by E A Price
“Mmmm hmmm.”
Hester eyed him speculatively, but she couldn’t find anything in his relaxed demeanor. It was a reminder that she hadn’t agreed to stay in the leap, and she wondered if he was trying to gage her answer. Her cheetah mewled. Honestly, she had no idea what her answer would be.
Luckily, Antonio’s mother showed up before that question really arose, and the woman grabbed their joint attention. Unlike her usual jeans and t-shirt, she was in a dress and actually wearing makeup. After saying hello, she waited with baited breath for comments. In particular, she eyed Antonio worriedly.
Antonio was peering at his mother with a frown firmly slapped on his face. Apparently, he wasn’t used to the makeup either and was trying to figure out what was different.
Hester winked at her and Maria let out a breath.
“I’m going into town,” said Maria, “and I wondered if you wanted to get some lunch again.”
“Well, I just ate a whole bag of chips…” rumbled Antonio.
“He did as well,” put in Hester, rolling her eyes at how the male could stay so fit and gorgeous considering the junk food he ate. Not to mention his mother’s butter laden cooking.
“But I could eat.”
“I was talking to Hester,” said Maria patiently.
Antonio gave his mother a steely look. “Hester isn’t going anywhere without me.”
Maria was about to object when Hester interrupted.
“Sounds great, go bring the car around,” she ordered Antonio.
“It’s right outside.”
“Then, just go sit in it.”
His brow crinkled but Hester just gave him a sugary-sweet smile, and he went, looking vaguely confused.
Hester took Maria’s arm. “It’ll be fine; I’ll distract him while you talk to Roman.”
Maria blushed immediately – just the bear’s name seemed to have that effect on her. “What makes you think I want to talk to Roman?”
Hester didn’t bother answering, just raised her eyebrow and grabbed her purse. “C’mon, I haven’t eaten since I had three apple fritters for breakfast. I’m wasting away!”
*
“Where has my mother gone?” rumbled Antonio.
He sat down heavily and looked around the restaurant suspiciously, glaring at any unattached male as if they had been the one to abduct her. A few of them shrank under his look. Hester had to admit she didn’t hate it. Her cheetah kind of liked grumpy, growly Antonio.
“How should I know?” she asked spreading out her hands and widening her eyes into a mask of innocence that didn’t fool him for a second.
His gaze swung round to her and narrowed. “I think you do know.”
Hester had to purse her lips to stop herself from smiling. She was considering the best form of distraction when one literally walked into the restaurant. The tall, male lion shifter immediately caught the attention of many customers, and not just because he was wearing flip-flops and still had sand in his hair. Nope, his golden skin stood out a mile away, plus he was at least half a head taller than all the humans in there.
“Oh hey, isn’t that Brodie!” she gushed, sticking her hand up and waving exuberantly.
“What?!” snapped Antonio looking around wildly.
“Yoo-hoo!” she called as irritation snaked its way over Antonio’s face.
Brodie caught sight of them and started making his way in their direction, only hampered slightly as he stopped to say hello to a few townspeople he clearly knew. Plus, there was an onslaught as the single, female ladies all tried to throw themselves at him.
“Maybe he should join us for lunch,” she suggested with that air of fake innocence that made Antonio’s eye twitch.
Her cheetah chided her for teasing him, but it was just so easy!
“No!” growled Antonio loudly, making the couple at the next table jump a foot in the air. “I’ll go see what he wants.”
He stood up a little violently, making the cutlery rattle.
“Really?” cooed Hester, enjoying herself immensely. “Don’t you want him to come and sit next to me, I could squeeze up, and we could sit together, shoulder to shoulder…”
Antonio’s eyes flashed to gold, and a grim smile found its way onto his face. “I see what you’re doing; you’re trying to distract me about my mother.”
“Ummm hmmm.” Hester picked the cherry out of her drink and popped it in her mouth. Antonio’s whole body rippled lightly and his arousal shot up five notches.
