Page 56 of The Pleasure of Panic

“Well, you didn’t even remember the crotchless panties!”

“What?” I’m confused, confounded and—“What crotchless panties?”—curious.

“In the bag,” she says, pointing to it. “You didn’t even see them. And I wasn’t gonna point it out because we’d finally come to some kind of game-play consensus and—”

“Issy,” I say, taking her arm and pulling her close to me. I stare into her eyes. Dead. Serious. “I’m not playing the game with you. I’m not a part of this. I’m not your fantasy guy!”

“Then how the fuck do you explain this night? Huh? There’s no way this is all just a coincidence. So I’m not falling for it.”

More toe-tapping from her.

I grab my hair and try to figure out just how I got mixed up with this girl.

I woke up this afternoon, drank a little bit—which I’m not proud of, but whatever—ended up at the diner. Declan came in, we got the call about Go F*ck Yourself, we went over there, everything seemed normal until… then Issy turned into a Tasmanian Devil, we took her back to headquarters, the terror threat came in, I was assigned to take her to the safe house…

“I think you’re playing.”

“Well, I—” I don’t know what to think. I mean, it sorta makes sense when I run it through my head like that, but this right now—her missing crotchless panties, her titless negligee, her fuck-me-hard lace-up boots, and the fact that I was spanking her with a riding crop twenty seconds ago…

That is decidedly not normal.

“I think you’re right.”

“Of course I’m right.”

I look at her. “Someone set me up.”

“Of course they did.”

“We need to talk to Jordan.”

“Yes.” She nods. “I agree. He’s target number one on the agenda tomorrow.”

Which makes me glance up at the clock over the fireplace. “You mean today.”

“Jesus, how the fuck did it get to be five AM?”

“Well, honestly, I’m surprised it’s not later. We packed a lot of shit into the last eight hours.”

Which is exactly how long I’ve known her.

And that is ridiculous.

“What time do you have to go into the office?” she asks.

“I don’t. I’m on Issy Grey bodyguard duty, remember? I’m assuming Declan will get in touch. Until then, I’m sure he assumes we’re up at the house in Silver Springs. Why?”

“Well, I have to be down in the Tech Center by noon. I’ve got the seminar, remember?”

“I thought you had those at your office?”

“No. Well, I do. But this is like… the call for students. The free seminar, right? To get them signed up. So I got that at noon.”

“Should I take you home?” I ask her.

She bites her lip, and for a second I think she’s gonna ask me to fuck her first. Which makes me roll my eyes internally and say, Jesus Christ, Finn, get a grip.

She doesn’t. Ask me to fuck her, that is. She says, “Do you think it’s safe there?”