Page 12 of Fangs and Fudge

“I dare you to send that research question to Miles,” I said with a snigger.

Vena laughed with me. “It would be a good distraction.”

“Probably an unwanted one. But speaking of distractions, you might need to create a few.”

“You’ve come to the right girl. Who, what, where, why, and when?”

“Cross isn’t going away until he can be financially independent of me–”

“Stop your cussing,” Vena scolded.

“And,” I said, speaking over her, “Anchor isn’t going away until the vampires are gone. That means you’re going to need to run interference any time Cross’ scent might be in the house.”

The wicked grin on her face was unsettling.

“You know you’ve just invited me to sit bare-assed on our sofa.”

I sighed. “I’ll be sure to ask Cross not to sit on or touch anything in the house.”

“He was in your bed,” Vena reminded me.

“You will not go anywhere near my bed while naked.”

She said nothing. She didn’t need to. Her grin said enough.

When we reached the house, we waited as instructed for Anchor, who was only a few minutes behind us. He waved and went to unlock the door and check the house. He didn’t signal it was all clear but jogged over to our car.

Vena rolled down her window.

“Hey, handsome,” she said with a grin. “Everly just told me clothing could be optional in the common areas. You ready for a good time?”

That big, agile hunk of a man stumbled over his own feet and caught himself on the car door.

“What?” he rasped.

I watched his eyes dilate as he stared at her.

“Anchor,” I said, leaning forward in my seat to draw his attention. “Don’t let her mess with your head. Is the house clear?”

He looked down and shook his head slightly. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to clear his thoughts or telling us the house wasn’t safe.

“Uh.” He cleared his throat. “Your room faintly smelled like vampire. It’s, uh, probably left over from this morning. I mean, uh…if you napped?”

“Today’s been a crazy long day,” I said, neither confirming nor denying.

“What about my room?” Vena asked. “Did you smell anything interesting in there?”

His gaze pinned hers, dilating again.

“Yeah.”

She grinned slowly. “Under my pillow?”

He swallowed hard and nodded.

I started rolling up her window on them. Anchor quickly backed up a step, and Vena turned to grin at me.

“You’re worse than a cat in heat. Don’t make me get out the spray bottle,” I said.

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