Page 12 of Countdown to Murder (A Paranormal Halloween #3)

Mira

Whatever was going on with my genitals kicked into overdrive when Panda walked into the meeting with the client and took control. I could focus away from it, but there was still this heat and throbbing and pulsing between my legs.

I walked the second floor with him, we took a look at the room Sloan recommended, and we raised the window a few inches to be certain we’d know which one it was from the outside.

The control room had been set up in the second-floor media room, making use of the huge screen.

They’d moved one side of the room’s recliners into the hallway, and set up their tables and chairs, laptops and other gadgets.

Two-thirds of the media screen was taken up with camera views from around the property, the rest was blueprints of the four floors, and an overhead sketch of the property.

Each had a green or red blip to indicate all motion detectors, and a camera blip to show where each had been placed.

“The kitchen is on this half of the mansion,” I mused, “one floor down. If we pack our people two to a room and double up for shifts, it should be easy enough to block off a portion of the other side from all movement. We should make our client think we’re using the entire second floor to house our people, so the vampire will think he’s safe to enter.

That’s probably going to be the only way to trip him up with a motion detector. ”

Panda walked two rooms down and looked in on the guest room. I followed him in. A single king-sized bed and an en suite bathroom.

“This will be ours, and we won’t share with Sloan and Ember.”

A raw wave of heat engulfed me. My clitoris throbbed even faster and hotter at the thoughts of being in a bed with Panda, and for the first time ever, I wanted to rub it. No, I needed to rub it. My face flushed hot and I turned and walked out of the room.

One deep breath, and I talked on the exhale. “We should walk the grounds.”

Panda followed me and was walking alongside me within seconds. I felt his heat, his energy beside me though he was a foot away. Wild grace. Lethal. Dangerous. I should be wary of him, and yet, I wanted to climb up him and rub parts of myself I’d never noticed against him.

“Agreed,” he said. “I’m inclined to concur with Sloan on the room to put her in, but I’d like to see it from outside before I make a determination.”

We walked out of a back door, made a complete circuit of the house, and stood at the rear of the backyard.

We were both silent as we took everything in.

A patio came right up to the wall under the proposed room’s window, meaning there were no bushes or other shadows to fade into from the ground.

We could easily put someone on the higher mountain behind, in the trees, to keep watch over the entire back of the house.

We’d also have to figure out how to get someone up high from the front, to watch the roofline there as well.

Panda engaged his mic. “The room is a go. I’ll be taking the guest room two doors down — dark green walls with a sleigh bed. I’ll meet management in the weight room for a strategy session when we finish with the feds. No one else should claim a room yet.”

I counted the windows and looked at the outside of the one we’d be in. The sunroom was below us. “I propose a laser between the sunroom roof and the main building, just under our window.” I took a breath. “I need five minutes with you in the limo when we retrieve our equipment.”

“The driver will have the keys, or Jones, since the driver is about to be evacuated. I imagine the limo is locked.”

“Five minutes talking where our privacy is assured.”

“Doesn’t exist. Jones has everything within fifty yards of the house wired for movement and sound. If our target breaks a branch when he lands in a tree, someone in the control room will hear it.”

Right, because we had four tech people the client didn’t know about, which meant the vampire likely didn’t know about them either, since the media room had soundproofing. It’s possible he picked out the brains, though, even if he couldn’t read them.

I was trying to think of a way to tell Panda what I needed him to know, and he pulled a short pencil and a small notepad from his inside suit pocket and handed them to me.

Immortalizing this even in pencil seemed a bad idea, but I couldn’t think of a better plan. I shook my head but started writing.

He watched as I formed the words.

I have a problem. My genitals have become

I couldn’t bring myself to write the rest. I looked up, met his gaze, and said, “Active around you. Only you, apparently. I can focus, but...”

I looked back to the notepad, moved a few lines down, and wrote, Sharing a bed isn’t a good idea.

He lifted a single eyebrow and took the pad and pencil.

Nothing will happen during an op. No one is going to sleep alone. Basic safety protocol. You’re stuck with me.

I was positive I would get zero sleep if he was two feet away from me in the same bed.

“I planned to stay awake the last thirty or so hours, but I’ll need a few uninterrupted sleeps — alone — between now and then if I’m to make that happen.”

He wrote again.

You’re saying you can’t sleep in a bed with me?

“No. I don’t think I can.”

He gave me a huge shit-eating grin and put his hands on his hips. “You’re giving information to the other side, Darlin’.”

“You aren’t the enemy, Panda.” I didn’t know why he’d called me darling, but I wasn’t going to use nicknames with him.

“Not what I said.”

He removed his hands from his hips and wrote again.

You’re tiny. There’s a sofa in the room you can use if you must. Under no circumstances are you going to sleep in a room alone.

We’d both written with a soft hand, and he quickly erased the page and then scribbled over it to make sure no one could see what had been written. He folded the top back over and put the pad and pencil into his inside jacket pocket.

He looked down at me a few seconds, reached a hand towards my face, and withdrew it before he touched me. Both hands went back to his hips. He stared at his feet a second, and when he lifted his face and met my gaze, my heart stalled a few beats and then jumped into fast-forward.

“We will pick this conversation up again when the op is over.”

His declaration made my pulse race even faster, and I spun on my heel — turning away from him instead of holding his gaze.

I blew out a breath and headed down the driveway to the garage.

Our equipment was in the bay beside the car.

We’d unloaded it and left it in place until we knew where it was going.

Two guards were making sure the vehicles weren’t messed with, so it was safe enough. Theoretically.