“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 from 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.