Loving the Tigers (2 page)

“Heck, Kelly, we haven’t researched this place. We’d never even heard of it before today.”

“I know.” Kelly rested her chin in her hand and sighed. “It just looks so fun here.”

Jessi glanced down at the map in front of her. “Maybe, once we get settled, we can come back and spend a few days here. We can even bring costumes with us.”

“Maybe...” Kelly leaned across the table to get a look at the map. “How far did you say we were from the first place?”

“Six hours.” Jessi shrugged. “Who knows? The next place might be just as fun.”

Someone opened the door and the bell rang again while Kelly studied the map.

“How tall would you say the entrance door is?” Jessi asked around the ice cube in her mouth.

“About six-and-a-half, maybe seven feet. Why?” Kelly stared at Jessi for a moment. Her friend’s expression of awe had her turning around to see just what she’d been missing. “Holy cats! Those two are tall.”

Her gaze wandered over the two newcomers. Their costumes were awesome. Each of them had transformed their faces into a half-human, half-tiger mix and they both had realistic-looking tails sticking out from the back of their pants.

Though, they were still very handsome beneath their makeup, their crazy hair was a complete turn-off. They both had short, black hair. While that was acceptable, the gold-striped highlights one had, with the silvery white the other wore just wasn’t attractive to her, at all. She glanced at Jessi. However, their weird hair was right up Jessi’s proverbial alley.

They moved on to their table, one of them pausing slightly to glance down at Jessi whose face turned a bright red before she glanced down to her clasped hands.

The two were the epitome of the type of men they had always tried to hook up with in their wild youth, minus the costumes, of course.

“Would you look at that?” Kelly asked with a low whistle. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cat-boy quite like those two.” That was most likely because she hadn’t been to many cosplay conventions. She’d visited Jessi once in a while when she’d lived away, but they hadn’t always attended conventions. Sometimes they just sat around Jessi’s apartment binge watching their favorite TV shows and movies using the internet.

“Me, either.” Jessi glanced toward the men as they headed toward a table.

The door’s bell rang and Kelly turned, curious to see what other eye candy could possibly enter the diner while they awaited their lunch.

Two men who could have been brothers to the cat-boys stepped through the door. Each of them bent down to keep their heads from hitting the top of the doorjamb.

“I’m telling you, Jess, we
need
to stay here, at least for a few days.” Both of them had similar partial cat faces, like the first two. They also had tails. However, one of them wore a realistic-looking costume glove, shaped like a tiger paw with retractable claws.

“They’re serious about their costumes here, that’s for sure.” Jessi sat back in her seat when their waitress set their lunch before them.

“If you need anything else, just give me a holler.” The waitress smiled down at them before turning toward the four men who could have been male dancers.

Kelly glanced down at her sandwich, picked it up and took a small bite while watching a small drama unfold.

Apparently, the first two guys weren’t happy to see the second pair who walked through the door. There was a story there. She was sure of it.

Suppressing a smile, she watched as the two newcomers chose a table next to their reluctant friends and sat down.

Sable brown hair brushed their shoulders as they sat back and crossed their arms over their wide chests. Both men glanced toward Jessi, pausing for a moment before turning their attention to Kelly, pinning her in her seat. One man had gray eyes, the other a deep blue, both of them smiled and winked.

Cheeks burning, she glanced away. What else could she do... openly flirt with two men in front of Jessi, not a day after they both agreed that they had settled down and left their wild youth behind them?

“You know,” Kelly said as she tried to keep her attention on her plate. “Maybe we
should
leave.” She glanced at the four men with a sigh. “That’s
way
too much testosterone for either of us, and I don’t know about you, but I’ve settled down.
A lot.
Threesomes just aren’t my thing anymore.”
Stop lying to yourself. You’d take both of them in a heartbeat.

“Mine either.” Jessi shook her head, though she appeared disappointed. Was she also lying to herself?

Kelly almost cried when her friend agreed with her.
Gawd they’re gorgeous!
Her body practically hummed with the need to jump their bones.
You can’t leave without knowing if they’re attracted to full-figured women.

