“Amazing.”
“I wonder if Flame swells. I can’t wait to find out. Of course now I’m a little frightened. He is seriously hung. I couldn’t miss that when we were pressed together and I noticed it was ‘ouchie’ sized. I can’t imagine it if he swells even bigger. I might take on more than I can chew.” She chuckled. “Or suck. You know what I mean?”
“Way too much info.”
“What about Mr. Hunk? Anything to write home about in that department?”
“He’s more than a letter. He’s worth an entire book.”
Amanda snorted. “Maybe it’s a New Species thing. Good thing they weren’t mixed with horses. That would totally be scary, right?”
“No shit.” Lauren scooted off her bed and dropped to her knees to dig one-handed under her bed for her suitcase. “I need to pack. I’m taking my cell if it’s in my car—hopefully they’ve brought it back here by now—but if not, Wrath probably has a phone I can use. I’ll call you in the next few days.”
“You better. Are you going to the NSO? Tell Flame to call me.”
“We’re going back to that headquarters place. It’s a secret so keep it hush-hush.”
“I’m the queen of discreet.”
“Right.”
“What is it like there?”
“He lives there underground. A lot of people hate them so keep your lips sealed about that place. He says it’s not safe for them to live where it isn’t secure—I guess that means anywhere other than their compounds—or he’d just stay here with me. He’s got a private room with a bathroom. They also have a big room with a kitchen and a living room. There’s even a pool table.”
Amanda laughed. “You could have him do you on it. Pool table sex is hot.”
“It’s in a room everyone uses.”
“Even better. The thrill of maybe getting caught.”
“I worry about you.” Lauren laughed. “Go back to sleep. I need to pack and get ready.”
“Don’t worry about how long you’re gone. I could pop in there and check on Tiger. I know where you keep the food.”
“Thanks. That would be great.”
“That’s why we have keys to each other’s places. Are you telling anyone else where you’re going?”
“Nope. Just you. If my family happens to call, tell them I’m out of town or something. You know the drill.”
Amanda laughed. “I’ll tell them you joined a nudist colony that worships women with big boobs. I’ll say a dozen sex-starved naked men grabbed you in a van and you’re doing the whole free love thing. They’ll enjoy that. When they start to bitch at me about how come I didn’t try to stop you, I’ll just tell them I was looking out for you by buying you a don’t-come-a-knocking-if-the-van-is-rocking bumper sticker. I’ll remind them how supportive I am.”
Lauren laughed. “Don’t you dare.”
“I’ll assure them that you’ll come home as soon as someone knocks you up and with all that sex with a dozen guys it shouldn’t be too long since you forgot your pills. They don’t know you take the shots, right?”
“I swear, Amanda, if you do that, and I know you would just to freak out my bitchy sister, I’ll personally call your grandma and tell her you’re ready for her to introduce you to men again because you so desperately want to get married. Remember the last time she started sending men your way? I don’t know which one was worse. The mortician she hooked you up with since most of her friends keep dropping dead or the horse jockey she met when she was dating that guy who liked going to the races. What was he? Four-nine? You had nightmares for months about those dates you suffered to avoid hurting her feelings.”
“You wouldn’t dare. It took me months to get Monty the creepy-ass mortician to stop calling me. He sent me flowers and I swear to God he stole them from graves. He missed one of the condolence cards once. He said he really wanted to have sex with me in a coffin and that was his version of tempting me to go on a second date with him. I refuse to talk about the jockey. He asked me if I’d ever worn a saddle while I tried to eat my dinner. I don’t even want to go to that bad, ugly place, Lauren. That was just mean to remind me. You just forget Grandma’s number and I’ll make up something nice to tell your family if they call me.”
“Love you. I’ll call.”
“You better. Love you too.”
Lauren hung up, dropped the suitcase on the bed, and returned the phone to the cradle. It didn’t take long to pack, shower and grab her e-reader. She downloaded a bunch of books while it charged, packed it, and prepared Tiger to be alone for a few days.
Wrath was coming! She glanced at the clock, only had a few hours to go, and time couldn’t move fast enough.
Chapter Thirteen
Lauren grinned when the doorbell rang early and rushed for the door. Wrath must be as impatient to see her as she felt to see him. She’d already gotten dressed, had eaten an early dinner and was more than ready to leave when she threw open the door with a grin in place.
Her joy died instantly when a stranger stood on her doorstep instead. The tall, thin woman bore an uncanny resemblance to her boss, Mel Hadner. Her heart raced, she tried to hide it, and had a sinking feeling this person just might be related to the woman who had tried to hurt Wrath and his team.
“Hello,” she got out. “May I help you?”
“I believe so. You work for my sister, Mel. I went to her office today after receiving an urgent message from her yesterday that she needed to speak to me but no one was there. Do you know where my sister is?”
