Mummy Dearest: The XOXO Files, Book 1 Read Online Free

I couldn’t read it. He jumped down from the ladder with surprising agility and made his way through the light stands and reflectors, giving orders as he went.
    He planted himself in front of me, arms folded. Even though I was arguably taller, he was definitely broader and more solidly built. “Yes?” He was all business, which made what I had to say all the harder.
    I cleared my throat. “I’ve rethought your offer, and if it’s still open, I’d like to accept.”
    “I see.” He stood there for a moment, studying me, thinking it over. I wondered if maybe I was going to have to do some groveling after all. But then he shrugged. “Okay. It was a good idea an hour ago; it’s still a good idea. Let’s go for it.”
    The relief was huge. “Thank you,” I got out.
    He gave a quick, surprisingly mischievous grin. “I bet that hurt.”
    My own smile twisted up. “A little.”
    He gave my shoulder a friendly punch. “It takes a big man to be able to accept he’s wrong.”
    As I didn’t exactly think I had been in the wrong, I opened my mouth, but he was already off and running. “Okay. Let’s get you ready for your close up, Mr. DeMille.” He yelled for makeup.
    “Makeup?” I asked unhappily. “Is that really necessary?”
    “Yes. Relax.” Fraser studied my jeans and striped shirt. His brows drew together although he was dressed similarly, except instead of stripes he’d opted for black and white checks that I’d have thought would make any camera nauseous. “Do you have anything more professional looking you could change into?”
    “No. I wasn’t dressing for a job interview.”
    He pointed at me. “Hey. Good thought. I think we’ll call this segment… Interview with a Mummy .”
    “Not Curse of the Mummy?” I was being sarcastic.
    “I think it’s too obvious,” he said kindly, evidently not wishing to hurt my feelings.
    He wandered away, and the blonde skinny girl from earlier appeared.
    “Hi, I’m Karen. I’m going to do your makeup.”
    “Hi, I’m Drew.”
    She was studying me with unnerving intensity. “Oh, you’re a cutie. Do you have to wear your glasses, Drew?”
    “Er…no.” I slid them off and tucked them in my pocket.
    “Good. You have pretty eyes. Are they green or blue?”
    “Sort of green blue.”
    “Nice dark eyelashes. I don’t think we’ll have to touch them up.”
    “Touch them up?” I repeated uneasily.
    She chuckled. “You’d be surprised at the difference a little mascara makes.”
    “No I wouldn’t.”
    She laughed outright. “Don’t worry. I won’t tamper with your inner macho man.”
    Fraser wandered back, watching critically as Karen began dusting loose powder over my face with a brush that looked a lot like the ones we use in the field for cleaning fossils.
    “His skin is as clear as a little kid’s,” Karen observed. “ And he blushes.”
    To my abject gratitude, Fraser didn’t take the all-too-easy shot and embarrass me further. “Okay, Dr. Lawson. Describe what you plan to do with the mummy and we’ll work out how to shoot it.”
    I hadn’t really thought this far ahead, but clearly they were on a shoestring budget and wasting time was not an option.
    “It’s not going to be anything very in-depth. I’m not a forensic archeologist, and I don’t have the equipment here even if I were. Nor has Merneith been preserved under anything close to proper conditions. Dr. Solvani gave me permission to examine the mummy and the sarcophagus, but not to remove her from the case.”
    “Because she’d fall apart?”
    “Well, yes. That, for sure. She’s falling apart as it is.”
    “Now we’ll just apply a little bronzer,” Karen murmured.
    “Do we—?”

    “Yes,” they said in unison, and I subsided.
    “Go on,” Fraser ordered me.
    “Basically, I’m going to measure her, superficially examine her wrappings and the emblems and inscriptions on the sarcophagus, and take a bunch of snapshots and notes.”
    Fraser rubbed his bearded