by E A Price
“I also told your mother you were on vacation.”
Hester stared at him, debating whether the latter part was a good thing or not. Perhaps a little time apart from her ‘smother’ wouldn’t hurt. The last time Hester tried to take a vacation her mother happened to just appear at the same resort, in the bedroom next to hers – which happened to be adjoining. She still didn’t know how on earth her mother found out where she was going – Hester had booked it under a friend’s name. Her mother had more resources than James Bond.
There was always the chance that her mother would come looking for her, but she decided not to share that information with Antonio.
“I made sure she wouldn’t worry about you.”
Hester ignored the cackling laughter of her inner beast. Yeah, her mother called the cops if Hester didn’t text her back within fifteen minutes. As much as she loved her mother and didn’t want her to worry, perhaps a little enforced time apart wasn’t a bad thing. Though maybe if Antonio met Millicent Carter, he’d soon change his mind about wanting to mate Hester. That would soon get her out of this strange debacle. Her stomach gave a strange little rumble at that thought, but she put it down to hunger pains.
“What are you doing here, and…” Her voice trailed away as Antonio pulled open a box of pancakes and the delicious smells enveloped her like a heavenly fog. Not just any pancakes whimpered her beast. She could scent pecans. She could scent maple syrup. She could scent banana. Oh hell, she could scent cinnamon. “Gah glurg gah.”
“What was that?” snickered Antonio.
“Shut up and give me those damn pancakes!” She hadn’t eaten much the day before and oh, pancakes, these flavors – they were her one weakness. No, that was a lie, they were one of many weaknesses, but oh, they were high on the list.
Hester snatched the box and was already tearing into one when Antonio waved some cutlery at her.
“Not letting a knife and fork slow you down, I see.”
She gave him a syrupy yet sarcastic grin and snatched the utensils from him. It was only when she made it down to pancake number four that she realized he was perched on her bed and watching her closely.
“What?” she mumbled between mouthfuls.
“Nothing, just, you have a little something…”
She froze as he pressed his thumb to her bottom lip, capturing a pearl of syrup. Her eyes followed his thumb as he pushed it to his own lips, licking at the sweetness. She bet that mouth could do all sorts of wonderful things…
A shiver of desire racked her body as her cat purred. Hester growled in annoyance, more at herself than him. She ducked her head and put away her pancakes in record speed.
“Can I take it, the pancakes were a hit?” he asked in amusement.
“They were okay,” she admitted grudgingly and completely falsely. They were the best pancakes she had ever eaten.
“Mama made them; she’ll be pleased.”
“Mama?” she taunted. “Does Mama do all your cooking and washing and tuck you in at night?”
“Sure does, apart from the tucking in thing. I figure I’ll have a mate to do that part soon.” His eyes flashed suggestively, and he traced a finger over her foot, still hidden underneath the bedding.
Hester licked her fangs. Even if she didn’t say it out loud, he knew where he could shove that comment.
“Most grown men would be ashamed of that,” she groused. Abnormal jaguar.
Antonio didn’t look put out even by a smidge. “My dad died when I was young. It wasn’t easy on her raising the three of us.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, understanding what it was like to lose a parent.
“I keep telling Mama to take it easy and let us help her, but she likes to keep busy. But I don’t like thinking about her living alone, easy prey for the unmated males.” His face turned stony for a blink before regaining his easy, charming expression. “I always figured that when I mated, we’d all live together.”
“Very appealing,” she sneered, though without much conviction. Truthfully, it had been the same for her growing up. Even though her father was human, he had put up with her mother’s parents and, for a while, her mother’s two siblings, their partners and kids living with them. Packs, leaps, and coalitions tended to stick together. Hester supposed that if she had mated with someone from her coalition, there would be random family members living with her and her mate.
