Page 106 of Red Hot Harmony

“Okay.” I caught her arm and lowered it to the seat. “I think that’s enough talk about whose behavior is more ridiculous in public.”

“Why?”

“Because I said so, Ally.”

She rolled her eyes.

Well, that was expected and while I sort of hated the gesture, I was glad my daughter was finally coming back to me.

“I think she’ll be okay.” Dante smiled, his gaze landing on me and lingering long enough for my memories of last night—or this morning—to surge to the forefront of my mind. It wasn’t the sex part that made me shiver. It was the sudden realization that for the first time in years, I’d been myself with a man, however angry or hurt or vengeful. And I’d let him do wild things to me and my body, trusting him not to cross that forbidden line that sometimes existed between two partners.

And I’d also allowed him to be himself, and what I’d seen hadn’t made me want him any less.

“Is there any food?” Ally’s voice yanked me out of my thoughts.

“No, Bug. No—”

My phone rang, interrupting me.

“Mother?” I answered.

“I called you earlier but kept getting thattry again latermessage,” she said, tone firm as always. Any other woman who got stuck on the side of the freeway with a wildfire raging a mile away would be screaming bloody murder. Not Eloise Rockwell. “But no matter.” She quickly moved on from the subject of poor reception due to the state of emergency. “We’re here at the house with…” She disappeared for a moment, then continued. “Malik and Yanneth. We’re safe. The city officials closed the canyon, so it looks like we’re trapped here at least until the morning.”

I felt relieved, finally able to remember that I had other responsibilities apart from Ally. Like a family business to run. “Who closed the boutique?”

“Harper. He tried to get a hold of you several times. Wanted to let you know they have it under control. Everything is stored at Doug’s place. You should probably call him back. He’s worried.” Then my mother went on the offensive. “Me too, by the way. Where are you? Is Ally okay? He mentioned something about a fight? That you needed to pick her up from a friend’s or things you needed to take care of. What things could you possibly be taking care of while our livelihood is at risk of being destroyed. Why weren’t you at the boutique?”

I took a deep breath, glad that neither Ally nor Dante could hear my mother scolding me. If she only knew…

Harper continued to save me again and again.

I wasn’t certain he’d be able to stall someone as cunning as Eloise, but apparently, he was as good of an actor as he was a retail store manager.

“We’re fine, Mother,” I said. “I let Ally visit a friend in Thousand Oaks today and then the officials issued an evacuation order. We couldn’t just leave them, so we helped them pack and then the road closed and I had a hard time getting out.”

“Goodness.” I heard her gasp. “What were you thinking, Camille! Taking her there.”

“I can’t predict the future.”

“Hmm.” Eloise harrumphed. “I assume the owner of this house I’m spending my night at is with you?”

Oh, no!Hopefully Malik didn’t spill the beans about Ally being missing, but it didn’t sound like my mother knew. Otherwise, she'd have risen hell hours ago.

“Yes,” I responded simply.

“Do I even want to know why you two got back together after that stunt he pulled yesterday?”

“No.”

“You were always stubborn.”

“I wonder where I got that from,” I came back.

“And I wonder where Hendrix got her lying skills from.” Dante chuckled after I killed the call.

“Yeah, Mom,” Ally slurred next to me.

“Are you feeling a little better?” I asked. There were other questions, sensitive ones, on the tip of my tongue, but I knew they needed to be discussed when she was in her right mind and when she could understand the full extent of what had happened to her.

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