Joseline Herza put her phone on her coffee table. Then, she went to the kitchen and made herself a bag of popcorn. She had to catch up on this week's Red River. She'd been so busy the last few weeks that she hadn't had time to catch any of her favorite TV shows.

That was the hard part of owning her own home organization business. She spent so much time organizing other people’s lives; she barely had time to do things she loved.

She set up the show on her TV, but she couldn't keep her mind on it. Not when something much more entertaining was right there on her phone, begging to her to take a peek.

Speed Mating. There has been a story about it on the evening news and she was curious. Shifters for one night only. One night of crazy, wild, passionate sex. She had accounts on all the dating apps but didn't use them anymore. She'd never had any luck. She was more a Mr. Right girl than Mr. Right Now.

Hooking up didn't make much sense to her. She'd briefly tried it when the apps had first come out, but she'd hated it. The sex was never great, and the guys were mostly slimeballs. If there was any good men near her, she wasn't matching with them.

But this Speed Mating thing had gotten her attention. She'd always loved shifters but was too shy to ever approach one in real life. Not in a romantic capacity, anyway. She had more shifter girlfriends than human ones, but she had only gone on a date with two shifters, and while the dates were fun, the guys hadn't asked her out for a second date. She wasn't their mate, and neither of them had wanted to date her casually while they looked for their mate. It was noble, and it made her want a shifter of her own even more.

You could spot them a mile away at a bar or anywhere else in public. Tall, impossibly handsome, and very confident. They always had an air of unpredictability about them that made her shiver with nerves or fear or lust. She never could put a finger on it. Maybe it was all three. Either way, they were untouchable. As far as she could tell, if you weren't their mate, most of them wouldn't give you the time of day romantically.

With Speed Mating, she didn't have to worry about approaching one. She could do it all from the safety of her own home. She'd gone on to her long-dormant account on the dating app Heat, and sure enough, the shifter profiles were easy to spot. There was always an animal in the name. Like "Brian [Tiger] Smith." And if the news report was right, all she had to do was swipe right and wait to see if he wanted to meet up. If the animal was in the name instead of the bio, it meant the shifter was only looking for a night of fun. So simple.

Joseline could see why it was so popular, but she couldn't do it herself. She had precious few days of vacation, and she couldn't spend that little time on a wild shifter chase. She had shows to catch up on and new recipes to try. There was no way she would even be able to match with one, anyway. She wasn't their type.

She wasn't anyone's type.

She put her phone down and pushed play on her DVRed show. Twenty minutes into the show, she was still thinking about the app. It couldn't hurt to look. Right?

After her last breakup, she'd vowed she wouldn't ever pursue a guy again. She would let them come to her. This was clearly breaking her promise to herself.

But a little voice in the back of her mind told her it wasn't really cheating on her vow. She wasn't chasing a guy trying to get him to love her. This was about lust, and she really was starting to get thirsty for male attention. Not that she would ever admit that to anyone.

It had been months and months since her last "encounter." Plus, if she found a guy on the app, he had to agree to meet with her. They would have to message her first. So, in a way, they would have to make the first move. Swiping right was more like walking into a club than walking up to the guy. She was letting them know she liked how they looked. It was like giving them a long lingering stare across the dance floor. They still had to decide to walk over and talk to her.

There was no way any shifter was going to be lacking for partners, either. If they picked her, it would be based on mutual attraction and with an understanding. One night only. Nothing more.

She picked her phone back up. She could watch her show and look for a partner for the night. The episode she was watching wasn't that interesting, anyway. This was a filler episode on the fantasy-romance drama. She was waiting for the lead characters to get back together, but she didn't want to skip ahead and miss anything. This B-story episode bored her. On the other hand, looking through pictures of hot, available men was a hoot.

It didn't take long for her to start getting messages. She swiped right on every interesting-looking shifter she found. She wasn't picky. But some of the men seemed interested. Really interested.

When she didn't message back right away, a few messaged her again. They were down for whatever she wanted to do. One was willing to rent a hotel room if she didn't want to meet at one of their places, which was really nice. She hadn't thought about the logistics of it all. It made more sense to go to the guy's place, but to meet in public first. Make sure he wasn't a psycho, and if he was, that someone saw them together.

