She turned to Miki. “You’ve got tonight and tomorrow to relax. I suggest you do that. Don’t panic over this, Ms. Kendrick. You’ll be fine.”
“If you say so.”
“I don’t say so. I’m ordering it. Now go away.” Conridge went back in her office and closed the door.
“You brilliant types can be awfully abrupt.”
“What a ground-breaking observation.” Miki headed back to the stairs, Conall right beside her. She wasn’t shaking him any time soon.
Once outside, Conall took the rest of the papers from Miki. “Gimme.” Since molesting her in the stairwell, he was in a much better mood.
“What’s with you? Why are you so accommodating?”
“’Cause I won.”
“You won what?”
“You. Me. The seduction. In the stairwell.”
“I didn’t fuck you in the stairwell.”
“I didn’t say you had to. I said I had to get between your legs by Friday.” He grinned. “And I did.”
Miki stopped and stared at him. “You’re high. That was not the agreement.”
“Yes, it was.”
Miki made a fist, ready to deck him again when Craig walked up. “Hey, Mik. Can I talk to you for a sec?”
Miki wasn’t done with Conall. “Can it wait?”
“Go ahead. I’m satisfied.” Conall winked at her and walked off, her backpack and dissertation in his big hands.
“Asshole,” she muttered after him.
“Dude, it’s worse than that.”
Miki looked at Craig. “What are you talking about?”
“I found him sniffing Leucrotta’s door. Really sniffing it.”
Miki sighed. Damn shapeshifters. They were simply not discreet.
“Don’t worry about it, Craig. Besides, I’ve got bigger problems than his fetishes.”
“Like what?”
“Everything.”
Craig smiled. “That’s a lot.”
“I know.”
“Look your dissertation isn’t until Friday. So why don’t you come to my house party tonight. Everybody’s going to be there. You can even bring the Beastmaster if you want.”
Well, at least he didn’t call him teddy bear.
“I love your house parties.” And she hadn’t been to one in ages.
“Then come.”
That would give her a little reprieve from being alone with Conall. “Okay. I’ll be there.”
“Cool. It starts at nine o’clock. Bring any video games.” She chuckled. Techno geek parties were the best.
Craig headed off and she walked to where Conall stood.
She took a deep breath and forged ahead. “Look. Craig invited me to a house party he’s throwing tonight…wanna come?”
He’d wondered if Miki would say anything about Craig’s party. He could hear the dweeb invite her even though he stood a good hundred feet from them. When she asked him if he wanted to go he felt his heart swell a little. “Sure. Sounds great. I’m assuming I’ll be your date.”
“Well, you’re assuming wrong. We’re going as friends.”
“Why?”
“Because you didn’t win,” she bit out between clenched teeth.
Conall watched her walk off, and waited ten seconds before he yelled after her, “Yes, I did!” He laughed when Miki raised her middle finger high in the air like a salute.
He was really starting to love that woman.
Chapter Twelve
Miki looked up as Conall held out her cell phone. “It’s Angie.”
Miki took the phone and watched Conall go back into the room, closing the glass door behind him. With the bed no longer attached to the wall, they’d been forced to change rooms. Conall had been polite enough not to mention how much he had to pay the hotel for that little “accident”. But she loved the new room they had. She had a great view of Seattle and a small balcony she’d been sitting on for three hours with her feet up on the rail and her laptop right in front of her.
“Hello?”
“So how’s the big, blond pooch? Has he started humping your leg yet?”
Miki didn’t answer. She couldn’t answer.
“Okay, Kendrick. Spit it.”
“It’s complicated.”
“You fucked him?”
“No. Not exactly”
“What are you two up to?”
“Too much. It’s getting out of control.”
“Okay. Hold on.”
Miki waited while it became quiet on the other end. She assumed Angelina was at work and had a customer.
“Okay. I’m back. And I’ve got Sara on the line.”
“Oh, shit.”
“All right, Mik,” Sara said with way too much eagerness. “What’s going on?”
Fuckin’ Angelina with her three-way calling.
“This is too weird.”
“We want details.”
“Details about what?”
“She and Conall have been up to shenanigans,” Angie tossed in.
“You fucked him?”
“No. She hasn’t.”
“Oooh. This is getting better and better.”
Miki rubbed her forehead. “I hate both of you.”
“You might as well tell us,” Angie pushed.
“Or I can ask Conall. He has to tell me. I’m like totally in charge and everything.”
Miki rolled her eyes. Sara’s reign of terror. Bonehead. “Okay. Okay. We’ve gotten pretty…involved with each other. But we haven’t actually done the deed.”
“That was vague,” Sara muttered.
“I’ll put it in Sara-speak for ya, hon. He’s either used his hand or his tongue to get her off, but no dicks have made an appearance.”
How could she still be friends with these two idiots?
“Yum,” Sara growled. “So what’s the problem? It’s time for you to cowboy up and break in that mustang.”
“I can’t believe you found a way to work ‘cowboy up’ into this conversation.”
Angelina sighed. “See you need to go into this knowing what it is, Mik.”
“Which is?”
“A booty call. The extended DVD version, but a booty call nonetheless.”