“I see Brodie’s wearing a shirt today,” she taunted. “Shame.”
Antonio growled in exasperation and left with the warning for her to stay put, and a few grumbles about half-naked lion shifters. His stomps made severe ripples in her water – the likes of which hadn’t been seen since Jurassic Park.
Hester picked up the water and sipped at it. He was just so deliciously easy. She wondered if this spark of jealousy would mellow over time, like after they’d been together for ten years and already had four brats. She hoped not; she liked it. Hester coughed, almost choking on her water at the direction of her thoughts. Her cheetah gave her a prim mewl, and Hester quickly looked out the window of the restaurant, searching for a distraction – which she thankfully found.
She peered into the parking lot where Maria was currently talking to Roman. Hester had spied Roman arriving in his truck and had urged the older woman to run out and talk to him before he caught Antonio’s attention.
They were at the steak house again. Antonio had proved difficult to shake while they were looking in a few of the town shops, so they had given up and decided to get something to eat. Luck was on their side, though. When Roman pulled up, Antonio had been away from the table, talking to the owner of the restaurant, which is the only way Maria had managed to make her escape.
Hester watched approvingly as Maria threw back her head and belted out a laugh; Roman flushed with pleasure. Hester doubted what he said was that funny – she doubted anything had ever been that funny – but judging by his face, Maria had reacted the way he was hoping. Maria may not exactly have a lot of experience when it came to flirting – her only real experience being with a jaguar shifter who kidnapped her – but instinctively, she knew what she was doing.
Roman’s enormous grin could probably be seen from space, and Maria moved ever so slightly closer to the huge male. Hester watched as his body tensed slightly before shivering with pleasure. Male shifters were all alike.
It certainly looked like it was going well between Maria and Roman. Hester just lamented the fact that she couldn’t hear what was happening. Roman leaned down slightly, and Maria looked a little nervous. She must be asking him for a date, but Hester couldn’t be sure. Oh, if only she could read lips.
She glanced away in annoyance, knowing that by the time she returned, Antonio would be back and she wouldn’t have the chance to grill Maria for details.
Her eyes arrested on a familiar figure. Was that… yes, it was Daniel. He was lumbering out of a truck across the road from where Maria and Roman were having their little tête-à-tête. He seemed to freeze as he caught sight of Maria, but her attention was completely taken by Roman – she didn’t notice the jaguar shifter. Daniel hustled away in the opposite direction and the truck drove off.
The windows were tinted so Hester couldn’t see who was inside – not that she exactly expected to recognize them. But there had been a logo on the side of the truck, a large V. She doubted it had anything to do with the leap. Their main business was the timber mill, and they just named that The Jaguar Mill – she imagined if she tried to explain brands and logos to Roberto he’d just give her a hard stare and walk away.
Daniel sure was acting oddly. If this was something to do with the leap, why did he seem so alarmed to see Maria?
Her cheetah flicked her tail as Hester turned it over in her mind.
Didn’t Antonio say that a company called Vertigo was trying to buy the leap land? She recalled she had seen Daniel in a truck earlier in th
e week – different truck but she was sure it was the same symbol. But why would Daniel be hanging around Vertigo when Roberto had made it clear the leap was to have nothing to do with them? But then, maybe Roberto had sent Daniel to tell them to clear off, to get out of town. She didn’t know what was going on, or if that even was a Vertigo truck.
Pretty big coincidence if it wasn’t. Tell Antonio urged her cheetah, but Hester hesitated. No, she didn’t like Daniel – she thought him weak and weird and sexist, but he was still second in the leap. If she started throwing around her suspicions and accusations and she was wrong, it would look bad for Antonio. While she may not be staying with the leap – her cheetah huffed – Antonio had to live there.
Maybe she should check out a couple of her facts first. Her eyes alighted on Maria’s phone, peeking out of her purse.
