I’m glad I’ll be staying with him.
Because something tells me that behind his grumpy façade, this big green guy is actually in need of company.
CHAPTER SIX
OTIS.
I throw myself onto the chair in my study and stare balefully at my messy desk.
It’s been a crazy few hours, and it’s completely thrown me out of my usual routine.
Which is work. Work. And more work.
I have to admit, I really enjoyed sitting at the table at Digger’s Diner with my friends, and Clem. We laughed and ate and drank and introduced Clem to grappa. She took one mouthful and practically sprayed it over the table, much to everyone’s amusement. But she loved the food and ate with gusto.
I could have watched her for hours. When she got sauce down her chin I was so tempted to reach out with a napkin and wipe it away. When she laughed and the dimples appeared in her cheeks, I wanted to lean over and press my thumb pad into them. She’s so pretty, so dainty, so delectable.
Stop mooning over her, you big green oaf.
I can hear the combustion burner that signifies Clem is having a shower. I pinch the bridge of my nose and wrinkle my brow, trying to think of anything but her naked little body under those jets of water.
When we got home half an hour ago, I gave her a towel and explained how to get the water temperature right in the shower. I cleared away my shit and shoved it into the cupboard. I’m a bachelor, right—bathrooms aren’t my priority. Leanna, my ex, always kept it neat and tidy, but her bottles of face creams used to drive me nuts, to be honest. I was always knocking skin lotion off the counter and breaking the fucking things.
I stare at the piles of papers on my desk, ruffle a hand over my spiked hair, my thoughts dwelling on this new arrangement with a human female in residence. We’ve barely talked about how she’s going to help me. There’s been no mention of how long she’ll stay, but from what Jax said, it’s not safe for her to be up in Sparkle any longer, so I can’t see her going back there anytime soon. The human authorities know she’s linked to Sammy, and they’ll do anything to find out how Sammy quite literally, disappeared before their eyes.
Clem disappearing, just as they were about to question her, will likely cause more suspicion, but what other choice did Jax have? I rub a tusk, frowning with the worry of it all.
I remind myself that I have to focus on what I can control: the covert surveillance system I’m setting up to spy on the Sparkle authorities.
I grab a lap top computer and drag it toward me, open it and check the recent coding I’ve been working on. I open one of the books on programming, expecting to work into the night. My brain, relieved to be distracted from the image of Clem in the shower, delves deeper into equations, problem-solving, solutions.
Tomorrow I will put on my sheriff uniform and bark orders at my staff. But right now, I’m immersing myself in my love of mathematics and science, trying to figure out what makes these damn machines communicate with one another. I have a suddenbrain wave and, bending my head over my paperwork, start scribbling.
A sudden high-pitched scream stills my hand on the page.
It’s coming from the bathroom. Acting on instinct, I jump up, knocking over my chair, and dash out of my study, down the corridor. I hesitate for the briefest second at the bathroom door, then another scream forces me into action.
I shove open the door and fight my way through the steam.
Clem is crouched naked in a corner of the shower, her short dark hair wet and plastered to her head. The water is still running, causing steam to partially obscure my view. Her eyes are huge saucers as her gaze tracks something on the shower cubicle wall.
“Clem, what’s up?” I ask. She’s hugging her arms around her body, but her little toosh is naked, a perfect v of dark hair between her curvy white thighs.
I tear my eyes away and follow her gaze.
Suddenly, I see a creature scuttle along the tiles, hundreds of hairy legs and a yellow and black body. It zigzags down the wall toward where Clem is huddled.
The next thing I know, she has literally leaped out of the shower and hurled herself into my arms.
Oooph. I take a step back, bracing. She’s feather light, so not much problem for me to catch her, except she’s wet and soapy. Instinctively, my big hands curve around her slippery little butt.
I stifle a desire to laugh even as my cock hardens. The feel of her delectable body in my arms means there’s no way I can control that bastard.
“It’s okay,” I try to reassure her, my voice husky. “It’s harmless.”
“What i-is it?” she pants close to my ear, her breasts squishing into me. I can feel her hands clawing round my bicep. She turns her head and peeps over her shoulder, biting her lips.Water from her wet body seeps through my shirt, drips down my arms.
“An octomopede. They like the steam, it brings them out of hiding,” I explain.
