Free Must Love Fangs (Midnight Liaisons) by Jessica Sims Page A

the setting sun—the massive form of Ramsey Bjorn, resident were-bear, scowling monster of a man, and tiny Sara’s mate.
    She gave my hand another comforting squeeze, then bounded over to him, flinging herself into his arms. “Hey Huggy Bear,” she said. “Did you miss me?”
    “Yes,” he said gruffly.
    She gave him an enthusiastic kiss in response and whispered something into his ear that made the man flush red. When he caught me staring, he scowled in my direction.
    I hastily booted up my computer.
    “We’re out of here,” Sara told me, sliding down from Ramsey’s arms. “It’s Xbox night at our place, so if you need me, just let it keep ringing. We’ll hear it over the noise eventually.”
    “Will do,” I said. “So, are all the Russells there when you guys play?”
    Because a certain Joshua Russell hadn’t shownup in two days after promising to help me with my vampire situation, and it was ticking me off.
    “All of them,” she said cheerfully. “I’d invite you, but . . . ”
    “Work, I know.” I wasn’t all that interested in video games anyhow.
    She brightened. “Maybe next weekend, when it’s Ryder’s turn to do the night shift?”
    “Maybe,” I agreed. If Josh kept avoiding me, I’d hunt him down.
    They left, Ramsey’s big hand resting on the back of Sara’s neck and her arm looped around his waist. I watched them go, wondering how that worked for them—Ramsey was so enormous and strong, and Sara was small and fragile.
    I blushed at the mental image. Not my business .
    I buried myself in work, pulling out the stack of folders of inactive clients. I’d give Josh two more days, and then it was back to hunting down vampires in the hopes that they’d want to date me.
    Right now, I see three things that are the problem.
    That had bothered me more than anything. I wanted to know what those three things were so I could fix them and move on to the next stage of my plan.
    I called clients for hours, leaving voice mails when the clients were unavailable. Voice mail was tricky. I had to make sure not to give away discreet information; no mentions of paranormals or shifting, and certainly not vampires. Nothing that could be used against someone. My message was bland. Hi, it’s Marie from Midnight Liaisons. If you’re not currently seeing anyone, we’d love to set you up with just the right person. Give me a call back and let’s talk about updating your profile.
    I then gave the date and time. It was a late hour for most humans, but shifters and vampires and even fae ran all hours of the night, and a late call wasn’t so odd. That was why the agency had a night shift, after all.
    When I was a third of the way through the stack, the doorbell clanged. I glanced at the clock. Eleven thirty. I peered over my monitor, looking for a face.
    A large drive-thru coffee cup appeared from around the side of my monitor, held in a big hand. Josh took a step forward. “I’d have brought you flowers, but you said you had an allergy.”
    I looked at it, then looked at him, then turned back to my computer. “I’m busy.”
    “You get off work in a half hour, don’t you?”
    “Yes, and then I’m going home.”
    He ignored my stiff tone and sat down across from me. “Coffee’s not a great apology gift, I know. Next time I’ll bring chocolates.”
    He had my attention now. “Apology gift?”
    He set the coffee cup down on my desk. “Remember that I said all my clients were totally paranoid? Well, one was paranoid with good reason. Someone tried to take him out. I stopped ’em, and I haven’t left his side in two days. He’s hired a second shift, which has finally given me some time off.”
    I noticed the jagged scratch that went up histanned arm, then noticed a similar one running down one cheek and under his ear. He had circles under his eyes, too. I pushed the coffee toward him. “You take it. You look tired.”
    He gave me the slow, sensual smile that made me think we were sharing a