Page 21 of Feral Attraction
“How about if I beg?”
She swatted his shoulder but kept her grip on his elbow.She was definitely conflicted about the shifter.“Why did I have to pretend to be your girlfriend anyway?”
“You didn’t.”
“What?”Her mouth dropped open as she stared at the arrogant sexy wolf.
“I have a better question.Why did you go along with the idea?”
She sputtered, “I ...I thought you had a plan.”
He grinned, his amber eyes sparking with mischief.“No.I just wanted to wrap my arm around you and steal a kiss.Soft lips, by the way.A little tongue would be better.I can give you lessons later.”
Rey chuffed.He was unbelievable.She had to be careful.He was a wolf, but she suspected she might be the one caught in the snare.“I don’t need lessons.”She stomped off.Lessons in kissing.Really.He was a good kisser, though.Over her shoulder, she shouted, “You’re ...troubled.Deeply troubled.”
“I’ve heard.Where next?”he asked as he caught up.
“The ex is close by.
George’s previous wife lived in a dilapidated apartment complex.When they pressed her buzzer, the door opened even though it was night and she hadn’t asked who was there.The hallways smelled like cabbage, and the elevator ride was a bit jerky.Rey planned to walk down from the sixth floor when they left.Safer than the rickety elevator.
The woman who answered the door was in the process of tightening the sash on her fleecy robe, a cigarette dangling from her lips.“Yeah?”
Rey flipped open her credentials.The ex may have been attractive once, but the ravages of time or lifestyle showed in her wrinkles.“We have some questions for you, ma’am.”
“About?”she asked in a whiskeyed voice.
“George Sandoval.”
“What’s the ass done now?He probably got arrested in that joint he goes to all the time.Did they round up all the perverts?”
“No.He’s dead.”Rey threw the news out there to study her reaction.
Sadness clouded her eyes, but it was whisked away by a deep breath and snappy answer.“Yeah?Figures.”
“Why?May we come in?”
“Sure.Where’s my manners?”She opened the door wide, ushering them in and toward a worn sofa.The woman squeezed Con’s arm as he passed.“Nice.A man with muscles.”
He winked at her.
She swept books and candy wrappers to the floor, clearing a place for them to sit.“So who killed George and why?Lucy, by the way.”
Rey continued to take the lead, reading the ex as a woman George had hurt.Her rough exterior was a defense.“We’re trying to figure out who.He was found behind Blood Sport.”
“That’s the sex club for fake vampires?”Lucy asked.
“Yes.His throat was torn out.”She watched for a reaction again.
“Torn out?You mean by an animal?”She gasped.“Wait a minute.You don’t suspect one of those fakers, do you?”
“Why do you say that?”asked Con.
“Just cause he hung around with them.Fangs and all.”
“Did you run with that crowd when you were married to him?”asked Rey, taking notes on her pad, observing that Lucy was distressed about George’s demise but unwilling to show her emotions.
“No.His outside activities were the reason we divorced.I wouldn’t play the games.The biting.Shit like that.And I wasn’t into costumes.”She fluffed her dyed blonde, teased hair.“So he dumped me.”
