Page 94 of Rock Chick Bonus Tracks

However, it was the first time it happened when his Alice appeared to have been struck by that same lightning bolt. So far, with so much in the world she needed to fix, she hadn’t really shown a lot of interest in boys.

That just ended.

Damn.

“Right, since everybody seems to be down with staring at each other, I’ll do this,” Julien stated. “I’m Julien. This is my brother Roman. And this is our mom, Shirleen.”

He indicated his brother and mother with a jerk of his thumb.

Moses stepped up. “And these are my girls, Judith and Alice.” He gestured both in turn.

“Hi,” Judith said.

“Hey,” Alice whispered, eyes still glued to Roman.

“Hey,” he whispered back, his voice a low slither of velvet that held such invitation in that one syllable, even Moses felt drawn in.

Damn.

“Nice to meet you girls,” Shirleen said warmly, and added hurriedly. “Let’s all sit.”

Roman, Julien and Moses bumped into each other, all intent to help Shirleen with her chair.

Judith laughed.

Alice sighed (still watching Roman).

Roman and Julien backed off and Moses moved in.

They had a round table so, at first, he was pleased Julien slid into the seat beside Alice.

Until Roman slid into the seat on the other side of Shirleen, which meant he had direct eye contact with his youngest, something he instigated immediately.

Moses shared some eye contact with Shirleen.

The expression on her face said bothIt’s not my fault!andIt isn’t like we didn’t know this might happen!

He hadn’t been with her long, but he still could read that.

Judith waded in. “So, uh, you work for a private investigation firm?”

She asked this to Shirleen, therefore, she startled when she got three simultaneous answers of “Yes.”

“You work for a private investigations firm?” Alice breathed toward Roman.

“Yeah,” he answered.

“Wow, that’s cool,” she said.

“Yeah,” he confirmed on a sly smile.

Moses turned his head again, leaned in and looked over Shirleen’s shoulder as he whispered in her ear, “Kill me.”

He heard her soft laughter.

Now it was him who didn’t think anything was funny.

When he turned back, he saw Judith’s attention on him. Him and Shirleen. But when he caught her gaze, she quickly looked away.

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