“Jace! I’m so glad you could make it.” A tall and slender tiger shifter with long dark hair and green eyes, threw her arms around Jace and hugged him hard.
“Me too, Ash. Congrats on the engagement.”
“Thanks! Listen, I don’t know if you know, but Marilyn is here.” The tiger shifter rolled her eyes. “I didn’t want to invite her, but you know how Mom is. Anyway, just wanted to warn you. You know she’ll be trying to get into your pants like she always does.”
Jace stepped away from his cousin and put his arm around Bria’s waist. “Mom warned me she was coming. Ash, this is my girlfriend Bria. Bria, this is my cousin Ashley.”
“It’s so nice to meet you.” Bria held her hand out and Ashley shook it with an excited trill.
“Oh my God! Jace, you didn’t tell me you had a girlfriend! Aren’t you just the most gorgeous little thing, ever! I love your dress. That blue matches your eyes perfectly. Where did you buy it? It’s so awesome to meet you! How did you and Jace meet?”
“The Shifters Love dating app,” Jace said.
Bria hid her small grin as Jace squeezed her hip.
“Oh my God! That’s how Reggie and I met! Reggie! Babe, come here!”
The bull shifter, he was only about 5’10 but was wide and powerful looking, walked across the lawn toward them. He walked like a typical bull shifter - with his head down and his muscular arms swinging with every stride. His head was shaved, and he had multiple facial piercings. She studied the small golden ring in his nasal septum as he drew closer.
He stopped next to Ashley and she threw her arm around his waist. “Babe, you remember my cousin Jace. This is his girlfriend, Bria.”
“Hey, good to see you again.” Reggie shook Jace’s hand and then Bria’s. He had a hard grip but he smiled good naturedly at her. “Hi, I’m Reggie. Good to meet you.”
He pressed a kiss against Ash’s cheek. “My aunt wants you to come and meet my cousin. The one who flew in from Maryland.”
“Sure.” Ashley grinned at Jace and Bria. She pointed to the table that was set up on the stone patio. It was loaded down with bowls and platters of food and a giant punch bowl. “Help yourself to the food before it’s all gone, okay? Oh, and Dad poured like an entire bottle of vodka in the punch when Mom wasn’t looking so you might want to go easy on it.”
Jace laughed. “Thanks for the warning.”
Bria waited until they were out of earshot. “The dating app?”
Jace grinned at her. “What? I thought it was a brilliant last-minute save. We never talked about our ‘how we met’ story.”
“Hey, I’m impressed by your quick thinking,” Bria said.
“I’m more than just a pretty face, you know. I’m smart, funny, and I have a really big -”
“Jace?”
Bria pasted a smile on her face. She recognized the voice behind them and her nervous system went on high alert. Her tiger made a low whine of anxiety, and she soothed it absently as she and Jace turned. She smiled confidently at Jace’s parents.
“Hey, Mom. Hey, Dad.” Jace shook his father’s hand and kissed his mother’s cheek.
“Hi, honey.” Jace’s mom patted his shoulder. “We missed you at breakfast this morning at Franco’s. Almost the whole family was there.”
“Sorry. We slept in.”
She supposed if sleeping in meant Jace had pinned her against the wall of the shower and fucked her until she was begging him to let her come, then yeah, she guessed they had slept in.
There was an awkward silence and then Jace said, “You remember Bria.”
“We do,” Jace’s dad said. “Nice to see you again, Bria.”
“Nice to see you too, Mr. Shepherd.” She held out her hand and he studied it for a moment before shaking it.
Bria held out her hand to Jace’s mom. The tiger shifter seemed even more reluctant than her husband to touch her hand, but she finally gave it a quick, brief shake. Bria smiled at her. “That’s a very pretty dress, Mrs. Shepherd.”
“Thank you.” Jace’s mom turned to him. “Jace, can we speak to you in private for a moment?”
“Actually, Bria and I are starving, and we were just heading to the buffet table. We’ll talk later.” Jace steered her away from his parents.
