Her heart beat so fast she thought she was having a heart attack. Could
they
have come back for her? “Did they give you their names?”
Her assistant, Denise, glanced to the ceiling. “It was something odd like Malon and Cavor I think.”
Malik and Cavon
. “I’ll be right out.”
As soon as her assistant closed the door, Amy jumped up and smoothed her skirt and made sure her shirt was tucked in.
Oh, my God
. When they’d come three months ago with Sella, Amy had been instantly smitten. There was something about how they held themselves with such confidence that had captivated her. The fact they always put her concerns first tugged on her heart like no two other men had. Okay, maybe it was the fact they claimed to be lion shifters who lived in an alternate reality that had truly captivated her.
She was about to go to the front desk to greet them when a knock sounded. The door opened and when she saw them, her breath caught and her stomach flipped. She couldn’t have prevented her grin from capturing her face if she’d wanted to.
Amy’s mouth turned dry. “Hi, again.” That probably sounded dumb, but she wasn’t capable of saying anything witty.
She stepped from behind her desk and closed the gap between them. Should she give them a hug or kiss their cheeks? If her pussy had its way, she’d do a lot more than only kiss them.
Before she could decide, Malik grinned, picked her up, and planted a big old kiss on her lips. Given he was over a foot taller than she was, her feet dangled far off the ground. His powerful chest almost dug into her tits.
He set her down. “I’ve been thinking about you.”
Her pulse raced. “Me, too.”
Darn.
She should have played hard to get
.
“Are you here for a few days, or what?” Her words rushed out faster than water gushing out of an unplugged pipe.
Please say you want to stay longer this time.
Getting her heart broken again wasn’t on her to-do list this week.
Malik glanced at Cavon. “It depends on a few factors, but we’re thinking of moving to Spirit. Maybe for good.” His hazel eyes shimmered with such lust, her pussy dripped.
Her body shook. If they were lion shifters, would they be comfortable living on Earth full time? “That’s awesome. Where are you staying?” She had a spare bedroom but rushing things wasn’t her style.
“I was hoping to stay at the inn for a few days until we find a place.”
That would be so perfect. If they stayed here, she could keep an eye on them. She would have offered them a free room at the inn, but she’d already used up all of her allotted complimentary passes. Despite the amazing welcome kiss, she wasn’t sure if they were interested in pursuing her. They might be here to look around to see who else struck their interest.
“Great. Just tell the front desk to give you the manager’s discount.”
Cavon stepped forward. “Maybe if you’re free tonight, we could interest you in dinner and maybe some dancing.”
She didn’t hesitate. “I’d love that.” She was proud she kept the giggle out of her comment. Maybe they
had
come back to see her.
“Say 7:00 p.m.?”
Ever since last month, she’d been moved to the day shift and was finally able to be home for dinner. “Perfect. I can meet you in the lobby.” She’d have plenty of time to straighten up her house and get prettied up before her date with her dream men.
They each gave her a brotherly hug before they left. As soon as the door closed, she jumped up and down and let out a little eek. She had to call Krista. She and one of the town’s psychics had been the ones to see their friend, Lara, walk through what she called an alignment point into this other reality, which convinced Amy their story might be true.
She picked up her cell and pressed the number in her contact list.
“Krista Newman.”
“It’s me, Amy. You won’t believe who just walked in here.” She’d already filled Krista in on Malik and Cavon’s last visit.
“No way. They came back?”
“Yes, and they said they might be moving here.”
Krista squealed. “Did they say anything about how Lara was doing?” Three months ago, Sella informed her Lara was two months pregnant.
Now she felt bad that she hadn’t asked, but she’d been so overwhelmed, that she hadn’t even thought about anything other than the fact they were actually in her office. “I didn’t get a chance to ask, but I will tonight. They asked me out.”
“
Ahh
. You are so lucky. Call me after the date and tell me everything.”
Krista got another call. Amy knew how super busy she was and didn’t want to keep her. “I will. Hugs. Love you.”
“You, too.”
After she disconnected, she sat back at her desk. Concentrating for the next two hours was going to be near to impossible, but she had to try. She tapped the keyboard to bring the computer back to life and tried hard to remember what she’d been doing. Even after ten minutes, her mind was going a hundred miles an hour.
She leaned back in her swivel chair. If only there was a way to contact Lara about her lion shifters, she’d feel a lot more comfortable about what to do with her men. She’d fantasized during more than a few nights in the last couple of months about the size of their cocks. Was it in proportion to their height and width? If that were the case, she might not be able to handle them.
Them?
Was she really ready to take on two men at the same time? Yikes. Sure, many of her friends were in ménage relationships, but that was with mortal men and not lion shifters. Images of kinky sex made her clit throb. If they would only shift right in front of her, it would make her decisions so much easier.
* * * *
Amy paced the High-Country Inn’s main lobby, waiting for Malik and Cavon to come downstairs. She didn’t want to appear overly anxious, so she pretended to brush the dust off one of the artificial plants while she kept an eye out for them.
She must have been daydreaming, because all of a sudden two beefy hands grabbed her waist from behind. She jumped and spun around only to be inches from a slightly bent over Cavon. “You ready?”
If she’d been taller, she might have been tempted to stand on her tiptoes and kiss those lickable lips. “Yes.”
“Since this morning, we’ve been cruising the strip for a place to eat since we figured you might be tired of eating at the hotel.”
She rarely ate here, but she didn’t want to tell them that after they’d gone to so much trouble. “You are so sweet.”
