Free 14bis Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich

-ties and Diesel‘s T-shirt. That was it. Diesel was wearing less.
    I squirmed around, trying to slide away from Diesel, but he tightened his grip and drew me closer.
    “Hey,” I said. “Hey!”
    He half opened his eyes and looked at me. “What?”
    “You‘ve got me in a death grip. I can‘t breathe. And what‘s with my clothes? I‘m wearing your T-shirt.”
    “Yeah, I didn‘t know what to put on you. You looked uncomfortable sleeping in your jeans and sweater and stuff.”
    “Did you undress me?”
    His eyes slid closed.
    “Wake up,” I yelled at him.
    “Now what?” he said.
    “I don‘t remember a lot about last night. We didn‘t… I mean, you didn‘t…”
    “Honey, being intimate with me is not a forgettable experience.”
    “I guess that‘s good to know.”
    “Yeah, file it for future reference. What time is it?”
    “It‘s almost eight o‘clock.”
    Diesel sighed and rolled away from me. “I hate mornings. They start so early.”
    I left the bed and gathered my clothes up from the floor. “Did you get anything useful last night at the bonds office?”
    “I printed out a copy of Munch‘s doctoral thesis, but didn‘t get a chance to read it. I‘m hoping it‘ll tell me something about the theft at the research center. I‘d like to know why he took the magnetometer. Nothing else local turned up on Munch. It‘s like he has no life. Scanlon shows some promise. His sister, Roberta Scanlon, has a house in north Philadelphia. He had a second sister, Gail, but she‘s like smoke. Eugene Scanlon was also heavily in debt. He defaulted on a car loan and had two credit cards in collection. His research isn‘t published, but he was Munch‘s project supervisor, so they had to be working in similar areas.”
    I carted my clothes into the bathroom and locked the door, not that it would make a difference. I took a shower, gave my hair a two-minute blast with the dryer, and got dressed. Diesel was sleeping when I came out. I took a moment to study him, thinking he was heart-stoppingly handsome in a rugged, outdoorsy kind of way. His initial appearance was beach bum, but I‘d come to decide that was a façade. Diesel was driven by his job. The job itself was open for discussion. If he was to be believed, he was a kind of paranormal bounty hunter. I thought it was just as possible he was a contract killer or a career nutcase.
    I went to the kitchen and fed Rex and Carl and got coffee brewing. I dropped a bagel into the toaster and took a tub of cream cheese out of my fridge. Diesel might not be much of a cook, but he sure as heck knew how to stock a kitchen.
    I heard the shower running in the bathroom, and minutes later, Diesel strolled in looking for coffee. He poured himself a mug and ate half my bagel.
    “I want to take the morning to wade through Munch‘s thesis,” Diesel said. “When I‘m done with the thesis, I thought we could visit Roberta Scanlon.”
    Carl came into the kitchen and handed me his empty cereal box. He jumped onto the counter, got a mug out of the cupboard, and helped himself to coffee.
    “This apartment smells like a monkey,” Diesel said. Carl gave him the finger and went back to the tele -vision.
    “I‘m out of here,” I said to Diesel. “I‘m taking another shot at Gordo Bollo today. This time, I‘m ready. I‘ve got a stun gun, pepper spray, and cuffs.”
    “Kick ass,” Diesel said. “If you aren‘t home by noon, I‘ll have you teleported back here.”
    I must have looked horrified because he burst out laughing.
    “I‘m falling in love,” Diesel said. “You‘re the only one on this earth who believes everything I say.”
    I tried really hard not to roll my eyes, but I couldn‘t help myself and rolled them anyway. I grabbed my bag and flounced out of the apartment. It wasn‘t so much that I believed what Diesel said. It was more that I was terrified it might be true.
    L ULA WAS FILING when I swung into the office.
    “What are you doing?” I asked