Bria took a quick look behind her. His father was giving her a worried look, but his mother looked almost frozen with fear. They turned abruptly and walked away.
“Well, that was horrifyingly awful.”
“It was fine.” Jace grabbed two paper plates and handed one to her.
“It wasn’t. I know I didn’t make a good first impression with your parents but, Jace,” she tugged on his arm until he looked at her, “your mom looked terrified to see me.”
“She wasn’t.” Jace wouldn’t look her in the eye. “Oh good, my Aunt Raylene made her famous potato salad. You have to try some.”
She knew a subject change when she heard one. Sighing inwardly, she followed Jace down the buffet table. “Raylene is Ashley’s mom?”
“Yes. This is her and my Uncle Stan’s house.”
“Raylene is your mom’s sister or your dad’s?”
“My dad’s. Here, try some of the pork.” He put a couple pieces on her plate and she added some potato salad and tossed salad as Jace piled his plate high with various cuts of meat.
There were small round tables set up across the lawn and Jace pointed to an empty one. “We’ll sit over there, okay?”
“Sure.” She followed him to the table. As they sat down, she realized Jace’s mother was standing by the patio doors and staring at them. Bria smiled at her and the woman’s face paled before she turned and walked into the house.
Her stomach churning, Bria poked at the salad on her plate. She had no idea why Jace’s parents were acting so strange around her, but it was freaking her out a little.
* * *
“Who are you again?” The old woman sat down with a heavy thump next to Bria.
Bria smiled at her. “I’m Bria. I’m Jace’s girlfriend.”
It was almost three hours later. She had met a bunch of Jace’s family, including the tiger shifter who just sat beside her, as well as some childhood friends. All of them were warm and welcoming, which made Jace’s parents’ reaction that much more puzzling. Of course, she mused, she had sliced and diced their son until his chest looked like mincemeat. Maybe that was just something they would never get over. Not that it mattered anyway. This was make believe. By this evening, her pretend relationship with Jace would be finished.
“Oh right. That explains why that lion shifter is giving you such frosty looks.”
Bria glanced across the yard at Marilyn. The lion shifter looked away immediately and the old woman laughed. “She’s been wanting to bone my nephew since they were teenagers. Did you know that?”
“Jace mentioned it to me.”
“Between you and me, it makes me laugh to watch her be so pissed off. Usually what Marilyn wants, Marilyn gets. Her parents have been spoiling her since she was a kitten. Jace is the first thing she’s wanted that she can’t have.”
The old woman stroked her surprisingly thick mustache before tugging at her sideburns. “Did we meet earlier?”
“We did. You’re his Aunt Frieda, right?”
“Yeah. His dad is my baby brother. What did you say your name was?”
“Bria.”
“You’re a little bit of a thing for a tiger. Still, you’re pretty enough. Jace could do worse.”
Bria laughed. “Thank you, I think.”
“It’s a compliment.” Frieda leaned forward and peered at Jace who was standing by the buffet table talking to Reggie and a few other shifters. “His last girlfriend was a real piece of work. He ever talk about Tabitha?”
“A little,” Bria said.
“She broke his heart. You ain’t gonna break his heart, are ya?”
“No, ma’am.”
“Good, good. Jace’s mama can’t stand to lose another of her boys.” Frieda sat back in her chair. “You know about Jonah?”
“Yes.”
“Real shame when he killed himself like that.”
Bria clenched her hands together in a tight fist. “Do you know why Jonah committed suicide?”
Frieda squinted at her. “Jace didn’t tell you?”
“He said that his brother had died but -”
“Jonah hung himself in his bedroom after his mate up and left him. Terrible time for that family. Not all that surprising though.”
“What do you mean?” Bria’s heart was bobbing around in her churning stomach acid.
“Depression runs on Velma’s side of the family. Her sister killed herself when she was – oh I don’t know – thirty-seven or thirty-eight. Then Jonah killed himself and then not six months later, that stupid idiot Tabitha broke Jace’s heart, and he got real depressed just like his big brother. We was all afraid that he was going to kill himself too.”
