“Holy shit,” he whispered.
“Yeah.” She laughed shakily. “That was, um, really…”
“Intense.” He rolled off of her and she immediately curled on her side with her back to him. He spooned her and kissed the back of her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said.
He slid his arm around her and cupped her breast. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Are you spending the night?”
“I’d like that.”
“Me too.”
He cupped her face and tried to turn her head. She resisted, and he tugged harder. “Look at me, Bria.”
She sighed and glanced up at him. He could see the tears on her cheeks and he purred to her. “Why are you crying, baby?”
“I – I’m not,” she said. “It was just intense, and I don’t know… I’m fine though. Really.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“I can leave, if you want.”
She shook her head immediately and wrapped her tiny hand around his forearm. “I don’t want that. Stay the night with me.”
“Okay.” He pulled her even closer and nuzzled her hair. She relaxed against him and he stared up at the ceiling, listening to her soft breathing and feeling the steady beat of her heart beneath his hand.
Chapter Fourteen
Bria opened the fridge and grabbed the container of leftovers. She popped a piece of cold roast beef into her mouth and took out a bottle of water. She tightened the belt on her robe and ran her fingers through her wet hair before eating another piece of roast beef.
There was a knock on her apartment door. She glanced down the hallway toward her bedroom, before checking the peep hole and opening the door.
“Hi, honey.” Kat kissed her cheek and pushed past her. “Why are you in your robe? It’s three in the afternoon. Are you sick?”
“No, I’m not sick.”
“Stripes, how’s it going?” Ronin grinned at her as he followed Kat inside.
“Hi, Ronin. Uh, what are you guys doing here?”
Kat and Ronin walked to the kitchen and she glanced at her bedroom again before joining them. Ronin was holding the container of roast beef and he raised his eyebrows at her as his hand hovered over the meat.
“Go ahead.”
“Thanks.” He popped a hunk of meat into his mouth as Kat took off her jacket.
“What, uh, what are you guys doing here?” Bria repeated
“Bowling.” Ronin ate another piece of meat.
“What?”
“We’re going bowling this afternoon with Willow and Mal, and Maggie and Porter,” Kat said. “Come with us.”
“Oh, thanks but I don’t -”
“I’m not taking no for an answer,” Kat said. “Mal and Porter’s brother Heath will be there too, so it’s not like it will be all couples and you.”
“They’re trying to set you up with Heath,” Ronin said.
Kat hissed at him and he laughed. “What?”
“That was going to be a…”
“Happy surprise?” Ronin leaned down and kissed Kat’s forehead. “Sorry, Kitten.”
“Thanks for the invitation but I really can’t,” Bria said.
Kat took her hands. “Honey, you can. Heath is a nice guy and I think you’ll like him. Just give him a chance and -”
“Bria?” Jace strolled into the kitchen with just a towel wrapped around his waist. “I was thinking that after my shower, maybe we could go out for a bite to eat. I’m starving and…”
“Jace?” Kat dropped Bria’s hands.
“Hi, Kat. It’s good to see you again.”
“Uh, you too.”
There was silence and then Ronin stepped forward and held out his hand. “Ronin Smith, I’m Kat’s mate.”
Jace shook his hand. “Jace Shepherd. Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
Bria tried not to blush. Kat was staring at her and it was too quiet in the kitchen, and why the hell did she even answer the door?
“Well, I didn’t realize you had company,” Jace said, “so I’ll just get dressed and… Bria I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?”
“Okay,” she said.
“How do you feel about bowling?” Ronin asked before Jace could leave the kitchen.
Jace stared blankly at him. “I’m sorry?”
“Bowling. You know…big balls, loud music, gross shoes…bowling.”
“Uh, it’s okay. I guess.”
“You any good at it?”
Jace glanced at Bria. “Not bad.”
“He’s on my team,” Ronin said to Kat.
“I thought I was on your team,” Kat said.
“No offense but I’ve seen you bowl before, and you suck at it, Kitten.”
“I’m not that bad,” Kat protested.
“You’re not that good.”
Kat hissed at him again and Ronin laughed. “What do you say, Jace? You in for a fun afternoon of bowling? I got my own disinfectant spray for the shoes. I’ll let you borrow it.”
Jace studied Bria. “Sure, if Bria’s okay with it.”
“I am,” Bria said. “I – I’d like it if you joined us.”
“Okay. Give me ten minutes to shower and I’ll be ready to go.”
He left the kitchen and Ronin fanned his face with his hand before whistling. “Nice work, Stripes. He’s not a bad looking man. Am I right?”
Kat took Bria’s hands again. “Why is Jace here?”
“I told you I was going to his cousin’s engagement party this weekend.”
“I know. I also know the party was over yesterday.”
Bria blushed but didn’t say anything.
“It’s Sunday afternoon. Why is he still here?”
“Pretty sure they were banging,” Ronin said cheerfully.
“Ronin!”
“What? Am I wrong?” He asked Bria.
She shook her head and a grin spread across his face. He held up his fist and she bumped it.
“He’s your boss,” Kat said.
“You’re my boss,” Ronin said.
