Tiger Tail: Shifter Romance

by Sky Winters

  The only problem was that she was alone there. This lakeside cabin was romantic, and she was by her lonesome. Well, she had a book but books didn’t make good lovers. They were always ending before she was ready.

  She changed into her bathing suit and one of the cozy mint green robes that had been supplied by the inn. Just as she was about to take a dip in the hot tub, there was a knock at the door. Ursula wasn’t used to room service coming to take her order in person, but she was beginning to feel peckish…

  When she opened the door to her cabin, she blinked quickly. Never before had her room service been handled by a man quite so handsome. He was dressed all in black, except for some brown hiking boots, and he stood at least six feet tall with black hair and soulful, chestnut eyes.

  “Ah,” the man said in a gruff, quiet voice. “You made it.”

  Before Ursula could stop him or even react, he lumbered into the cabin. He looked around, not as if it was the first time he’d been there, but as though he was checking to make sure it still looked the same.

  “I’m… sorry?” Ursula asked. “Who are you?”

  “I’ve been expecting you,” he said, his hushed words somehow managing to almost cut her off. He seemed strangely familiar.

  She narrowed her eyes at him and then it hit her. “You’re the guy from the club the other night! How did you know I’d be coming here?”

  The man let out a dark laugh. “I invited you here.”

  The sweepstakes! “So I didn’t win anything?” Ursula sunk down onto the sofa.

  Slowly, the man sat beside her, keeping his distance but still close enough to make her skin go all prickly and her face grow hot. Part of her wanted to run, to flee the place… But when she looked at him, she remembered how enthusiastic he had been about her while she performed. He’d seemed like the only one who was actually listening to her.

  “I didn’t say you didn’t win anything,” he said, smirking a little at her. He was big and muscular, but he was much less scary when he smiled like that. “You’ve won a week here with me in my lodge.”

  Ursula pulled her robe closed over her chest. She was wearing a bathing suit underneath, but the way he was looking at her with those hungry eyes of his, she might as well have been naked. “This is your house?”

  The young man nodded. “I own the Black Bear Inn. I invited you here to stay with me, but I didn’t think you’d actually come unless I made things more… luck based, I guess you could say. Do you like it here so far? I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you arrived. I had some important business to take care of this morning.”

  She blinked at him, not entirely sure how to respond. “It’s nice here,” she finally said, choosing her words carefully. “Who are you?”

  “You surely know who I am, Ursula,” he replied.

  Her eyes widened. He knew her name!

  Then she remembered the flyers she posted all over town. He’d seen her name on the flyers or at the show. That’s all it was.

  “I am a huge fan of yours,” he went on. “I have only seen you perform twice, but your voice is as beautiful as softly falling snow to my ears. It’s rare to find such beauty around here where no one is really their true selves…”

  Ursula highly doubted that he wanted her there because he found her beautiful. Even if he wanted to bone her, she didn’t think it was because he believed her to be particularly attractive. She was just there. Had Wesley made her this cynical?

  “But, huge fan, what’s your name?” she asked him, becoming frustrated at his answers that weren’t really answers. “I’m not just going to call you ‘guy’ for a week. Unless your name is Guy.”

  He chuckled deeply, making the back of the sofa rumble against her. “My name is John Asher.”

  She gave him a look, considering the situation. This had the potential to be very bad for her. But there was also a chance… “Well, John Asher, I was just going to get into the hot tub. Would you care to join me?”

  “I would be happy to,” he replied. “You go ahead and I’ll be right back.”

  Before she could say anything, he was off the sofa and headed into the bedroom.

  Ursula then realized something: there was only one bedroom and only one bed. And she did not think either of them would be sleeping on the couch.

  Biting her bottom lip in a brief moment of hesitation, she looked back at the tall, wooden front door to the cabin. She could easily slip out while he was in the room doing god knew what. She could run out and hail a cab and be away from there before he knew it. But something held her there. Something made her remove her robe and slowly sink into the hot, bubbling water.

  John Asher appeared in the doorway like an apparition. He was now clad in some black swim shorts. His lean, muscular frame lent itself well to bathing suits. There were some long, white scars on his torso that were concerning, but even they attracted her more than scared her.

  Under the water, Ursula pinched herself to make sure she hadn’t fallen asleep while reading or something. John Asher smirked again at her and stepped into the water. “You seem to be afraid,” he said in a growly voice. “You shouldn’t be. You’re safe here with me.”

  All at once, he had his strong arms wrapped around her. Because he was so tall, he could easily envelope her. She found herself petting the black hair on his arms before stopping herself and looking up into his eyes.

  “Why?” she whispered. “Why me?”

  Leaning down towards her face, he kissed her, letting his tongue lightly brush against her tongue. He enveloped her with his mouth just as he enveloped her with his arms. She kissed him back fervently, no longer wanting to question, just wanting more of him.

  When he broke away from the kiss, she bit her bottom lip, wishing he wouldn’t break away.

  “Why not you?” he whispered back, rubbing the end of his long nose against the tip of her nose.

  Glancing up at the skylight above their hot tub, John then climbed out and wrapped a towel around himself, offering the other to her. “Would you like me to make you some tea?” he asked. “It gets pretty chilly here at night.”

  Still dazed from their unexpected kiss, Ursula shook her head and carefully rose from the tub. He gave her his hand and helped her out before she quickly wrapped the towel around herself. She was wearing a purple bikini and, had she been alone, she would have been perfectly fine with that, but she felt body conscious now that she had such appealing company. One look at her bulging middle and it could be all over for them.

