Beat of the Heart (17 page)

“Well hello. Look at you Miss Thing. It’s a gloomy Monday morning, but you’re here early and

with a smile on your face. Hmm, mmm.” He snapped his fingers up and down. “Miss Mia got her

groove back!”

I snickered as I bypassed him for the break-room. When I turned around from putting my purse in

my locker, Dee stood in the doorway, hand on his hip. Although he had gotten every single salacious

detail last night, I could tell he was eager for more.

“I’m not discussing AJ with you right now.”

“Lunchtime then. I want a side of naughty with my salad.”

I laughed. “Sounds like a plan.”

With several post operation patients, we were pretty slammed the rest of the morning. Of course, in

between checking vitals and changing IVs, my mind couldn’t help straying to AJ and our elicit

weekend. Every time I did, I couldn’t keep the beaming smile off my lips or the flush of warmth from

filling my cheeks. When lunchtime rolled around at eleven, I made my way to the break-room. Sunday

nights were always spent with my dad and the crew at Mama Sofia’s, and I always brought salad

back for Dee and me.

As I took out the container and something to drink from the fridge, my cell beeped in my pocket.

When I pulled it out, my heartbeat broke out into a wild gallop at the name on the text. It was AJ.

The words,
Miss U,
were accompanied by a picture of him with his bottom lip poking out. When a

giggle escaped my lips, I wanted to roll my eyes at my ridiculous behavior. Honestly, I’d barely been

away from him twenty-four hours, and he already had too much effect on me.

My fingers furiously worked over the keyboard as I typed:
Hmm, not sure exactly which head

you’re missing me with
.

I grinned triumphantly as I hit send. I’m sure he was expecting some heartfelt response or a sad

faced ‘I miss you too’. It was just after I’d finished drizzling Italian dressing over my salad that my

phone dinged again. I took a giant bite of grilled chicken before opening the text. When I did, I began

to choke.

The head of AJ’s cock appeared on the screen along with the words,
He misses you even more!

Holy shit! My shock sent me into a choking fit. I’d just recovered when my phone rang. I didn’t

have to guess who it was. Without even a hello, I hissed, “I cannot believe you just sent me a dick

picture!”

AJ’s deep chuckle echoed through my ear, warming me in places it shouldn’t. “Even though you

could probably make a lot of money off that, I hope you keep it to yourself.”

“You have nothing to worry about on that one.”

“Good idea. It makes more sense to keep it for yourself to get you through the lonely nights.”

“Do you have a point? I mean, besides sexually harassing me at work.”

“Yes, I do, actually. First, I wanted you to know that I did really miss you. This weekend was…off

the charts amazing and fantastic.”

Fighting to catch my breath, I tried to play off the intense feelings ricocheting through me. “Yes, it

was nice.”

AJ snorted. “
Nice
? You call multiple orgasms until you could barely walk just
nice
?”

I laughed. “Okay, okay, I agree that amazing is a better adjective. Now what’s your second point?”

“I wanted to know if you were free Friday night.”

“Yes, I am. Why?”

“The guys and I are playing a reunion show at the bar where we got started. I thought since you’ve

never heard us—or me for that matter—you might want to come?”

Holy shit. He not only wanted to see me again, but he wanted to share the biggest part of his life—

his music—with me. That fact alone had to mean our little weekend tryst was more than just mind-

blowing sex to him. I couldn’t even begin to fathom the thought that AJ Resendiz, drummer for

Runaway Train, sex-on-a-stick personified with thousands of women just waiting to take care of his

needs, would want to be with me again.

“Mia?” AJ questioned, through my self-deprecating tirade.

“Sorry. Oh, um, yeah, that sounds nice.”

“There you go with that ‘nice’ word again.”

I laughed. “I’m sorry. It’s just you kinda caught me off guard.”

“I guess it’s hard to focus on anything once I’ve assaulted you with a cock pic before noon, huh?”

“You could say that.”

“I’ll remember that next time.”

“Yes, save the dick pics until at least late afternoon. Evening might be best.”

AJ chuckled. “I’ll note that one for sure.”

“Seriously though. I would love to see your band and you live in action.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Our set starts at eight, and things will be pretty crazy before then. I hate to

not come pick you up, but do you think you could meet me there?”

“Sure, that’ll be fine.”

“Great.” A long pause came on the line before AJ spoke again. After clearing his throat several

times, he asked, “You think you’d wanna have dinner before then?”

The room seemed to tilt and then spin around me. He wanted to see me
before
the weekend?

Surely, it was only about sex and not about getting to know me better. That had to be it. Trying to play

the strictly physical card, I replied, “Guess you really are missing me bad if you can’t wait until the

weekend.”

“Actually, I was thinking more along the lines of dinner—somewhere nice and fancy like we did

before.”

