Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 192810 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 964(@200wpm)___ 771(@250wpm)___ 643(@300wpm)
“Holy Hecate,” Gayle breathed (she thought it was hot too).
“Who acts like that?” Cat asked.
“Was the kiss good?” I inquired.
She didn’t quite meet my eyes.
It was good.
“How good?” I pushed.
She shoved her plate away and flounced back in her chair. “Who cares? You don’t walk up to a female’s door, kiss her, tell her to dump her male and walk away. What is that?”
As I mentioned, it was hot.
I kept my mouth shut on my opinion since it didn’t seem Cat felt the same way.
Though, she’d said, “when he was done with my mouth.” She hadn’t said, “when I pushed him away.”
“I wish Cormac had done that to me,” Gayle mumbled.
Cat took her hand on the table. “Oh, honey. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“Why not?” Gayle asked. “He told me to live my life. This is part of my life. Gabbing with my gals.”
Cat gave her a sympathetic look.
Gayle gently disengaged her hand and reached for a rasher of bacon, asking mock casually, “So, are you going to go there?”
“Be the plaything of a very-soon-to-be king?” Cat shook her head. “Not a chance.”
If she really wasn’t into Tanyn, then I hoped her dad never found out about his middle-of-the-night visit.
“Where’s Monique?” Gayle asked.
“She’s at the salon. Clients. Yes, even after all the chaos last night. I can’t believe that female’s work ethic. It’s inspiring,” Cat said.
“I’ve seen the plans for her renos, so I get why she’s going for it. Her flat is going to be mega when it’s done,” Gayle shared.
We lapsed into our normal gabbing.
But I did it watching closely.
I noted Gayle was still wounded, but she was putting a brave face on it, and Cat was holding something back. But I knew from experience you had to let her pick her time to share, or find the right one to push, and that wasn’t now.
After a while, Gayle said she needed a shower, and we all needed to find out what was happening, including if everyone was free to go home, so Cat and I left.
I walked her to her room.
“So, how good was the kiss, exactly?” I probed.
She sighed. “It was great. But I mean, really, Laura. Who does he think he is?”
I grinned at her. “A very-soon-to-be king who’s about to move into a kickass castle.”
She rolled her eyes.
I let it go, left her in her room and went back to mine.
Aleksei wasn’t there, of course, so I commed him.
He picked up right away, and the display showed he was outside somewhere, the wind ruffling his hair.
Talk about hot.
“Hey,” I greeted.
“Bissi, can I comm you back?”
“Sure.”
“Are you in our suite?”
“Yes.”
“Are you staying there?”
Well, I wanted to check on the queen and Aleece, not to mention Monique, and touch base with the Truelocks and Vinestrongs.
But I said, “Do you want me to?”
“Yes, I’ll be there in half an hour.”
“Okay, see you then.”
“Love you,” he replied.
I’d never get used to that. And I’d never stop melting at getting it.
“Love you too,” I returned, hoping he felt the same way (about the never getting-used-to-it part, I knew my male could catch fire, but I didn’t think he could melt).
We disconnected.
I made some comms.
The Truelocks and Vinestrongs were in the midst of packing in order to move back to their homes.
Aleece wasn’t picking up.
I sent a text comm to Monique so I wouldn’t disturb her at work, and she hadn’t had a chance to text back.
And I chatted with Nata, asking her to get with Dita, the queen’s aide, to ask if I could have some time with her. We further made plans to go through the clothing and accessories that afternoon to see if there was anything I wanted to wear to my upcoming events.
She also confirmed she’d gotten in touch with Dad, and he’d expressed gratitude that she’d commed to let him know I was okay.
I was scrolling through social tapes (Arnaud was seriously getting torn apart, and I was there for it—and my creature had been nicknamed “BBB,” which stood for “Beautiful Badass Bitch,” which I was uncertain about—not to mention, Tim’s dragon was getting a lot of positive tape play, and I hoped he saw it) when Aleksei walked in.
I knew the minute I saw his face, something was up, and whatever that something was, it wasn’t good, so I popped out of the sofa.
“Is everything okay?”
He said nothing.
He just walked right to me and gathered me in his arms.
Once there, he held me close.
No.
Everything wasn’t okay.
I gave him some time, then whispered in his ear, “What’s up?”
He pulled away but replaced his arms around me with holding my head in both hands.
“The comms were traced. The agent who was at the Masque last night, the one who’d insinuated himself with Errol, did report to Arnaud that things were not going as planned.”
Oh farg.
I’d forgotten all about Errol.