Taking in a deep breath, Grace pressed a shortcut dial on her phone.

  Trying to connect to an exterior cell network... Error… Correcting error… Mana enhancing signal… Connection established.

  A ringtone sounded twice, then she heard a voice.

  “Grace?”

  “Yes, honey, it’s me.”

  “Nice to hear your voice.”

  A klaxon reached her ears, and a curse, Rowan swearing at someone about blocking his way.

  “You’re driving?”

  “Yes, I bought a second-hand car for the trip.”

  “How are you two going along?”

  “Fine, I suppose. We visited my pals in Louisville last evening and visited a few bars and Bourbon stores. I stocked myself for a year; the Spatial Inventory is great. But let me tell you, Cora can’t hold her liquor. Sweetheart, I have to go; there’s a police roadblock ahead.”

  “Take care, yes?’

  “Of course. Love you.”

  “Love you too.”

  With a deep sigh, Grace put the phone on the coffee table, took up a glass, and drank a full mouthful of the contents: an XO Cognac.

  “You’re letting them travel alone?” Isla asked. “To Vegas?”

  Grace averted her eyes from Isla’s stare. “You redecorated?” she asked, looking at the walls. There were a lot of new posters and art photos on display, many showing art and landmarks from Rome. It seemed the blonde had taken a liking to the eternal city.

  “Uhuh,” Isla nodded. “Lots of free time on my hands. Thomas is staying with Marc for a few weeks. It’s nice to have an evening for ourselves,” she raised her glass.

  “Amen,” Grace clinked.

  “So… you’re not worried at all?”

  “Afraid of what? She’s hideous. If she makes a pass at him, Rowan would rebuff her. Let them bond and become friends. It will help her overcome the rejection when the time comes.”

  “Bad choice,” Isla shrugged. “Vegas, pus booze, plus man and woman—”

  “Ugly alien woman.”

  “She can’t hear you, right?” Isla asked with a hint of concern, looking around.

  “Nope. She can’t longer interfere with the Core unless she’s physically in the control room.”

  “I think she’s pretty. Why don’t you tell Rowan Cora has the hots for him? He’ll tell the cat to let him be. He loves you,” Isla toed her shoes off, then rested her feet on the table, legs crossed. Dressed in the same tight black dress she had worn for Lizzie’s birthday, she looked stunning.

  A snippet of jealousy assaulted Grace, making her wish she’d be as tall and shapely. She bit her lower lip and returned to the matter at hand. “Cute? C’mon! Have you seen that mouth? One second, wide as a shark’s smile; the next, puckered like a tiny raspberry. And those turning ears. And wide eyes? And a tail, for fuck's sake!”

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “Yeah,” Isla nodded. “Fluffy tail. Quite the Anime type. Pretty!”

  “Anyway, we agreed not to tell Rowan about her crush, and she promised not to make a pass on him until he comes to his senses and discovers she’s her true love. Her words. I’m to be their best friend and sisterly figure, but she’ll let me have sex with him once in a blue moon.”

  “The policewoman took another sip from her whiskey. “She had this crush for how long?”

  “Since the beginning. Says it’s destiny. Because of Rowan’s big Will.”

  “Prfff….” Isla spat a spray of Bourbon. “How big?”

  “Seventy-something, for now.”

  “Where does he keep it, in the spatial storage? It’s… enormous. How can you survive that?”

  Grace tilted her head, befuddled. “Are we talking about the same thing?”

  “His willie?”

  Maybe Isla’s stare wasn’t judgmental but hazed by the Mana-infused alcohol, Grace thought. “Will, like determination. She’s dead set on getting him because she’s an Intelligence build, and apparently, they’re a perfect match. Horoscope and all. It’s written in the stars,” Grace made air quotes.

  The blonde yawned, then searched Grace’s eyes. “You’re devious… If Cora hits on him, she breaks her promise, and you can tell Rowan everything, and if she doesn’t, she puts herself in the friend zone.”

  “Yeah… Cora’s a virgin, by the way. She’s a very talkative little bitch. Her culture's big on waiting for sex until you're married. And being an Engineer, she calculates ten times a day how many… Pascals, I think—that’s some sort of pressure unit—are required to… you know… make her not a virgin anymore.”

  “I think a man can figure out where to put his Pascal by himself.”

  “She’s batshit crazy, Isla. A few days alone with her will make Rowan see that.”

  “Considering Rowan’s past, I would not have taken any chances and told him.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Grace frowned.

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  “You better tell me, or else!” Grace poked her index in Isla’s ribs, ticking her.

  “Stop it! Stop it!” the blonde jerked. “OK, I’ll tell you, just stop it! It’s about something Marc told me.”

  “Spill it out!” Grace wriggled her finger menacingly.

  “It stays between us. You know, doctor-patient confidentiality.”

  Grace stared at her friend, burning with the urge to ask how well that doctor-patient confidentiality worked when Isla had extracted the information from her ex. However, sarcasm was secondary to finding more information about Rowan, so she bit on her tongue, letting the blonde speak on.

  “You know he had a rough time as a kid before he was adopted?”

  “Yeah, they landed on the streets,” Grace nodded.

  “Rowan told Marc he did a lot of therapy after the adoption. The shrink he went to thought he had a very light form of Asperger's… or was it ADHD? Marc thinks Rowan is perfectly normal, only… err… stubborn.”

  “Stubborn?”

  “Massively. Life is not fair, and he’s not going to accept any shit, that’s his motto. College? No thanks. He likes Bourbon? He works in Bourbon. What if they got drunk in Vegas, and he… err… put his Pascal in her thingie, then decides to take you up on your offer and bring Cora into the family?"

  “I don’t think they’ll have the opportunity to relax and have a good time. This is a business trip. But…” Grace paused and moved closer to Isla. “I have a plan that could kill her plans for good… Rowan is not into her, that’s clear enough… but what if… he would be too busy to care about a nosy, stinking cat? What if he had other things on his mind?”

  Grace began playing with a strand of Isla’s hair, caressing her cheek with her thumb. The blonde shivered and raised her hand to push her hand away, but in the end, returned the caress. “You can’t be serious…”

  “I am. If polyamory is in the air, let it be with a woman I like… one Rowan likes too... I saw it in my visions, Isla. What if what I’m seeing is not something to be feared but embraced? You’ve noticed how he’s ogling you, right?”

  Isla shook her head, her cheeks red. “He does, but… in an intellectual way… It’s like he admires a painting.”

  “Sure, the Mona Lisa,” Grace rolled her eyes, finished her Cognac, and put the empty glass on the table. “He stares at your ass or boobs every time you walk around…. He can control it, and I know he loves me, but he is attracted by you. So why not go for it? That will keep his hands full,” she sneaked a hand into Isla’s decolletage, “and the little beast will have to give up.”

  Isla tried to fight Grace’s hand, grabbing it with her own, but maybe the alcohol had sapped her strength. “We shouldn’t… Friends with benefits… once in a blue moon… that was all…”

  “Was?” Grace leaned forward and kissed the blonde, profiting from the slightly opened mouth. After a brief hesitation, Isla replied in kind. Then, Grace retreated, sighing, and her face and neckline flushed. “Let’s wait until he’s on board.”

  “C’mon,” Isla leaned forward, whispering in Grace’s ear, then kissing her neck. “If two girls make out, it’s not cheating. I… missed it.”

  “You’re bending the law, officer,” Grace said, pecking Isla’s lips in a brief kiss before rising up and arranging her pencil skirt. “I have to go. Think it over.”