The skin of her neck was nipped and she turned her head to look at Conall, that aqua blue gaze of his trapping her immediately. He is sooo trouble.

“Where did you just go?”

“What?”

“Come on, Mik. You were two thousand miles away. Where’d ya go?”

“Nowhere.” She shook her head for emphasis. “Just thinking.”

“You do that a lot, huh?”

“Yeah. I guess.”

“Like what? What do you think about?”

“You don’t want to know, Viking.”

“I like when you call me that.”

Well, that was the last thing she wanted to hear. She called him that to annoy him. You idiot, what guy gets insulted being called Viking?

“You really want to know what I’m thinking?” Perfect. She knew exactly how to scare him off. It had scared off many men before him.

“I asked, didn’t I?”

“I was thinking Sara needs to stop looking so happy about us dancing together. And I wondered if Zach was going to fuck her on the dance floor or whether he’d wait to drag her off to the bathroom. He’s had his hand down the back of her jeans and his groin pressed into hers for the last ten minutes. I was also wondering whether I should wear my blue suit to my dissertation defense or my dark green suit. Or if I should wear a suit at all. Or just a dress. Then I remembered that I don’t have a dress. Then I was wondering if I were hungry or not. I decided not. Then I wondered if I could come up with a way to cancel the government’s deficit without taxing the people.”

Conall, not surprisingly, stared. “Wow.”

“Well, as you said, you asked, didn’t you?”

“As a matter of fact, I did.” He studied her closely. “Do you ever not think? Or, at the very least, only have one thought at a time?”

Miki thought about that for a moment and shook her head. “No.”

“Really?”

“I don’t distract easily.”

The Viking leered and she had that ancient China feeling again. “I bet I could distract you.”

With a snort, and before she could stop herself, “Promises, promises.” Miki froze and so did Conall. “Uh…”

“Too late. Can’t take it back now.”

“But…”

“Nope. The gauntlet has been laid.” She felt his hands tighten on her ass and she let out a little squeak. “And I’m just the man to pick it up and run with it.”

Okay. Exactly at what point did her nipples start hardening without it being cold or someone actually rubbing them? Plus, much more of this, she’d have to change her underwear before the night was out. When the hell did that start happening? And what happened to her resolve not to get involved with anyone, especially giantshapeshifters?

I should have added his ass to the List!

“You’re vibrating.”

“I am not!”

“Your phone is vibrating.” He jokingly tsk-tsk’d her. “Again, we’re wallowing in the gutter. What is it with you?”

Suddenly her face felt as hot and uncomfortable as the rest of her.

Pulling the phone off her hip, she held it up. “I need to deal with this.”

With obvious reluctance, he slowly lowered her to the ground and led her away from the dance floor. “Make your call. I’ll be back in five minutes.” She watched Conall walk off toward the bathroom. She liked watching him walk off.

What the hell was she doing? This was ridiculous. She was ridiculous. She should be worrying about her dissertation not about how his ass looked in those jeans.

Miki flipped her phone open. “Hello?”

She knew from caller ID it was Craig. But the reception sucked in the club. So she closed the phone and headed down the stairs and out of the building.

Chapter Six

Conall washed his hands and thought about Miki naked. That’s pretty much all he did these days. Think about one small woman naked. There had never been a woman before Miki who distracted him this much. He and Zach had burned their way through a lot of strippers, waitresses and bar sluts. Girls who knew how to get you hot and suck you off in no time. Girls who really didn’t expect you to call them the next morning.

Miki wasn’t anything like those girls. She was hot and sexy without even trying. She never wore makeup from what he could tell and she didn’t need any. She wore those same damn Doc Martens every time he saw her and he wasn’t sure she had any other shoes. But she always seemed to pair them with the hottest little miniskirt or shorts. Tonight she wore leather. The woman looked really good in leather.

She was a walking, talking contradiction and he was starting to worry he was falling for her. Still, a more skittish female he didn’t know. No way could she handle him. Not really.

Conall dried his hands and headed toward the bathroom door. Before he could touch the knob, the door opened in and his almost exact replica followed. But his cousin Einarr had hazel eyes and always looked pissed off. The man wasn’t pleasant and, after all these years, Conall still hated his guts.

“Hello, cousin.”

* * *

Miki had to walk away from the club and go half a block down to the corner to get decent reception. She speed-dialed Craig back.

“Whatcha want?” she barked into the phone, her eyes scanning the street.

“That’s not friendly.”

Craig could be such a bonehead. “Craig.”

“Okay. Okay. Just kidding. I only wanted to make sure you were going to be here tomorrow night as planned.”