The Twin Moon (The Moon Series) (11 page)

“I know but they’re
my
clothes.
I bought them with my money.”
Andy swiped at the tear that ran down her cheek.
“And now tomorrow I’m going to have to cal
l Mr. Steinbeck and ask for the
day off so that I can get new clothes.
I don’t even have anything to wear to the office.
May
be my insurance will cover this?
”

Rosie rubbed Andy’s shoulder for a minute as Andy sat back on her heels.

“Well at least that’s the last of it.
I’ll go order a pizza if you want to start on the stuff on the bed.”
Rosie tied up the last bag and hauled it out into the hallway.

Andy stood up
and
stretched her
arms high above her head, her back cracking.
Being on the floor bent over had given her a pinch.
The room did look better.
At least the floor was clean.
Andy hung up the few shirts that were on the bed and folded
what needed
to go
back in her drawer. There was a pair of shorts and a pair of jeans that had miraculously missed being damaged.
She put those away too.
They weren’t her favorite pieces of clothes, but at least they were something.
Rich must be trying to tear down her defenses.
To destroy her careful erected
self-esteem
.
Well, it almost worked
. S
he sniffed again, her nose now running from all the tears.
At least Dallas was in the backyard now and
Manuel
had fixed the window.
Tomorrow
,
he said he would have the alarm put in and the bars up.
She didn’t ask how, she never asked.
He said it would happen it would
and it always did
.
Andy bundled up the comforter,
sheet
s
and pillows into a pile and walked into the living room to find a garbage bag.

Rosie was just hanging up the phone.

“Pizza will be here in thirty minutes.
Here let me help you.”
Rosie brought over a lawn bag and helped Andy stuff the mess inside.
“Do you have extra
sheets
?”

“Yeah
,
in the hall closet next to the bathroom.”
Andy motioned to the hall closet as she wiped her hand across her forehead.

“I’ll make the bed.”
Rosie turned and walked down the small hallway.

“What are we going to do about all the fingerprint dust?” Andy stared back in at the room. It cover
ed
the window and the doorknobs.
The dresser and other glass surfaces.
Basically it was everywhere and it had fallen on her wooden floor.
Well that she could sweep up.

“Internet.”

“What?” Andy turned as Rosie approached with an armful of linens and a comforter.

“Look it up on the internet.
I’m sure you can find it on there.
I don’t know how to clean it up.”
Rosie brushed past her and into the bedroom to make the bed.

Andy stared after her friend.
Well, why not?
They always say eve
rything is on the
internet.
Andy sa
t down on the couch and opened her laptop and typed “Clean up fingerprint dust” into Google and sure enough a list of articles on How To Clean Up Fingerprint Dust popped up.
How about that?
Andy quickly scanned the article and luckily it was as simple as using warm soapy water to wash down the surfaces, unless she wanted to go through her home owner’s insurance or try and force the police department to pay for clean up.
Andy shook her head.
It was a mess, but only a little dust.
She and Rosie could manage it, but not tonight, maybe tomorrow morning.

“Find anything?”
Rosie plopped down on the couch next to her.

“Yeah, actually.
Warm soapy water.
But let’s do it tomorrow.
I’m t
o
o tired to do it tonight.
Do you have to work tomorrow?”
Andy closed her laptop and
placed
it on the coffee table.

“Not until the late afternoon.
I can help you in the morning.”
Rosie pulled something out of her pocket and held it out to Andy.
“I know this isn’t the best time
,
but I thought maybe this would cheer you up.”

“What is it?” Andy took the piece of paper half grinning try
i
ng to figure out what in the world
Rosie
was up to.
She opened the slip of paper.
Written on it was the name Ian with a phone number and little hearts all around it.
Andy’s heart sped up as she reread his name.
“He called.”
Her voice was a whisper.

“He called.”
Rosie leaned in and sing-
songed the words back at her.

“He called!”
Andy squealed and they both broke out in giggles.
“Oh my God.
When should I call him?”
Andy grabbed Rosie’s hand and squeezed it as her heart beat fast at the
idea
of talking to Ian on the phone.

“Call him now
.
T
he pizza will be here soon and it’ll give you an excuse for a quick call.”
Rosie jumped of
f
the couch to grab the phone off the counter.
“Here.
Call him.”

Andy
didn’t hesitate.
She
dialed the phone and held it to her ear.

It rang. And rang and rang.
Maybe he wasn’t home.
Her heart sank into her feet and Andy was about to hang up when a rough voice answered the phone.

“Ian?”
Andy held her breath.
She didn’t recognize his voice, but she’d only talk to him once at the club.