“Oh God,” Bria whispered. “What – what happened?”
“None of us really know.” Frieda shrugged. “Velma and Bobby are real close-mouthed about it. Most of us think they got Jace into some kind of therapy program, and then pumped him full of drugs to keep him happy. He’s seemed fine since, but he ain’t had a girlfriend since Tabitha and it’s been over two years now.”
She poked Bria on the arm. “You need to be real careful with him, and real sweet to him. He’s a good man but fragile. Velma and Bobby have worked hard to keep their baby boy safe and happy, and you can’t be messing that up. You hear me?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Bria was barely listening to the old tiger shifter. She was studying Jace. She hadn’t known him very long, but he didn’t seem fragile to her. He seemed confident and strong. He grinned at something Reggie said to him, and she felt a surge of affection that was bordering dangerously close to love.
Shit, she wasn’t falling in love with Jace. She couldn’t be.
“Jace obviously ain’t my kid,” Aunt Frieda was still talking, “and I know how worried Velma and Bobby are about him, but I wouldn’t have been putting him on no drugs. He just needs to stop worrying so much and appreciate the good things in life. Not let his mommy and daddy pump him full of drugs.”
“I don’t think they can just pump him full of drugs,” Bria said. “Jace is a grown man and they can’t make him take medication against his will.”
Frieda made a snort of displeasure. “Either way, he don’t need no drugs. Between you and me, I think this depression thing is a load of hogwash. A person just needs to choose to be happy and quit this depression foolishness.
“It’s not a choice. It’s a chemical imbalance in the brain.” Bria continued to stare at Jace. His parents had tugged him away from Reggie and the other shifters, and were talking animatedly to him. “
“That’s just something doctors say so they can charge you for drugs and make a bigger paycheque. Kids nowadays are being drugged for everything. Why back in my day, if you were sad, you just pulled up your pants and got over it. Life can’t be sunshine and roses all the time.”
“Excuse me.” Bria stood and smiled faintly at Frieda before starting toward Jace and his parents. Jace looked both tired and upset, and she couldn’t ignore her tiger’s need to soothe him any longer.
* * *
“You said that Bria didn’t mean anything to you.” His mom was holding his father’s hand in a tight grip. “That’s what you said, Jace. You said she meant nothing to you.”
“No, I never said that. Dad said that.”
“You promised you weren’t dating her.” His mother clutched at his forearm with her free hand. “Honey, you can’t date her. Okay?”
“I’m not.” He hated seeing his mother so upset. “Bria’s here just to keep Marilyn off my back.” He glanced at his dad. “It was your idea, remember?”
“So, you’re just using Bria then, right?” His dad said.
Jace winced. “I’m not using her. She agreed to help me because we’re friends.”
“Just friends.” His mother said anxiously.
“Yes.”
“You look pretty happy with her. You guys have been attached at the hip, and she seems to know a lot about you.”
“We’re pretending.” He was suddenly very tired and feeling a little sick to his stomach. “Mom, stop worrying, okay? Bria is just a friend.”
Both his parents continued to give him worried looks. It had been a mistake to bring Bria here. What the hell was he thinking? His tiger made a low call of distress and a dark cloud settled over him. He should never have –
“Jace?”
Bria’s soft voice made his tiger purr. It sat up, its distress gone immediately. Bria slipped her arm around his waist and gave him a hesitant smile. “Hi.”
“Hi.” He put his arm around her shoulders and held her close. He could smell fresh misery pouring off of his mother. He hated that he was upsetting her, but he couldn’t stop touching Bria.
She made the darkness retreat.
She made him feel…right.
“Everything okay?” She was giving him a worried look and he leaned down and kissed her forehead.
“Yes, but I was just telling my folks that we were going to head out. I know you have that…thing tomorrow morning, so I don’t want to keep you too late.”
“I appreciate that.” Bria immediately played along with his lie. She smiled at his parents. “It was nice to see you again, Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd.”
“Nice to see you too,” his father replied. His mother didn’t say anything.
