“Tori?”

I came up short. Twiggy had appeared near my legs, his prickly head tilted back as he peered intently at my face. See? This was why I didn’t walk around naked.

“Yes?” I inquired cautiously, knowing that the spinning-gears expression on his green face meant nothing good.

“Are you having a baby?”

I almost dropped my towel. Clutching it against my chest, I squeaked, “What? No!”

His waxy skin crinkled with his frown. “Then who’s your baby daddy?”

“What?”

“Is Ezra your—”

“No! I don’t have a baby or a baby daddy, Twiggy! What the hell?”

He continued to frown, then walked over to the bathroom, pushed the door open, and asked loudly, “Ezra, are you Tori’s baby daddy?”

“What?”

“Or is Aaron Tori’s baby daddy?”

“WHAT.”

As the shower abruptly shut off, a loud knock sounded at the other end of the house. Saved from trying to explain the idiot faery’s latest brainwave, I rushed down the hall and up the stairs to the back entryway.

Aaron’s eyebrows shot halfway to his hairline when I flung the door open. He gave my towel-clad self a swift once over, then sighed. “I even waited an extra five minutes in my car to be sure you weren’t naked when I got here.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah, Tori likes to bone her hot boyfriend, so funny.”

“Maybe I should get me one of those.”

“A hot boyfriend?”

“Or the girl variety.”

“Well, what’s stopping you?”

“Good ones are all taken.”

I snorted. “The problem is you’re too good, Aaron. The average girl can’t keep up with a guy like you.”

“I think that was a compliment?”

I waved a hand dismissively. “You know the drill?”

“Yep. I’ll keep him hostage while I try on every piece of combat gear available.”

I snickered. Poor Ezra. “He should be just about ready. I’ll let him know you’re here.”

“And I’ll wait in my car, just in case you lose your towel between now and him making it up the stairs.”

“Har har.”

He pushed through the screen door, and I hastened back down the stairs, already cringing over explaining Twiggy’s baby questions.

Ezra stood in the hall with a towel wrapped around his waist, but he didn’t seem to be waiting for me. He was gazing into the living room where a loud voice exclaimed something with overly dramatic intensity.

I stopped beside him. Together, we watched the TV show’s host pace across a set made to look like a cozy living room while he somberly explained how, in just a few minutes, he would reveal Sara’s infant son’s paternity test results, determining once and for all whether her husband or her husband’s best friend—cue audience gasp—was the real father.

Twiggy sat three inches from the screen, enraptured by the talk-show host.

Groaning, I slapped my hand against my forehead. “Why do I have a faery roommate?”

Ezra laughed. Looping an arm around my waist, he drew me into the bedroom and pushed the door shut with his foot. An instant later, his hot mouth was against mine, and I plastered myself against him without thought, hands stroking down his damp chest.

And there went my towel. Damn it, Aaron had been right.

Ezra slid his hands down my sides, over my hips, then back up to my waist. He pulled me close and his mouth brushed over my ear.

“Someday, do you think?” he murmured.

“Huh?”

He chuckled, the husky sound diving straight to my core, then stepped back from me with a final caressing touch. “I’m going to be late.”

“You’re already late. And someday, what?”

“Nothing.”

“What?” I growled, annoyed.

His eyes sparked with mirth but he didn’t reply as he opened the closet and slid a pair of jeans out.

I forgot my annoyance at the sight of his clothes hanging in my closet. Why did his belongings mixed with mine stoke that fire in my belly even hotter? I wanted to drag him back into bed and have my way with him for a few hours before releasing him to Aaron.

But that would ruin a lot of careful planning, so I banked my desire for later.

As Ezra dressed, I glanced at the stack of his combat gear peeking out from the top shelf of my closet. Short, black leather cords hung from beneath them—the ties of Eterran’s bracer. Ezra had begun wearing the bracer on jobs, keeping it hidden under his long, metal-studded gloves.

In the months since he and Eterran had separated, Ezra’s enhanced strength had faded from “impossibly strong” to “impressively strong” and was holding steady there. His reflexes weren’t blindingly fast anymore, but they continued to be above average.

That spark of demonic essence would live on in him, maybe for the rest of his life.

Oblivious to the direction of my thoughts, Ezra swept over for a goodbye kiss that left me weak in the knees, then hurried into the hallway. I listened for the door.

