Hester sucked on her third cup of coffee, and her cheetah let out a deflated, tired growl. Yeah, that inhuman monster Antonio woke her at the buttcrack of dawn again. Okay, so he brought waffles that had sprinkles in them, along with French vanilla cream and strawberries but… She forgot her point. She went back to thinking of the waffles again. He freely admitted that his mother made them, and Hester made a half-hearted joke about him being a mama’s boy again, but she was starting to give up on them. He was proud of the fact, and they didn’t have any effect. Plus, she was starting to fall a little in love with his mother. Could making sure his mother cooked for her on a regular basis be a foundation of mating Antonio? Antonio and heavenly waffles every day – not a bad combination.
She was veering into dangerous territory, and it was all because she was tired and full of delicious food. It was probably all part of his master plan she thought spitefully. He got her all hot and bothered with his sexy body, ensuring she spent all night dreaming of him and then plied her with delicious treats. Ooh, he was cunning, and she almost fell for it!
Hester looked up from her stack of paperwork to find Daniel staring at her yet again. She raised an eyebrow, and he pressed his lips together and quickly looked away.
After plying her with waffles, Antonio again insisted she get up and get dressed – as with the previous morning he picked out her thong, choosing a lacy purple affair. Then he brought her to the office to sort through more paperwork. She had a sneaking suspicion that he was going to expect her to do this for her entire vacation/period of being kidnapped. What’s a girl gotta do to get some downtime?
Daniel sure didn’t seem happy when she arrived, even trying to raise an objection with Antonio. That was wordlessly shot down with the smallest tic of an eyebrow. Her jaguar sure could be dominant when he wanted to be, made her shiver in a very pleasant kind of way. Not that he was her jaguar…
Hester licked her lips and started sifting through documents. The leap had acquired a lot of land over the years, most of the mountain where they lived. They owned a lot of land around the leap compound, probably to ensure that no one else settled too close and allowed them plenty of room for leap members to run and let loose. They did, however, own a few holiday homes in the surrounding area and hired them out to vacationers. Daniel was supposed to be the manager of the properties, while Antonio’s mother, Maria and a number of other leap females ensured that the houses were cleaned and well-maintained. However, it appeared from the paperwork that it was actually Maria who was handling most of the business for them. But probably Daniel taking the credit.
Perhaps he had too much on his plate and had to delegate she thought in a fit of strange charitableness. She watched as Daniel spent three minutes cleaning his ear with his pinky. Yeah, right, huffed her animal.
She needed to sort out which of the documents pertained to their lands, which belonged to the timber mill and which were for the properties they owned. Then she needed to get them into date order, and then she’d be looking at what exactly was missing.
Hester glanced around at the towering piles. Fffffff… fudge, how was she supposed to do that in less than two weeks? You can’t, chuckled her animal. Humph. Another of his plans to get her to stay? Or perhaps she was giving him too much credit for being sneaky.
She was just about to open a new file when the door flew open and in walked her second least favorite female jaguar – Marta. The woman was even taller and perhaps even more gorgeous than her daughter. Hester instinctively hated her – and not just because she was tall and gorgeous, though that probably played an itty-bitty part. No, there was something unlikable about her, in the way her mouthed curved mockingly and the cold way she looked at everyone and everything around her. Her cheetah clacked her fangs together in warning.
“Hessie,” Marta purred.
“It’s Hester.”
“I heard Hessie.”
“You heard wrong,” grumbled Hester.
Only three people had ever had the nerve to call her Hessie - a boy at school when she was ten, who spent several months after the ‘Hessie’ incident walking with a limp. Antonio, who was totally begging for a limp of his own and her father, who also got away with calling her dumpling, pudding pop, munchkin and my little princess. He liked the latter best, and so did she - every little girl should have a father who called them their princess.
Without any prompting, Marta perched herself on the edge of the desk Hester was working at.
“Look, Hessie….”
Hester bit the inside of her mouth.
“I’m sure you’re a perfectly fine… ah, what is your species again?” Marta raked her up and down and judging by the smirk, clearly found her wanting.
“Cheetah,” supplied Hester, acidly. “Surprised you can’t scent it. But then I had heard that the sense of smell for shifters wanes with old age.”
Hester almost thought she heard a guffaw from Daniel, but whatever sound he was making was quickly stifled as Marta shot him a vicious look.
With great effort, Marta tried to rein in her fury and forced a smile on her face as her attention drew back to Hester. “But you don’t really fit in here, do you?” Marta leaned towards her, peering down at her like a bird of prey. Actually, up close, her features were quite vulturish.