Bria squeezed his waist. “Should we say goodbye to Ashley and Reggie before we go?”
“Yes. I’ll talk to you guys later, okay?” Jace hugged his mother.
“Bye, son.” His father patted him roughly on the back as his mother clung to him.
“Jace,” she whispered into his ear, “I love you. You know that, right?”
“I do,” he said. “Don’t worry. Everything’s fine.”
* * *
Jace parked his car in front of Bria’s apartment building. They had spent most of the ride home in silence. He hated the awkwardness between them. Desperate to spend more time with her, he’d tried to convince her to go for dinner once they were back in the city. She turned him down politely. She gave him a startled look when he shut the car off.
“I’ll carry your bag up for you.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I want to.” He got out of the car before she could keep arguing. He wanted to see Bria’s apartment, wanted to feel close to her for just a little longer.
They walked into her building and took the elevator to the tenth floor. She was pale and fidgety, but she tried to smile at him as she opened the door to her apartment. “It’s a bit messy.”
“That’s okay.” He followed her down the hallway, checking out the small living room as they passed it, and set her bag on the kitchen floor. Her place was small, but he liked the way she had decorated it and told her that.
“Thanks.” She took off her jacket and draped it over a chair. She was still wearing the blue dress he had bought, and he studied the way it clung to her perfect breasts. God, he wanted her. He wanted to take her to her bedroom, peel off that dress and make love to her until she was moaning his name.
Instead, he said, “I guess I should go.”
When she didn’t reply, he gave her a faint smile. “Thank you again for your help. I really appreciated it. I’ll see you on Monday at the office.”
“Jace, wait.”
He turned around, his tiger purring and his heart thud-thud-thudding in his chest. “Yeah?”
“I know we said just until this evening but, do you want to, uh, spend the night?”
He took the few steps toward her and pulled her into his arms. “Yes.”
“Are you sure? No pressure or commitment. Don’t feel like you have to -”
He cut her off with a hard, deep kiss. She pressed her tiny body against him and he cupped one firm breast before pulling his mouth away. “Stop talking and show me where your bedroom is, little tiger.”
She laughed and clutched at his shoulders when he picked her up. “Down the hallway, last door on the right.”
He carried her to her bedroom and she groaned when he walked into the room. “Oh man, I really should have tidied up.”
Her bed was unmade, there was a pile of laundry on the chair and shoes were scattered along the floor.
“It’s not that messy.”
“I should have made the bed,” she said as he stood her next to it.
“I really don’t care, little tiger.” He caressed the exposed skin on her back above her dress before pulling the zipper down. He eased the dress down her body and she stepped out of it. He draped it across her vanity before studying her slender body.
“You’re beautiful.”
“Thank you.” She helped him out of his suit jacket, and then his tie and shirt. She was wearing a strapless bra and he traced the curve of her breast above the satin cup.
“I love your breasts.”
She made a face. “They’re small.”
“They’re perfect.” He unclipped her bra and tossed it behind him. He pulled her into his arms and pressed his erection against her flat stomach before squeezing her ass. “You also have a perfect ass.”
She grinned. “You flatter me, Sir.”
“It’s the truth.” He cupped her breast and rolled her nipple between his fingers. She arched her back and moaned. God, he loved how responsive she was to his touch. He could make love to her every night for twenty years, and never tire of her.
He pushed her panties down her legs and she stepped out of them before reaching for his belt. She helped him out of the rest of his clothes and then led him to her bed. She relaxed on her back. He curled on his side and tugged on her until she turned to her side to face him. He kissed her repeatedly, taking his time in tasting her as he explored her upper body with his fingertips.
He wanted to take it slow, wanted to tease and seduce until she was desperate for him. When she reached for his cock, he pulled her hand away and kissed the palm of it. “Not yet, baby.”
“I want you.”
“I want you too.” He kissed her again before pushing her onto her back. He leaned over her and began a slow and deliberate exploration with his mouth and tongue. He kissed his way down her body, spending long moments on her breasts and teasing her nipples into hard peaks. When she was moaning and pleading, he continued on. He traced each rib with his tongue, circled her belly button and nibbled on her hips.
