“Yeah, I should probably change the setting,” I managed, giving her another overly bright smile as she headed off to continue her last-minute checks on the other exhibitors.

SJ: I promise I’ll make it by lunchtime. Just finishing up with Pete now. I’m delaying the transfer until next week. Your big day is more important xx

A grin burst onto my face. “They’ll be back for lunch, Luci!” I squeaked. Luci stuck her nose out of her hammock, dooked once, and then curled up again.

I snorted. “Wish I could just curl up and sulk until my man gets back, too.” I reached down, picking non-existent lint off the Little Mer-ferret costume and rearranging it in front of the basket of extras I’d made for the event.

I wasn’t sure how I’d managed to crochet as many costumes as I had over the last few months. In between going back to uni, facing Professor Proctor (who was so overly nice it verged on saccharine and made me wonder what exactly SJ had done to get that letter out of him in the first place), coming up with a whole new concept for my art exhibition, and creating the bloody art, while also applying for postgrad courses that would qualify me as an art therapist … and barely wanting to leave the bedroom when SJ was home.

I sighed, my skin heating. Not just the bedroom. The lounge. The kitchen bench. Against my bookshelf, with all my monster romance heroines looking on with pride. The shower. The washing machine … that was a very fun one.

There wasn’t a surface in the apartment we hadn’t christened. Except Ezra’s bedroom. Well, Ezra’s old bedroom. He’d moved in with Humphrey about a month ago.

For the last two weeks, I’d been home alone. And horny. SJ had needed to be in Heaven for the audit, and while the apartment was a short portal away, he’d said it was too hard to leave me every day, and he just wanted to get the ‘bloody tedious task’ over and done with.

He’d been gone two weeks, and I was horny. Holy Hell, I needed him. I needed to work all this extra anxiety out on his sexy body. Preferably in his devil form.

I was full of nervous energy, because today, in addition to being the opening day of Ferretcon—an event that has somehow gotten so much interest they’d had to run it over an entire weekend—it was the day that first round offers for postgrad courses were being emailed out.

I gave in, and as Esther bellowed, “Two minutes until doors open!” over the loudspeaker, I unlocked my phone and tapped ‘refresh’ on my email again.

Still nothing.

I shoved the bloody thing deep into my bag and kicked it under the table, wrestling a very grouchy Luci out of her hammock and attaching her angel wings and halo.