“There’s a place down Sixth Street that serves food. It has a mechanical bull and even dancing.” Cavon puffed out his chest.
“You talking about Gardners?” Only the locals went there, and too often, the cops had to be called in to break up the fights. She’d heard the bar food was quite good, and she did love to dance, but she’d leave the mechanical bull to the men.
“Yup. That’s the place.”
“Did you go inside?” She and two of her girlfriends chanced it one night, but once they got a look at the clientele, they left, as it didn’t seem safe.
Malik shook his head. “Just peeked in. We can go someplace else if you want.”
She didn’t want to appear to be a spoilsport. The idea of a mechanical bull did seem to thrill them. “No. It’s good.” If any fight did break out, she was confident that these two could handle themselves.
Since it was a balmy July evening, she suggested they walk. When they were here last, they told her they didn’t have a car because to get from Anterra to Spirit all they had to do was walk. No map in the world showed any town by the name of Anterra, near or far, so perhaps they really did come from an alternate reality. However, if they were that close, why wait three months before contacting her if they missed her so much? All potential answers to these questions she’d entertained just wouldn’t fit.
“So how’s Lara doing?”
Cavon grinned. “She’s got quite a belly on her, but I’ve never seen anyone happier.”
Malik nodded. “Unless you count Taryn and Kellum. I think they’re happier than she is.”
She’d love to be able to visit. “So how does this alternate reality thing work?”
Malik shrugged. “I don’t honestly know. The alignment point aligns our two realities. When the two realities are in phase, so to speak, we just walk through.”
Her pulse sped up. “If I wanted to visit Lara I could?” That would be so cool.
“You have to be with a shifter to even find this crossover point.”
That was consistent with what Krista and Imelda had told her. “You’re shifters, so you could find it, right?”
Malik pulled her into a hug. “It’s a little more complicated than that.”
She didn’t doubt it. Given how naïve she was, everyone was probably pulling her leg about Anterra.
They approached Sixth Street within a few minutes and turned right. This wasn’t the best part of town, but no one would bother her with these two by her side.
Malik tugged on her waist. “Don’t you worry about anything. Stick with us and you’ll be fine.”
He must have sensed the danger, too, or else he could read minds. They walked past a few alleys where some of the homeless often sought shelter in the summer months.
Music pulsed out of Gardners even with the doors closed. “After you, honey.”
She liked her nickname. It seemed to roll off his tongue. That image had her connecting the dots to other parts of her body she’d like to have roll off his tongue.
Stop it.
Inside, the place seemed quite busy especially at this early hour, but not so much so that they couldn’t secure a booth. Malik sat next to her and Cavon across from her.
A woman she’d never seen before came over carrying a pad, a pencil, and three menus. She wore a cowgirl hat, a red bandana around her neck and jeans that were sausage tight. But it was the fact that her plaid shirt wasn’t buttoned up enough that kind of pissed off Amy. She wasn’t as well endowed as this girl and didn’t need to have her men at eye level to those bountiful tits.
“Oh, my,” said Ms. Chesty. “Haven’t seen you two here before.” She leaned closer and winked.
Pu-lease
. Couldn’t she see that these men were with a date?
Malik nodded to the menus in her hand. “Can we look at those?”
The woman smiled and bent down even more. Amy was about to say something when Malik pulled the menu from the woman’s hands and passed them out. “Come back when we’ve decided.”
Her eyes widened at the dismissal.
Go Malik
.
Amy looked over the menu. To her surprise, there were quite a few items that tempted her.
“You want a glass of wine or something?” Cavon asked.
Given the clientele, she wasn’t sure the wine they served would be much above rotgut. Not that she was a snob, but she might be safer with beer. “I’ll just have a draft.”
Both men smiled as if that was the right answer. She leaned forward. “So what do you two do for a living?” The last time they came, they stayed for a little over a week, but she’d never asked them.
Now three months later they were back. What kind of job allowed that kind of freedom? Their friend Sella had put the hotel charge for Malik and Cavon’s room on Lara’s credit card, but these two must make a living doing something.
“We do a little bit of everything. Mostly security.”
That made her less apprehensive about being in this place.
The waitress returned, only this time her smile wasn’t as bright. “You three decide?”
She’d already announced her choice, so Malik ordered the drinks for them. “We’ll have three all-the-way burgers.”
Once the waitress was out of sight, Amy decided to play along with this whole alternate reality thing, even though she only kind of believed in the place. She tried to keep in mind what Lara had told her about Anterra. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to catch them in a lie. “So do you eat a lot of meat where you’re from?”
“Some,” Cavon said. “For the most part, I like to catch fish in the streams or pick the vegetables from the garden.”
She was more of a carnivore. “When you do eat meat, what kind is it?” She hoped he didn’t say snake or squirrel.
“Wolf meat sometimes.”
Malik nodded to two men who walked in. “Speaking of which.”
The men were nearly as tall as Malik and Cavon. “You know them?”
“No, but I know their kind. They’re wolf shifters.”
If that was a joke, they were taking it a bit too far. If wolf shifters existed, then perhaps they all should leave now. He had to be wrong. Though why she believed in lion shifters might exist and not wolf shifters, she didn’t know. “I’ve seen those two around.” She let out a long held breath. “They are all human.”
Malik never moved his gaze. “You’d be mistaken, honey.”
The “shifters” glared at Malik and narrowed their eyes. She got the shivers looking at them. “Let’s ignore them. We don’t need any trouble from them.”
Cavon reached across the table and placed his hand over hers. “You are absolutely right. Tonight, we are here to get reacquainted again and have a grand old time.”