?”

“Yeah, standin’ up with Lee.”

I blinked.

“You are?” I repeated.

“You didn’t know that?” he asked.

“No. I didn’t know that. You didn’t tel me.”

“Indy didn’t tel you?”

“I’m not sleeping with Indy,” I reminded him.

“I thought you women talked wedding shit al the time.” He sounded surprised.

“We talk about sex and we talk about rock music and sometimes we talk clothes. Tod talks about the wedding.” He grinned. “You talk about sex?”

“Yeah, Eddie likes it rough and hard and Luke and Ava fel off when they tried desk sex.”

He winced and muttered, “Too much information.” I was intrigued at his reaction and turned in his arms to face him. “Don’t you guys talk about sex?”

“Fuck no,” he said immediately.

“No locker room talk?”

“No.”

“While you’re sitting surveil ance?”

“Again, Kitten, no. We don’t talk, probably because we don’t wanna know.”

“But the Rock Chicks are sultry and sexy. I thought you al would want to brag.”

“Don’t need to brag.”

“Why not?”

He gave me a look that said it al , his arms got tight and he replied, “Babe.”

I grinned and decided to tease. “Indy says Lee’s great at kitchen counter sex.”

He frowned. “Stop talking.”

I didn’t stop talking. “And I think Vance is creative with positions. I find that interesting. Maybe you two can chat, get some ideas.”

“Stel a –”

“Hank proposed to Roxie while he was giving her the business,” I informed him.

“Be quiet,” he growled.

“And Daisy and Marcus –” I didn’t finish, I squealed because he bent, put a shoulder to my bel y and carried me out of the bathroom. He threw me on the bed and stalked back to the bathroom, slammed the door and I heard it lock.

I giggled to myself.

Juno loped over to me and nudged my calf with her nose.

“That was fun,” I told Juno.

Juno woofed.

I gave her a head scratch and looked at her bowl.

Then I shouted, “Mace, you didn’t feed Juno!” He shouted back, “I walked her, you feed her!” I heard the shower go on.

Stil smiling, I fed my dog then made coffee then I made Belgian waffles for Mace.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Something Borrowed

Stella

We were sitting around Daisy’s dining room table which was littered with every beauty implement known to womankind from moisturizers to makeup to false eyelashes to bronzing powder to shimmer powder to hair dryers to curling irons plus brushes, combs, teasing combs, bobby pins, hair spray, gel, mousse, pomade, finishing wax and shine elixir.

Indy was sitting drinking a latte Tex brought her from Fortnum’s which was closed for the day then he hightailed it out of there, saying he was meeting “the boys” for lunch.

She was calm and chatting with Lee’s mom Kitty Sue, Roxie’s mom (who was in from Indiana for the wedding) Trish, Eddie’s mom Blanca, Jet’s mom Nancy, Duke’s wife Dolores, Lana and Chloe.

She was wearing a beautiful, pale pink, kimono-style silk robe with a huge, intricate flower embroidered on the back (a bridal gift from Roxie, Jet, Ava and Jules), her hair up in a towel, her legs crossed, leaned back and at-ease.

In fact, everyone was calm and chatting.

Daisy had put on a huge, gourmet, catered buffet for our lunch which was sitting on the sideboard. She’d had a half dozen bouquets delivered that were the same as Indy’s wedding flowers (pale pink and white gerbera daisies, white roses and pale pink and white peonies) and these were decorating the room. She’d not gone rock ‘n’ rol but instead a Chopin CD was playing softly in the background.

She was floating around in her own robe, her hair back in a wide band, her face devoid of makeup, offering refil s to those who wished to imbibe early from a champagne bottle she was holding.

Out of nowhere, Tod rushed in wearing a beautiful y tailored navy suit, a pink shirt, monochromatic tie and a harried expression. His shiny, Italian leather shoes clattered on Daisy’s floorboards with his frenzied approach.