'm kind of surprised you're up and around at all this
morning."
'Ol' buddy, huh?' thought Cade, 'Shields up.'
He asked, "Are you in the ops room, Frank?"
"Huh? No. Why?"
"Do you know if Mandi's back yet?"
"Back? What do you mean 'back'? What'd she do, run out on you? Didn't you
tickle her fancy?"
With a sigh, Cade asked, "Frank, why the hell did you call me?"
Frank Stearns laughed and said, "I just wanted to hear your version of
things. How'd it go last night, stud?"
In a flat tone, Cade said, "Sorry to disappoint you, Frank."
Cade let Stearns hear him sigh again and thumbed the off button as he
reached for his coffee. As he took a sip, Cade again recalled scenes from the
shower and the way that scent of wildflower and honey had seemingly taken over
his mind.
Pheromones? He couldn't remember reading anything about pheromones having
any particular smell, but Mandi wasn't exactly a Jane Average woman, either.
Just a brief remembrance of that scent and its effect was enough to cause
that effect to occur again. Cade ordered another coffee so he'd have an excuse
to remain seated until that effect died down a bit.
A rather tall woman at another table noticed his discomfort and pinked
slightly when Cade had to reach to adjust himself. She was wearing a barbarian
princess sort of outfit that showed a lot of skin and Cade wondered if she
thought his discomfort was her fault.
His gaze fell to her long legs and he shrugged mentally as he eyed her
thighs. Yeah. She had pretty good legs. Sure. It could happen, given the right
-- and somewhat closer -- circumstances.
The woman's pink became a bit deeper and she turned away nervously. That
made Cade chuckle. Why the hell do women wear sexy, skimpy costumes like those
if they can't handle the results? Big duh, lady. You have good legs. Men look at
exposed female skin. Grow up and deal with it.
Whups. Wait one. He peered more closely at the rest of her for a moment. She
looked a little familiar...
Got it. Add some Klingon makeup and an outfit made of leather, metal stuff,
and patches of motorcycle tires. She was the attitude-woman from the dealer's
room. But she was at a table with three other women and no men. Where was her
Mr. Klingon this morning?
Cade decided it didn't matter a damn where Mr. Klingon was, but he stopped
eyeballing her legs so his system would relax enough that he could leave