Authors: Milly Taiden
Gerri stopped and glanced at her. She couldn’t make out the other woman’s expression through the large sunglasses, but her pursed lips spoke volumes.
“Listen to me very carefully, Alyssa. The moment you allow anyone to slide with lies, cheating and treating you poorly, that person will take your kindness for weakness and do it again and again.”
She’d never really stopped to think about that. Not that she allowed her exes to really take advantage of her. She’d just given the relationship time. Even after she’d known it was going nowhere. “I do tend to stay in relationships even once I have come to the conclusion it’s not going to work.”
“If it’s not working, cut it loose. Your time is valuable. You won’t be young forever. Don’t waste months or years of your life on someone who’s not right when you could be looking for the one who is,” Gerri said. She stopped at a well-known ladies clothing store and opened the door. “Now let’s get you some feel sexy clothes.”
Two hours later and what she swore was the fiftieth outfit, Lyss was no closer to being done shopping. She left the fitting room in a pair of tight capri pants and sexy low-cut sparkly top.
Gerri sat on a chair messing with her phone. She glanced up and beamed. “You look great!”
Lyss turned to stare at herself in the mirror. She didn’t have sexy clothes in her closet. Her mother had taught her to be practical at all times. When she was growing up, she’d tried to hide behind her clothes. Not that she was shy, she just didn’t want attention drawn to her body. As an adult, she learned to be herself. To like herself for who she was, but now she had no clue about style.
“Do you think it looks okay?”
Gerri stood and turned Lyss to face her. “Look at me, Alyssa. You’re beautiful.”
She smiled. “Nobody has ever called me that.”
“Well you are. Are you looking to keep your hair curled like that or did we want to go check out a hairdresser and makeup artist as well?”
She cleared her throat and winced. “I don’t wear makeup.”
“Ever?”
She shook her head. “I wear chapstick. Does that count?”
Gerri’s eyes widened. “No! We’ll have to—Wait. Do you even like makeup?”
“No,” she said and scrunched her nose. “I don’t like feeling stuff on my face. I get itchy and on the few occasions I’ve been made up I forget and start rubbing my eyes and end up looking like a raccoon.”
“That could be a problem.”
She snorted. “Tell me about it. I once had to be in a wedding party and the makeup artist used this great stuff to give me that smoky eye effect. I rubbed one eye during the evening and I started getting strange looks. When I finally saw my face, my eye shadow and mascara had run together and I looked like I had a black eye!”
Gerri laughed. “Oh, you poor thing.”
“The worst part was seeing my friend’s wedding photos. I was a mess in all of them.”
Gerri shook her head. “Let’s stay away from makeup then. What about your hair?”
Her shoulders slumped. “I have frizzy hair. Nothing anyone does makes it better.”
“There are products that can help tame the curls, Alyssa. Just because your hair is curly doesn’t mean it has to look...”
“Like I got electrocuted?”
Gerri burst into giggles. “Something like that.”
“If you can find me something to keep this hair from looking like dry straw I will be happy to try it. Taming my curls has been the bane of my existence. Cutting it wouldn’t help. It’d just puff up and I’ll end up looking like a giant Chia pet.”
TWO
Lyss could have sworn she’d gone around that bend before. Shit. She might be slightly off path. Her stupid GPS had lost satellite signal ten miles back and now she had no idea where the hell she was. Though she’d always thought she could find her way to anywhere, clearly it was not the case.
Great sense of direction my ass.
Where the hell was she? And more importantly, why hadn’t she thought to take the handwritten directions Gerri had given her instead of leaving them on her dining room table. Trying to remember didn’t seem to work. She was obviously going around in circles.
Crack!
The sudden slump as her old Camry dropped into a pothole made her wince.
“Fucking hell!”
Things just got better and better. Her car swerved, screeching with the force of what must be a flat tire. She pressed down on the brake while trying to control the car before coming to a complete stop.
Slapping her hands on the wheel, she growled in frustration and hopped out of the car. This was just not her day. Her blow-dryer decided to die while she’d tried to dry her mass of super curly hair. It was humid. She now had the world’s biggest Afro. To make it worse, she’d gotten a ticket trying to leave her apartment building. Apparently telling a cop that she was late for a date wasn’t a good enough reason to speed. Following that up with growling wasn’t advised either.
Bright sunlight blinded her. She glanced around but recognized nothing. There were no signs on the road and no businesses nearby. It was official. She was lost. Lost in the deep woods from the looks of things.
“Awesome. Just fucking awesome!”
She marched around the front of the car to the passenger side. The tire was torn and flat on the ground. She was stuck. She walked several yards away from the front of her car to see if she noticed anything up the road, but she saw nothing.