“Not helping, bird!”
“What? I’m being very helpful. Why can I bang my boss, but Bria can’t bang hers? That doesn’t seem fair.”
“It’s more complicated than that,” Kat said. “Bria, I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“I know. Everything’s fine and we,” she glanced at Ronin, “can we talk about this later, Kit Kat?”
“Yes. But we will talk about it later.”
“I know. I’m gonna get dressed. Be right back.”
She hurried into her bedroom. Jace was standing by the bed and she smiled nervously at him before opening her closet. He touched her back and she turned to face him.
“Are you sure you want me to go?”
“Yes,” she said.
He searched her face. “I don’t have to if it makes you uncomfortable.”
“It doesn’t. Really. In fact, you’d be doing me a favour. They’re trying to set me up with a guy, but I’m not really interested. If you’re there…”
His eyes flashed bright green for a second and she could smell his jealousy.
It doesn’t mean anything, she told herself.
“Do you want me to pretend to be your boyfriend?” He asked with a small smile.
Her cheeks turned pink. “Yeah, I guess I do. If you don’t mind?”
He leaned down and kissed her. “I don’t mind at all, little tiger.”
* * *
“I had a lot of fun this afternoon. Thanks for letting me tag along.” Jace pulled into the parking lot of her building and put the car in park.
“I’m glad you came.” Bria fidgeted with her seat belt. She wanted to ask Jace to come upstairs, wanted to ask him to spend the night with her again, but that was crazy. Spending the weekend with him and pretending he was her boyfriend had been amazing. Too amazing. For someone who didn’t want a relationship, he was really good at it.
&n
bsp; She’d had so much fun with him while bowling. They’d all gone for dinner together afterwards. Jace was funny and smart and got along well with everyone. He and Ronin in particular had hit it off, and they’d even made plans for Ronin to drop by and play pool. Jace had played the part of her adoring boyfriend to perfection, and she’d soaked in his affection.
“I like your friends.”
“They like you too.” Bria unclicked her seat belt. It was time to go before she started to think this pretend game of boyfriend/girlfriend with Jace was real. “Thanks for the ride home. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Bria,” he caught her hand as she opened the car door, “invite me to spend the night.”
“What?” She had to have misheard him.
He rubbed his thumb over the pulse point in her wrist. His eyes glowed in the dim light. “Invite me to spend the night, little tiger.”
“Jace, would you like to spend the night with me?” She whispered.
“Very much.” He shut the car off and they walked silently to her apartment.
The moment she had locked the door behind them, he picked her up and carried her toward the bedroom. She giggled and kissed his throat. “You know, I can walk to the bedroom.”
“This makes me look strong and manly.”
Her giggles turned to laughter. “Oh yes, very manly. I can hardly control my need for you when you carry me around like a sack of potatoes.”
He growled at her and dropped her on the bed before stripping off his shirt. “Be nice or you’ll get a spanking.”
“Promises, promises, Mr. Shepherd,” she purred.
His eyes widened, and he grinned at her. “You may just be the perfect woman.”
“You’re just figuring that out now?” She relaxed on her back before rubbing her foot across the bulge in his jeans. “Why don’t you show me how naughty you can be?”
His purring filled the room and she moaned happily when he dropped down onto her and cupped her breast. “Whatever you want, little tiger.”
* * *
“Rosalie, will you tell me what’s wrong?” Bria touched the pretty human’s arm.
It was Monday and she was a little surprised that Rosalie was even sitting with her in the kitchen for lunch. She had avoided not just Bria all morning, but everyone else as well.
“There’s nothing wrong.” Rosalie poked at the sandwich, sitting half-eaten in front of her.
“There is, honey. I can smell how sad you are.”
“Of course you can,” she sighed. “Can’t I just be sad for no particular reason?”
“Yes, but I think there’s a reason. Did something happen on your date with Lincoln? You never told me how it -”
“It wasn’t a date.” Rosalie wrapped up her sandwich and tossed it in the trash. “I was wrong. It was just a friends thing.”
“I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “Not your fault, I’m an idiot.”
“You aren’t. I thought it was a date too.”
“Well, it wasn’t. He ran into that rabbit waitress from Bud’s and sat with her during the movie, and then went to Trinity’s with her after the movie.”
“He what? You had to sit by yourself at the movie he invited you to?” Bria could have cheerfully punched Lincoln in his stupid face.
“The theatre was full and there weren’t three seats together.”
“Still, to make you sit by yourself when -”
“I didn’t sit by myself. I, uh, sat with Hudson.”
“Hudson? Hudson? Polar bear shifter Hudson from Bud’s?”
Rosalie brushed the bread crumbs off the table. “Yeah. He was at the movies too. We, uh, we keep running into each other at the most random places. Anyway, I sat with him and then he gave me a ride home when Lincoln decided to go out to the club.”
“Hudson gave you a ride home?”
“What?”
Bria shrugged. “Well, I don’t know the guy at all, but he seems kind of… not nice. Plus, if he’s a typical polar bear shifter, he doesn’t want to be around other shifters or humans if he doesn’t have to be.”