“Oh,” I murmured.

“Being on the road so much, you enjoy when dinner doesn’t come out of a box or from some seedy

diner.”

My heartbeat thrummed wildly in my chest. Okay, he wanted dinner and conversation, not straight

sex. When I finally found my voice again, I replied, “Sure, I’d love to do dinner again. Well, as long

as it’s not Mama Sofia’s. I mean, if we show up there again, they’ll have us already engaged.”

With a laugh, AJ replied, “I think that can be arranged.”

“I’m off tomorrow night.”

“Then tomorrow it is.” At the sound of voices in the background, AJ gave a frustrated grunt. “I

have to go, Mia. I’ll see you tomorrow at seven?”

“Sounds good.”

“Bye.”

“Bye.”

Long after he hung up, I sat dazed and staring at my phone. I only glanced up when Dee burst into

the room. “Sorry, I’m late,” he said breathlessly, as he eased himself into the chair beside me.

“It’s okay. I was hungry, so I started without you.”

“I see how it is.”

I grinned as I passed him the bowl of grilled chicken salad. Leaning over me, Dee reached for a

bottle of water from my bag. Before I could close my texts, he gasped and grabbed my phone. His

dark eyes bulged. “Dayum, look who is getting sexts so early in the day!” He glanced up from the

phone. “You must’ve made a helluva impression if he’s sending you this.”

I shrugged, trying to playing it off. “We were just joking around.”

“
This
,” he said, as he waved AJ’s cock pic in front of me, “is nothing to joke about. You know we

never, ever joke about prize pieces of flesh, and this is certainly one of them.” Dee brought the phone

in front of his eyes again. “And hell, he’s not even hard. No wonder you’re walking kinda funny

today.”

“I’m perfectly fine, thank you very much,” I snapped.

“Mmm, mmm, he’s missing you and that fabulous vajayjay of yours so soon, huh?”

I laughed. “You have such a way with words.”

“I try.”

We fell into silence then. After swallowing a giant bite of salad, Dee grunted. “Spill it, Mimi.

What’s he want?”

When I filled Dee in on AJ’s call, his eyes lit up. “He’s got it bad for you.”

“I’m having second thoughts.”

“Honey, you need to set up an appointment for a MRI cause your head needs checking for sure.

There’s no way in hell I could say no to that cock.”

With a laugh, I playfully smacked his arm. “This is serious, Dee. I mean, getting back in the game

was one thing, but a guy like AJ—a musician with a horde of women at his beck and call...” I shook

my head. “I feel like I’m emotionally setting myself up to be a lamb to the slaughter.”

“And then again, you could end up Mrs. AJ Resendiz.”

I snorted. “Excuse me, but who needs an MRI now? I mean, you do remember this is me you’re

talking to, right? The girl whose history with men is the figurative equivalent of the Battle of

Kennesaw Mountain.”

Dee rolled his eyes. “You and your Georgia history nerdom.”

Leaning forward on the table with my elbows, I cocked my head at him. “You really think that after

the past nine months of my life, I’m up for this?”

“We all have our pasts and baggage, Mimi. It’s our decision whether they fuck with our future.”

With a defeated sigh, I rubbed my eyes. “Fine, fine. Deep down, I know you’re right.”

“Of course I am.” When I shot him a look, he grinned. “Speaking of the future, let’s talk about what

hot little number you’re going to wear on Friday night to get Mr. Latin Lover’s gears grinding again.”

Drumming my fingers on my jeans, I waited anxiously in the cramped backstage room at Eastman’s

Pub—the place where Runaway Train had gotten its start years ago. It was quite a different set-up

from our usual concert scene, but it still felt so freakin’ right to be back here. Outside in the bar, a

sold out crowd awaited us, standing room only. But a packed house was the last thing on my mind.

Instead, a tall, stacked brunette occupied all my thoughts—most of which were pretty X-rated.

Dinner with Mia on Tuesday night led to a ‘barely make it to the bed, a path of clothes strewn up

the stairs inside Mia’s house’ all night sexathon. The only thing that had stopped us from going at it all

day Wednesday was that Mia had to go to work, which totally blew. Wednesday and Thursday night

after she got off work, we skipped the dinner, went straight to screwing, and ordered in food only

after we pried ourselves off each other.

I didn’t want to admit it, but I was getting in fucking deep with Mia. I wanted to say it was just

about the sex, but it wasn’t. What we had outside of the bedroom was just as good. The shit we talked

and laughed about over dinner, the way she rose to every little tease and challenge I gave her—it was

fucking amazing.

When I felt a hand on my shoulder, I jerked my head up. Abby stood before me—her brow lined

with concern. In Spanish, she asked, “What’s up with you?”