Could the day get any worse?
Loud noises coming from the forest caught her attention. She did a full circle, searching for whatever was out there. The sounds came again. A combination of branches breaking and moving. She peered into the woods and focused on the area she swore the noise came from.
Then she heard it. A loud roar. The angry bellow turned her blood to ice. Her heart jumped to her throat.
What. The. Hell. Was. That?
She blinked and almost missed it. A massive tiger leapt from between the trees, landing so close to her she gasped and took an instinctive step back.
Well over six feet in length and with canines that looked to be the size of her entire hand, the animal scared the daylights out of her.
“Nice kitty…”
What the heck was she supposed to do? The tiger roared again and took a step closer, his eyes flashed the golden amber color she normally found fascinating on TV. Right at that moment she found it scary as hell.
Didn’t the nature shows say you were supposed to stand still when approached by a big cat? She bit her lip, watching the animal scrunch his face as he roared again.
Screw standing still.
Without taking her gaze off him, she took a step back and whirled around to face her car. Dammit it was far. Fuck it. It was either run or die. Or both. She didn’t think twice and made a break for her car. She never ran, so she hoped those yards wouldn’t take her down before she reached the vehicle.
Another roar sounded at her back. Oh, shit! She ran faster, but decided to test her fate, half turning to glance over her shoulder. Not a good idea. She tripped on something and went down, landing on her ass. The massive tiger was on her within a heartbeat.
She closed her eyes tight, praying to god that the big animal was a vegetarian but waiting for the first painful bite.
“Why did you run?” a loud male voice asked.
She jerked her eyes open and glanced past the tiger to a man standing just a few feet back. He was tall with blonde hair and golden brown eyes almost as yellow as the ones on the tiger. The tiger didn’t bother moving away from her, caging her on the ground.
“What?” she asked, her gaze straying to the animal. It really was beautiful. Even with his big canines on display and the low roaring he continued to do.
“I said, why did you run?”
That had to be the stupidest question ever. “Big animal. Big teeth. Big fear.”
The guy smiled, a row of perfectly white teeth. “You’re not supposed to run or they chase. When you stand still you have more of a chance of not getting attacked.”
“Right.” She rolled her eyes. “Because being chased by a huge-ass tiger is normal for me.” She tried, but failed to ignore that the tiger had lowered his big head closer to her. “My instinct to survive said run. I ran. What...um...what is he doing?”
The tiger took a long whiff and continued to lower his head to her.
The guy lifted a brow and watched the animal sniff the air around her. “One of two things.”
She blinked at the big golden eyes coming closer and closer. “Yeah…um, is either of those getting ready to take a bite out of me?”
“It’s possible.”
“What!” she screeched.
The tiger stopped and licked his lips. Uh-oh. She was dinner.
The guy laughed. “Relax. It seems he likes you. He never likes strangers or human or other tigers.”
Sounded like the tiger didn’t like anybody. “Great…so could you tell him to move back a little? Enough where I don’t have to feel like he’s eyeing me for his next meal.”
“You’re funny.” The guy laughed.
Sadly, she wasn’t joking. “Yeah. I’m a riot.”
The tiger stepped back enough for the guy to offer a hand so she could stand. But the moment their hands touched, the animal was right there, baring his teeth again. Only this time it was at his master.
She wiped her butt and hoped there were no stains on her new clothes. She’d been careful to dress appropriately with some nice but simple pants and one of the sexy tops Gerri had gotten her to buy. She now knew way too much about what colors combined with each other and why she shouldn’t wear black. Apparently it made her look pale and washed out.
“Looks like you need to train him to know who the boss is.” She grinned.
“Oh, he knows who the boss is,” the guy said and took step away from her. “I’m Tynder.”
“I’m Alyssa Moran.” She wiped her hands on the sides of her pants. She glanced down and noticed dirt spots on her pants. This wouldn’t do for a good first impression. Her date would think she liked to roll around in the dirt. “I had a flat tire and would really appreciate if you could tell me where the nearest town is and if you know anyone that I can have fix my car.”
Tynder glanced at the car a few feet behind her. “Looks bad.”
She winced. “Yeah. Tore the tire right up. I don’t really know much about vehicles so point me in the direction of help and I’d gladly appreciate it.”
The tiger decided to push at her side at that moment. She jumped back, still wary of the massive animal. He came closer and nudged her hand with his head. Did this beast want her to pet him?
She ran her hand over the top of his head, sliding her fingers deep into his fur. His fur was soft and warm. She did it again, this time scraping her nails on his flesh. The tiger purred.
“Could you stop that,” Tynder mumbled, shuffling from foot to foot.