Though, there was no way Hester was regressing to living with her mother again. That was a murder-suicide waiting to happen. Nope, Millicent was currently living with Hester’s grandparents – who were both quite deaf, so it probably wasn’t too much of a chore for them. While Hester, whenever she felt lonely, got a new pet. Though, the goldfish had been a very bad idea. Her cheetah enjoyed that far too much.
Antonio rolled his shoulders, but he didn’t seem unduly worried by Hester’s reaction. Not much seemed to faze him. Perhaps she wasn't as nasty as she could be. Even her beast thought she was going easy on him, because, boy when she wanted to be, she could be a ball-crushing psychobitch!
Perhaps because we have a little crush suggested her beast.
Nuh uh – no way!
Hester tossed the box at him. “Well, you’re out of pancakes. You’ve served your purpose – you can go.”
“Kicking me out of your bed after you’ve had your fun? Is this something I should get used to?” he teased.
“Definitely not,” she snapped. No, she’d never kick him out… Her cheeks flamed.
Antonio got up and walked over to her suitcase. Defiantly, she hadn’t bothered unpacking. She might be stuck there but she was adamant that she wasn’t staying, no matter the incentive she thought, ogling his tall, muscled form. Though, he had done a good job of packing everything she needed. Maybe he’s had practice she thought a little sourly. Her cheetah mewled. How many other women had he dragged back there already?
He started rifling through her clothes and picked out a particularly scanty, red thong that made dental floss look substantial. It had been a gift – she didn’t choose it!
Hester leaped out of bed to hip check him out of the way. Yep, he’d turned up in her bedroom at an ungodly hour and yet the thing that really pissed her off was him going through her clothes. He didn’t need to know the size she wore, though logically he must already know.
“What on earth are you doing?”
“Picking out an outfit for you,” he said patiently.
“Why?!” Hester ground out.
“For work – I’m taking you to work.”
Hester snorted. “Yeah, hard pass on that.”
Wasn’t the only good thing about this whole kidnapping thing the part where she could relax, squint her eyes and pretend it was a vacation? Which meant no early mornings, no power suits and no feet crushing heels that were slowly killing her but she loved them for being pretty anyway.
“C’mon, Hessie.” He dangled the thong in front of her and winked in a way that could only be described as suggestive. “You’ll look good in this one.”
“If you like it so much why don’t you wear it to work?” She snatched it out of his hand, stretched it and pulled it over his head. “You look good in that one,” she mocked.
He pushed it up, out of his eyes. “No doubt, but I never wear underwear.”
Antonio regarded her steadily as she forced herself not to react. Every instinct told her to look down, to check him out, to try and figure out if that was true. Hey, if she stared at him long enough she’d probably be able to tell. But no, she forced herself to remain staring at his face, even as her eye twitched. Perhaps she should ask him to prove it…
As much as she wanted to hate him, she found him attractive. Her beast wanted him; her body wanted him and the only hold out was her mind, which was now tired from a lack of sleep caused by some exhaustingly erotic dreams about the insufferable douchebag. She was seriously wavering in her resolve to stay away from him.
Antonio smiled as he pulled the underwear off his he
ad. He was freshly washed, some beads of water still lingered in his inky, wavy black hair. He was wearing a t-shirt and a frayed check shirt with worn jeans. So simple and plain, yet he’d stand out like a beacon amongst better-dressed men. And oh, that spicy cinnamon scent, it called to her, teasing her, tempting her. His lips parted, and she held her breath. Maybe just one little kiss couldn’t hurt, one little taste. He leaned a little closer and Hester licked her lips.
“Get dressed and come to work with me.” He took her hands and pressed something into them.
His breath fanned over her cheek, and before she could even process what he was saying, she was nodding dumbly.
Antonio beamed. “Great, I’ll wait for you downstairs.”
He left in what can only be described as a jaunty fashion, leaving Hester dazedly wondering what just happened. She opened her fist to find the red thong in it.