“This is him.
Who’s this?”
He groaned low in his throat as covers rustled.

“This is Andy.
Did I wake you up?”
Andy twisted her dress in her fingers suddenly nervous
about
bothering him.

“What?
No, I was just getting up.
Andy, it’s great to hear from you.
I’m so glad you called.”
Ian’s voice seemed to come alive and it was a velvet smooth caress over her skin.
God
,
it was sexy as hell.
“What’s going on?”

“Not much. J
ust got your number from Rosie and thought I’d give you a quick call.”
Andy’s palms were damp with sweat and she wiped them on her dress.
She glanced around her living room
,
but Rosie was gone.
Where had she disappeared to?

“Rosie, she’s your best friend
,
right?”

“Yeah, since we were kids.
Why?”
Andy bit her
bottom
lip between her teeth as she waited for Ian to answer.

“She had a million questions for me.”
He chuckled.
“She sure does care about you.”

“She’s a little overprotective.
Sorry.”
Andy blushed even though Ian could
n’t
see it.

“No, don’t be.
I understand.
You have to look out for the people you care about in your life.
I would have done the same for my sister.”

Andy liked that he understood Rosie and wasn’t put off by her best friend.
“So tell me more about yourself, Ian.
Where do you work?”

“My brother-in-
law owns a community center and I work for him running a training program for teenagers.
I teach them self-defense and self-
control.”

Andy was surprised by
his
occupation, but excited that she
’d
met a man with such an interesting job that made a difference in the community.
“That sound
s
like it could be very interesting.
How long have you done that?”

“About a year.
I love it actually.
I’ve always wanted to do something where I could make a difference with the young people in the community and this gives me a chance to do that.
What about you?”
He shifted the phone and a low groan of what sounded like pain came over the phone line.

“Are you okay?”
Andy was concerned
,
that was the second time she’d heard him make the noise.

“It
’s nothing major, just over did it with the k
ids the other day.
I took a few days off to recoup.
Pulled some muscles.”

“Oh, okay.
T
o
o much rough housing
,
huh?”
Andy smiled
while pictures
of him with the kids
traveled through her mind
.

“Something like that.
So what was it you do?”

“I’m a legal assistant.
I pull case files for the lawyers I work for and do leg
work on cases for them.”
Andy
tugged at the hem of her dress.

“Really?
That sounds like an interesting job.”

“It is.
Sometimes.
Sometimes it’s just boring, but all work is at one time or another, I guess.”
Andy didn’t want to talk about her work.
She wanted to know more about Ian.

“What did you wear to work today?”
Ian’s voice dropped an
octave
all husky and the sound played over her skin like fingers caressing her body.

“A knee length short sleeved black dress and a pair of heels.”
Andy smiled at the question.
He must be trying to picture what she looked like today and
that
brought
nice warmth to her belly
.

“What did you wear under the dress?”

Andy hesitated.
Ian sure
did move fast.
She wasn’t sure
she was ready to tease like this with him
,
but she had already flirted with him at the club.
Hell she’d had her tongue half way down his throat.
Maybe it was okay.
Andy bit her lip, worrying it between her teeth as she listened to Ian breath over the line.

“Stockings and garters with
a
black lace bra and
matching
panties.”
When she finally answered
,
she blushed and held her hand to her burning cheek embarrassed.

“Mmm, sounds very sexy.
Do you always dress like that?”
Ian’s voice was low now vibrati
ng through her body as he spoke;
her nipples harden inside her bra.

“Y-Yes.”
She croa
ked
on
the words.

“Am I embarrassing you, Andy?”
His words whispered in her ear and an ache stared between her thighs.
God
,
he was so sexy.

“A little.”
Andy pressed the phone harder to her ear as if somehow she could get closer to him.

“I didn’t mean to, but I find you very attractive.
I won’t hide that from you.”
His words sent excitement through her.
Her attractive?

“I think you’re attractive, too.”
That sounded stupid.
Andy slapped herself in her forehead.
“I mean
,
you’re very handsome.”

Ian chuckled.

“I’m sorry. I haven’t done this in a while.”
Andy shook her head and sighed.

“It’s okay you’re doing fine.
I wanted to get your phone number though.”
Ian shifted and groaned a little in the background.

Andy gave him her phone number and just then the doorbell rang signaling the arrival of the pizza.

“I have to go
,
my dinner just got here.
It was good to talk to you, Ian.”

“It was good to talk to you too.
I’ll
catch you later, Andy.
Bye.”
With that he hung up.