Hester folded her arms. “Says who?” she challenged.
Admittedly, she didn’t think she could fit in there. For one thing, she didn’t want to give up her job to become a housewife to Antonio. For another, she didn’t think she could survive miles away from her favorite fast food joint Hola Taco, and even more importantly, away from all the beautiful, beautiful shoe shops of Los Lobos. Her collection of gorgeous, foot killing shoes was her prized possession and one that she wanted to grow and grow. But up here wasn’t the place for dazzling, impractical shoes. At that moment, she was wearing her running shoes for heaven’s sake!
However, her thinking she didn’t belong, and this sneering, bullying bitch of a jaguar saying it, were two entirely different things.
Marta gave her the most horribly patronizing expression in the history of patronizing expressions. “Don’t you think you’d be better going back to Los Lobos?”
Hester stood up abruptly, making Marta lean back. This way Hester had the height advantage, and she didn’t like Marta towering over her, trying to make her feel small. Of course, that would only last until Marta stood up – the woman was easily six feet tall.
“Whether I choose to go or stay is up to Antonio and me,” Hester said coldly.
Marta looked at her pityingly, and her cheetah hissed. “Antonio is just using you to make my daughter jealous. Surely even you can see that?”
Hester gestured to Marta’s face. “Wearing this much make-up for women your age is just sad – surely even you can see that?”
Marta's face turned red and ugly with anger, making some of her make-up crack. Honestly, Hester never gave any thought to other women wearing make-up, but Marta looked like she had plastered hers on. Who was she kidding? She wasn’t twenty anymore so she ought to stop trying to look like she was. Course, the crop top that said ‘Princess’ in sequin letters and the hip hugger jeans weren’t helping her cause.
Did the bitch think Hester was going to back down? Hester had spent most of her career arguing with defense lawyers and the worst criminals Los Lobos had to offer. She wasn’t going to back down from a fight or take any crap. In any argument, Hester was always going to be the bitchiest, meanest participant – something this female ought to learn quickly.
The female jaguar stood up, and vaguely Hester heard Daniel rumbling behind them. He better stay out of it, even if Marta did start something physical she wanted him to leave them to it. Marta was larger than her, and her beast would be too – Hester was fairly certain her jaguar would kick her cheetah’s ass. Her beast mewled in discontent but, hey, it was true. Hester wasn’t a brawler, but she hated people like Marta, people who thought they could use their imposing physicality to win arguments, to get people to back down. Well, tough shit – Hester would not back down.
“I’m trying to help you,” snarled Marta.
Hester jutted her chin, craning her neck to look at the tall jaguar in the eye. “No, you’re trying to help yourself.”
“Antonio will be the leap’s prime one day. He needs a strong jaguar mate – and that’s not you. He brought you here to make my Valentina jealous.”
Hester smiled thinly. “Sure.”
“This is a jaguar leap, we tolerate humans, but there’s no room for other species here. Leave now, before you really get hurt.”
Marta gave her a significant look, to leave Hester in no doubt that she wasn’t referring to Hester getting her feelings hurt by Antonio.
“It is you, who should leave,” replied Hester with a sense of calm her furious beast definitely didn’t feel. But Hester gestured at the door and enjoyed the disgruntled look on Marta’s face as she realized she was actually being dismissed.
For a second, she thought Marta would argue, but she didn’t, she just growled and stomped away. She flung the door open and threw herself through it as gracefully as an elephant doing ballet.
Her beast snapped her jaws. Good riddance. Hester rolled her eyes and casually walked over to close the door Marta had thoughtfully left open.
She turned back to see Daniel quickly walking across the room. He grabbed his jacket and wordlessly left as well.
Hester wondered if he was hurrying to tell his prime of the encounter, vaguely wondering if she had done something wrong in the manner she dealt with Marta. But honestly, she could care less. The woman was awful, and realistically, she doubted the prime would care about a spat between two females. She guessed by the way Marta stroked his arm at dinner the previous night that there was something going on between them, but honestly, he didn’t seem overly enamored by her. Plus, with the shooter the previous night, he had other things to worry about. The screeching Marta was probably low down his list of priorities.
Hester sat back down at her desk and took a moment to compose herself, pondering Marta’s words. Her cheetah sniffed dismissively. Antonio was hostile and even angry with Valentina when she approached them the previous night, and desperate to ensure Hester didn’t think anything was going on between the two of them. If he was playing hard to get, then Valentina had her work cut out for her!
