“Not desirable for who, you?”
“Not desirable for the lions, actually. That would require your complete efforts and energy toward the injured cats, taking your needed attention from all of the other ones for months. I’d imagine the mother that is now missing a cub will be a bit agitated about that, right? You neglecting them right now wouldn’t be good. Not to mention, it doesn’t sound like the best idea for your well-being, either.”
“Yeah but with proper planning, I—”
“Weren’t you just saying that all of the brilliant planning in the world couldn’t make up for a shortage of personnel?”
She stared at him for a moment, her twisted mouth softening just a bit. “You’re right,” she said with a sigh, gently shaking her head in frustration. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“See, I am thinking about what’s best for the animals.”
Karabi rolled her eyes. “Sure, this time.”
“So what else have you got?”
“We could hire a financial advisor who doesn’t suck?”
He smirked. “If you’re trying to hurt my feelings, that won’t work. I don’t take offense easily.”
“I get it, you’re made of steel.”
“Pretty much, actually.” He grinned. “Sounds as though you’re out of clever ideas. So how about that ball?”
She looked caught with her hand in the cookie jar. “I guess I’m fine with it.”
“Okay then.” He grinned. “A zoo ball it is. I’m so happy we could reach an agreement on this.”
“I bet you are,” she grumbled as she headed toward the door. “You got what you wanted.” Her voice was gravelly with defeat and irritation yet it somehow managed to provoke him even further. He dropped all professional pretenses and closed in on her, put one hand on the door, trapping her between it and his body. He leaned in, his body entering the personal heat that surrounded hers. He stood so close, the tips of her breasts pressed against him as he stared down into those big brown pools of temptation. Got what I wanted? He laughed to himself. She had no idea what he really wanted. Although he knew it was unprofessional and inappropriate, he felt compelled to solicit her, to give her an invitation. He couldn’t seem to help himself. “Is that what you think, Miss Minstry? That I got what I wanted?” His lips were so close to hers he could have tasted that sweet gloss if he’d just stuck out his tongue. “Because I mean… I did accomplish the goal and reached an agreement with you. And you got the quick end to this meeting that you were looking for. But I’m not so sure either of us got what we really wanted.”
She cocked her head, and waves of her long, soft black hair brushed his hand and forearm. “I still can’t say I want you…here.” She gave him a look so smoldering, his dick swelled in his pants. But then she ducked from under him, opened the door and walked out of the conference room without looking back, giving a wink, beckoning him to follow or any clear indication of how he was supposed to interpret her last sentence.
When minutes went by and she was long gone, he wondered why he was still standing there, half erect and completely bewildered, over a woman he’d just met a little over an hour ago.
Chapter Three
When the taxi pulled up to the curb just outside Willis Tower, Karabi froze and stared out the window. There were so many people going toward the entrance, all in formal dress but wearing animal masks and accessories.
Looked as though the Zoo Ball really was going to be a hit after all.
She’d been wrong on so many counts with Alexander about this event. She reflected on the conversation they’d had that led up to the decision to make this a masquerade affair.
“There’s not enough time to plan for a ball,” she had said.
“We can throw the ball on Valentine’s Day.”
“That’s barely a month from now! There’s no way you can reserve a spot and prepare and get invites out that quickly. Most events require, like, a year’s notice.”
“Willis Tower only requires a minimum of two weeks’ notice and they just had a cancellation. I’ve already checked.”
“And people will show up on such short notice?”
“You don’t think so? It’ll be Valentine’s Day. People are always looking for something to do for that holiday anyway.”
“You’d have to make it a catchy gimmick,” she’d suggested. “How about a costume ball?”
“Any kind of costume?”
“Animal costume.”
He’d scoffed. “I don’t see that happening.”
“Why not? It’s to help out injured animals. And it’s being thrown by a zoo, for goodness’ sake.”
“I don’t know how many upper-class folks would be willing to show up at a party downtown dressed like animals.”
