Her Mane Men (Paranormal Dating Agency Kindle World)(14)

“Sounds good.” Ish. Good-ish. It was with him, so that made it good. “What did he mean by your kind?” That had been bugging me since he said it. It was such a weird turn of phrase given that Parker looked like a random hot guy and not some normally marginalized group.

“You caught that?”

I nodded.

“We have twenty-three minutes. Can we come back to that?”

And like a rock in the stomach, it hit me. George was commenting on his sexuality. I didn’t know I could hate the man more, but I did. Jerk.

“Sounds good. Not looking forward to going back.” I confessed as we crossed the street, the light finally in our favor. “He looked pissed, the little weasel.”

“More like a dog.”

“That, too.” Not that I would tell Parker what a truly doglike freak he was, always sniffing around my ass. I might not know Parker well, but if cutting my break had him defending my honor, I didn’t want to think about what being a creeper to me would result in.

“I want a do-over, for the record.” He held the door for me at the blissfully empty coffee shop. In the morning, an entire half hour could easily be spent waiting to order your coffee.

“This date is already so horrible you want a do-over?” I teased as I perused the menu board.

“More like too short.” He came up behind me, his hand on my shoulder as he leaned in to speak in my ear. “Dinner?”

“Have you talked to Curtis today?” I asked. How does one elegantly decline a date because they already have one? Or was it with both of them?

“Not so much. Why?”

“He asked me to dinner already. I assumed with both of you.” Or at least hoped.

“I can work with that. What are you doing?” He eyed me typing away on my phone.

“I’m going to message Curtis and see if we can change plans a bit.” Or completely.

“Change them how?” The glint in his eye had me thinking all the naughty thoughts.

“Maybe pizza and a movie at my place.”

His eyes bugged out. He so was thinking sex.

“No listening ears and such. Just chill and get to know each other,” I clarified although now sex was on my brain, too.

“Don’t people mean something else when they say movie and chill?”

“You are awful.” I leaned back into him.

“You love me,” he bantered before stiffening behind me at his slip.

“Not yet.” But I could feel it in our future, which shocked me more than the erection pressed against my ass. At least I knew I wasn’t the only one being turned on by all of this.

“Yet. I’ll take that as a good sign.” His body relaxed as he reached around me, grabbing a couple of sandwiches that had most likely been made a week ago. “Now, let’s get you one of these remade sandwiches and a coffee before you need to be back. Next time, I’m doing this better.”

“You’re doing all right in my eyes.” Better than.

“Then the bar is low, and I can woo you too easily.”

“You can woo me by being you.” I turned around and gave him a peck on the check.

“Quit looking at me like that before I take you out back and kiss you soundly and consequently have you missing lunch.”

“We can get it to go,” I offered just as it was our turn to pay, stopped in my tracks by a low noise. “Did you just growl?”

“Oh, the things you do to me, Maddie.” I took that as a yes. Men.

I never did finish my sandwich, spending the majority of my remaining break talking, laughing, and kissing Parker before having to say good-bye far too soon. Parker had me every bit as butterfly-filled as Curtis. They were both so different, yet equally as good a fit, so far. Maybe this trouple thing really would work out. A girl could dream.





Chapter Seven


By some miracle, George was gone before I returned. Something about a meeting. I couldn’t care less. I was just glad he was gone. There was absolutely no reason for him to treat me that way. At least it was in front of an audience. He usually tried to save that crap until you were alone so it was your word against his. Not that I’d do anything about it, but it was nice to have the option.

I had a to-do list a mile long and, before I knew it, it was quitting time, and I practically flew out of work. Not only did I want to be there less than pretty much anywhere, I had guys to get ready for. My apartment was small and tidy, but it could use a quick vacuum and fresh towels. Not to mention that, while I was sure he was just being an asshat, George’s comment about my body odor had me needing to take a shower. If I was going to snuggle up on the couch with the guys, I didn’t want to repel them with any unsavory odors. And darn me for letting that jerk get under my skin like that.

I was halfway to the bus stop when my phone began to buzz. A smile bloomed across my face as the name Curtis stared back at me from the screen.

“Hello,” I answered with my best sexy voice, or at least my best attempt at sexy.

“Hello, Maddie, it’s both of us.” The echoing and voices coming through the speaker phone were awful, almost as if they were in a mall.

“Hey, guys. Looking forward to tonight.” Probably a little too excited given the low-key plans, but the idea of spending the evening with just them sounded better than anything else my brain could conjure.