Alien in the House

neck. “If you make it worth my while.”
    He leaned up on his arms. “Do I get to get undressed?”
    I laughed. “One piece of clothing at a time.”
    “When does the hat come off?”
    My turn to do a wicked grin. “Last.”



CHAPTER 45
    F OR AS TIRED AS I WAS, both physically and emotionally, it wasn’t a shocker that I fell right to sleep once we were done having lots more incredibly fantastic sex. Jeff was even fully naked by the time we were done, too.
    What was surprising was that I woke up early.
    Put it down to the fact that I was now used to getting up with Jamie. Of course, Jeff was still sound asleep, and he was normally up before me.
    Looked at the clock. 6:30 in the morning was earlier than early for me, unless Jamie had woken up early for some reason. And Jamie wasn’t here.
    Neither were the pets. Listened, but didn’t hear any animal or bird sounds. Didn’t hear much of anything, other than Jeff’s rhythmic breathing. So why was I awake?
    Rolled carefully out of bed so I didn’t disturb him. Gathered up my underwear, his clothes, and the now-beloved fedora and went to the closet. Another fedora and trench were in there. Presumably the Elves didn’t want Jeff going out in a dirty set, and also presumably they were clear that I was going to keep him in that outfit as much as possible.
    “Thanks,” I whispered to the hamper. I doubted that was where the Elves lived, but my bet was that it was their portal. “Seriously, if you guys want cookies and milk or silver dollars left in shoes or any other kind of bonus, leave me a note where Jeff won’t find it. I’ve got you covered.”
    Dumped the clothes into the hamper, put the “old” fedora on top of the hamper, and trotted into the bathroom.
    Came out to find Jeff still fast asleep. Worry niggled. What if he’d been hit with whatever Buchanan had been hit with? What if Jeff wasn’t going to wake up?
    He grunted. “M’wake.” Then he rolled over and went back to snoozing.
    Worry abated, I contemplated what I should do with my wide-awake self. I could read more of the Briefing Books of Boredom or the Diplomat’s NYC Phone Book. Decided those were only options if I wanted to go right back to sleep. Part of me did, because I doubted I’d had enough rest.
    But I was awake, and maybe I was awake for a reason. After all, when the Peregrines had arrived, Christopher and I had been woken up first. Maybe we were getting a shipment from Alpha Four.
    Waited. Nothing. So, that most likely wasn’t the right answer. Checked my phone. No calls, no texts, nothing. Burner phones were quiet as well.
    ACE? Sure it was probably useless, but I could hope, right? ACE, are you there? Do you need Kitty?
    Waited, but no answer came. Heaved a sigh, but then it had probably been too much to hope for. ACE would let me know when he was back. I hoped.
    It was still raining. Maybe there’d been thunder or a heavy raindrop or something. No matter, I wasn’t going back to bed.
    Put on a robe and went out to the living room, taking my purse and handbag with me. Turned on the TV while I transferred stuff from the handbag to my regular purse. Which was a mistake—turning on the TV, not moving stuff into my purse—because the news was filled with our disastrous party. Hadn’t realized I was masochistic, but apparently this was so, as I morbidly flipped through the channels to find out who was covering the story. Everyone was. Go journalism.
    Could wake Jeff up and share the “fun” with him, but that seemed pointless. Frankly, waking anyone up seemed pointless. They’d all see and hear about this soon enough.
    My phone beeped with a text from my father, asking me to call him whenever I woke up. Well, Dad was up, and I was up, and I desperately wanted to talk to someone. Waited an entire two seconds before I dialed.
    “Hi, kitten, you’re up early.”
    “Um, yeah. Dad, have you looked at the news?”
    “Yes. That’s why I sent the text. Your mother’s still asleep. She got in late and is thankfully sleeping like a rock. She needs it. You need it, too.”
    “Yeah, Jeff’s still asleep, but I woke up and am really wide awake. And Mom’s had a busy few days, hasn’t she?”
    “Yes, but I don’t know all the details.” Dad sighed. “How are you doing, really?”
    “I’m okay.”
    “Kitty, don’t lie to your father.”
    “I don’t want to whine.” Actually, I desperately wanted to whine, but felt that I was a little old for it.
    “That’s