Page 12 of I Am Lioness

On Friday evening, after a long ass week full of bitchy stay at home moms—who’s husbands paid a pretty penny for one of my prime spots—I walked in through the front door of my condo and went straight to the kitchen, pulling a beer from the fridge.

Guzzling a few long sips, I killed half the bottle before even making it to the couch and snatching the remote off the coffee table. I flipped mindlessly through the channels, finally settling on a rerun ofThe First 48, and hoped for a distraction from my repetitive train of thoughts.

It was a temporary solution to say the least.

The tell tale buzz in my pocket alerted me of a new message and tore my attention away from the homicide investigation on the TV. Fishing it out, I read the text on display.

Hello, Mr. Carr.

I stared between the message and the sender at least five times, in complete and utter shock. The number wasn't programmed to my contacts, but I knew without a doubt it was her.

No one called me Mr. Carr, not even my clients. Hazel, however, had used the formal greeting on more than one occasion and I was beginning to think there was something about it she liked. Setting the now empty bottle down on the coffee table, I typed out my response with a shit-eating grin.

Miss Perry...

What a nice surprise.How are you?

How’d you know it was me? Lol. I'm good,a bit tired to be honest, but I'll live. How are you?

No one has taken to calling me Mr. Carr, but you. Wasn’t that hard to figure out. Truthfully I don’t think thrilled would accurately describe how I'm feeling, but okay,we’ll go with thrilled.

She had absolutely no idea just how thrilling it was.

Or did she?

My knee bobbed up and down anxiously as I waited almost impatiently for her reply, my blood pumping a mile a minute.

You can't say something likethat and not elaborate.Do tell...

Intrigued, are we, Miss. Perry?

Obviously…

Curiosity killed the cat, you know.

Irrelevant and you're stalling.Spill it, Carr.

Demanding little thing. Well, what if I said I wasn't going to tell you?

Then I’d say you'd have a veryangry Lioness on your hands.

Lol I'd prefer her in my hands,thank you very much.

You sure you can handleall that, stud?

Oh, baby, you have no idea just how much I could handle that.

I chuckled, shaking my head.

The playful banter was fun but I was itching to hear her voice. Without a second thought, I clicked through a couple screens and dialed her number. Two rings later, that silky purr-like voice of hers filled my ear.

“Mr. Carr, long time no talk.”

I sank back into the couch, my grin spreading further. “Missed me, sweets?”

“Eh, perhaps, I’ll never tell though.”

“Unlike you, I won’t press you for an answer.”

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