“Why? He’s kinda cute when he’s not showing his big teeth.”
“It’s weird to watch him being stroked.” He coughed. “He definitely likes you.”
She blinked, frowning in confusion. “Isn’t that better than him wanting to tear me a new asshole?”
He cocked his head but said nothing. This guy was so weird.
“I’ll take you to my pride and we’ll help get your car fixed.”
She nodded with a smile. “That would be so helpful!”
And her mother said there weren’t any nice people in the world. Her car broke down and she wasn’t being abducted or being offered to a god as a sacrifice. Things were starting to look up. Then again, her mother was such a sour apple she didn’t associate with most people. It had taken Lyss a long time to get some friends.
For most of her youth her mother discouraged her from hanging out with other kids. Being a big girl didn’t help. Her only form of contact with the outside world had been volunteering at the local animal adoption center. There, she’d hugged puppies and kittens. She’d fallen for the sweet helpless animals. It was there she realized she liked cats.
Though solitary, cats could be very loyal. She’d grown up to love cats and had adopted a few of her own the moment she’d moved out. Her cats were the only thing she had. Without a man or children, her hissy kitties took up her time. They gave her the attention she hadn’t gotten from her mother or her previous relationships.
Tynder smiled and pointed to the woods. “I’m happy to help.”
She decided that she would trust Tynder. Not because he had a trusting type of face or personality, but because that tiger of his seemed to have switched sides and was not moving away from her. Instant protector.
They walked down a path in the woods, slowly coming up on a jeep. Tynder eyed the tiger that glanced up at her. She wasn’t sure what to do, but all of a sudden her protector took off in a sprint. There went her savior.
“Don’t worry, you’ll see him soon enough.”
She slid into the passenger side, wondering what her date would think of her being so late. At this rate, she wouldn’t get there until tomorrow.
They rode down a hill to a town. In less than ten minutes, she was at a mechanic’s shop. She glanced around, but the tiger wasn’t there. There was a woman by the entrance who stared at her as she neared.
Tynder stood next to Lyss and introduced her. “Kat this is Alyssa.”
Kat sniffed, her brows rose and her gaze snapped to Tynder. “Her?”
“I don’t make the rules,” he said. “I follow them.”
“Bu
t
−
”
“No buts, Katherine. Call Stripes to come out here and look at her car.”
“Bu
t
−
”
“Now!”
Kat huffed and threw Lyss a glare before marching off.
She’d tried to keep track of the conversation but it seemed there was something she missed at some point.
“Come,” he said. “I’ll take you to meet Gray.”
“And who is that?”
“Our pride leader.”
The way he said the other guy’s name made her a little wary.
Looking around, she noticed that the town was not so large. All the houses or cabins had the same look and feel. As if one person had designed them all.
They walked down a few streets until they went up a deserted road. Further in the woods, she finally saw it. A massive cabin sat in the middle of nowhere with no other structures surrounding it. It was as if it had just sprung up between the large trees.
Tynder pushed the front door open and waited for her to enter. She glanced around, her vision taking in the wooden furniture, the open space and the massive windows that brought the outdoors inside.
“Who are you?”
She squeaked for the second time that day, slapping a hand to her chest to stop her heart from popping out and then searching for the owner of the deep rumbling voice.
She’d been so taken with the surroundings, she hadn’t seen him standing in a corner, within the shadows. It was hard to make the guy out, but he was big. Like really big. And she wasn’t a small girl, so that made him huge. Her hand flew to her hair and she patted it to try and tame it.
“I’m Alyssa Moran. I was on my way to Green Edge when my car broke down.”
He stepped out of the shadows and her breath caught in her throat. He was gorgeous. He wasn’t even pretty boy gorgeous. He had a rugged look that made her girl parts sigh. With piercing golden eyes, that looked eerily familiar, he kept her captivated. The square jaw and that hint of beard made her thoughts scatter in her head. Her past experience with men left her ill-prepared for this hunk of man meat. She blinked repeatedly in case she’d imagined him. What a joke. She’d never imagined anyone that sinfully delicious before.
“What are you doing here?”
Dear god, that voice. She might just beg him to keep talking. He had a deep sexy rumble that most men just couldn’t achieve. In fact, his whole demeanor said rough and tough. His plain white T-shirt clung to his body like a second skin, showing off the muscles of his arms and abs. She swallowed hard. Then there were the jeans. The button was still undone. Holy crap. It was as if she’d walked in on him getting dressed.
She threw Tynder a side glare. If he’d brought her earlier, she might have gotten to see Gray with fewer clothes on. Now all she could do was imagine what he looked like under those jeans. Would he take his clothes off if she begged?