Reaching out, she picked up her glass, tipping it back. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath.
Just eat your lunch and leave. They’re too hot for you anyway. What guy who looks like that would want your big ass in your size twenty jeans?

Derek studied the interior of the diner for a bit, watching the costumed townsfolk, until his curiosity got the best of him and he turned his attention to the two women they passed on the way to their table. He’d had a difficult time walking by without stopping. He wanted nothing more than to kneel at the brunette’s feet and beg her to go home with them.

Her dark beauty nearly brought him to his knees and her scent was intoxicating. His body hardened to the point of pain when he drew in his first breath near her. His tiger rammed at the ethereal barrier that kept him caged within his human form. The animal wanted his mate. How could he blame the beast for wanting the very thing his human half craved with every passing moment?

Glancing at Mac, he lifted a brow as if to ask what in hell the other man wanted.

“What are you two doing here?” Mac curled his lip. He appeared about as pissed as Derek felt. What were Mac and Gareth doing ogling his and Zach’s mate?

What’s his problem?
he asked Zach through their private mental link.
We aren’t the ones ogling
their
mate.

The other two no doubt communicated through their own link. As far as Derek knew, all shifters had limited telepathic abilities. Those with a strong emotional or blood bond had their own private link, akin to their own radio station, only they could receive.

Maybe they’re looking at the blonde.
Zach shrugged when he glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.
I can hope, can’t I? The last thing I want to do is go home and tell our prince we fought the men he sent us to guard and protect.

Hell.
Derek sighed.
You’re right. You know I hate it when you’re right.
Zach just grinned. The ass. “Corbin sent us to keep an eye on you two. In the event that you find your mate, he wanted to know that someone had your backs.” He leaned forward in his seat, snatched a menu out of the holder in the center of the table and opened it to the first page.

“We have each other’s backs.” Mac growled when he noticed Derek studying the brunette. “And stop staring at our mate.”

“
Your
mate?” Derek tightened his grip on the menu.
Shit! We’re going to have a fight on our hands.
“Which one?” At least he’d had the presence of mind to ask the question before his tiger tore free of his tight leash and ripped the other man apart.

“Yeah.” Zach shifted in his seat, thrusting his shoulders back, no doubt preparing for battle. “Which one?”

“The blonde.” Mac glowered at them. He sat stiffly, his hands balled into fists as he, too, fought his beast’s wrath.

Derek breathed a sigh and Zach sat back in his seat.

Thank the stars they didn’t attempt to lay claim to the brunette.

Yes,
Zach agreed, obviously relieved.

“It looks as though someone else needs to watch
your
backs, as well.” Gareth grinned.

To hell with that.
Derek cleared his throat. “We’ll have to watch each other’s backs and make sure that none of us does something stupid.” He took a deep breath. “I’m not about to call any more tigers into this situation. Two mates for two different sets of tigers is coincidence enough. I refuse to take the chance that our mate could be compatible with someone else.”

Mac and Gareth nodded their agreement.

“There is
one
good thing about the two of them being potential mates.” Zach set his menu down, sat back in his seat and crossed his legs at the ankles. “We can all move just that much faster. I don’t know about you two, but I can hardly wait to get our woman alone.”

“Neither can I,” Derek couldn’t help but add. He couldn’t wait to see if her lovely coffee and cream skin was as soft as it looked.

“You two might like to take things fast, but Gareth and I like to take things a bit slower,” Mac said as he relaxed into his chair with a slow smile. “We like things hot. You can’t get hot when you’re in a hurry.”

Wanna bet?
Derek did his best not to smirk at the other man who thought so much of himself. When aroused, he could make things hot in the worst of circumstances—especially with the woman nature intended to complete him.

With an expression that said,
watch this,
Mac pushed away from their table and stood. Stretching, the ass made sure to get the women’s attention by showing off his height and muscular build before he slowly made his way over to their table. “Excuse me, ladies.” He bent slightly at the waist. Derek could only assume the showoff was smiling at the two unsuspecting females. “Would you mind if I borrowed your sugar?”