“But what if—”
“No, Miki. No analyzing. No second-guessing. No obsessing.”
“For once in your life just enjoy yourself,” Sara practically begged.
Miki sighed. “To be honest, I don’t think I know how to do that.”
Sara chuckled. “Bartender-Miki knows how.”
“Bartender-Miki? Is this like your Golden Retriever Sara vs. Drunk-Sara theory?”
“No. You, smartass,” Sara growled.
“Bartender-Miki,” Angie began, “is the one who always asks inappropriate questions and says whatever she thinks without caring about the repercussions.”
“Bartender-Miki who used to set things on fire in Chem Lab because she was bored.”
“Who taught herself Elvish and Klingon.”
“Who faced off against my grandmother on more than one occasion.”
“Who could kick guys ten times her size out of the bar when they got rowdy.”
“Bartender-Miki who the FBI still refer to as ‘that bitch’,” Sara stated with obvious pride.
“That’s the Miki we both know and love,” Angie finished.
Miki blushed. Now she remembered why she was still friends with these two idiots. Because they both actually got her. And loved her in spite of it.
“But I was changing everything. I was supposed to be having a nice, normal, respectable life?”
“Normal? Who wants to be normal?” Sara asked in complete confusion.
“Fuck normal.”
“I say fuck Conall. But in a good way.”
Miki chuckled. “Would you two idiots focus.”
“All right, Miki. Listen up.” This from Angie. “Is Conall around somewhere?”
“Yeah. He’s in the other room.”
“Can you see him f
rom where you are?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“Okay. Do me a favor. Look at Conall. But don’t look at him like Miki who wants to have a respectable life—”
“We’ll call her boring Miki.” Sara chimed in.
“Instead look at him like Bartender-Miki.”
“Okay.” Miki thought about her nights bartending. Always in control, she never took any shit. She ruled Skelly’s bar with a mighty fist and everyone respected her. She knew what she wanted and what she didn’t and she acted accordingly. She felt like she’d knocked that Miki out for the last six months but she was awake now. Awake and looking at Conall like a prize-winning bull at an Austin auction.
Stretched out on the bed, on his stomach, watching TV; the Viking’s big arms wrapped around a pillow. Her eyes dragged across every inch of that long hard body, taking in the muscles of his arms, the line of his body, how friggin’ huge his feet were. And that outstanding ass. Plus, he was wearing that goddamn black bracelet again.
He seemed to feel her watching him. He looked at her and smiled. A smile that, deep down, she knew was for her and her alone. Instead of turning away, like she always did, she smiled back. And his smile actually got bigger. Then he winked and went back to the TV.
Miki sighed. “Holy shit…”
“We’ve been trying to tell ya.” Sara laughed
“What do I do?”
“Be yourself,” Angie insisted.
“Are you two high? That scares off most men.”
“He’s hardly most men, darlin’.”
“How about you do me a favor?” Angelina asked.
Uh-oh. “What?”
“You’ve got, what? A couple of days until you have to do that thing, right?”
Miki crossed her eyes. “You mean my dissertation? Yeah. Just a couple of days until ‘that thing’.”
“Then why don’t you just enjoy yourself?”
“Don’t worry about work,” Sara added.
“Or school.”
“Or bills.”
“We’ve got your back. We’ll take care of everything. Just relax and see what happens.”
It had been years since she could do that. Just relax. In fact, she was pretty sure the last time she did it, she was about fourteen. Before her mother died. Since then she’d never taken any handouts. She’d always worked for everything she had. And she realized it would be nice to have a couple of days where she didn’t have to worry about anything.
“I guess I can.”
Angie let out a breath. “Good.”
“What’s the worse that could happen?”
“But I’m not promising you two bitches anything. There’s no guarantee anything will happen between me and him. I’ve never actually done the booty-call thing, and that’s all a guy like him would want.”
“You don’t know that.”
“And it doesn’t matter if that’s true,” Angelina jumped in before Sara and Miki could start arguing. “The point is not to worry about it. It’s your choice what you do with him, Mik. I just want you to relax and not worry.”
“Think you can handle that?” Sara asked.
Miki took a deep breath. “I’ll give it a shot.”
He hadn’t been able to stop looking at her since she’d walked out of the bathroom. It wasn’t dramatic or anything. A cropped T-shirt, black denim miniskirt, and steel-toe Doc Martens. But it was the stockings. Dark, thigh-high wool ones with garters. And you could see the garters. The total punk, geek-girl outfit, but on her—it made his whole body hard.
She hadn’t said much to him since Angie called. But he could tell something happened. She didn’t seem unhappy or stressed or much of anything. For Miki that was pretty major because she was usually some kind of extreme. She didn’t even complain he’d only gotten one room for the two of them since they had to move. He’d waited for her to bitch, but she seemed more concerned with the great view. He’d had to pay some serious cash for that, but it was worth it just to see her smile.
And he couldn’t stop thinking about the look she’d given him when she was on the phone with Angie. He’d been minding his own business, trying to watch TV and not think about fucking her on the balcony when he realized she was staring at him. All he could figure was that she and Angie had been talking about him. But, for once, she didn’t look mad or annoyed. In fact, she’d smiled at him. And he couldn’t help but think that smile was for him and him alone.
