The Fox and her Bear (Mating Call Dating Agency, #2) Read Free

this? She started to burrow into a confused hole of questioning that reminded her semiconscious brain that she was falling asleep. And just like that, he was gone. As her eyes fluttered open to a fairly hefty burst of thunder, Angie pushed the drapes apart with her toe and looked outside. She’d put her chair right next to the big bay window just so she could do this.
    “Why can’t I get my mind off this guy I’ve never known?” she asked her toe. It was painted nicely, a purple background with a swirly white thing on top. “I’m going nuts. Must be. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be talking to my damn foot.”
    She got up after a long moment of watching the rain, and a couple good blasts of lightning that arced across the sky. “Well, not like I wasn’t a little nuts before.”
    With a quick twist of her back, and a pair of satisfying vertebral pops, waves of intense exhaustion coursed through ever shred of Angie’s being. It felt like heaviness weighed her down inch by inch, like she’d taken a handful of Xanax and sat there in place watching TV until her eyes closed on their own.
    Luckily, she had enough time to wander to her messy, unmade bed and nestle into the covers before she fell completely dead to the world. Angie arranged her nest of blankets around her in a big, fluffy, goose down heap. Angie hadn’t ever been one to use pillows; they always made her feel too propped up and hot, so her beloved massive blanket mound was perfect.
    Just perfect.
    Just... like him. Whoever the hell he was.
    *
    R ude, violent beeping woke Angie and immediately infused her with something approaching demonic rage. She grabbed her phone in a half-conscious stupor and hurled it at the wall nearest her bed, leaving a black streak. There was a reason she spent so much on protective cases.
    Heady orange light leaked in underneath her blackout curtains. She blinked a few times, rubbed at her eyes and reached for her glasses. As the world came into focus, she groaned, popped her neck, then her knuckles, and sat up. A red curl fell down in front of her face, which she ejected with a puff of air. She tried to run her fingers through her hair.
    “Oh son of a bitch,” Angie swore.
    Tangles. Tangles everywhere. Her giant, copper-hued mane was a rat’s nest that no amount of detangling spray was going to do a damn thing about. She rolled around and grabbed her phone off the floor and smiled at what she saw. That was just the first alarm. She had two more to go.
    It’s important to treat yourself every now and then, she’d learned a long time ago. In her case, it was important to treat herself every single time she went to sleep. After all, what’s better than getting to go back to sleep three times every day without ever being late?
    She was snoring again before her knotty, tangled mass of octopus-like curls hit the pillow.
    *
    “W hat the hell? Who is it?” Angie sat bolt upright to her phone vibrating so hard it was about to jettison itself off the nightstand. Then she remembered she needed to answer the phone before she could talk to whoever was calling.
    “Hello?” she asked again, this time after actually answering. Her voice was thick and sleepy. “Who is it? Talk!”
    “Hey, uh, it’s Colton. You okay?”
    “Shit, sorry,” Angie said. “I’m not exactly good at waking up. What’s going on?”
    He laughed under his breath. “Look, I’m not sure I even want to ask anymore. I’m kinda scared of you until you’ve had a pot of coffee.”
    “Yeah, yeah, lay it on me. Someone not show up? Do I need to get there early? Just tell me the bad news.”
    “First of all, I’m okay, nothing’s wrong, and everyone’s safe,” he said.
    “Oh right, how are you?” she yawned and then chuckled. “So what’s up?”
    “Yeah, uh, Millie didn’t show. Sergeant Nichols wants you to get here as soon as you can. He’s buying donuts.”
    With a hand over her open mouth, Angie yawned again. “Tell him to get me pancakes and bacon.