by Grey, Helen
“Mine’s a female,” I informed her. “Her name’s Alice.”
She smiled again. “Ball pythons require a tropical enclosure. Humidity levels shouldn’t ever get below fifty percent and ideally, should be up at about seventy percent.”
“Okay, I’ll spray the fish tank and get an under tank heater for it.”
The smile disappeared and she shook her head. “No no, not recommended. The humid air will just flow up and out of the top of the fish tank, and your python will get dry or cold, both of which are not good. With a proper enclosure, the humidity will stay inside. You’ll have a well-hydrated, happy, and warm snake. With a proper enclosure, you should only need to give it a spray two or three times a week.”
“Well, I’ll think about it.” I wanted to see what she would say to that.
She frowned. “You wouldn’t keep a monkey in a bird cage, would you? You don’t want your snake to get all stressed out, do you?” She placed her hands on her hips. “Is it a matter of cost? Because if it is, maybe you shouldn’t have purchased a ball python in the first place.” She shook her head. “People come into the pet store all the time looking for pets, but they don’t know the first thing about them. It’s sad. I’ll tell you, Mr. Bascom, if you want a ball python, you should make sure that it has a proper environment to keep the snake happy. I may not like snakes, but they have feelings too, you know.”
No, she certainly wasn’t what I expected. Kind of quirky. She seemed knowledgeable, but was she just pulling my leg? To consider that snakes have feelings?
“If you wouldn’t mind, since you seem to be a snake expert, could you help me find her and put her back into this tank? I’ll deal with getting a proper enclosure this weekend.”
Her reaction was not at all what I expected. Her eyes widened and she quickly glanced toward the door, biting her bottom lip. “I really think I should go—”
“But what if I do something wrong and end up injuring her?” I asked with faux innocence. I’d handled my snake plenty of times and took care not to injure her. But there was something about this lady. I didn’t want her to leave just yet. I saw her shoulders droop a bit. “Come on. With both of us looking it shouldn’t take long to find her.” I tried a grin. “Please?”
She continued to hesitate, and I could understand why. She was in some strange guy’s loft; a guy without a shirt on as a matter of fact. It was dark inside, the place dimly lit. It didn’t take much imagination to put two and two together. I folded my arms across my chest as she shifted from one foot to the other on the opposite side of the coffee table.
“Look, lady, I’m—”
“My name isn’t lady. It’s Kathy. Kathy Mason,” she said stiffly.
“Sorry, Kathy,” I amended. “Look, I’m not going to hurt you. I’m not going to attack you, rape you, kidnap you, or murder you. I just need some help with my snake. Okay?”
She stared up at me with what I could only describe as startled dismay. A myriad of expressions flashed across her features. Outrage. Alarm. Annoyance. Those cute little eyebrows of hers were now lowered and a frown had replaced her tentative expression.
“Look, Mr. Bascom—”
“Ash.”
“Mr. Bascom, I’ve gone out of my way to make sure that you have the tank for your snake tonight. What you do tomorrow, this weekend, or next week is of no concern to me. I’m just telling you that as a snake owner, you should have done a little more homework on how to take proper care of one.” She paused. “I don’t work for animal control services. If you want to find your snake, I suggest you start looking—”
I was enjoying watching the flash of emotion sweep up her neck and into her cheeks when all of a sudden she froze and hitched in her breath. Her eyes widened in alarm. Her reaction also startled me.
“What?”
She glanced down at the floor. My gaze followed hers. And there was Alice, slowly wrapping her length around Kathy’s ankles. I grinned and glanced back at Kathy’s face, but my amusement turned to alarm again when I saw her terrified expression. Her face had grown pasty white, her lower lip trembled, and I saw the pulse pounding in her throat.
“P-please…” she stammered. “Get her off me, get her off me, get her off me!”
“You’re afraid of snakes?” I asked in disbelief. How could someone so knowledgeable about these creatures be afraid of them? She didn’t answer, just stood stiffly, waving her hands in my direction, her breath coming in short, frightened gasps. She looked scared to death.
