Boss wasn’t the right word, but it did the job. Cass was answerable to her master and her clan, and I was answerable to the Society and my family. Working for Gustav, a warg, created an interspecies loophole that allowed us to join his bounty hunter guild without any messy affiliations getting in the way.
“With pleasure, Häschen.” A husky chuckle flowed into the car with us. “Name the place and the time.”
The fact our boss called her a bunny, or maybe it was cute little bunny? I could never remember. It made me think it was a vampire joke since he was a warg. Maybe he thought it was funny implying she was Bunnicula. Or maybe he still had his tail in a twist because, regardless of how she pestered me, she had rules about sex with coworkers. It got a big, fat no from her. She preferred anonymous sex, and lots of it. Hard to keep it anonymous if you had to chat over a watercooler with the guy/girl you banged and fanged the night before then ditched as fast as your superhuman speed allowed.
And yet she had the gall to lecture me on relationships when I was the one committed to a guy I couldn’t outrun.
Okay, fine. Put like that, it was clear neither of us should ever open our mouths and let romantic advice fall out.
“This is sexual harassment.” Cass’s eyes glinted with mirth. “Careful, or I’ll file a complaint with HQ. I already bought silver-tipped boots to wear when your ass needs kicking.”
I must be an absolute dud in the hormones department. Maybe there was something biologically wrong with me? Maybe I’d crushed those impulses until all I had left south of my belt was the Sahara.
Another call interrupted Gustav with a persistent beep-beep, and I gulped when I recognized the number. Dampness coated my palms, and I almost dropped my cell while attempting to switch lines.
“Hey.”
A hard thud rattled my heart against my ribs. “Boaz.”
Cass ignored the traffic in favor of gawking at me.
“I wanted to check in.” He hesitated. “See if you were okay.”
See if I had decided to back out, more like it. It wasn’t like I had given him a ring, just my word.
“Any particular reason why?” I leaned over and physically turned Cass’s head forward. “It’s nice, but it’s…unexpected.”
No emotional attachments on either side would make this whole ordeal so much easier to swallow.
“Your dad called,” he admitted after another awkward pause. “He sounded…”
“Drunk.”
“I was going to say worried about you.” Boaz cleared his throat. “He said you were upset.”
“And you wanted to make sure I wasn’t having second thoughts.”
“No one knows we’re engaged. Only you, your dad, and me. You can break it off before it gets announced without a slap on the wrist from the Society or any hard feelings from me.”
“You asked me to marry you—” a totally backwards and human thing to do, “—and I agreed. That’s where it starts and stops for me. I’m a woman of my word.”
“I never doubted.” He softened his voice. “I’ll let you go then.”
“When will you be back?” I blurted before I caught myself. “To, um, finalize things?”
“Miss me already?” he teased with the ease of a man who found humor in everything. “You’ll see me sooner than you might think.”
“Okay, that was vague.” I struggled to sound professional, but my default setting gave me fits when I was around him. “I’ll put a rush on getting the papers drawn up then, so they’ll be waiting for you.”
“Will you be?”
Certain I had missed something, I backtracked. “Will I be what?”
“Waiting for me.”
Panic coated the back of my throat, and I rushed out a hasty, “Good night, Boaz.”
“Night, Addie.”
He was gone before I could remind him only my friends called me Addie.
“That’s interesting.” Cass radiated smugness. “Very interesting.”
“That Gustav wants in your pants? It’s hardly a newsflash.”
“Nice try.” She snorted. “You’re not going to distract me with thoughts of Gustav naked and rubbing me down with butter.”
“I…didn’t mention butter. And now I might never eat it again. Thanks for that. Anything else you’d like to ruin for me tonight?”
“One last thing.” She flicked me a glance. “You like him.”
“We’re getting married.”
“Your pheromones shot off the charts when he answered.”
“Just nerves.” I tucked my phone back in my pants. “Pre-wedding jitters.”
“Keep telling yourself that.” She chuckled. “This certainly makes things more interesting.”
“Stop saying interesting in that tone, and eyes on the road, missy. One of us is still alive, you know.”
Cass mimed buttoning her lips and left me to stew over the fact my gut was tight and my palms were sweaty.
Clearly, I was having an anxiety attack. I wasn’t stupid enough to fall for a guy with his reputation. After I got home, I would pop a Zoloft. Problem solved. Until then… “You missed the turn for the pier.”
“Ron’s not at the pier.”
“Gustav—”
“Parroted rumors at us that I planted six hours ago.” She scoffed. “Do you really think I would tell him where our mark is hiding? He’s the boss, and he’s all about the bottom line. He gives those tips to everyone to better his chances of landing the mark, which means the pier will be swarming.”
“You’re amazing.”
“I know.”
Settling in for the short drive to the museum, I pushed all thoughts of Boaz Pritchard out of my head and prepared to bag and tag a baby vamp worth three house payments. Who knows? Maybe I would go nuts with the bonus, if we got to him first, and buy myself a bottle of the nail polish I had been eyeballing. The rich brown with golden swirls reminded me of…
Oh crap.
Boaz’s eyes.
Three
Railroad museum sounded much fancier than the reality. It was more of an abandoned train station you donated five dollars to self-tour than a brick-and-mortar museum. That meant no handy walls to pen in our vamp. He would bolt if
