Bear The Heat (Mating Call Dating Agency Book 3) (3 page)

It was a good thing, she thought, that they worked in the police department’s basement. No one ever came down here, and the vast majority of the time, they were the only people on staff.

Every now and then a visiting specialist would get called in to help with some particularly weird case, or in case they were unable to crack one. It wasn’t often the two of them weren’t able to break a case open, but every now and then, yeah, it was pretty jarring to have to wear a bra to work, which Rory realized was a hell of a funny thing to think.

BEAR THE HEAT

She wandered over to the black futon with the Washington Wizards mattress cover that probably dated to the early 21st century, judging from how threadbare it had gotten over the years. It was there when she started, and Monte said it had been there when
he
started. Another of the great mysteries of life, that cover. Thankfully he was also very serious about both washing it, and making sure no chemicals came through the door to the little lounge area where the futon was.

Still though, it was comfortable. Rory stretched her legs out and stiffened her toes until both her feet and her hips popped with satisfying crackles at the same time. It wasn’t long before she, too, was drifting off. The best part of being freaky good at something, in her case figuring out the most boring possible minutiae of criminal activity, was that you got to do pretty much whatever you wanted. The problem with it is that you spend your entire life obsessed with the one thing you
can
do, while ignoring all the things you
want
.

There are illusions, she thought as the sheep dancing across her field of vision got fuzzier, lower, slower and more fatly comfortable, that there’s never enough time. Other times she’d think she just wasn’t the relationship sort of girl. It’s not that she didn’t want one, or that she was weird as all hell and couldn’t stand the thought of being tied down to someone, it was that she couldn’t find the time.

The puffy, jolly sheep settled down on either side of her brain, their woolly comfort lulling her into a state of half-conscious respite. Of all her strange thoughts, and all her anxiety-ridden confusion, she had at least found what she was good at doing, Rory thought. Sleep took her, but not before she had a split-second to consider what life would have been like if she’d picked band instead of mock crime lab for that elective in her junior year of high school. Probably she’d have found her way to the lab anyway.

16

Probably.

There was always a chance though, always that thought in the back of her mind that told her she wouldn’t. She would have ended up normal and happy and content with a couple kids and a big, strong mate, and...
yeah
, she thought with a smile as she finally drifted off to the first sleep she’d had in a couple of days,
so
totally not me
.

There was a smile on Rory’s face that twitched ever so slightly on the left corner under her cheek. She let out a soft little giggle as she fell under, which she always did but didn’t know about.

When she was safely asleep, Monte opened one eye just enough to take a look, but kept it close enough to shut that his eyelashes masked his wakefulness. He’d been planning this for weeks, maybe even months, but never worked up the nerve to do it.

Rory let out a soft snort, and then a sigh of rest escaped the rise and fall of her chest. Monte smiled as he watched her – it was true she wasn’t his type... he wasn’t even sure he
had
a type, though he’d been mated before and had a pair of twins – but he was going to do everything he could to make sure she found who she’d been looking for. She’d never said anything directly, but he could tell there was something sticking in Rory’s nerves. Every time a case came down the pipes that involved kids, a family, or even just a pair of mates, he’d slowly come around to the conclusion that Rory wanted
that
, even if she never came out and said so.

After all, it’s something most of us want, he supposed, although he’d never personally gotten very excited over the idea.

She grunted softly and rolled over, heaving herself onto her other side. Rory’s ponytail fell down onto the futon, and the rest of her faced the makeshift sofa’s back. She was perfectly content right then. Perfectly asleep. Which meant that Monte could finally do what he’d been meaning to do for all that time.

He picked up the phone off the desk. He couldn’t feel the texture of the receiver through the latex gloves that he always
BEAR THE HEAT

wore out of habit, but he could feel the pressure of the buttons as he dialed. As the phone rang, Monte rubbed his latex-covered fingertips together, enjoying the soft rasping and snapping of the rubber on his hands. He couldn’t help being a little strange – after all, he
did
poke around dead bodies and stare at hair follicles for a living. It was good he fell into this when he did, because it was either this or becoming an undertaker.

“Mating Call, this is Dora and I’m ready to Explor-a.” Dora, assistant to the legendary Yvette Lorraine, paused for a second. “I had to say that. I lost a bet with Eve. So, what can I do for you?

Wanting us to find someone for you to do?” She snickered at her own joke. “Sorry, I can’t help but say things like that sometimes.

It’s occurred to me that you haven’t actually said anything since I picked up so I’m going to shut my damn mouth and wait.”

A soft laugh escaped Monte’s herpetological lips. “Yes, well, it isn’t for me,” he said softly, making sure not to wake the victim.

“My friend—coworker—she is, how do you say it... distracted?”

“Ah hah,” Dora said. “You’d be amazed how few people call in for themselves. Good thing Ms. Eve hasn’t even the first shred of a confidentiality policy. She says she thinks it makes people more honest.”

“Oh well, that makes sense,” he said. “Listen, she’s asleep just over there, so I’m trying to keep this quiet and all that.”

“Oh!” Dora immediately started whispering. “I’ll be quiet. So, what can I do for you?” she bit her lip to keep from telling her favorite joke.

“Well, it’s my friend, like I said. She’s thirty-three, a forensic scientist who specializes in arson investigation and—”

“Oh that’s so cool!” Dora almost shrieked. “She’s like Dexter, but I’m guessing she’s not a serial killer on the side?”

18

“Not that I know of. Now, she works all the time, like all of us do, and she’s frequently having trouble with communicating like a normal human being. She’s like that skinny man on
Big Bang
whatever it is. She talks very strangely and sometimes it’s hard to follow what she says unless you have a Ph.D.”

Dora scribbled furiously. “I see. Bust size?”