Without thinking, I quickly stepped around the coffee table, wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her up off the floor. She squealed, but her arms instinctively wrapped around my neck, her tight grip stronger than I would’ve imagined.
“She won’t let go! She won’t let go! Get her off! Hurry, get her off!”
I glanced down and saw that Alice was slowly making her way upward, now wrapped around the panicked woman’s calves, her head nearly level with Kathy’s knees. The young woman was stiff as a board in my arms, but the frantic noises in her throat convinced me that she was going to fly into an outright panic within a matter of seconds.
“Sorry about this,” I muttered and lifted Kathy higher in my arms, cupping her butt with one hand while trying to remove the snake with the other. The damn thing only clung tighter, almost as tight as the arms wrapped around my throat. I would lose consciousness soon and kill all three of us if I didn’t get the upper hand in this situation soon.
Muttering another apology, I broke Kathy’s arms free of my neck and ignored her shrieks as I lifted her up and tossed her over my shoulder into a fireman’s carry, giving me two hands to work with.
When she started beating my ass with her fists, insisting that I let her down, I reached up and smacked hers with an open palm. That took the fight right out of her and she hung over me like a sack of potatoes, her hands still on my ass, gripping tightly to anything she could hold on to.
“Put me down,” she said, this time her voice more like a whimper. “What are you doing?”
“Be still. I’m trying to unravel her. She’s stronger than hell.”
Unbelievable.
I started to laugh, imagining how the two of us must look. A bewildered snake just doing what snakes do while I acted like a caveman with a wiggling woman tossed over my shoulder.
In hindsight, I should have sat her down on the couch and uncoiled the snake that way. But here we were, in this position, so I needed to make the most of it and get the job done.
“Why are you laughing?” she shouted, her fists beating at my ass again. “This isn’t funny. Not even close.”
Giving her ass another smack, I was relieved when she settled down, almost going limp this time. She let go of my butt and wrapped her hands around my waist, her face pressed into my lower back. For a second, I didn’t know which was worse, her fighting my hold or this complete and utter surrender. All I did know was that I could feel her breath on my bare skin, the softness of her breasts pressing against my shoulder blade.
“Please hurry,” she muttered and I realized I’d completely lost focus. I gave myself a mental shake and reached for Alice again.
“It’s working,” I said, breathing hard as I struggled to unwrap the strong python without hurting either girl. “She’s almost unraveled. Hold still just another minute, okay?”
Kathy muttered something else under her breath, but I had no idea what she said. I could only imagine. Finally, with one last, massive effort, I pulled Alice from around her ankles and lowered her gently to the floor before she could wind her way up my arm.
The feel of the assistant manager in my arms was something I hadn’t expected. Through her less than flattering store uniform, I got the impression of a shapely figure. Tiny waist, ample breasts. She couldn’t have weighed more than one hundred pounds dripping wet.
Carefully, I walked to the sofa and crouched down, lowering Kathy onto the cushions. She immediately pulled her feet up underneath her, sitting on her
haunches, her head whipping around, searching for the snake.
“Hey, it’s okay now,” I told her, my hand cupping her cheek until she looked directly at me. It was like a punch in the gut when those fear stricken blue eyes locked on mine. Beautiful. I didn’t realize just how lovely she was. “You’re safe, I promise.”
She laughed, but the sound was shaky as she pushed her hair back from her face. “Sorry that I panicked like that.”
“Totally okay. You’re in a strange place with a strange man. Add the sudden appearance of a python and anyone would lose their shit.”
She licked her lips and her eyes flicked down to my tattoo and I was again aware that I hadn’t pulled on my shirt. “I’m sure you wouldn’t have been scared.”
I scoffed, a bark of sound that dripped a bitterness I couldn’t hide. “Maybe not of snakes, but we all have fears.”
Yeah, even tough guys like me. Just goes to show that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.