“Then just make it animal masks,” Karabi had suggested.
And just like that, they’d had an animal masquerade in the works.
Karabi had not expected Alex to be able to pull all of this off in a month but he had. She hadn’t expected so many people to RSVP but they had. And apparently they were here.
Which meant she was going to have to get out of the cab and make the awkward trek into the building amongst all these people, in her three-inch-high heels and the long, flowing, cheetah-print dress she was wearing underneath her wool coat. Hopefully she wouldn’t fall flat on her face.
“All set, ma’am? That’ll be six seventy-five.” The driver snapped her back to reality.
Karabi paid and thanked him, then pulled her homemade cheetah mask down over her face. Thank goodness it was a masquerade ball. At least no one would recognize her if she did trip over her own feet.
As soon as she got out of the cab she moved as quickly as her wobbly legs would let her. It was cold out and the sidewalk was a little slushy with old snow. She wanted to get indoors as soon as possible. Once she was inside there was a long line to get on the elevators, so she had to wait. Quickly growing hot, she took off her coat and draped it over her arm. The wait was awkward because it looked as though everyone else there was part of a pair, whereas she was by herself. Karabi was feeling more than a little lonely. It was Valentine’s Day and here she was at a ball without a date. So sad.
Technically she was there to work, not spend time with a date. She would be with the other staff members helping run the party, including Alexander. Alex. Her pulse quickened a little as she thought about him. She’d spent the past month working very closely with Alex yet trying to emotionally keep her distance. Whenever they were in too close a proximity to each other, sparks would fly and the mood was always hot but awkward.
Although Karabi had done her best to try to play it off, the truth was there’d been so many times she’d thought about jumping Alex’s bones. But she still barely knew the man. She didn’t want to look like a complete hussy. And hadn’t she just learned her lesson about moving too fast? Plus there was the fact that for some reason she was almost frightened to really get to know him. He’d asked her out to lunch several times, even dinner once, but she’d refused each time. Her legitimate excuse was always that she was too busy working with Musaka and Kimba, or collaborating with the new temporary staff who had come on board to help out. Alex had accepted her rejection with patience and even consideration—at least once a week he’d brought lunch to her when she was too busy to think about food. He’d even sat in the same room with her and eaten within her vicinity until the smell enticed her enough to stop what she was doing and sit down with him for a few minutes to munch.
But she hadn’t let it get too much further than that. She couldn’t shake the fear that if she got to really know this one, she’d like him too much. It’d only been about six weeks since she’d broken up with Rao and she was still kind of stinging from that. Maybe this was what it was like to be what was called “on the rebound”? Was she only latching on to the first new hot, intelligent person she encountered who gave her any kind of time of day just because she was a little heartbroken? Or was it more than that
?
The last time she’d seen him was a couple of days ago as they were making the final preparations for the event. He’d asked her what she was going to dress up as and she’d told him it would be a surprise.
“Want to know what I’m going to go as?” he’d asked.
“The financial consultant who orchestrated it all?” she’d remarked, and he’d laughed. He’d obviously wanted more conversation with her but she’d forced the subject to stay on work and the planning, saying she didn’t have much time. The truth was, that day Karabi was especially horny and it had been so hard for her to be around him when she’d wanted him so bad. He looked, sounded and smelled delicious, and every time he said her name or made eye contact, her sex grew moist. But she didn’t want to want him. She didn’t want to want anyone right now. She’d rushed out of the office that night, eager to spend time with Kimba and Musaka when it was her shift.
But Alex wasn’t an easy man to ignore. He was intelligent—good at math, accounting and finance. Yet he was a people person, acutely aware of others and exactly what he needed to do to charm the pants off them. He sure knew how to throw a party too. Alex was considerate, had a sexy “bedroom-y” voice, was honest and easy to talk to. And he had that finger-able hair and trance-inducing eyes that wrinkled at the corners when he gave her that winning, sexy-ass smile.
Shit. She was smitten, wasn’t she?