The woman made him crazy. He wanted her so bad he was afraid his palms would start to sweat. As it was, he was having trouble keeping the wolf under control. Every time he smelled her—every time she came near him—he just wanted to bite the back of her neck and mark her as his for eternity.
They parked close to Craig’s house and jumped out. As Conall came around the SUV, he found Miki crouching down, adjusting the laces on her Docs. He growled. He couldn’t help it. Seeing her legs in those stockings was fucking killing him.
“I heard that.” She stood up and grinned at him. “Try not to start howling during the party.”
“Wearing those stockings, woman, I can’t promise you anything.”
She shook her head and moved toward the house. As she passed him, she grabbed hold of his wrist and dragged him behind her.
She’d touched him. The most innocent of touches, but it was the final nail in his coffin. Now he was hooked. And nothing would save him.
As soon as they walked into Craig’s house, he knew that Miki was in her element. When the standing-room-only crowd saw her the entire place erupted into a chant. “Mi-ki! Mi-ki! Mi-ki!”
Vintage eighties music pumped through the enormous standing speakers, as well as some recent tech. And there were enough high-tech geek supplies to take over the Pentagon. Everyone played games on the giant TV screens or plasma monitors or they were dancing…well, trying to dance. He realized that in her world, Miki was a great dancer. Because these people were the worst.
Of course, he was the biggest one there. Several guys were as tall or taller, but they were usually skinny. Like they hadn’t eaten in days. Or extremely overweight. Like they never left their computer chairs.
Conall tried to ignore the guys hugging Miki as she made her rounds. She was being friendly. They were groping. But when any of them got out of hand, she handled them expertly. She actually twisted one guy’s arm behind his back and slammed him up against the wall.
Conall loved watching her kick ass.
Miki had just finished singing “Love is a Battlefield” with five drunken skateboarders when Amy tackled her from behind.
“My best, best, best friend, Miki!”
She was toasted.
“Dudette. How much liquor did we have tonight?”
“Two beers.” Then Amy began to giggle hysterically.
Just like the bartender she was, Miki pulled the bottle of ale out of Amy’s hand and dragged her to the coffee pot.
“Drink coffee now. Or we’re going to have to give you a cold shower.” That way she could be a wet drunk.
“Maybe I like cold showers.”
“I’ll make Ben do it.” Since Ben had been trying for about ten years to get into Amy’s pants, Miki was confident she wouldn’t have to “make” Ben do anything.
“Bitch. Where’s the loyalty?”
Miki handed her a Styrofoam cup filled with coffee. “I have loyalty only to the Pack.” Then Miki laughed at her own joke.
Amy watched her with narrowed eyes. “You’re awfully perky, you know, for you.”
“I’m having a good time.” And she was in a good mood. Listening to Conall growl every time she moved had done wonders for her ego.
“It’s that guy, huh? Masters of the Universe’s He-Man.”
Miki had such geek friends. She’d already heard Conall referred to as Wolverine, The Punisher, Captain America and, her personal favorite, “One of those blond German guys from Die Hard”.
“Don’t be an idiot.”
“Oh, come on. I’m surprised the
guy didn’t piss on your leg this morning when he saw you talking to Troy. And it’s been quite entertaining watching him watch you. While you do your damn best to ignore him.”
Kenny came up behind her. “What’s going on?”
“I’m drunk and Miki’s got Conan the Barbarian on her butt.”
“It has been a hell of a display between you two.”
“What are you talking about?” Miki snapped.
“Show her, Ken.”
Kenny suddenly hugged her. A big, friendly one. Completely asexual. When he pulled away, they all looked at Conall. She could see his glare from clear across the room.
“That’s what we’re talking about.”
“All of you are idiots,” Miki mumbled.
“Deny everything. Admit nothing. Demand proof,” her friends stated in unison.
Miki gave them the finger and walked away. Seeing Conall’s face had made her toes curl. This night was getting stranger and stranger.
Conall couldn’t stop watching her. He liked the way she moved. He liked the way she acted with her friends. He liked her. More and more with each passing second.
“You know some in law enforcement consider watching someone that closely as stalking.”
Conall looked down. Miki’s three male friends surrounded him. Craig. Ben and Kenny Liu who she always called by his entire name.
Conall crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Is that a fact?”
“Yeah,” Craig continued. “You may be bigger than us.”
“Freakishly bigger,” Kenny Liu added.
“But we can do things to you that you can’t even imagine.”
Ben adjusted his backward baseball cap. “Real shame if something happened to your bank account.”
“Or if you ended up on the FBI’s most wanted list.”
“Or if you were listed as dead.”
Conall stared at the three men. He had to admit he was impressed. He didn’t think they had any balls. He’d been wrong.
“So,” Craig finished up, “if you hurt her, we’ll make your life a living hell.”
“And we’ll enjoy every minute of it.” Kenny Liu reached up and patted Conall on his shoulder. “Remember that, Conan.”
Conall watched them walk away. True, he could tear their throats out, but he liked the fact Miki’s friends felt that strongly about protecting her.
Go Fetch! Page 11