Crap. She’d just agreed to do something else she didn’t want to do. What the hell was wrong with her? She was a lawyer for heavens sake – she argued for a living – so why in the livelong day was she giving in to him over everything? Her cheetah yipped, and Hester ignored her. No, absolutely not, there was no crushing going on around there.
That was a close one, though. She had a lucky escape there.
Yep, lucky, lucky her.
Ten
Hester gave him another eye roll as he placed a hand on her back and led her into the main office of the timber mill.
“They’ll get stuck if you’re not careful.”
That earned him a double eye roll. Antonio shook his head, laughing at her. Grumpiness should not be this sexy. But then, he’d never considered eating pancakes to be sexy until that morning, but damn, seeing her go Godzilla on those pancakes had him harder than he’d ever been.
He suspected he might have been able to take things a little further that morning. Hell, he knew he could of - he wasn’t blind and noseless. He could scent her arousal, could see the dull flush over her skin, and he tried not to stare at her hardening nipples pushing out of that deliriously thin t-shirt she wore to bed.
Just one flick of the claw and it could have been toast rumbled his beast mournfully.
But no, as hard as it had been – really fucking hard – he made the right call. If he rushed her, she’d only hate him for it later. Hate him more than she already did. He wasn’t dicking around. He freaking kidnapped her to become his mate and live with him for the rest of his life. He had to do this right. There were no do-overs.
Hester sighed as she looked around the messy office. Stacks of paper teetered everywhere. Admittedly, the prime wasn’t exactly good at that kind of stuff. Technically it was the domain of his second, Daniel but that male was a lazy pain in the ass. Rather than making any effort, he pushed his jobs onto others and spent most of his time in the local human town.
“Oh boy, paperwork,” purred Hester, “you sure know how to spoil a girl.”
Aaron, another leap mate chuckled, and she preened. Antonio glowered at the male until he left.
On the way over, he admitted the prime was his uncle. She seemed a little surprised, but overall it didn’t make her like him any less. It didn’t make her like him anymore, but he couldn’t have everything.
“My uncle was kind of annoyed when he heard you were a lawyer, but he’s come around to see maybe that’s not such a bad thing.”
Antonio kind of suspected that was down to his mother. Mama wanted him to be happy, and she was trying to make his uncle see how much of an asset Hester would be.
“Ah, gee, I’m thrilled,” she said as she fingered a leaning tower of documents.
“Maybe you could check over the wording on the contracts for selling off some of our land.”
His uncle didn’t like bringing in outside help, so yeah, having an actual lawyer within the leap would be a boon.
“I’m not a contract lawyer, but I’ll give it a go. So, you work here at the mill?”
“Yep, most of the leap mates do.”
Hester gave him a wry smile. “You mean most of the male leap mates do. From what I can see, the females don’t do much of anything.”
Antonio tried not to wince. “I wouldn’t let them hear you say that.”
Her cheeks colored. “That’s not what I meant.”
“I know what you meant,” he said gently. “Our leap is old-fashioned in many ways, and women generally don’t have paying jobs.” In fact, the only ones who did were Marta and Valentina. For some reason, Daniel employed both of them in running the timber mill office. Not with much success if the mess they found was anything to go by. Or at least, he used to. Valentina spent more time at the leap daycare these days.
Hester pursed her lips in disapproval.
“But, you know, maybe things will change.” His jaguar chuffed in encouragement. “Maybe with the right females in the leap, maybe that will inspire other females.”
*
He was giving her such a hopeful, expectant look that Hester almost didn’t want to quash it. Almost. It had already been a long, frustrating morning, and it was barely nine. He plied her with delicious pancakes, got her motor running and then ran out on her, leaving her very much gagging for more. She’d been all ready to kiss him, and perhaps more, and he left her high and dry. It was making her wonder whether he really did want her.
Her cheetah harrumphed. He must want her – why else kidnap her? Not that it mattered she kept reminding herself.