The moment it banged shut, I dove for my closet, dug into the very back, and pulled out a dress bag from the darkest corner. Little did he know I wasn’t spending the next several hours lounging around eating cereal and fighting Twiggy for the TV remote. And if I didn’t hurry, I’d be late too.

Fifty-three minutes later, I came flying out of the bathroom, awkwardly clasping a small seashell pendant around my neck—a spontaneous gift from Ezra after the whale-watching tour we’d gone on last month.

“Twiggy,” I called, “have you seen my purse?”

The faery barely glanced up as I rushed into the living room and peered over the sofa. Shit. Where had I left it?

A shimmer of orange and green danced in my head, then a scaled silver body swept over to me. My purse hung from Hoshi’s small paws, fuchsia eyes bright.

“Ah! Perfect. Thank you, Hoshi.” I hitched my purse over my shoulder and gave her head an affectionate rub. “Keep Twiggy calm while I’m away.”

Her tail flicked, a sunny swirl of yellow telling me she was amused.

Grinning, I sped up the stairs, and a minute later, I was standing on the front sidewalk, catching my breath but ready to go—and looking damn good. My vibrant cobalt dress featured a plunging halter neckline offset with a playful tiered skirt that fluttered around my knees. My hair, still slightly damp, was piled up on my head, and I’d spent a painstaking fifteen minutes on my makeup. A pair of dangly earrings and strappy white sandals finished my outfit.

Ezra wouldn’t be able to keep his eyes off me, and I was already itching for him to slowly peel off my dress when we got back to my place tonight.

You’d think, after four months, my libido would’ve calmed down a bit, but nope. I mean, how could it? The man was ripped, tireless, and deliciously eager to make up for lost time.

I indulged in two minutes of inappropriate reminiscing before a dark blue Dodge Challenger pulled up at the curb.

The passenger door flew open and Sin leaped out, arms already reaching for a hug.

I grabbed her, squeezed the air from her lungs, then stepped back to take in her outfit. Her little black number with a strappy back was sexy as hell, her dark makeup enhancing the sultry look. Her hair color of choice this month was a deep, shimmering violet that made her skin look like porcelain.

“Hot,” I announced. “You told her that, right, Justin?”

My brother leaned across the center console. “Repeatedly.”

“Good.”

Sin laughed, a faint flush in her cheeks. “I actually wore this dress for our three-month anniversary dinner, so I’ve been complimented about twenty times.”

I almost teased her about celebrating a three-month dating anniversary, but she was glowing with happiness and I just couldn’t do it. They were such a ridiculously cute couple that I’d hardly teased them at all.

Sin flipped the passenger seat up so I could climb into the back. She got back in, and then we were off, the Challenger’s V8 engine rumbling aggressively.

“Does Ezra suspect anything?” she asked, her voice high with excitement.

“He doesn’t have a clue,” I confirmed gleefully. “Do you have the decorations?”

“In the trunk.” She clapped her hands in determination. “The pub won’t be recognizable when we’re done with it.”

“Perfect.”

As Justin turned onto Powell Street, heading into Gastown, she twisted to look back at me. “Did Justin tell you?”

“Sin,” he complained. “Save it for—”

“He quit his job!”

I choked on saliva. “What? You quit the force, Justin?”

He cast a look of smitten exasperation at Sin. “I was going to tell her later when she wasn’t so busy.”

“Pff, she can handle it. Tell her!”

“Yeah,” I added with heavy emphasis. “Tell your sister the big news. I didn’t even know you were thinking of quitting!”

“I got hired at Huginn & Muninn Investigations.”

“At … what?”

“Huginn & Muninn!” Sin exclaimed. “Don’t you know about it? It’s a PI firm that partners with Odin’s Eye. They collaborate on bounties and investigations that cross between mythic and human jurisdictions.”

My eyes popped. “Whoa. Really? I didn’t know that sort of thing existed!”

“Me neither,” Justin laughed. “Lyndon mentioned it to me, and I asked Izzah the next time she was at the pub. She passed on my résumé, and I went in to interview last week.”

“No way!”

“Yeah. I have to get my PI license before I can start any real work, but once I do, they’re partnering me with their most experienced investigator.”

Excitement buzzed through me. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about all this right away!”