Surely, she could just borrow it for a few minutes – to do a few internet searches. Antonio said the females weren’t supposed to have phones or wi-fi while they were ‘kidnapped’ – that it was ‘tradition.’ Hester rolled her eyes and muttered a few curses about stupid traditions. She guessed the reason for the tradition was to stop them from calling for help during the first flush of their kidnappings. But, it wasn’t like that was her intention. She was intent to stick around and find the total douche trying to kill her. After that… she wasn’t so sure.
Her cheetah let out a small yowl and impulsively, Hester snatched the phone. Before she could get anywhere, the waiter arrived, and she looked up to see Antonio making his way back to the table.
Quickly, she stashed the phone in her jacket pocket, thinking she would slip away to the bathroom later and use it then.
She told the waiter to give them a few more minutes as Antonio sat back down, a grumpy expression on his face. She was about to ask him what the lion shifter wanted when Maria returned, a happy smile adorning her flushed face.
Antonio scowled and opened his mouth. Hester knew he was going to harangue her, so she decided to step in.
“Isn’t Brodie joining us for lunch?” she said, giving him a playful smile.
Antonio looked like he was going to explode, and he was immediately distracted.
Twenty-Eight
“You didn’t have to carry that – I could have managed,” said Hester as Antonio deposited the tiny boutique bag on the kitchen counter.
After lunch, Maria wanted to take Hester shopping at the slighter larger town of Magnolia Pride – home to Brodie’s pride of lion shifters. Antonio had grumbled about more shopping but refused to go home and even mentioned that Brodie’s younger sister had opened a small shop there selling clothes and cosmetics. Antonio had complained about every shop they entered, while Hester encouraged Maria to buy some dresses slightly more daring than anything else she owned – some of them were even above the knee and none of them had necks so high they threatened to cut off her airway. Hester didn’t have any money or credit cards with her, but when she saw a nail varnish she liked, Antonio bought it for her. She was grateful, but it made her uneasy. She was more than capable of buying and paying for her own things. She didn’t like to be reliant on Antonio to pay for anything.
Though, thinking of money, it kind of made her wonder if her credit card companies might suspect her of being dead – she hadn’t gone this long without using them since… well, since she got them.
“No problem,” said Antonio, a little happier than he had been earlier. His mood improved the further away they got from the lion pride. There were quite a few handsome male lions wandering around town, and one of them winked at her when Antonio wasn’t looking. But, their wholesome, blonde charm didn’t really compare to Antonio’s dark, twinkling smolder. No male compared she thought as her cheetah sighed.
“You know,” he said, his cockiness returning, “I wouldn’t have minded getting you that thong.”
Yes, Antonio hadn’t been completely bored in the clothes shop. He found the underwear section riveting.
Hester smiled. “To model for you?”
Antonio blinked at her. “Why, that sounds like a good idea.”
“I’ll bet,” she said dryly. “I liked Brodie’s sister.”
The unattached female appeared to like Antonio as well. Her cheetah hadn’t enjoyed the hug or the smile the six-foot lioness bestowed on him, but Antonio had teased her as he would his brothers. She didn’t hint at anything sexual between them – since the lioness was still in possession of all her teeth, that was obvious.
“She’s a good cub,” he replied placidly.
“Is that why Brodie turned up at the restaurant? To tell you about his sister’s store?”
Antonio hesitated for a flicker of a second. “Yes.”
“You’re a terrible liar.”
He smiled. “Fine; he told me that Vertigo is planning on starting construction in two weeks time on their new resort.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know,” he sighed. “Brodie has a source at the construction company, and they don’t even know where. They know it’s going to be near here, but Vertigo hasn't bought up any land around here.”
Hester thought of her ill-formed suspicions about Daniel and decided to take the plunge. The worst he could do was yell at her and tell her she was wrong. Though, she didn’t really like the thought of Antonio being angry with her. Lots of people got angry with her – all the time. She could be obnoxious, bossy and opinionated and anger usually followed her around like an incontinent puppy. Usually, she was of the opinion that whoever was annoyed with her could go to hell – who needed them?! But she actually wanted Antonio to like her. Not something she’d ever cared about before, and she didn’t say this lightly.