Karabi was still cursing herself under her breath when it was her turn to board the elevator. Several people got on ahead of her. There was an elephant, a peacock, a tiger and a bear. She couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t miss the irony either that here she was—a cheetah shape-shifter pretending to be a normal human who was pretending to be a cheetah—surrounded by a bunch of ordinary humans pretending to be animals.
As more people piled in Karabi found herself squeezed all the way in the back corner, near the right-hand wall. They were loading more people onto the elevator than Karabi would have liked. She wasn’t a big fan of crowds at all—the aroma of so many different individuals surrounding her was overwhelming and usually made her dizzy and a little nauseated. The elevator was jam-packed and as the people piled in in front of her she had to continuously step back. Eventually she tripped over herself in those stupid shoes. She fell into someone standing behind her, who caught her in his arms.
“Sorry,” she blurted without turning around, embarrassed. She was more grateful than ever that she was wearing a mask. She tried to straighten herself but her catcher put an arm around her waist and held her inappropriately close.
Karabi froze. What in the hell?
She tried to turn around but the person held her so tight she couldn’t move. She was kept upright so it appeared she was standing normally and just waiting for the elevator doors to close.
“It’s all right, Karabi. I’ve got you,” a velvety, masculine whisper against her ear explained softly. Seductively.
She knew that voice, knew that cologne, knew the scent of the flesh of the man who was intermingled with that cologne. But she said his name out loud in revelation anyway. “Alex,” she whispered back as quietly as she could, attempting to hide her alarm.
“Mmm-hmm.” He grunted the confirmation. His mouth was still near her ear, close enough for her to feel the vibration from his throat reverberate throughout her eardrum, sending waves of desire all over her entire body. Why is this man so damn sexy?
With the elevator full, the operator announced he was getting ready to close the door and everyone squeezed in even tighter, forcing Karabi back closer still against Alex’s rigid body. The door closed and the operator pressed the button for the ninety-ninth floor…just as Alex pressed Karabi’s button by leaning forward and downward, moving his warm breath up and down the length of her neck as if he were examining every inch of it, teasing her, inhaling her.
She glanced back up at him briefly and caught sight of the tiger mask he was wearing before she looked straight ahead again. The fact that he had the “face of a tiger” while wearing a fancy suit added to the sexual appeal of the entire situation for Karabi and she could barely contain herself from breaking out in cheetah spots. She was purring softly—against her will—but fortunately the elevator’s motor also gave off a low hum, which drowned her out. It took everything she had to keep her legs from going wobbly as she and Alex swayed against each other with the movement of the elevator.
The ride up was only supposed to be a little over a minute but it was going to feel like a long way to the top.
And Karabi was going up in flames.
* * * * *
Alex’s breath quickened and his cock twitched in his pants. He’d always suspected Karabi had the figure of a lingerie model hiding under her bulky clothes but now it was blatantly apparent in her cheetah-print gown, which was formfitting, low-cut and strapless at the top, and long and flowing from her hips down. The moment she’d stepped onto the elevator, even though she was wearing a cheetah mask that covered most of her face above her mouth, he’d recognized her. Those curves. That long, soft dark hair. Her spicy smell. They’d kept him distracted at work for a month now. He’d probably be able to identify that woman if he were blind and she were a mile away.
He leaned forward to look down her dress and got an eyeful of the tops of her round, light-brown breasts nestled enticingly in a tan strapless bra. Then he got a whiff of her and couldn’t help but move in closer to inhale her scent more fully. Why did she smell so fucking good? What the hell kind of perfume was she wearing? He’d never encountered anything like it. He hadn’t been able to help himself when she got on the elevator and fell against him. It was as if a grilled steak had fallen into the lap of a starving man. How long had he craved her touch? How many nights had he spent dreaming about fucking Karabi until she cried out his name? And now he had her in his hands, held tight against him.