Hester gave Antonio a withering look and would have followed that up with a few withering words were it not for the interruption of the entrance of two large males and one svelte female. All jaguars including the female surprisingly. Hester hadn’t met any female jaguars in the leap, and judging by the sour expression on this one, that was probably a good thing.
“Antonio,” rumbled the largest male.
He was slightly larger than Antonio, with similar features and silver at his temples. His face was rugged and weather-beaten, but he was sexy in spite of it. Obviously the prime. The other guy was about Antonio’s size, but as old as the prime, and had an expression surlier than a box of frogs. The female, well, she appeared to be in her forties, but concerning sheer malevolence, she was probably aged in the hundreds.
Antonio stilled and nodded at the large male. Prime nodded back, and his gaze fell on Hester.
“You his mate?” he rumbled.
“I’m Hester,” she said curtly.
His eyebrow twitched. “I’m the prime – Roberto. This is my second.”
Hester held her chin up and nodded at them both, not exactly in submission, but then neither was Antonio’s nod.
The sour female coughed, trying to get the prime’s attention. Pointedly, he ignored her.
“My nephew says you’re a lawyer.”
“I am,” replied Hester.
Prime grunted. “You’re willing to look over some contracts.”
It sounded like a statement, but she took it as a question. She was hardly a wilting flower, but antagonizing the prime hardly seemed like a good plan… at that moment.
“Sure.”
He nodded and then looked at the female jaguar. “You’re not needed today, Marta.”
Marta’s face turned a ruddy, angry color and she looked like she was about to argue, but prime snarled before she could even let out an eep. She shot Hester a furious look and then stomped out of there at breakneck speed.
Hester tensed as Antonio squeezed her shoulder. “I’ll see you later,” he murmured. “Have fun.”
He winked and left the office before she could register how warm and reassuring his touch was.
Damnit, he wasn’t making this hating him thing easy.
Eleven
Hester gave commiserating looks to Sadie and Laurel. They were both eating dinner in the food hall, too, both sitting opposite Diego and Lorenzo who bore matching looks of adoration. Mary was nowhere to be seen, nor Tomas, but that didn’t really surprise Hester. She wasn’t sure about Sadie or Laurel
, but it seemed highly likely Mary would be going home at the end of two weeks.
Like us? Queried her cheetah. Yes, definitely thought Hester a little uneasily.
She had spent the day in the office. The paperwork was a huge mess – a toddler could have done a better job of it – and the prime was happy for her to sort it all out. Prime left after Antonio did, and only Daniel, his second, remained in the office glowering at her intermittently. Hester ignored him, put the radio on, kicked off her heels and dug into the work. It was actually quite enjoyable. The contracts were in order, and that meant she could start sorting out the timber mill records. She liked it. Reminded her of when she used to help out in her dad’s hardware store.
Antonio returned for lunch, which they spent munching on some sandwiches made by his mother and arguing about what made the best sandwich filling. Hester maintained it was chicken and avocado while Antonio preferred tuna and sun dried tomato.
Now, they were eating dinner together in the leap food hall - or the multi-purpose hall. Apparently, they used it for leap meetings and parties. There was generally always a spread of food in there for breakfast and dinner, though some leap mates preferred to eat in their own homes. It was a closer-knit community than her own cheetah coalition.
“Hello, again,” said Maria, approaching with two bowls of peach cobbler.
Hester grumbled out a reply. The last time she saw Antonio’s mother she was threatening to shred her. Maria didn’t seem to bear any ill will over it.
Maria asked how she was doing and Hester said fine.
“Thanks, Mama,” murmured Antonio eagerly taking a bowl of cobbler.
She beamed at them both before moving away to talk to other leap mates.
“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again - mama’s boy,” Hester teased.
“Damn straight. The women here are treated right.”
“Unless they want to work.”
Antonio held out his hands – the cobbler having been devoured in two bites. “Hey, I got no problem with that, and like I say, it’s something that’s overdue for a change.”