Summer Love_ A Steamy Small Town Romance Anthology - Piper Rayne Page 0,20

situation. I could tell, even from a distance, her thoughts were frantic with worry over her cats. I didn’t go around bragging about it, but I had a highly accurate telepathy. Came in handy with tricky relationship situations when I could read the other person’s mind. Not so great when I got the real scoop on what someone thought of my new pants. Guess they did make my butt look fat.

Yedda’s head whipped over and she smiled that famous smile of hers. Even in the midst of chaos, she could spare a smile for someone else. “Oh, hi there, Keva. I seem to be having some problems here.”

I walked across the street after looking both ways. Kinda silly since there wasn’t much traffic along Brinestone Way late on a Friday afternoon. Yedda squinted her eyes and watched the last of her precious cats run all the way down the street to the famous roundabout. Hopefully they could navigate it better than Peggy Sue, the old lady who frequently found herself going round and round until her steering fluid ran dry.

“I see that. What happened?” It was fairly common for a cat or two to escape, but all of them at once? That was a new one. I fluttered my hand in front of my face. The stench was stronger on this side of the road.

Yedda’s brightly colored lips opened and closed a few times before she started talking. “Well, I thought Poppy was delivering the mail. The little flipper-flapper thing on the front door flapped and in popped a little package. I went over to investigate, but then tripped over Frankie and ended up stepping on the package. The damn thing popped and out came a stench that seared off my eyelashes. I stumbled and grabbed the doorknob to keep from going down, but I guess the door opened too and my poor kitties shot right out while my eyes were stinging. They didn’t care for the stench either.”

My head bobbed in sympathy. Her thoughts were scattered, but she kept coming back to one thought fragment that left me puzzled. But hey, “no judgies” was my motto when it came to mind reading. “Well, don’t you worry, Yedda. I’ll help you collect the cats and get you back to that porno you intended to watch this evening.”

Yedda’s head swiveled so quickly, I thought it might just twist right off. “Well now, I hadn’t thought about that, but maybe that could spice up my Friday night plans after poker night with the girls.” She patted my cheek. “Such a thoughtful young lady.”

I smiled warmly at her, feeling better now that I’d laid her worries to rest. I gave her a confident thumbs-up and hightailed it out of there. I had cats to wrangle and sperm to deliver. Several yards away from the Society, the air cleared and I could take a full breath again. Okay, new plan. I’d put the sperm back in the temperature-controlled chamber at the fertility clinic and collect cats. Then I’d go back and get the sperm and get it over to San Jose. If I hurried and the cats somehow came willingly, I could still make it before closing time.

I put the sample back and texted Lucy to let her know what had happened with the cats. I’d just locked up the fertility clinic again when a guy with a black helmet peeked around the corner of the building, looking in the direction of the Society.

“Can I help you?” I demanded, hands on hips to look intimidating.

Probably would have been more effective if I’d been taller than five foot two.

The man startled and nearly tipped over. His denim-clad legs straddled a tiny banana-yellow scooter, the windshield of which did not come up high enough to protect his face. His bright blue eyes went wide underneath the black helmet.

“Uh. Yeah. I’m new in town. I was looking for Main Street?”

Oh, heavens. That voice flowed over me like warm butterscotch. Based on the thoughts running through his head, he most definitely didn’t find my ass too big in these jeans. His thoughts were practically indecent, but maybe that was just me thinking a little too hard about the tattoos covering his forearms or the way his T-shirt spread across his thick chest. I wanted to be straddled like that miniature scooter.

“Ma’am?”

I blinked hard and tried to corral my thoughts. “Oh, yes. Well, this is Brinestone Way. Classic mistake, really. That roundabout sucks people in and spits them out