She could almost hear the guy on the other end of the phone blush as he stammered in embarrassment. “I... uh, haven’t a clue how to tell that, is it really—”

“Necessary? No,” Dora said with a giggle. “I’m just giving you a hard time. Sorry. So, what sort of hobbies does she have? Oh and does she have a name? I’m sure she does, I’m just saying it like that to be funny.”

A strained laugh came through the phone. “Yes, very funny indeed,” Monte said, flicking his tongue up and licking his left eye. “She has hobbies, I think, perhaps. I don’t know, exactly. I think she likes to play those silly games you plug into a television.

Super Mario whoever, and all that. She also reads a lot, and frequently makes dirty jokes that make me uncomfortable.”

“Are you an alien?” Dora asked. “I mean I’m not judging, there have certainly been stranger things come across this phone line.”

“No, just a scientist.”

The guy made a clicking sound with his teeth. “Scientist,”

Dora said, still trying to keep from giggling, “right. Got it, not an alien. And she plays videogames and reads. Do you know what she’s looking for in a mate?”

For a long moment, Monte sat in quiet thought. “Well, no,”

he finally said. “I think she’s wanting a man. And I don’t think she’s choosy. Yes, I think that’s about the extent of it. And please be quick about it, she’s not exactly at her best these days. She mixed an alkalinity test this morning and completely fouled the whole thing up shaking it when it was supposed to be stirred, and—”

BEAR THE HEAT

“Right, the Need-a-Mates,” Dora said. “We specialize in curing that particular condition.”

“Condition? No she’s just lonely, not diseased.”

“Er, right, that was a joke. Anyway, I’ve got what we need.

Contact number? This one work?”

“Actually no, let me give you her number. She’s shy and rather prickly about things like this but if you find her someone, she’s likely to be very excited. I’d hate to step in the way of that. It’d be like being in front of a kid on Christmas. I’d be afraid that she’d become irritated and bowl me over.”

“You ramble just as much as I do,” Dora observed. “I think I like you.”

Monte blustered. “Yes, well, I need to be going, I’ve got uh... I think she’s waking up, yes, very sorry, must go.”

Dora once again gave in to the giggles. She wasn’t joking though, she
did
kinda like the strange, obviously introverted sorts of guy. On the one hand, she wanted to ask him out for coffee sometime. On the other hand...
To hell with it
, she thought.

“Want to get a coffee sometime? Or a drink if you don’t like coffee? Or I guess cake if you don’t like either of those things?”

She took a deep breath when she heard no response. “Sorry, didn’t mean to put you on the spot.”

“I’d like that,” Monte said. “I... yes, I think I’d like that.

Coffee, I like that. But, no... I don’t know. It’s been a long time since, well, that’s more than you probably care to know about me.”

“I mean, it’s just coffee. If it turns out that I creep you out or something, we can just call it a mulligan.” Dora crinkled her eyebrows. This guy was telling her something, but she wasn’t quite sure what.

“Well,” he said, again tentatively, “I suppose coffee wouldn’t hurt anything. Do you mind that I have kids? Twins?”

“No way, why would I mind? And remember, it’s just coffee, nothing to worry about.”

20

“Right,” Monte said. “Nothing to worry about.”

“Awesome! Meet you tomorrow morning across from the police department? Half past seven? We can finish up the paperwork on our friend... you never told me her name.”

“I guess I didn’t,” Monte said. “I’ll tell you tomorrow.” He got a flash of mischief. “I’ve got to have something to make sure you show up.”

“I knew I liked you,” Dora said. “See you tomorrow.”

“Who is that?” a third voice—likely the person she was being told about—spoke up. “Are you on the phone?”

“Uh... no one! Nothing, got to go, bye-bye then.”

The receiver clicked in her ear, but that didn’t stop the smile.

All joking aside, she really
did
like the way the guy sounded.

She’d always had a thing for nerdy guys with brains bigger than their egos, and if nothing else, it’d be fun to meet someone new.

There
was
something a bit odd in what he’d said about his twins, but Dora pushed it out of her mind. Everyone’s lost things at some point, so she figured whatever it was that haunted Monte, it was just something for them to deal with eventually.

After all, even if you’re in the business of mating, that doesn’t mean you actually do it very often.

More to distract herself than anything else, Dora hit the button on the intercom and reported in about the new girl they had. “She sounds like a winner, but I’ve got to meet the guy who called for her tomorrow to get her name.”

For a moment, Yvette Lorraine, Dora’s boss and best friend, was silent. “You got suckered,” she finally said. There was a smile in the back of her voice. “But I’m guessing you don’t mind getting suckered? Because I can almost hear how happy you are over this staticky-ass old intercom.”

Dora found herself shrugging. “You never know what can happen around here,” she said. “Thing is, I was the one who asked him out. Oh shit, that’s not a conflict of interest, is it?”

BEAR THE HEAT

“Well,” Eve clicked her teeth. “I think it only counts as a conflict of interest if you end up using him to kill me and take over the business.” What would have been a joke from most people on earth was a deadpan monotone from Eve. “Other than that, I think we’re safe. Also, there aren’t any conflict of interest rules in the mating agency business.”

“Say, Eve, how many lick does it take to—”

“Shut up,” Eve said shortly. “I know I’m an owl, I don’t need you to constantly babble out the oldest punchline in the world.”

She laughed softly. “Get back to work, we’ve got someone coming in this morning. A firefighter.”

“Really? I guess he isn’t that one that saved the family from the fire last night is it?”

“The very same,” Eve replied. “Apparently his captain tricked him into coming in to visit us. You think this is fate?”

“Huh?” Dora asked. “You mean these two?” She was busily thinking of her date, which was admittedly one of the more interesting things that had come across her plate in quite a while.

“I thought you didn’t buy into the whole fate thing.”