Page 71 of Turnabout Is Fair Cosplay
Except I’m greeting guests, checking reservations, and making sure the queue moves along. So much for the reign of Poison Hemlock, sexy villainess. I’m nowhere near Mike. It’s three hours of pretending I recognize and love everyone’s costume as I manage reception, until Stacey sends me to the break room.
Mike is waiting for me. “Hello.” His voice slithers.
Playtime at last. “Miss me?”
His chuckle sounds completely unstable, but he stops abruptly. “You have no idea.”
I saunter closer.
Mike’s jaw works, and his honey eyes have never looked more intense. “Tell me you missed me too?”
I open the staff fridge and grab a water bottle before bumping the door closed with my hip. “Wouldn’t it be more fun if I showed you?”
He shakes with silent laughter before rising from the staff table. “Do you have plans tonight?”
My skin pebbles, but I arch an eyebrow. “I don’t know. Should I?”
“We’re having an after-party at the pub down the street. You should come.”
The door swings open, and Stacey pops her head in. “Can you both stay until one a.m.? First round of drinks at the after-party is on me if it’s a yes.”
Ordinarily, I would groan and refuse, citing my aching feet or the pile of fiction on my nightstand that will not read itself. But I’m not ordinary me tonight. “Of course. Just tell me when to start turning people away at the door.”
Stacey’s eyes narrow. “You okay?”
“Perfectly.”
She’s still looking at me suspiciously. “It’s too hot in here. Drink some water. I don’t want to fill out the paperwork if you pass out. You too, Mike.”
“She’s right,” I say after the door closes. I shrug out of my lab coat and thoroughly enjoy the look on Mike’s face when I toss it over the back of a chair. If I didn’t know better, I’d say the man is lost in a world of pain. I open the fridge and grab another water bottle.
“Something wrong?” I toss Mike the bottle.
He catches it but still looks completely dazed. He clears his throat. “The after-party. Are you coming?”
I bite my lip, only to see if it makes Mike squirm. It doesn’t, unless I count the corner of his mouth twitching. “I don’t know if I can looking like this. And I don’t really feel like changing.”
“It’s an after-party. I promise you can come as you are.”
I step closer. Close enough to faintly smell eucalyptus and thyme. “I like promises.”
Mike slides a hand around my waist and tugs me closer. “Then promise to come.”
“Because you desperately want to play? With me? Say it, and it’s a deal.”
“I’m always desperate to be with you.”
The door swings open. “Mike, let’s go,” Stacey shouts.
“Keep missing me,” Mike says before he leaves the break room.
It’s another three hours before I get the go-ahead to tell the last few stragglers at reception, “Sorry, we’re closing up, but we’ll be open again tomorrow.”
“Maybe you could make an exception?” a familiar voice says.
I look up and realize Adam is in Nightbat cosplay.
“You made it!” I pull my brother in for a hug. “Nice suit.”
