Wanted: Wild Thing (Midnight Liaisons) Read Free

moons, species-specific allergies, late-night vampiric booty calls, and the ability to sound alert while answering the phone at two in the morning. It was a strange job, but I loved it. Our clients were weird, and I embraced weird. Weird was fun. Weird was interesting.
    Weird, however, was not for everyone.
    I eyed the empty desk across from me as I prepped my third cup of coffee, readying to start a long evening at work. And I sighed with loneliness. “I sure do miss Marie.”
    Sara made a face. Her mate, Ramsey, was waiting for her, and she slipped her hand into his huge mitt. As they headed for the door, she said, “Don’t let Savannah hear you say that. It’ll hurt her feelings, and you know how easily pregnant women cry.”
    “I know. I just . . . miss Marie.”
    Marie Bellavance was my bestie. We’d been thick as thieves ever since we’d started working at Midnight Liaisons. If either of us thought it was strange that two humans were running the late-night shift at a company catering to an exclusive, secret clientele that hid the fact that they were supernatural, we didn’t comment on it. We liked getting paid, after all. And Marie was a hoot. She was acerbic, witty, wry, and always had interesting observations.
    She’d been fired last month for dating vampires, but she’d had serious reasons for wanting to date the fanged persuasion. She’d been dying from an extremely rare, fatal disease, and the only way Marie could see to get around it was to be turned undead. Luckily, those issues had been solved by Josh Russell, a big, hunky were-cougar who’d saved her from her disease and had turned her into a nice, healthy were-cougar. Now Marie was working for Beau Russell, the leader of the Paranormal Alliance.
    Savannah Russell, Beau’s cousin, had taken Marie’s place on the night shift. She was sweet and quiet, nothing like my witty, outspoken Marie. I gestured at Marie’s former desk. “Speaking of, is Savannah okay?”
    “She’s got the barfs again,” Sara told me. “Called and said she’d be in late.”
    I nodded and tossed another spoonful of sugar into my coffee. “I’ll hold down the fort.”
    “You sure? I can stay awhile if things are too busy.”
    I made a shooing motion, then picked up my coffee. “I’ll be fine. You two lovebirds go have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.” I gave them an outrageous wink.
    Sara giggled, and her mate—a big, burly were-bear—flushed bright red. So adorable. With a wave, they headed out.
    I was alone.
    Alone was boring, and it made for a long night, especially when the phones were quiet. And it wasn’t a full moon, or a Friday night, or anything else that would cause the agency to be busy, which meant I was alone with my thoughts.
    I hated being alone with my thoughts.
    I decided to text Marie. What’s up, chica?
    It took a moment for her to respond.
    Just left work. Beau and the wolf packs are still meeting all the time. Such a mess! Josh is taking me out to dinner tonight to make up for it, though.
    Maybe you’ll get lucky , I teased.
    I’ll be mad if I don’t! She punctuated it with a smiley face, then added, Gotta run. TTYL.
    I sighed, trying not to feel jealous of my friend, and stared around the empty office. I fired up the coffeemaker again. If I wasn’t going to have anyone to talk to, I was going to need some major caffeine. I loved caffeine—it made me jittery and awake. And I adored jittery, because when I relaxed, it was easier to lose control of the monster side if a male client touched me. If I was cranked up on caffeine, it was harder to relax and get aroused.
    So, coffee? My friend. I used caffeine pills, NoDoz, Red Bull, energy drinks, and anything else that could keep me hopped up, but coffee was my favorite vice.
    While the pot gurgled, I sipped the sugary concoction I’d made before and headed back to my desk to tackle my to-do pile. At the top of my list was upcoming activities for our singles. We’d had a wine