When Hester emerged a few hours later, showered and fully dressed, both her stomach and cheetah were crying out for food.
Okay, so the hunger strike was probably a no-go – she loved food far too much, and the scents coming from the kitchen… gah! Hester had to wipe her mouth before any more drool escaped.
She allowed her stomach to do the thinking for her and followed it to the kitchen where she found the other three women cooking dinner. They greeted her uncertainly, and Hester wondered if they had seen her naked dangling or worse heard her conversation with Antonio.
Sadie was the first to break the awkward silence.
“I thought I’d cook dinner since we don’t seem to be going anywhere.”
Hester eyed her for any malice or recriminations, but there didn’t seem to be any. Sadie shrugged a bare shoulder and went back to her cooking. She had changed into a floaty dress and ballet-style flat shoes. Her make-up was perfect as usual and her hair glossy. She seemed to be able to look lovely without even trying. Hester tried not to hate her on principle.
Laurel had piled her masses of hair on her head and changed into a pair of worn jeans and a vest top. She was chopping vegetables. Mary was still huddled in an oversized cardigan, and unease rolled off her in waves so strong they were making Hester feel a little dizzy. Course that might also be the lack of food.
Hester grunted and slumped into a seat at the kitchen table. She watched Sadie move around the kitchen with confidence. Given that Hester lived on fast food and microwave meals, it was all alien to her.
“What are you making?” she asked finally.
“Just a stir fry,” replied Sadie. “I’m throwing in all sorts – chicken, potatoes, rice, egg – it’ll be gorgeous. My college roommate was Chinese, and she used to cook this all the time. This is actually a really nice kitchen, very well stocked.”
Hester nodded absently, and silence lapsed again. For some reason, she felt uneasy about what she needed to say next, as if she was letting them down. But it needed to be said.
“I agreed to stay for the two weeks,” she blurted.
Mary seemed to curl up even smaller, and Sadie gave her a wry look.
“We know,” sighed Laurel.
Hester winced. “You heard?”
“Only because you yelled it,” chuckled Sadie.
“Look, I know this isn’t ideal, but what they did to us is one of their crazy-ass traditions, and I don’t think they had much of a choice… it’s hard to explain.”
How could she make a human understand about the traditions of a jaguar leap? It just wasn’t the same for humans. What may seem silly and ridiculous to them were the traditions that had kept shifters alive for hundreds of years while humans tried to hunt them to extinction. Trying to break the need to follow tradition was hard for them. Not impossible, but hard.
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t excuse what these bozos did to us – I’d much rather be back in Los Lobos sipping a Martini. But if we make a break for it and call the cops, then a lot of people will get arrested, and a lot of innocent kids will lose their parents.”
Damnit! She realized she was doing exactly what Antonio wanted her to – finding a way to keep the other females there. But at least if she did stay for the two weeks she could make sure for herself that the women who came to live there were happy.
“Maybe it won’t be too bad,” said Laurel hesitantly. “I did think I had a connection to Diego when I met him, I just… just didn’t think he’d ever be interested in me.” Her cheeks turned crimson, and she became very interested in the carrot she was chopping. “Maybe we can look on this as an adventure. I’ve read a lot about the mating habits of shifters…”
Hester arched an eyebrow.
“And they are different to humans. I don’t think they mean us any harm.”
Sadie gave an exaggerated eye roll. “You guys are saps.”
“Or a free vacation? When we were given our tour, I saw that there was a hot tub, and it is kind of pretty around here.”
Sadie harrumphed. “I guess. I mean, I haven’t had a vacation in a while. Great, now I sound as crazy as you two.”
“And Lorenzo is pretty cute,” said Laurel.
Sadie flicked her hair nonchalantly, and a small smile played on her lips. “Is he? I hadn’t noticed.”
“Tomas is cute too,” ventured Laurel to the quiet Mary.
The small woman shook her head and like a frightened deer ran out of the room.
“She’s going to get eaten alive,” observed Sadie before adding evilly, “if she’s lucky.”
Laurel stifled a laugh.
“It’s only for two weeks, that’ll fly by,” said Hester, more to herself than anyone else.
The other two both shrugged and started chatting. They weren’t as hard to convince to stay as she imagined, and Mary was just frightened – she’d come round… probably. But then, Hester hadn’t been exactly hard to convince either.
Maybe they were all feeling the pull towards the males. Stupid jaguars.
But no matter what, she was still intending on leaving in two weeks time, and she sure as sugar wasn’t going to take it easy on Antonio.
*
February 15th
To Hester’s surprise, Antonio left her alone for the rest of the day. He didn’t come to the house, didn’t try to inveigle his way into her bed. Her animal sulked a little, but Hester was perfectly content. She went to bed alone, and she was definitely happy about that. Absolutely, one thousand percent, not disappointed in the slightest. At all.
Of course, she should have known his absence wouldn’t last long.
“Wakey, wakey.”
Hester peeled one eyelid open to find an escaped lunatic hovering over her. No, wait, it was just Antonio, but the fact that he was grinning in the early morning could only be explained as lunacy.
“G’ way,” Hester mumbled. She groaned and turned over, trying to forget the nutjob in her bedroom.
For a moment she wondered why she didn’t smell the roasted, fresh beans of her automatic coffee maker, why she didn’t hear the drone of busy traffic and the clatter of heels on hardwood flooring as her neighbors rushed to work. Then she remembered where she was and groaned again. Strangely she didn’t find it odd on waking to find Antonio in her bedroom.
“Come on, Hessie, up and at them.”
“I’ll up and punch you in a second,” she complained from under a pillow.
Antonio chuckled. “Not a morning person, huh?”
Not until after her second cup of coffee - even her cheetah was asleep until that. It was a wonder she ever made it into work on time.
Holy shit! Work!
Hester sprang up so quickly even Antonio seemed taken aback. He eyed her questioningly.
“I’m supposed to be at work today.”
Her bosses would notice her missing, and then they’d investigate. Probably come and rescue her, and if she knew her colleagues, treat Antonio to a taser. She was in two minds as to whether that was a good thing. He deserved it alone for looking far too gorgeous at far too early an hour. She caught sight of herself in the mirror and winced, praying the thing didn’t crack.
Antonio relaxed a little. “Don’t worry; I already told them you were taking a vacation.”
“Oh.” Hester frowned. “When did you do that?”
“Well…”
“When you kidnapped me, right?” she said dully. It always came back to that.
“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 head. 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.