“He’s nice,” Rosalie said defensively. “Well, maybe not nice, but he’s not like mean or anything. We’re friends.”
“Seriously?”
“Kind of. I think. He said we could maybe go to the movies together sometimes.”
“Does he want to be more than friends?”
Rosalie laughed bitterly. “God, no. He made that perfectly clear. Friends only. Story of my life, you know?”
Bria patted her arm. “Lincoln is an ass, Rosalie. He’s not even a good friend.”
“He is,” Rosalie snapped. “He’s just…flirty and- and… oh, never mind. I don’t want to talk about it.”
Bria sat quietly and after only a few seconds, Rosalie said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”
“You didn’t. I’m sorry I was being so nosy.”
“You weren’t. How did your date go?”
“I didn’t have one.” Bria gave her a confused look.
Rosalie checked the door to the kitchen before lowering her voice. “Remember this morning when the phones were ringing off the hook and I took a couple of calls?”
“Yeah.”
“One of those calls was Jace’s cousin, Ashley.”
Bria’s sandwich tasted like sawdust in her mouth. She swallowed it down painfully. “Oh yeah?”
“Yes. She’s a sweetheart. The last time she visited Jace, he got bogged down with a client and Ash and I hung out for an evening. She still texts me and emails me from time to time.”
“That’s, uh, nice.”
“Anyway, she wanted to talk to Jace, but he was out of the office. We ended up chatting, and she happened to mention how much she adored Jace’s date at her engagement party this weekend. Said she was the tiniest tiger shifter ever, but super sweet. Said it was obvious how much she and Jace were into each other.”
Bria took a drink of water. Rosalie leaned closer and grinned at her. “She asked me if I had gotten the chance to meet Bria - Jace’s new girlfriend.”
Bria paled and set her water bottle on the table. “I can explain.”
“You don’t have to,” Rosalie said. “It’s no big deal if you and Jace are dating. Jace told me himself that he was attracted to you.”
“We aren’t dating,” Bria said. “I was just doing him a favour and posing as his girlfriend.”
“Why?”
“It’s a long story. Will you do me a favour and keep this to yourself? I don’t want people thinking I’m banging the boss or something.”
Rosalie studied her for a moment. “Are you banging the boss?”
“No, of course not.”
“Are you always this bad at lying?”
Bria pressed her lips together and stared at the table. Rosalie touched her hand. “I’m not going to say anything to anyone. I promise.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
They sat in silence before Bria gathered up her lunch bag. “I’m gonna go for a walk and get some fresh air. You want to come with me?”
“Sure. Just let me change out of these heels first.”
Bria returned to reception and slipped out of her heels and into her running shoes. Her cell buzzed, and she fished it out of her pocket. Her mouth dropped open as she read the text from Jace.
Hi. Hope your day is going well. Do you want to have dinner at my place tonight?
What the hell was happening? She read the message again. Her tiger was purring and trilling at the prospect of having sex with her mate again.
Knock it off, she snapped at her tiger. He said dinner, not sex. Besides, you just slept with him this morning.
Jace had woken her early, they’d made love and cuddled for a bit before he left for his own place to shower and change. He’d been out of the office all morning, and from the looks of his calendar he would be out this afternoon too.
She couldn’t go to his place tonight.
She sho
uldn’t go to his place tonight.
Her tiger whined pitifully at her. Fuck it, she decided. She would go to Jace’s house for dinner and ask him what the hell was going on. Either they were going to start dating or they weren’t, but she wasn’t going to play the “maybe we are, maybe we aren’t” game anymore.
Sure. What time? Can I bring something?
She put on her coat and buttoned it. Her cell phone buzzed again.
Seven. A bottle of wine. Leave your panties at home.
Heat trickled through her and she shoved her cell phone into her pocket with a guilty smile when Rosalie walked into reception. “Ready?”
“Yes.” She followed Rosalie out of the office.
* * *
“Hi, you look nice.” Jace kissed her on the cheek and hung up her coat before taking the bottle of wine from her.
“Thanks.” Bria followed him into the kitchen. “It smells delicious in here.”
“I’m an excellent cook. Just one of my many talents.” Jace opened the bottle of wine and poured her a glass.
“Yes, many.” She took a sip of wine and squeaked in surprise when Jace put his arm around her and squeezed her ass through her jeans.
“No panties. That’s my good girl.” He gave her a smug smile.
“You don’t know I’m not wearing panties.” She poked him in the chest.
He nuzzled her throat and rubbed her ass. “I can’t feel any panty lines.”
“Maybe I’m wearing a thong.”
“Are you?”
She hesitated. “No.”
He purred and she purred back. He rubbed his nose against hers before kissing her until she was moaning and clutching at his arms. “Why don’t we go to your bedroom?”
“Food first, then fucking.” He nipped her bottom lip.
“How about fucking, then food, then more fucking?”
He laughed. “Tempting, but the sauce will burn, and then I’ll have to order pizza, and I’ve had pizza way too many times this month already.”
She pouted at him. “Fine. What can I do to help?”
Bria and the Tiger (The Shifters Series Book 5) Page 21