He turned and waved his arm toward his companion. “Our table doesn’t have much.”

The females stared at him, speechless. What was the ass trying to prove, anyway? That their mate was attracted to them? Hell, it was most likely obvious to the humans in the room.

“Um...” The blonde licked her lips.

He’d better not make a move on our mate,
Zach practically growled through their mental link.

He won’t. It’s the blonde he’s after. Leash your beast before he makes a spectacle of all of us.
Zach had a handle on his tiger by a thread. His tension was palpable. The last thing they needed was for the idiot to cause an incident.

“Keep it,” the blonde said as she handed him the sugar. “We obviously don’t need it.”

What in the world did she mean by that?
he asked Zach with a frown.

Zach shrugged.
Hell if I know.

“I’m Mac,” he said as he offered his hand. “It’s short for MacKenzie.” He half gestured to the rest of them. “The man by himself is my best friend Gareth. The other two in the blue and green t-shirts are Zach and Derek respectively.”

“I—um... it’s nice to meet you. I’m Jessi.” She pointed to her friend. “This is Kelly.”

Zach almost laughed aloud when she jerked her hand from Mac’s and wiped it on the napkin in her lap.

“Well, you’re probably right about the sugar. It would only make you sweeter.”

“Don’t you mean fatter?” She glared up at him and thinned her lips.

Fat?
Derek studied the two women for a moment.
I only see two beautifully curvy women in need of real men to show them their worth.

Me, too,
Zach concurred. At least they could agree on that one thing. The rest would remain to be seen.

Kelly stared at herself in the mirror. Her hazel eyes looked huge, no doubt because she was scared to death. Whatever had possessed them to agree to spend more time with the four men?

After the men convinced them to have dinner with them, they all went out and purchased costumes for Jessi and her. Jessi’s had been that of a white tiger and hers red. The red-gold material shot through with black stripes had been little more than what appeared to be a long-sleeved bodysuit with a tail.

Still, they had each looked amazing, as the men, no doubt, knew they would. After dinner, they went dancing then each ended up back in their guys’ room.

Biting her lip, she stared at her reflection. Could she really do this? They said they were shape shifters. Hell, they’d even proved it by shifting into huge tigers right in front of her. Still, there was the little devil’s advocate inside her insisting that they could never,
would
never, give her the lifelong commitment they promised.

“You’re damaged goods,” she whispered into the mirror. Tears streamed down her face as she came to a decision that she knew she couldn’t tell Jessi about—at least not yet.

Never would she take the chance of ruining Jessi’s chance at happiness. Jessi had a shot. She’d never been as bad as Kelly when they were younger. Kelly didn’t deserve that kind of happiness and she certainly wasn’t worthy of the two men in the bedroom who were so earnest to love a woman—any woman, apparently.

Mind made up, Kelly took a deep breath and reached for the doorknob. She would tell them her decision then she would leave. Jessi was in the best of hands. It was time for her to disappear before she ruined things for everyone.

Squaring her shoulders, Kelly opened the door and faced the two men who awaited her.

“I thought you were going to undress.” Zach’s brow furrowed as he glanced at her costume. “You even still have your shoes on.”

“Yes. About that,” she said, swallowing thickly. “I’ve changed my mind.” She stared at the floor, unable to meet their gaze. What could she say? That she’d chickened out?

“Why?”

“What changed your mind?” Derek stood still—too still. It made her fear the predator within him.

“Me.” She shrugged at his frozen expression. “I’m not good enough for you.” She held up her hand when he would have interrupted her. “Don’t. Just don’t. Hear me out before you argue with me.”

She moved to stare out the window at the sparkling lights of the town below, tapping her fingers on the sill. “I’ve never been what you might call a
good girl.
In fact, people where I’m from have many names for girls like me.” Tears burned her eyes as she prepared to voice her wanton behavior.