He licked her inner thighs, smiling when she clutched at his hair and tried to push his face toward her wet pussy.
“Patience.”
“No,” she moaned. “No, I can’t wait.”
“You can.” He licked her inner thighs again and blew gently until goose bumps rose on her skin. He kissed his way to her inner knee and nuzzled it. He laughed when she jerked and pulled her leg away.
“Tickles,” she muttered.
“Sorry, baby.” He kissed the top of her knee and licked his way up her upper thigh. When his mouth finally hovered over her pussy, she was moaning and wiggling and arching her hips.
He licked away her sweet cream and sucked on her clit. It swelled in his mouth and he probed at her opening with one finger. She arched and took him into her. He wanted to be inside of her when she came, and he ignored her hiss of anger when he sat up and pulled his finger free.
“Jace!” She growled at him and he nudged her thighs.
“Open for me, little tiger.”
She spread her legs wide and he settled between them, rubbing his dick over her sensitive clit until she was panting and moaning and close to coming. When he stopped, she sank her claws into his back and growled again.
He relished in the pain as he guided his dick to her snug entrance and pushed inside. Her hot wetness surrounded him like a glove and he sank in to the hilt. He called to his mate and she answered with an eager little trill. He rested on his forearms above her, his hard chest pressing against her breasts, and kissed her.
She returned his kiss and he made his mating call to her again. Her answering trill filled him with pure happiness and he brushed his mouth against hers.
“Look at me, Bria.”
Her eyelids fluttered open and she gave him a hazy smile. “You feel so good, honey.”
“So do you, baby. Don’t look away. Okay?”
“Okay,” she moaned.
Her blue eyes had turned a golden yellow and her pupils were dark slits. She purred and trilled as he pushed in and out of her with slow, deliberate strokes. “You like that, baby?”
“Yes. Please don’t stop.”
“I won’t. Don’t look away.”
She stared into his eyes as he slid in and out of her. She licked her lips and made a little pleading noise. “Harder, honey.”
“Like this?” He moved a little faster, letting his pubic bone rub against her clit with every downward stroke. “Is this what you need, baby?”
“Yes.” She stared up at him as she met each of his strokes. “Feels good.”
“So good,” he whispered. He moved a little faster. He studied the lovely golden colour of Bria’s eyes as he pushed deeper and harder.
“Oh, oh God.” Bria’s eyes were drifting shut and he made a little growl.
“Look at me.”
She blinked and stared up at him. “I’m so close, I – I…”
Her eyes flared with golden light and she arched into him, her tiny body shuddering and shaking beneath his as she came around his cock. Her pussy tightened around his hard flesh, he drove deep, and his climax rippled through him. It was hard, intense, and the best orgasm of his life. He stared intently at her as he came and came again, his seed pushing deep inside of her. She clutched at his arms and didn’t look away until both their bodies had stopped shaking and he rested his forehead against hers.
“Holy shit,” he whispered.
“Yeah.” She laughed shakily. “That was, um, really…”
“Intense.” He rolled off of her and she immediately curled on her side with her back to him. He spooned her and kissed the back of her shoulder. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said.
He slid his arm around her and cupped her breast. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Are you spending the night?”
“I’d like that.”
“Me too.”
He cupped her face and tried to turn her head. She resisted, and he tugged harder. “Look at me, Bria.”
She sighed and glanced up at him. He could see the tears on her cheeks and he purred to her. “Why are you crying, baby?”
“I – I’m not,” she said. “It was just intense, and I don’t know… I’m fine though. Really.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“I can leave, if you want.”
She shook her head immediately and wrapped her tiny hand around his forearm. “I don’t want that. Stay the night with me.”
“Okay.” He pulled her even closer and nuzzled her hair. She relaxed against him and he stared up at the ceiling, listening to her soft breathing and feeling the steady beat of her heart beneath his hand.