Free Getting Wet by Zenina Masters Page A

will solve it, I know you, Randy. You are not going to give up without a fight.” Tisha smiled. “I wish you luck when you find her.”
    “I am going to need luck to find her.” He ran his hands through his hair. “I need to finish that job in town as well. This is all hitting at the exact wrong time.”
    Tisha sat back with her thick braid over one shoulder. “I will continue the search. I will say I found a bag or something. How will I know if I find the right dark-haired girl with deep, dark eyes?”
    “Her voice sounds like a brook over rocks. Mid-range and very calm.” He smiled at the memory; blood pooled in his groin and set up a pulse all its own.
    “Wow. She really got to you. That’s a first.” Tisha grinned.
    “When you meet the mate you were destined for, you know it. If I hadn’t been on duty, I would have hauled her away and gotten to know her better that very night.”
    “Oh. When you meet her again, will you start with her name?”
    He wadded up a piece of paper and threw it at her forehead.
    She batted it away and flapped her hands at him. “Shoo. You finish building that town house; I will work on finding your mystery woman. Race you to see who finishes first.”
    Randal Forester got to his feet and pressed a kiss on his cousin’s forehead. “Thanks, Tisha. If you find her, we will name our first child after you.”
    “I dunno, a boy named Patricia will be a little peculiar. I mean, if he takes after you, he will be able to take all comers, but it will be a rough toddlerhood.” She grinned and settled behind her desk.
    “I thought Patrick might be a suitable substitute if the gender card swings that way.” He shrugged and watched as Tisha started to work her magic on the phone, every inch the concerned business owner. She was good, but she was going to have to be to find a shifter in a cloud of humans.
    Randal straightened, knowing that his project was in good hands. He had a house to finish, and since naming a son Patricia was out of the question, he had better get going.
    His fate was in trusted hands.

Chapter Two
     
     
    Augusta sat across from Rayna, and she wrinkled her nose. “I want to go to the Crossroads. Can you contact the transporter for me?”
    Rayna blinked. “Gusty, this is kinda sudden. Are you sure?”
    “Am I sure? Every family member for the last five years has been pushing you to find a mate. All our sisters are married or engaged, and yet, no one once has suggested that I find a man of my own. Why is that? What am I lacking that makes people look past me when they think of hearth and home?”
    Augusta saw it sink in to Rayna and remorse cover her face. “Rayna, I wasn’t trying to make you feel guilty. It is time for me to go and find a man of my own. I need a mate, and I want to enjoy my life with someone at my side. It’s time.”
    Rayna nodded, “Right. You are absolutely right. I think it was a bit of greed on our parts. We all wanted one part of our life to be unaltered and a fixed mark. We put that on you, and it wasn’t fair.”
    Augusta blinked. “Wow. I hadn’t thought of it like that. I guess, I am the least volatile and changing of the batch.”
    Her sister laughed. “You could say that. You can always be trusted to be there when you are needed.”
    Rayna handed her a cookie. “What brought this on?”
    Augusta sighed and sat back. “Do you remember Bekka’s bachelorette?”
    “Yeah. It took me a week to get all the glitter out of my hair.”
    “Well, that night, I met a stripper.” Augusta sipped at her coffee while Rayna finished grappling with her mental images.
    “And? You can’t just leave me hanging like that.” Rayna waved her hand.
    “And then, I drove everyone to the next bar and tried to forget about him.” She sighed. “It has been difficult.”
    She had planned to call the strip club three times, but each time, she flinched away from the idea of being another pining woman chasing a bored and over-tended male. Her own