Page 61 of Hot Summer's Prey

With a huff, I turn around and race up the stairs to my room. He chases me down, and I’m met with flashes of desire—him pushing me up against the wall as I try to escape, us laughing as we play a sexy little game of cat and mouse. I grab the door to my room with an annoyed grumble and pull it open. Once inside, I throw on a dress and some boots as the fastest options, before throwing various things Pacari’s way to try on.

He also decides on a dress, which is too big, too wide, and too short in length. And he looks way too adorable in it. He bites his lip as I imagine what it would be like to peg him like that.

“Fun,” he says with a wink. “But time for business.”

I let out another groan.

“I’m gonna kill Dawn if she’s not already dead,” I joke.

But the fear gets a little deeper.

There’s a knock at the door, and some ancient, buried instinct about having a boy in my room causes me to step away from Pacari. I’m thirty-two, what am I doing?

“Come in,” I call out.

With a sigh, I look to the door.

“Hey, found Dawn,” Taara says, staring us both down. “Thought you’d want to know.”

Pacari and I look to each other and then at Taara.

“Is she okay?”

Taara shakes her head, rolls her eyes. “She’s doing what she loves best. I swear everyone in this house is an easy mark for the right kind of murderer. You with your…”

She looks Pacari up and down, tries not to smile at the sight of him in the dress.

“Excellent taste in men. Anelisa with her books. Dawn with her mysteries...”

“Another mystery?” I ask.

My head’s starting to hurt with them. I don’t care about the mysteries. Just getting Slugger back, making sure Pacari and I are safe, and that we get to spend the rest of our lives together.

27

TIDES OF ANGER

TERESA

Dawn stands in the doorway to the basement, her hair matted with cobwebs, dirt across her face, Slugger in her arms, and the biggest, happiest grin on her face.

“Oh good, we’re all here—ah. Even Mr. Hot Dog.”

Pacari looks at me. I try to hide my giggle. The others don’t make the effort.

“Well, I guess I’m the one with the dog now. So he’s just Hottie-With-the-Dress.”

“He wears it well!” Anelisa whoops.

Distractingly well. The dress shows off his calves and is low cut enough on him it shows off his chest straight down to his belly button. I get distracted for a minute thinking about him wearing it while shifted to his yacunayi form.

“I don’t mean to be rude, but may I have my dog back?” Pacari interjects.

“Wait, I have a big reveal! You won’t believe what I found!”

“Another hottie with a bigger dog?” Taara tries.

“Lots of spiders,” Zephyr grumbles.

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