Page 179 of Bossy Hero

My foot wants to stomp, but I resist the full tantrum and settle for whining. “When will that be?”

To counteract my pathetic outer tone, my inner voice rages:And why the hell hasn’t he called me yet?

As if my thoughts were telegraphed through the city to Alan, my phone lights up with an incoming call.

Giddiness and relief pulse through me in equal measure. “It’s him. It’shim.”

I smash the answer button before the second ring. “Alan? Are you okay? Where were you? I was worried sick.” My concern quickly morphs into outrage, making my volume spike. “How dare you leave all your trackers behind and give up your weapon. Are you insane? What if something had happened to you? How would they have found you? What if you needed help?”

Sammy creeps out of the room, her shoulders raised by her ears and hands extended at an angle in front of her. “Okay, I’ll just let you yell at him in private.”

Oops.

Alan’s barely restrained laughter wraps me in a hug almost as warm as Sammy’s. “I’m fine, Maddie. I’m sorry I scared you. I had to go dark, but I was careful. And it’s all fine now. I’ll tell you more when I get there. I got us lots of good intel tonight.”

My pulse gradually returns to normal, but my mouth hasn’t gotten the message to turn it down a notch. “Fine, Alan Cornelius Egbert Janice Guthrie Lancaster. I’ll wait until you return to hear all about it. Until then, just know this—I’mseriouslyTO’d at you. And when you get here, right after I kiss your stubborn face, I’m gonna bite your head off. And you’re gonna listen to everything I have to say like a good boy. Orsooohelp me.”

He doesn’t bother to quash the amusement from his tone. “TO’d?”

“Ticked. Off.”

“Understood. Fortunately for me, I’m experienced inhandlingyou when you’re TO’d. Also PO’d and many other letters. In fact, I’ve handled you through the entire alphabet.”

“You haven’t seen methisangry.”

“Maddie, please try to calm down before you shape-shift into the Hulkess. I can’t have you smashing up Redleg HQ. Do some deep breathing until I get there, andthenyou can take all your fury out on me.”

Some of my ire fizzles. “Don’t mock my anger, Alan.”

“All the more reason for you to chastise me when I return.”

“Oh, I will.”

“I don’t want you to hold back either. Lay into me with all you have. Just destroy me. Annihilate me where I stand.”

I nod repeatedly despite nobody being here to see me. “Yep. That’s the plan.”

“Excellent. I look forward to it. In fact, I’m getting excited just fantasizing about this epic tongue-lashing you’re gonna give me. And how flush your neck is gonna be and how your chest will heave as you struggle for air because you’re so relentlessly taking all your frustration out on my body. Again and again. Until we’re both spent.”

By the time he finishes his little rant, I’m short of breath. “Alan, we’re not talking about arguing anymore, are we?”

“I never was.”

Cheeky son of a gun.

My breasts are already heaving like the vivid imagery he painted. And he isn’t even in the room with me yet. “Okay. Hurry back safely, please.”

I disconnect the call and lower myself slowly onto a chair.

For some reason, a scene from the vampire book pops into my mind. The female main character was having an anxiety attack, and her vampire mate calmed her down by stoking her sexual desire. He used their bond to implant lustful feelings in her.

In an odd way, Alan just did the same thing to me. However, instead of some mystical bond, he used the cell towers and this hunk of plastic and metal in my hand to accomplish it.

Ingenuity at its finest.

Chapter32

You want me to do what now?

---