Page 4 of Rock Chick Bonus Tracks

So yeah.

Oh yeah.

He loved her expressive face.

“Most of this is going to be recycled,” he shared. “It’s out of date, and it wasn’t top of the line when I bought it, because I couldn’t afford it then. The setup in the offices is the best you can buy. This has been wired into the surveillance room since I got the office, so I could work from home if I wanted to, but I rarely do that. Since it’s rare, there’s no need to have a space like this at our place. So it’s time for it to go.”

“If it’s essentially just a home office, why did you keep it locked down?”

“First, because there are weapons in here. They’re in safes, but I’m responsible for them, so I’ll use every measure of security at hand to keep them as safe as they can be.”

She nodded. “Makes sense.”

“Second, because even if this equipment is old, it’s still worth a whack. It’s not like the door is made of steel, but any lock slows down anyone. I have a security system. If someone breached this condo, it might give me thirty more seconds, or three more minutes for them to get through this door. But time is time, and the more you have, the more it’s on your side.”

“That makes sense too.”

He smiled at her.

“Is that why you’re here? You’re cleaning it out?” she asked.

“Yeah.”

“Is there some reason you didn’t tell me you were coming here to clean this out?” she asked, which was a turnabout, something she was good at, far better than lying.

The way she asked that, it was on him why he was there and hadn’t told her, when they were not one of those couples who shared every move they made during their time apart (unless there was a possibility of snipers setting up for a shot, which, thankfully, was a zone Indy had cleared a few weeks ago). Instead of it being on her, when she had no reason to be there at all, except to break and enter into his defunct home office.

“Got word the place rented this morning,” Lee said. “Decided to hit it rather than procrastinate, because tomorrow, you might get kidnapped again. Or you and Ally might get arrested for trying to sneak backstage at the Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, and I’ll have to drop everything to wade into that.”

Her eyes got big. “The Peppers are in town?”

Noting she seemed unconcerned about future mayhem, considering creating mayhem was her way, even before the recent intensifying of it, but it was concerning to Lee, he looked to the ceiling in search of deliverance.

As usual, he found none.

He dropped his eyes to hers again and tightened his arms. “No trying to sneak backstage.”

“I wouldn’t do that,” she lied. She totally would because she totally already had. “With all the drama recently, I didn’t know they were coming to town. I don’t have tickets.”

Yetwas left unsaid.

She shifted her hands so they curled on his shoulders.

“Good news the condo rented,” she said quietly.

“Yeah,” he replied in the same tone.

“You want me to help you clear this out?”

“Bobby and Matt will clear it out. I’m just sortin’ through it, and you can’t help with that.”

She tipped her head to the side, and he felt her hair slide along his forearms.

Her thick, wild, auburn hair, also high up on his list.

“Want me to hang with you while you sort it?” she offered.

He wanted something from her, and he started backing her to the desk to get it.

---