She turned her head and I realized my hand was still touching her cheek, those blue eyes boring into mine. My balls tightened. The way she was looking at me pulled my thoughts away from my snake and toward her lips. She was an attractive little thing with a sexy mouth; what my grandmother used to call a Cupid’s bow. I wondered what it would be like to kiss those lips. Then I came back to reality, scowled, and straightened, stuffing my hand in my pocket.
What the hell was wrong with me? Coming onto the assistant manager of a pet store?
“I-I’m sorry,” she stammered. “I don’t like snakes.”
I shrugged, glancing around the living room floor for Alice. “I gathered that.”
I finally caught a glimpse of Alice’s tail as she slithered past the wall separating the living area from the corner where I kept my spare bike parts. “Found her!” In a matter of moments, I’d scooped her up. She didn’t seem stressed. She wrapped herself around my forearm, looking at me, her tongue slithering in and out of her mouth as if to mock me. Took you long enough, the gesture seemed to say.
“You’re going back in the tank, my dear,” I told the reptile, stepping back toward the coffee table and placing her in the tank. I glanced at Kathy, who looked monumentally more relaxed.
“I feel bad putting her back into another fish tank, especially without adequate heating. Do you have anything more suitable at the pet store?”
She stared at the snake, then back up at me. “The store is closed.” She eyed the snake warily before scrambling off the couch. “I should go.”
I didn’t want her to go. I didn’t know why she intrigued me, but I wasn’t about to try and figure it out right this moment. I grasped at straws. “But what if she breaks this tank too? And you’re the one who told me a fish tank was an inappropriate container for her anyway.”
She glanced at me, then back at the snake, then once again her eyes sought mine. She had regained her composure, her back and shoulders stiff. “You should’ve thought of that before you bought the snake,” she said shortly. “The pet store is closed and I need to get home. If you come to the pet store this weekend, I’m sure there’s something we can do to help you get set up properly.”
“I did try to get set up properly,” I said, feeling the defensiveness in my voice,” and your store manager is the one who insisted a fish tank and overhead light would work perfectly.”
Those blue eyes met mine again and that pretty mouth formed a little circle. “Oh.”
“Yes, oh.”
Just a little while ago I had been so angry. On fire really, over a stupid snake tank. Kathy Mason’s appearance at my loft had changed all that. She captured my interest. I got the impression that this assistant manager of a pet store was a multilayered individual and I would’ve loved nothing better than to peel those layers back one by one. What made Kathy Mason tick? Even more intriguing, why the hell did I care? Was I that bored?
Nothing in my life was going as planned, not even the lousy snake. But maybe it wasn’t all a loss. If it hadn’t been for Alice, I wouldn’t have met this interesting slip of a woman. Not that she was interested in me, not in the least. I could tell, just taking one look at her, that I wasn’t her type. Still, I didn’t want to let her go just yet.
“Come on, I’ll make it worth your while if we can go back to the pet store and get something more suitable.”
She eyed me cautiously. “What do you mean?”
“I can pay you under the table.” Did that sound desperate? Was I? Hell no, but I realized that’s how it seemed. “Never mind, forget I said that.” I glanced down at Alice, who was trying once again to slither her way over the top of the tank. Kathy saw her as well and sighed.
“She’s just going to get out again, you know,” she said, stepping warily toward the door.
I nodded. “Well, I guess she’s not going to kill me in my sleep. Thank you for bringing the other tank. I’ll just make do until I can make arrangements to either pick something up or have something delivered.”
“You don’t have a car?”
I shook my head. “Motorcycle. Parked out front.”
She glanced at the snake, then back at me, then heaved a heavy sigh. “All right, we can go back to the pet store.” She headed for the door and reached for the knob, glancing back over her shoulder as she opened it. “You can follow me there on your bike. We can get a few supplies that you can use to rig up something that will work until you can get a proper enclosure.”