His cock lifted slightly and brushed against Karabi’s firm bottom. Then she pulled away and his body instantly went cold without her touch. He should have left her alone. That would have been the appropriate thing to do in an elevator full of people. But tonight he felt anything but appropriate. He moved forward, firmly pressing his semi-erect penis against the curve of one of her ass cheeks, making it painfully clear that he was getting a hard-on and he wasn’t trying to hide it. In answer she moved her bottom from side to side against his crotch, slowly. Teasing. The touch was slight but enough to let him know that she didn’t mind the intimate contact and in fact welcomed it.
It took seventy seconds to go to the top of Willis Tower. It only took thirty seconds before Alex found himself with a full-on erection.
Good god, this woman turned him on. Her very essence was hot and compelling and aroused a sensation deep inside him. Something untamed, hungry. A need he hadn’t known was there.
He ran his hand up and down her side, exploring that part of a woman he loved, the dip between her waist and her hip. Tracing her shape, caressing her curves. The fact that any one of the people in the elevator with them could turn around and see only made it even more arousing, mischievous. They could look if they wanted to—he and Karabi were pretty much anonymous faces in the crowd right now. He wasn’t sure he would have cared even if they weren’t masked at the time.
Alex rubbed his palm along the satiny material of her dress, across her leg. What had made him so bold, he didn’t know. He squeezed the firm, slender muscle of her thigh, a little surprised by how his hand covered most of it. She was even daintier than he’d assumed. Hard to tell with the baggy clothes she wore all the time. But he liked the feel of her in his hand and he caressed the length of her hip as he pulled her back against him until her backside jutted firmly against his crotch and the top of her head was directly beneath his chin. He closed his eyes for a moment and inhaled the smell of coconut shampoo and olive oil. Delicious. He tilted his head down and let his lips brush against the top of her head.
Karabi responded by grinding her hips against his erection. It was subtle, very subtle�
�he almost wouldn’t have noticed it if his cock hadn’t lunged forward in his pants toward the cleavage of her bottom. He let his hand slip forward just a little more toward the inside of her upper thigh, wanting to trace the outline of the triangle between her legs. But she shuddered at the touch and exhaled one quick, soft moan. Her reaction made Alex have to bite his lip, still his hand and close his eyes to try to calm himself before he snatched up her dress and ravished her right then and there, in the middle of the crowded elevator.
When the doors opened and all of the people filed out, Alex reached for Karabi’s hand, interlocking his fingers with hers. He wanted to ask her if she would walk out of that elevator with him as his date. No way would she reject him this time. She threw him a quick look but with the mask on he could not read her expression. She let her hand linger in his for a moment but she pulled it away and quickly exited the elevator without looking back again.
Alex exhaled deeply. Down, tiger, he thought. He adjusted himself quickly and walked out of the elevator, a little bowlegged at first until he could get his erection to subside, and joined the party.
And the party was jumping! Almost all four hundred guests had shown up. He smiled with satisfaction as he scanned the room—this event was going to make him look really good. Everything was already set up and in place as planned. The DJ already had the music going, the tables were set, appetizers and drinks were already being served.
There wouldn’t be much for him to do tonight, really. They’d hired an emcee, the building staff managed the food and drinks and the directing of people to where they needed to go. One of the older zookeepers had volunteered to run the silent auction. The director of the zoo was unmasked as he did his meet-and-greet with the guests but no one had any desire to meet the Finance Guy. So he kept on his mask, figuring he might as well party.
He scanned the room for Karabi. He found her patrolling the room, taking everything in, going behind the servers to straighten up a table or a sign here and there. She’d been granted her request to not have to interact directly with the guests, so she too kept on her mask and remained pretty much inconspicuous. Alex followed her around the venue for the first hour and she seemed to intentionally lead him on. Glancing his way every few minutes but then casually looking the other way when their eyes met. Never once letting him get too close…or too far either. Alex felt very much like a tiger for real, stealthily hunting down his very tempting prey.
Cat on the Fence Page 3