"You've spent too much time with my sister," Remy pointed out, and stopped in front of the door to the small cafe just down from the police station.
Bijou stiffened and halted abruptly. "You want to eat out? In a restaurant? In public?"
"Where else?" He tightened his hold on her. "You're safe with me."
Bijou shrugged. "If that's what you want, but I'm not so certain you're safe with me."
Remy opened the door and she slipped inside, immediately stepping to one side waiting for him as heads swung around and a low murmur started up in the cafe. People recognized her. How could they not? Her face had been plastered on every tabloid for years and now, she was famous in her own right. Her face went still, composed. She wore that slightly haughty, don't-touch-me expression she'd worn as she moved through the bull pen.
Remy glided close, and she tucked her body into his, beneath his shoulder, almost without conscious thought. He wrapped his arm around her, aware everyone in the room who knew him--and it was most of the customers--would consider that gesture one of proprietorship. Bijou obviously considered it a casual gesture and she relaxed against him.
"Booth or table, Remy?"
Remy smiled affectionately at the dark-skinned waitress with bright eyes and a ready smile. "Give us a booth if you can, Thereze, somewhere we can sit where no one will notice us."
Thereze burst out laughing. "I think it's a little too late for that, Remy."
He looked around, and dozens of cell phones were up in the air, snapping pictures. He heaved a sigh as many of those in the cafe began texting furiously.
"Follow me, and I'll do my best." Thereze tossed Bijou a smile over her shoulder as she led them through the cafe toward the back. "Before you leave, you'll have to autograph somethin', even if it's a napkin, for my husband, Emile. He's the cook here and trust me, honey, he's your biggest fan."
Bijou nodded. "Of course. I'd be happy to do that."
"Maybe a picture with him to put up on the wall," Thereze added. "We own this place, and he'd be over the moon if you did that for him."
Bijou's body brushed against his. Remy looked down at her. Her smile was fixed in place and genuine, but the tension in her body belied her expression.
"No problem," she agreed, but her smoky voice had dropped another octave.
Remy waited until they were seated, had menus and Thereze had bustled off to get them water and bread. "Will it really bother you to have your picture taken with Emile? I've known him for nearly my entire life and he's a good man."
Bijou shrugged, avoiding his eyes by looking at the menu. "Of course not. I said I would, didn' I?"
She sounded casual and sweet, even to his highly trained ears. Still, he didn't believe her. He reached across the table, pushing down the menu with one hand and tipping up her chin with the other, forcing her head up, forcing her vivid blue eyes to meet his.
"Tell me. I'm okay with you bullshittin' anyone else you feel you need to, but not me. What is it?"
Her gaze drifted over his face, taking him in. Deciding. There was a moment of hesitation but he refused to release her. He simply waited.
"I don' mind takin' a picture with anyone," she said, her accent thickening, "but you have no idea what one picture will start." She gave a little shrug. "No matter. If the food is good, it'll be well worth it."
That little half smile, so secretive, told him she wasn't exaggerating. Something was going to happen once she took a picture with Emile.
"I'm not goin' to leave you here alone, Blue," he assured. "Whatever it is, you won' be alone."
"Tell me that after I'm here a few hours."
"Hours?"
She nodded her head. "The nice people come first, askin' for an autograph. Then the more bold ones askin' for a picture. And then the ones who believe I owe them somethin' because they listened to Bodrie's music, or mine. In the middle of all of that, will be the really ugly ones who want to give me lectures and tell me I've never had talent and I'm skatin' on my daddy's fame." She shrugged again.
He let go of her chin, scowling. "If that really happens, why the hell are you runnin' around without a damned bodyguard?"
Her long lashes fluttered for a moment, and then lifted. Her blue eyes laughed at him. "I thought I was runnin' around with a bodyguard."
"I'm bein' serious."
Thereze put two glasses of water in front of them and poured a cup of coffee for Remy as she lifted an eyebrow at Bijou in inquiry.
Bijou smiled at her as she nodded. "I'd forgotten how strong the coffee is in New Orleans," she admitted. "The heat and the coffee."
"And mosquitoes," Thereze added.
Bijou nodded again in agreement. "The mosquitoes, although I've noticed they don' bother me quite as much as other people. It's rare for me to get even a single bite. Something to do with my blood, or my scent. Whatever it is, I'm happy about that."
"Somethin' else?" Thereze asked.
"I'm fine, thank you."
Remy waited until the waitress moved away. "Blue, why would you go around without a bodyguard if people do you that way?" He wasn't about to let it drop. She couldn't tease her way out of the question. He wanted an answer. She was as elusive as the wind, but not to him. Never to him. He refused to accept her evasions.
Bijou sighed. "I forgot how relentless you are when you want something."
She was silent, absently stirring her coffee with a spoon. Remy waited. He had the patience of a leopard on the hunt and it had always stood him in good stead when interrogating a suspect. Bijou was like a wild, wary animal, not certain who to trust. He was going to be that man.
She finally looked up at him, her gaze once again moving over his face as if looking for something. "I'm coming home, Remy. I want a home and this is it, my last stand. I've been battling uphill for so long and I'm just plain tired. I'm not makin' records or doin' concerts anymore. I want to have a quiet, peaceful life. I need to sing, so that's why I purchased the club, but I need a home. I'm done with travelin'."
"You're very successful as a singer."
She sent him a brief smile. "Yes. I can't say the business wasn't good to me. Nothin' on the scale of Bodrie, but certainly more than most and I'm grateful. I truly am. I think I had to prove to myself I could do it, and I've done that. I just want to come home now."
He didn't blink. Didn't take his eyes from hers, forcing her to hold his gaze. "Why? I'm not buyin' into the quiet peaceful life, Blue. Not for a moment."
Color crept into her face and for a moment her blue eyes shifted away from his, feathery lashes veiling her expression. "It's partly true, Remy. I don' know what else to tell you. I spent far too long fightin' a losin' battle, tryin' to outrun Bodrie. I learned it was foolish to even try. What was the point? He's my father. He wasn't the monster I thought him, or the god others did. I'm not ten anymore, desperate for my daddy's love."
"Everyone needs love and family, Bijou," Remy said.
She pressed her lips together. "I need peace. And a home. I'm not him. I have a voice, but I choose not to be a rocker. I don' have to make excuses, or be angry. I don' have to try to please anyone else. It's been a long road to learn things Miss Pauline tried to teach me so long ago. To be honest, I don' like the life. I want a different one."
"Miss Pauline tried to teach us all things we took forever to learn," Remy said. "The bodyguard," he prompted gently.
She was hiding something from him. She'd even admitted it, but she wasn't going to reveal anything else, not so soon. He couldn't blame her. She hadn't seen him in years. The strange connection he felt toward her when she was young had been his need to protect a child. Now, she was all grown up and his feelings were so intense he could barely control them.
"If I look like a regular person, everyone local will accept me that way. Eventually no one will think a thing about me walkin' around town on my own, and I'll have my life back." Bijou picked up the menu, clearly finished with the conversation. "What's good here?"
He let
her get away with it even if he didn't altogether agree with her. "Everything. Emile has turned this little cafe into the premiere place to eat." Remy took a sip of coffee and allowed himself to really look at her. "You're really beautiful, Blue." It was the simple, raw truth and he saw no reason to pretend otherwise.
Looking at her was painful, and not just because she made his body ache. He was very aware of the other men in the room and the way people were gawking at her. The leopard in him snarled and raked at his gut. He found it necessary to breathe deep to keep the animal calm while he drank her in.
"Thank you, Remy. I do appreciate you sayin' so, but you're starin'."