Page 18 of Praying Mantis

“I may be stepping out of line,” Agent Rinker says as I motion for her to continue, “it seems like you’re nowhere close to catching her.”

“It’s an excellent observation and an accurate one,” Tony speaks before I do. “With every kill, we hope to get a clue, but we’re stumped. It leaves us with more questions than answers.” They nod because now they’re getting our frustration with this case. My phone goes off letting me know there’s another incident with the case we were just assigned.

“All right, we have cases to work on until we leave. Try to close up what you can or let the authorities know you’re out of town and to reach you on the phone.” I throw my pen at Tony, who has his back to me. “We need to go. See you all at the airport early.” I head out of the room to grab some stuff from my desk while I wait for Tony and the other three agents to leave the conference room.

Louisa

We left our room to make our way to the event. While walking to the registration table, Matthew reiterates the game plan. After checking in we set out on a mission, operation fangirl 2023. I halt.

Matthew and his game plan are going to be the death of me. He has his priorities, then we’ll circle back to everyone else. He needs to see everyone and buy everything too. I can’t help myself from laughing at him most of the night at his fangirling. The first stop is Sapphire Knight, but we have to make sure we find the models on the books we have signed. I know there are a few cover models Matthew and I are excited to see as well.

“There she is, Louisa.” Matthew barely whispers. He tugs on my arms all excited and I look over to where he’s talking about, Sapphire. We make our way through the line.

“Hello, thank you for coming to MMM. Are you having fun?” Standing there like a fish out of water, Matthew is just staring at Sapphire. Oh, lord, I have to save him.

“Hi, Sapphire, you will have to forgive my friend. He’s obviously lost the ability to speak. My name is Louisa, and this is Matthew. We are huge fans, can you sign our books?” I know Matthew is going to kick his own ass later when he fully relaxes. Sapphire signs all the books we brought, and the four new ones we purchased for our collection. I would like to say that this was a one-time thing for Matthew, but unfortunately, he did the same thing two more times. When we walked to Avelyn Paige’s table she laughed, and GM Scherbert asked if she spanked him would it help.

As we continue around from table to table, I spot one of my favorite cover models, Alfie Gordillo. We see him standing near an author who has him on a cover and I recognize the two from the restaurant yesterday. I walk up to the table, purchase the book he’s on, and spark up a conversation with the two authors, Melissa and Jaime. Plus, a hilarious woman who I found out is Alfie’s girlfriend, Laura.

“I have to tell you, Laura, whenever I see your man on a cover I could climb him like a tree.” I slap my hand over my mouth.

“Don’t be embarrassed girl, when I saw him I was drinking a bit and confessed about how I wrote the sex scenes and my thoughts.” I hear the author Melissa say all of this which causes Laura and her to laugh incredibly hard, but I don’t ask them to elaborate.

“Hey, Louisa, I dare you to climb him like a tree.” I look at Matthew like he just grew another head.

“Matthew, that’s not gonna happen. One, his girlfriend is here, and that’s rude. Two, respect for the model. I mean could you imagine if it were a female model instead?”

“I second this dare.” I snap my gaze to Alfie’s girlfriend because I don’t think I heard her right. Did she agree to this?

“Both of you? Now I can’t back away from this dare.” Shaking my head as I think about Matthew’s dare and how Laura is encouraging me to do this. I let out a breath as I walk up to Alfie. “Hello, could you sign my book for me, please?” He takes my book and signs it, and as he hands it back to me I say, “I’m sorry.” He doesn’t have time to respond when I hold on to his shoulders and leap up wrapping my legs around his waist. Melissa, Laura, and Jaime are all laughing as they snap pictures. Matthew’s mouth is wide open in shock. I don’t think he thought I did this but jokes on him. The wonderful sport he is, he gently places me back down on my feet and the group of women are howling with laughter. Please, Lord, open the earth and swallow me. The rest of the signing is a lot of fun. I met a lot of talented authors, had some shots with the authors and spent time with readers who made Matthew’s obsession with books and their book boyfriends seem normal. It truly was the first time of me fitting in and not being ashamed of reading to get lost from my alter ego.

Sean

Iwalked off the plane on Sunday morning, already feeling pissed off. The flight was supposed to be a direct flight, but we ended up on a flight with a layover in Atlanta for three fucking hours. We sat in the terminal for three fucking hours with nothing to do. I had my phone and no charger, so it was dead and I wasn’t paying three hundred dollars at the shop for a charger.

“You’re grumpy,” Tony murmurs at me as he hands me a coffee. “And it’s not three hundred dollars for a charger, more like fifty.” He cracks a joke at me. I snarl my lip at him, which makes him laugh louder.

“I hate deviating from a plan. We were supposed to be here three hours ago and now we’re running late. I don’t have my phone.” I wanted to see where Louisa was so I might see her before all the banging my head on the wall begins. I grab my bag and wait for the other agents to meet up with us. “I know I’m cranky and I’m sorry.”

“I get it, man. Your girl is there, and you want to see her.” Tony is reading my thoughts. As we exit the major airport to head into the car rental place, I hear a laugh.

“Matthew, knock it off. My sides are killing me from all the laughing from yesterday. Don’t make me kill you.” It’s Louisa. She must be returning the car. I walk over to her and grab her face with my hands and kiss her. She stands there, not kissing me back. I think I might get slapped by her. “What the fuck?” She tries to push me away, but I lean back far enough away for her to see me. She smiles and fists my white T-shirt pulling me to kiss her again. This time, she kisses me back and even moans into my lips. My hands find her hips and I roughly pull her into me, needing her close to me. There’s a throat clearing behind us, and Louisa breaks the kiss but stays in my arms.

“Hi there,” I whisper to her.

“Hi there yourself. I almost kneed you in the balls for grabbing my face.” She laughs as she hugs me. “What are you doing here in Texas? I didn’t tell you when I was leaving. Are you stalking me?” She teases me. I laugh.

“No work brought me to Texas. My phone died.” Tony groans as if I’m going to recap my grumpiness. “I didn’t have a way to contact you and I wanted to see you. I heard your voice and the name Matthew. I saw you and wanted to surprise you, throw you off your game some.” I wink at her. She laughs swatting my chest.

“I’m Matthew. Are you the hottie from the gym?” He holds his hand out for me to shake.

“Hottie, huh?” I wink at the girl in my arms. “I am the guy from the gym. How was the signing? Did you buy lots of mommy porn?”

“Oh, we did and had a lot of laughs. I think Matthew and I will go to more signings together.” Louisa glances at her friend who is eyeing me up and down. I feel on display and slightly uncomfortable. It’s like an overprotective dad or brother sizing me up.

“What do you do for work? Louisa never told me.” Matthew crosses his arms, and scowls at me. He’s very scary looking and if I didn’t have a badge and gun, I might cower.

“I’m an FBI agent. I’m based out of Boston.” Louisa moves from my arms and stares at me. All color leaves her face and it has me questioning if I should’ve told her earlier or kept it a secret forever. Does she not date cops? I thought she knew the gym we met at was frequented by the FBI, local police, and some visiting law enforcement along with judges.

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