“Look, Antonio…”
She shifted her jacket, and Maria’s phone fell out, making a dull thud as it hit the floor. Antonio stared at it for a few beats before slowly, he stooped to pick it up.
Crap. His expression seemed to have turned to granite. Her cheetah held her breath. She felt like she’d been caught cheating on her history exam and was facing the principal.
He turned it over in his hands. “Where did you get this?”
“I, ah, just borrowed it from your mother.”
He looked up into her eyes, and she almost felt a chill radiating from him. “Who have you called?”
“I didn’t call anybody,” she answered truthfully. It hadn’t occurred to her to call anyone. It was safe to say she had moved past the feeling of being a kidnap victim – when she first arrived, calling for help would have been her first move.
Antonio’s expression didn’t change. “You texted for help then?”
“I don’t need help – I just wanted to use it to search for something. I forgot I even had it.”
“You took it because you want to leave.”
“No, that’s not it,” she growled, frustration lacing every word.
His eyes shuttered. “But you want to leave?”
“Well, I…” She faltered. Her cheetah looked to her with hope, but she didn’t want to lie. She didn’t want to make promises that she couldn’t keep later. “My life is back in Los Lobos.”
“So you took the phone, you want to leave – but you didn’t call anyone to tell them what was going on here?”
Grrr. “If you don’t believe me check the call log.”
“You could have deleted it.”
“But I didn’t!” she snapped throwing her arms in the air. Why was he just standing there like a freaking statue? Why wasn’t he getting angry and yelling at her? “I’m telling you the truth, I…”
They were interrupted as Roberto made his way into the house. He stopped, sensed the tension, and then chose to ignore it.
“Antonio, I need to see you.”
“Now’s not a good…”
“Now,” said Roberto with a finality that didn’t brook any arguments.
He turned on his heel and lumbered away. Antonio gazed at her for a few more moments before placing the phone on the counter and following.
She wanted to tell him to stop, to come back, wanted to tell him everything he wanted to hear, but she just couldn’t.
Damn, she hurt his feelings and she didn’t want that. Jeez, she was afraid of hurting her kidnapper – what was her life turning into?!
She snatched the phone up and wandered into the garden, pacing up and down. There were reasons to go and reasons to stay, the biggest of all being Antonio. Being with him, talking and flirting was easy. Hell, kissing him was far too easy, but could they really make it work? Could she be content there?
Hester froze as she heard a voice through the fence. Ugh, Marta again.
“Come here, you little brat!”
“No, I don’t have to listen to you!” replied a belligerent, young boy.
She heard Marta cursing and then they were gone. Hester shook her head. Who on earth would want their kids anywhere near that awful jaguar shifter? The woman had the maternal instincts of a cactus. Wait, no, that was unfair to cacti. Hester was seriously considering calling child services on her to get the full-grown Valentina away from her.
Hester and her cheetah shuddered, mentally taking back every mean thought she ever had about her own mother, and started using the phone she was holding. She still had the darn thing; she might as well put it to use searching for that darn symbol, and yep, darn it – it was Vertigo’s company logo. She was certain that Daniel was up to no good, and she was going to talk to Antonio about it – whether he wanted to listen to her or not.
*
Antonio lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling, moping over a female. Hell, he hadn’t done this since he was a cub.
His jaguar snarled. This wasn’t just any female. This was his mate. He was sure she was the female meant for him. Surer than anything else in his life. Most jaguars find their mates in the first or second trip they take to Los Lobos, but he had waited. Trip after trip, he had returned with no female, because he knew he hadn’t met the right woman. But Hester was it for him. The first time he sniffed her beautiful scent, the moment he saw her, her beautiful face screwed up in irritation, he knew he wanted her. But he was starting to worry he may never convince her to mate him. What would he do if she declared she would never mate him? If she could never love him?