No, she didn’t honestly think he was. Valentina’s behavior pissed her off, but Hester didn’t honestly think Antonio was into her. Which meant Marta was delusional, and possibly Valentina, too.
Hester shrugged, and her cheetah sniffed. She didn’t really think she had anything to worry about from those two. Yeah, it did occur to her – very briefly – that one of them had something to do with the shooting, but logistically, they couldn’t have done it.
She pulled the first file off the top of her pile and frowned. Maybe she was crazy, but the file felt lighter than it had when she first picked it up ten minutes ago.
*
“Good day at the office, honey?”
Hester scowled at him, and Antonio chuckled. Some people thought that smiles lit up rooms, but he swore it was Hester’s scowl that really was something to behold.
“Peachy,” she grumbled letting out a yawn and stretching her arms over her head.
She arched her back, pushing her chest forward, nicely highlighting her curves. She noticed Antonio watching intently and pushed her chest out a little further. Temptress complained his beast.
Yep, he imagined he had another cold shower coming that night. Course his condition wasn’t helped any by watching her eat a chicken salad sandwich at lunch. The way her tongue kept darting out of her mouth to lick up smudges of mayonnaise ought to be considered a weapon of mass destruction - he nearly combusted about eight times.
Hester smiled slightly, half-mocking and half-wary. “So what are we doing tonight? What’s next in the plan to woo me?”
Antonio grinned. “Can’t wait, huh, Hessie?”
“Just resigned to the inevitable,” she sighed, looking very much like a martyr.
Given that she was almost willing to spend time with him, he was loath to say what he had to say. “I have to go meet with Prime, but after…”
Her lips twitched slightly in annoyance – possibly annoyed he wasn’t clamoring to spend every spare second with her. He was – he was desperately trying to find a balance between smothering her with the undying attention his beast wanted to give her and leaving her alone so much that she didn’t realize what a wonderful guy he is. But his prime wanted to update him on the shooting – and given that it was about a possible threat to Hester, he wasn’t about to blow off his prime.
“I want to go for a run,” she declared, watching him closely, obviously aware of what his reaction would be.
“Not a good idea,” he growled.
“Because of yesterday?” she said airily. “I thought it was just a rogue hunter and I had nothing to worry about.”
He tried counting to ten, wondering if she was this carefree with her safety back in Los Lobos or whether this was just a way to annoy him. “Still…”
“My cheetah wants out. What’s the matter? Afraid I’ll run off?”
Antonio took his life into his hands, and possibly the risk of losing one of those hands by reaching out and placing his hands on her hips. She let out the tiniest of gasps, and her cheeks turned slightly pink, but she didn’t object.
He angled her in front of him and leaned down to her ear. “I’d catch you, Hessie.”
Her breath hitched slightly, and she tinkled with laughter. “Sure seemed like you were having trouble keeping up with me yesterday.”
“You have, speed,” he purred, his lips brushing against her ear, “but I promise I have stamina. Eventually, I’d catch you. I can keep going for hours.”
“Promises, promises.”
Antonio groaned and took a moment to inhale her sweet scent. “I need to speak to my prime, but after that, I was hoping you’d join me for dinner at home.”
Hester pulled back slightly. “You mean, dinner with your family?”
“Yep, with my mom and unfortunately, my two brothers will be there.” He’d really tried to get rid of them for the night, but the little buggers weren’t going anywhere.
She looked slightly mischievous before uncertainty reared its head. “I don’t know…”
“My mom is making Hawaiian pork with wild rice and pineapple upside down cake for dessert.” She had a surplus of pineapple for some reason.
“That does sound nice,” she admitted grudgingly.
“My mom’s cooking is legendary, I mean, just think of her pancakes and waffles.”
“Oh,” she moaned, the sound sweeter and more of a turn on than anything he’d ever heard.
“Okay, but I am going to need to go for a run soon.”
“And you will, Hessie, I promise you will.” He rubbed his cheek against hers. “Just think, if you lived here, you could eat my mom’s cooking every day.”
She groaned. “I knew you were trying to seduce me with your mom’s cooking.”
“Is it working?”
She hesitated just a shade too long. “No.”
Antonio laughed and even managed to sneak a kiss to her temple. He better tell his mom to make something fantastic for Hester tomorrow morning. Dare he hope she was just a few breakfasts away from agreeing to be his mate?
Well, maybe not, but they certainly weren’t hurting his cause.