Playing with Passion Theta Series Book 1 by Gayle Parness Page B

on
the cheek, tipsy and very charming.
    Ingrid woke at nine, got herself some
breakfast, and went back upstairs to her room at 10:15 to take a
shower and wait for her boss. She’d been tempted to start packing,
thinking that he’d be firing her this morning, but had held off. At
eleven sharp, he knocked on the door.
    Mack's eyes widened as he took in her
usual attire: shorts and a tank top. His gaze flitted to the bed.
Was he nervous to be in here alone with her? That was kind of
sweet.
    “Why don’t we go for a walk?” she
suggested, trying not to smile.
    He looked relieved. “Good idea. We’ll
get some exercise and check out the neighborhood. There are some
beautiful pre-steal homes in the area.”
    To mark the time their
world was turned upside down, the human population had started
calling the day the archdemons had shown up on earth to wreak havoc
as the steal ,
always left in lowercase as a sign of disrespect . Before then, the other
supernatural races had been content to stay in the shadows and
allow humans to take care of running the world. But with the
appearance of The Director and his siblings, the werewolves,
vampires and others were forced to step up. The phrase had become
part of the vernacular, and was now used by all races—all except
for The Director, of course. He called their sudden
appearance, the enlightenment.
    Walking behind Mack down the stairs,
Ingrid couldn't help but appreciate the very fine view. She
wondered what he’d do or say if she grabbed his ass. Probably freak
out, citing some rule or other. After having seen how shaken Diane
looked after the rehearsal, she’d forgiven him his energy pullout,
but she wasn’t sure if he was in the same forgiving
mood.
    She’d never thought of
walking as being a way to get exercise, and after seeing Mack at
her bedroom door, had actually started hoping for a slightly different form of
exercise this morning. Thetas had super-charged sex drives, and the
only intimate company she'd had during the last month was with her
own hand and a few favorite battery operated toys. Last night,
she'd actually called up a fantasy with Mack as the leading player,
and if he looked anything like she'd imagined him…well, wow .
    They walked in silence for the first
half block, but the quiet was making her antsy. She plunged in,
trying to break the tension. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have kissed
Gene like that in front of you. I was angry and it was childish. I
shouldn’t have yelled at you in front of the others, either. You’ve
been nothing but nice to me.”
    He shrugged. "Kissing Gene was not a
problem. Not respecting me in front of the others was, even though
I understand that you were stressed because of the energy
withdrawal. Tell me it won’t happen again and we’re
good.”
    “I’ll try.”
    “Ingrid…”
    “I react strongly, sometimes
inappropriately, but I have good reasons.”
    “You can’t use your past as an excuse
forever.”
    “It’s not that. I’ll explain later.
Not here in the street.”
    They turned off Henderson and onto
Kissel. “Did you have fun last night?” he asked.
    “Yeah. We ate sushi and danced for a
couple of hours.” She smiled in his direction, but got zero
response. “We didn’t sleep together.”
    “That's not my business.” His calm
tone of voice was annoying her to no end. Where was that passion
she’d felt on the terrace?
    Ingrid considered grabbing his hand,
but thought better of it, worried their connection might explode
out here on the sidewalk. “Why didn’t you make me morph before we
left the house?”
    “I can protect you.”
    “From a pack of wolves?”
    “You doubt me?”
    “No.” His confidence was amazing. In
fact, everything about him was amazing. She stopped in her tracks,
forcing him to stop as well. “There's something between us. Don’t
you want to explore it? See where it goes?"
    "Another experiment?" His voice was as
flat as one of Alan’s pancakes.
    "No.” She frowned. “Is