Two days later …

She sucked so badly. She needed to just say it. Tell her friend that she was using her plus one. All because she couldn’t stand the thought of Talon picking someone up so that he could fuck them in her house. It was her house, dammit. Hers. She did not want him to pick up some skank so that they could go at it on her sofa. Her favorite chair in the whole house. Even worse, what if he took the skank to her room? What if he did the deed on her bed?

Gasp! Horror! No!

It made her ill. Completely ill. Nope. She couldn’t have that, so she’d invited him. Problem solved. It was also in case he perched or walked around naked. Something he hadn’t done in an age. An absolute age. How was a girl supposed to get her kicks? She didn’t want him walking around naked outside, but he could show a bit of skin from time to time in the apartment.

“You have another two messages,” Maggie interrupted her thoughts, bringing her back to reality. “Both of them from pretty cute guys. Do you want to see them?” Maggie asked.

Vicky shook her head. “What would be the point?”

“I still can’t believe Talon showed up at The Blue Panda.”

“I can’t believe you told him where I was.”

“I didn’t expect him to actually go there and stare the guy down,” Maggie laughed. “And you’re still convinced there’s nothing between the two of you?”

"Nothing at all." Vicky shook her head. "I swear I would tell you." There was less than nothing going on. In fact, things had been distinctly uncomfortable over the last few days. Too polite. Too stuffy. There was definitely an elephant in the room. It was a rather large elephant. She'd screamed when she'd come, dammit. Granted, the scream had been short, but it had still happened. He'd commented on how pink her vagina was. No wonder she couldn't look him in the eyes anymore. No wonder! Especially since all she could think about was more. Much more. Like full blown sex more. Now that would be one hell of a favor she’d have to ask.

Asshole.

It didn’t help that he wasn’t actually an asshole. He was nice. “He was just being nice. He sees me as the sister he never had.” She had to hold down a gag.

“Sister?” Maggie sniggered. “I don’t think he sees you like a sister.”

“Well he does. He was worried John would turn out to be a psycho killer. He thought he was doing me a favor.” Double gag.

“Well, it smacks of jealousy to me.”

“It’s not, so drop it already,” Vicky retorted, a little too harshly. “I’ll check out the messages when Talon goes back to Switzerland. By the way, there is something I need to ask.” There it was out. Or would be soon.

“Sure.” Maggie cocked her head. “Shoot.”

“I invited someone to go to your wedding with me. It just kind of happened. I know I should have checked with you first. I’m hoping it’s okay.” Vicky forced herself to shut her mouth.

Oh no! Maggie made a face. That wasn’t good.

“You don’t look very happy about it.” Vicky raised her brows. “Shit, I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s not that. You can take someone. Putting out an extra chair and catering for an extra person is no problem.” Maggie grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “I swear. It’s no trouble at all, it’s just …”

“Just what?”

“Who is it?” Maggie looked animated. “Who did you invite?” By the way her friend was looking at her, Vicky could tell that Maggs already knew.

“It’s Talon, but it’s not what you think,” she quickly added when she saw the expression on Maggie’s face. “We just spoke about this. I just finished telling you it wasn’t like that and it’s not. I’m worried if I leave him alone he’ll cause trouble again.”

“Nah, Talon has come a long way since he got here. I doubt anything bad would happen. Having said that, I’m glad he’s coming with you though. You guys get along really well.”

“Are you sure?” Maggie held Vicky’s gaze. “I can have a chat with him, tell him that—”

“No, it’s fine.”

“What was the problem though?” Vicky frowned. “You acted like there was an issue with me still bringing a plus one.”

“My folks were keeping two bedrooms just in case you decided to bring someone but last week, mum told my cousin Sarah that she could have one of the rooms since it didn’t seem likely you would have a partner. She checked in with me.”

“Oh, flip! Does that mean …?”

“There is only one bedroom available. It’s small, with a queen-size bed.”

“Perfect for Talon then,” she blurted. “If he was on his own and sleeping from corner to corner.” She shook her head, realizing how ungrateful she sounded. “He’s been sleeping on the sofa, I’m sure he wouldn’t mind sleeping on the floor. We could take turns. He can sleep on the floor one night and I’ll sleep there the next.” Problem solved. Only, the look on Maggie’s face told her it was far from solved. “What is it?”

“When I said the room was small, I meant it. Barely enough space for a bed and a small side table. Maybe we can swap rooms, my uncle George and Aunty Penelope can—”

“No,” Vicky waved a hand, “don’t be silly, I’m sure the local B&B will—”

Maggs shook her head. “All full I’m afraid. We have forty-one guests coming to the wedding. Every B&B in the area is fully booked.”

“Talon and I are adults. We’re friends. We can share a bed.” Her heart beat like mad. What was she doing? She should tell him to stay home. That there was no space.

Maggie got this little smile.

“It’s not like that, dammit!” It came out far harsher than she intended. “We’re friends.” Softer this time.

“Of course you are. I’m sure you’ll both end up hooking up and sleeping elsewhere anyway. Two of my cousins are single and my friend Peter is going to be there.” She said the last in a singsong voice. “Weddings are notorious hook-up generators.”

Vicky forced herself to laugh. “Who told you that?”

Maggie narrowed her eyes. “Will and I met at a wedding.”

“Oh yes, I had forgotten about that.”

“Well, there you go.” She smiled just a little too sweetly. “My cousins are going to fight over Talon.” Maggie laughed. “Heck, I have a feeling some of my aunts will join in as well.”

Any woman in her right mind would go gaga for Talon. In fact, he could probably go back to his people now. He didn’t need her anymore. He knew the ropes when it came to human women. They’d lap him up.

“Oh, something I forgot to tell you. It’s one of the messages you got on the dating website.”

“Like I said, I’ll take a look at them once Talon heads home.”

“No, you don’t understand. This is message number three.”

Confusion rushed through her. “You said I got two messages.”

“You got three.” Maggie looked far too serious for her liking.

“Okay, tell me about message number three.”

“Then again,” Maggie shook her head, “you may not want to know too much about this message.”

“Why not?” This didn’t make sense. Maggie was being far too cryptic for her liking.”

“Because …” Maggs picked some non-existent lint off of her clothing, “it might be from Jeff. In fact, I know it’s from Jeff.”

“Jeff, as in my ex-husband Jeff? That Jeff?”

Maggie sucked in a deep breath and began to nod her head.

“My ex sent me a message on a dating site?”

“Yes.” She was nodding profusely. “Yes, he did.”

“Do I want to hear this message, or should I ignore it?”

“You probably want to ignore it, but I think you should hear it.”

Maggie shook her head. “Nope, in that case I don’t want to know.”

“I think it’s important that you read it.”

“I don’t want to.” Vicky shook her head.

“Well,” Maggie raised her brows. “That’s too bad, because if you don’t want to read it, I’m going to tell you all about it anyway.”