In-Between Work and Play (The Jocelyn Frost Series Book 1) (3 page)

The sharp pins
and needles prickled my skin again. I looked around to find the source of the
sensation.  There were plenty of people nearby who were talking on their cell
phones, eating picnic dinners, or reading in the setting sun.  I turned back
toward the Psychology Building, but I didn’t notice anything out of place.

It had to be my
nerves.  Yes, that had to be it.  I rolled my father’s ring between my thumb
and index finger.  Doing that was the only thing that helped me calm down. 
Sometimes, it wasn’t enough, but other times, it did the trick. I let the gold
ring slide back between by breasts as I walked away from the building.   

I wove through
the crowd of volunteers gathering in front of the Department of Sex Magic. 
Each one of them was either dressed in a bathrobe or something skimpy enough to
be classified as a bathing suit.  I was ready to exit the throng of eager orgy
participants when,
just my luck
,
a sharp pain stung my ass.

“Where’s the
fire, baby?”

I whirled
around, swallowing hard as I stared up at an eight-foot-tall Cyclops.  “None of
your business.” I should never have stopped!  He grabbed my arm and pulled me closer. 

“Haven’t seen
you at one of these orgies.” Drool trickled down the side of his grinning
mouth.  “Bet you taste bittersweet.”  He reached for my hair with his other
meaty paw. 

“LET GO!  I’m
not going into the freaking orgy!”  Cyclopes could be so annoying.  They
thought only about two things—eating and fucking.  I preferred not to witness
either activity. 

My protests
seemed to draw the attention of a few other people.  A busty, blonde nymph
stepped between us. “Hey, stud.” She reached inside his robe. “Forget Miss
Prude, and party with me, okay?” Tossing me a wink while giving him a hand job,
she caught the one-eyed giant’s attention.

His sweaty grip
slid off my bicep before slapping the bikini clad nymph’s light-green ass. 

If my job hadn’t
been on the line, I would never have stayed out so late.  Why couldn’t I be
back in my condo, munching on some chips and reading a romance novel? 

Baboon statues
stared at me as I practically ran toward the Beaux-Arts exemplar-styled
Archive.  The building pretty much looked like a copy of the Fifth Avenue and
Forty-Second Street New York Public Library.  The main difference was that
lions guarded the NY Public Library instead of baboons.  I guessed the baboons
had something to do with their being one of the sacred animals of Thoth, the
Egyptian god who invented writing; but I could have been wrong.

For the first
time since I began working for the In-Between, I needed to enter this
building.  I stopped short of one of the baboons.  It was so life-like, it kind
of freaked me out.  Pulling my security ID tag over my head, I dumped it into
my purse.  Next, I pulled my hair out from the clip, allowing it to cascade
down my back.  Once the clip was secured on the strap of my purse, I ran my
fingers through my curly tresses to help flatten them down.

My heels echoed
throughout the entry hall as a bright, color-coded directory caught my eye.  If
I couldn’t find a witch or wizard, perhaps I could find a spell.  Hopefully,
in-depth research would be good enough to present to Inez.

Oh fabulous
Frigg!  I winced, seeing that I had a little less than an hour before the
Archive closed. 

I didn’t know
what was worse, finding out that I should have come here earlier, or sensing
that my arm and ass were likely starting to bruise. 

“May I help
you?” A fairly deep baritone, harboring a slight accent from parts unknown,
broke my focus. 

My heart skipped
a beat as I turned to answer the sexy voice.  Why hello, gorgeous!  I doubted
that Lofn, the Norse goddess who arranges marriages, was answering my prayers. 
But hey, at least he was really nice to look at.  Honestly, just about
everything about the guy was hot. 

Normally, I
found one or two physical features that I liked in a man.  Take Carmine, for
example.  Carmine had a handsome face, but he was way too skinny for my taste. 
Not to mention, his ruby-red eyes freaked me out. 

This guy was the
complete package.  Standing at about five-foot, eleven inches, his broad
shoulders begged to be squeezed, and I had to resist the urge to run my fingers
through his dark, thick hair.

“Miss?” The
corner of his lips lifted into a strikingly coy smile.

“Do you work
here?”  What was I saying? Of course, he worked here, idiot!

“Is this your
first time visiting the Archive?”

I felt my cheeks
flush as my thoughts scattered to the wind.  “Is it that obvious?”

He closed the
distance between us.  Placing his hand on the small of my back, he guided me up
the stairs into the main building.  “Yes, it is.  However, in my own defense,
the baboons told me to expect you.”

“The baboons?” 
I looked around, half expecting to find one lingering in the background.  Not
all animals living in the In-Between and Erda were as reclusive as the ones
living on Earth. 

“Bill and Ted;
those two are really observant.”  He pulled two ice packs out from behind the
reference librarian’s desk.  “I can only imagine you’re not quite yourself at
the moment, due to that brute.”

“I, umm…”
Blinking, I tried not to get lost in his luminous, green eyes.  “Yes, you’re
right.  I’m not used to being treated like that.”   Icy numbness dulled the
pain that rippled across the black and blue on my bicep.

“Did you come in
here to get away from that crowd? Or was there something else you needed?”

The tone of his
voice made me tingle in all the right places.  I needed him to do a lot of
different things to me, which reminded me of my reason for coming there in the
first place.  “I’m actually on a mission.”  Ugh, that sounded lame.  “You see,
I’m a therapist over in the Psychology Department.”

His head tilted
toward me. “Jocelyn Frost?”

My jaw dropped.
“You know my name?”

He gave me that
coy smile I saw earlier. “The baboons just informed me.” 

“Bill and Ted
just told you my name?” I snapped my fingers. “Just like that?”