She turned and was out the door, heading quickly down the steps before I could ask to ride with her. Her shoes echoed hollowly in the enclosed space. I stood for a moment, surprised that she’d actually agreed so I wouldn’t push the riding arrangements. Pleased with myself, I snatched the t-shirt up off the couch and pulled it over my head, tugging it down while I reached for my keys hanging on the rack by the door. In moments, I was downstairs, locking the metal door, and astride my bike, following her car lights out of the warehouse parking lot.
CHAPTER 3
Kathy
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I muttered to myself as I drove away from Mr. Bascom’s — Ash’s — house, headed back to the pet store.
Why was I doing this?
I shouldn’t be doing this.
I shouldn’t even care.
It’s not like his python was massive. It was large, yes, but it wouldn’t wrap itself around his body and kill him. At least I didn’t think so. So why was I going to such lengths to keep one customer happy?
I kept telling myself that it was my job, but I had to admit that when I first laid eyes on Ash Bascom, my heart did a little sexy dance. Damn, he was a looker. Besides that, I was curious. Once ignited, that insatiable and often stupid curiosity of mine was nearly impossible to extinguish.
I had been alarmed at the first sight of him filling the doorway. Handsome or not, he was everything I had always stayed away from. I know I shouldn’t judge people based on their appearance alone, but he had the look of someone who was more used to living outside of the law than inside it. Nevertheless, I felt an instant attraction to him.
Was there something to the saying “opposites attract?” Even if there was, what difference did it make? I wasn’t interested in a relationship, especially not with someone like that guy.
He confused me. He lived in a converted loft that looked like it had seen better days. But it was in LoDo, which was expensive. Even I knew that. Though he had little of it that I had seen, his furniture had looked nice and well cared for. He certainly didn’t look stupid, but I did have to question his intelligence for letting the manager talk him into using a fish tank as an adequate container for his snake. Bodie knew better.
I shook my head and glanced in the rearview mirror. A couple of car lengths behind me was the single headlight of his motorcycle. Even so, I heard the rumble of his motorcycle engine. It was one of those chopper kind of motorcycles; low slung at the rear, high handlebars. He wore a bandanna across his face, black with a white skull emblazoned on i
ts surface and he was wearing a shirt this time. Which was a shame. The image of his tattoos were emblazoned in my brain. I felt an odd tingling way down in my nether regions just recalling the barbed wire tattoo above and below his nipple.
Stop it.
I shook my head again, muttering to myself. I should be on my way home. I had looked forward to getting off work, going home and taking a nice long soak in the tub, then nuking a microwave dinner and vegging out in front of the TV. And here I was, after hours, going back to the pet store, and with a sexy stranger no less.
“What the hell is wrong with you, Kathy?” I asked the eyes gazing back at me in the rearview mirror.
I knew better than this. I watched enough crime shows on TV to know that I shouldn’t behave so recklessly. Guys like Ash Bascom had never been on my radar. I purposely stayed away from guys who smoked, drank, had tattoos, and yes, rode motorcycles. They were “bad boys,” prone to less than stellar behavior, irresponsible, and recklessness. Did Ash Bascom fit into that category?
I remembered him flipping me over his shoulder and slapping my butt. Twice. Yes, he definitely fit that category.
I sensed flippant behavior under a rough exterior. Anti-establishment, a rebel, possibly even living on the fringes of society. Hiding from something or someone?
The law?
And yet here I was, driving toward the pet store, anxious to please him. Why? I could have just refused his suggestion. Told him to come back to the pet store in the morning. Actually, that’s exactly what I should’ve done. I wanted to change my mind and instead of driving to the pet store, take the next turn and just go home. But I didn’t want him to know where I lived.
That gave me pause.
I hadn’t gotten any indication that he intended to harm me. He even told me that he wouldn’t. Why did I believe him? Idiot. I barely knew the guy and here I was trusting him. I was usually more cautious than this.
I dead-bolted my door every night and was careful to never park away from street or parking lot lamps if I had to go shopping after work. I reminded myself to get some pepper spray. I should carry some in my purse.