There was one shifter in particular who stood out to her. He didn't list his animal in his name. It just said [Wildcard]. She had swiped right, and when he messaged, she asked him what that meant. He was coy. He told her she would have to meet him and find out. But he was a rare shifter type.

In her area, that likely meant some kind of big cat or something water-based. Maybe a polar bear. They didn't like the wet climate. She checked, and he lived in a town that was mostly shifter. So it was possible he was one of the scarier shifters. Maybe a snake or a spider. That didn't excite her, but she was drawn to him.

He was handsome and on the older end of her possibilities for the night. He wasn't movie-star handsome or a pretty boy, but his face had character. He had warm brown eyes that she imagined were very expressive when he got emotional. His nose was a bit off-kilter, like maybe it had been broken once before. Strange for a shifter. From all reports, they healed very quickly. There had to be a story behind a nose like that on a shifter.

His lips were full and a dusky pink. He wasn't smiling in any of his pictures. According to his bio, he was a no-nonsense kind of guy. He worked in shifter relations and didn't have much time for romance. He was looking for someone to spend the night with, maybe on a regular basis.

He wasn't conventionally handsome, and he wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea. Even the other shifters on the app said they were open to finding a mate, but he wasn't having any of that. He was honest, and that appealed to her. His profile picture wasn't one of the shirtless shots which would have pulled many more likes, because his body was bananas. That appealed to her too. He wasn't going to coast by on his chiseled abs. He looked like a real man's man. The type that was hard to find these days.

She wondered if his gruffness extended to the bedroom.

Everything in his profile seemed tailor-made to get her interested. This had to be a sign.

His second message came before she even replied, and it had an address: If you're dripping with curiosity, I for one am dying to meet you. You're hands down the most beautiful woman who's shown interest in me tonight. If I can't have you, I don't want anyone. You've spoiled me for the rest.

That was a bit forward. She looked up the address, and it was a home only forty minutes away. She couldn't get a street view, since the town banned that kind of thing. She did Google him and found that he was a big shot in his town—not someone she would expect to need to try Speed Mating. She bet the ladies lined up for him. But he did say he worked hard and didn't have time to find someone. She could relate to that.

On the other hand, his second message was so over the top. She hadn't said more than a few words to him. She'd asked what kind of shifter he was; small talk. Her bio wasn't particularly interesting, either, and there was no way she was the most beautiful woman he'd even seen in the last ten minutes. If she was so hot, her profile would be seeing more action.

She hadn't gotten popular until she started hitting up shifters for one-night stands. Nobody had been swiping right when she said she was looking for a relationship only. It was kind of depressing, but she wasn't surprised. Of course more men were going to be interested when they could sleep with her without putting in any effort.

She was a pretty girl, but more for the bedroom than the bring-home type. Go figure.

No matter. She wasn't trying to husband this dude, either. She just wanted to have one incredible, toe-curling orgasm. Or five. Whatever.

What did one wear to a booty call? She didn't know the etiquette. Should she wear something with easy access or something that tore off easily? Jeans and a tee would be her preference, but it seemed a little too underdressed. She also didn't want to show up in some sexy little black dress that didn’t seem like it was nearly sexy enough.

In the end, she settled on her sexiest nightie that could almost be worn as normal clothes. Almost, that is, if it wasn’t see through. It was what she would have worn to a booty call a decade earlier. It was perfect for a night out to get laid. She put on a pair of heels and grabbed a pair of flats to leave in her car.

Since her outfit was simple, she went with a full face of makeup. It wasn't dramatic smoky eye, but it was sexier than her everyday wear. Her nerves made her hands heavy, and she ended up with enough highlighter to put a disco ball to shame. No matter. It wasn't going to be coming off on her bedsheets tonight.

When she left her house, she was feeling on top of the world. She messaged "Rhett [Wildcard] Lundthal" that she would be there in less than an hour. He told her he'd be on the edge of his seat waiting. You just made my month, gorgeous.

Totally over the top, and probably the same bullshit line he fed all his hookups. But it still made her smile. It was nice to hear some compliments. She hoped he kept it up after her clothes came off.

The sky was ominous as she started her drive. It might be a bad sign, but it made her hopeful. She loved making love during a thunderstorm. The weather matched the primal feeling she was hoping for tonight. She wanted a wildcard night in the best way possible.