“Just like
that.” He nodded. “And you’re a daughter of Baldur?”  His eyes searched mine.
“That explains the light show your irises just put on for me.”

My brows knitted
together. That was a bit too much for me to absorb.  “How did they know those
details?”

He grinned. 
“Ted got a nice view of your ID badge on your way in.”

Crap, I
definitely need to be more mindful of my surroundings.   

His hand lightly
touched mine, causing tingles to rush through my body.  My skin flushed while
my heart did a little jig. 

“I’m
telepathically connected to the baboon statues.  My father created them when he
found out I would be working here.  They are an endless source of information
about what goes on across the Department Mall.” 

“Your father?” 
I blinked as the puzzle pieces clicked together. “You’re a son of Thoth, the
Egyptian who invented writing?  Also known as a god of wisdom and, um, magic?”

“Yes, that’s
right.  Baboons are one of his sacred animals, and that’s why they protect the
Archive.  My name’s Declan Rivers.” He kissed the back of my hand. 

“Well, it’s nice
to meet you.” My blush deepened.  The whole kissing-the-top-of-the-hand thing
seemed really old-fashioned, but apparently, it never really went out of style
in Erda and the In-Between.

“Your irises are
lighting up again.”  Declan stepped closer, leaning into me. 

A woodsy, sweet
scent emanated from his body, causing my brain to shut down.  “Huh?”

He continued to
study my eyes. “Stunning. Absolutely stunning.”

“Stunning?”  I
moistened my lips.  Taking a step back, his eyes closed, ending my trancelike
state.  “Wow, umm… No one’s ever mentioned that my eyes glowed.  I’m, umm… glad
that you like them.” I sheepishly looked down before turning away from him.  I
needed to get myself under control before I started acting like a middle
schoolgirl, ogling her crush.  “So… umm, anyway, Mr. Rivers…”

“Please, call me
Declan or Dex. It’s up to you.” His fingers grazed my good arm while flashing
me that seductively coy smile of his.

“Right!  Okay,
Dex it is.  As I was saying, during today’s group therapy session, my clients
tasked me with helping them solve a particular problem.”  Why couldn’t the
reference librarian have resembled a kindly mother figure?  It was hard enough
calling the Sex Magic Department for advice, never mind actually consulting Mr.
Eye Candy. 

“Are you allowed
to share the nature of the problem? Or do I have to guess?”  He glanced around
the room.  Aside from some random people who either slept on top of their work,
or were part of the group of high school kids hanging out near the computers,
there wasn’t another soul around who could have eavesdropped on our
conversation.

“What?  Bill and
Ted went silent?”

“They’re good,
but not that good.”  He rolled up the sleeve on his burgundy dress shirt in
order to glance down at his watch.  “Give me one second.”  Leaning over his
desk, he turned on the PA system.  “The Archive will be closing in half an
hour.   I repeat, the Archive will be closing in thirty minutes.”  Clicking the
sound system off, he refocused his attention back on me.

Perhaps it would
have been best to just get it all out, instead of holding it in, right?  Kind
of like getting your eyebrows waxed. Maybe if I said it fast enough, it
wouldn’t be as embarrassing?  “They asked me to find a reliable contraceptive
method.  Apparently, condoms tear too easily, and the pill isn’t strong
enough.  I thought that maybe someone else might have researched this issue in
the past, and possibly figured it out?”  I was almost afraid to ask what
he
did during those situations.  Surely,
Mr. Tall, Dark, and Yummy must have spent half of his life in the sack.

A perplexed look
caused his brows to knit together. “You weren’t able to give them any advice?”

I mastered the
innocent look years ago.  It came easy for me since that was one of my sperm
donor father’s titles. “I don’t think they wanted me to tell them they should
either invest in a vibrator or only date fae.”

He laughed,
drawing several glances in our direction from the other Archive patrons.  “No,
I don’t think your clients would appreciate that.  I take it they aren’t fae?”

I adjusted the
ice pack on my arm. “No, they’re demigoddess half-breeds from various
pantheons.”

He gave me a
half-smile.  “That must be challenging.  I’m surprised you see them as a mixed
group, and not by pantheon.” 

“We have our
moments, but when it comes down to it, it doesn’t matter if their parents are
Greek, Roman, Norse, Gaelic, or Egyptian. They all want the same thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Someone to
listen to them, and to not be alone.”  The last part came out in a whisper.  I
wanted to say that they just wanted to be loved, but most people interpreted
that as romantic love.  Love comes in all different ways, shapes, and forms,
from being accepted by one’s peers to forming new friendships.

I looked up at
him through my lashes.  His brow creased as his lips slanted.  Wow, I could
actually see him thinking.  Perhaps he was asking Bill and Ted for advice? 

After about
thirty seconds, he asked, “Did you contact the Department of Sex Magic?”

“They weren’t
any help at all.  Apparently, they specialize in increasing fertility while
using the power of their orgasms to strengthen the magic holding the In-Between
together.” I grinned, giving him another innocent look. “It’s a real hard job,
but someone has to do it.”  What was wrong with me today?  I really needed to
extract my mind from the gutter while leaving the corny sayings there. 

Mr. Sexy
Librarian leaned forward on his desk.  Rubbing his five o’clock shadow, he
stated, “You are something else.” 

I nearly smacked
my head.  “Anyway, most of the department is away on a retreat, so there aren’t
any advanced magic users available to answer my questions.”  I lifted a
shoulder while tilting my head to the side. “Is there any way you might help me
figure this out?”  What was with the tone of my voice?  I suddenly sounded like
one of those women from a late night phone sex commercial.