  Despite Ursula’s unease, John didn’t notice or care. He continued to smile at her as if she was a goddess that had been sent to him. He led her into the kitchen and she sat down at the counter while he put some water into a kettle and put the kettle on the stove. He was dexterous and moved so fluidly. If he hadn’t been so massive and so brawny-looking, she might have asked if he was some kind of dancer.

  He noticed that she was shivering and got her robe from the back of a chair where she had dropped it. He wrapped it loosely around her shoulders and then went back into the bedroom, returning a moment later dressed again in his black shirt and black jeans. He attended to the tea, placing a bag into each of the two mugs he had set out.

  “So, since you seem to know everything there is to know about me,” Ursula said. “What’s your story? What brought you to that little club to see little ol’ me?”

  The kettle whistled and so did John. He looked at her, shaking his head a little bit. “There are volumes and volumes to you, Ursula. I could never begin to know everything there is to know about you. I just know that you have ensnared me…”

  He poured the steaming water into each mug and set the kettle back down. He placed one of the mugs on the counter in front of her. The rising scent was blissful, calming. It almost smelled like liquid flowers.

  “There are things about me that I cannot tell you,” he said suddenly, looking at her as he held his own mug to his lips. “Not yet, anyway. I am from around here. My father was a lumberjack. He
built the inn and, in fact, this cabin. He was a good man. Misunderstood, but a good man…”

  Ursula raised her eyebrows at him. “What happened to him?”

  “He died,” John said. “Like all men, he died… But I have taken his place here. I went to Los Angeles because I was interested in seeing this Silver Lake that I’d heard so much about. I love the waters of California. There’s something about them that’s so earthy, you know what I mean? We are not so developed here as the bodies of water you can find elsewhere.”

  She took a sip of her tea. It tasted like flowers, too. “What brought you to my show?”

  He smiled at her. “I like singers. They calm me down.”

  As soon as he finished his tea, he looked at the clock on the stove. The afternoon was slowly slipping into sunset as though it was not ready to go to bed yet.

  “I must go,” he said. He came towards Ursula and gave her a kiss. It was fleeting, unlike the last one, but just as mesmerizing. “I will be back tonight. Wait for me.”

  Shaking her head slowly, she smiled. “I will be here. Where would I go?”

  He put his hiking boots back on and tied them tightly, sitting on the floor as he did so. “You may go into the lake or explore along the grounds of the inn.” He stood up and looked her in the eyes. “But you must not go into the mountains in the evening or in the early morning. Promise me.”

  She smiled a little, confused. “Well, I wasn’t planning to—”

  “Promise me!”

  “Okay,” she said. “I promise.”

  He smirked that smirk again. “Good girl.”

  With that, he opened the door to the cabin and was gone, closing the door behind him.

  Ursula stood up quickly and went to the door, locking it and pulling on it to make sure the lock held fast. If this was John Asher’s cabin, why didn’t he have keys for it? She noticed, too, that he wasn’t wearing a jacket or a coat, even though the temperature was going down considerably now that the sunlight was fading.

  Her host was a strange young man. He was clearly infatuated with her, and she did not understand why or how. Ursula supposed that she had a certain prettiness about her, but she didn’t think that it would spawn this sort of adoration.

  The fact that he had essentially tricked her into going to Lake Tahoe and staying in his house with him was a problem that she would need to address. She was glad to have the vacation and the place to stay, but there was so far little that separated his actions from those of a serial killer. She would have to check in at the inn and see if she could find out more about him from someone other than John Asher himself.

  This little adventure of hers was definitely more interesting than anything she had experienced before. Her ex-boyfriend Wesley could only wish that he’d be this exciting. But still, Ursula felt unsure about what John wanted from her. She imagined, given that there was only one bed in this place, that he would be sleeping in it with her. It spooked her a bit, how okay she was with that…

  He was sexy and mysterious, but she still was not sure if she could trust him or if she should be afraid.

  True to her promise, Ursula stayed near the cabin instead of venturing off into the mountain wilderness. She was not a big hiker anyway. Climbing uphill drained her energy, and she had not come on this vacation in order to tire herself out. Instead, she got dressed in a pretty turquois turtleneck and some jeans and walked to the Black Bear Inn. It was not a very long walk, but she didn’t remember it being as winding and difficult to navigate as it was. She blamed it on the impending darkness. Twilight hung in the air, making it just difficult enough to be unable to fully see which direction was the right one.

  When she finally made it inside the inn, she was hugging herself because the temperatures in the Sierra Nevada were definitely cooler than she expected. John had been correct about that. She walked up to the girl at the desk, who smiled at her in greeting.

  “Welcome to the Black Bear Inn,” the concierge said cheerfully. “How may I help you?”

  “Hi, I’m Ursula Blake. I’m staying in the cabin a little ways from here. I’m John Asher’s guest.”

  The girl’s eyes widened a little, but then they went back to normal as though she had rehearsed it many times. “Oh, I see. Well, is there something you need?”

  Ursula shook her head. “No, not really. I was just wondering if you could maybe tell me a little bit about him. He said he’s the owner of this place.”

  The concierge appeared uncomfortable. “Let me get my manager. She can probably give you more and better information than I can.” With that, she went into the back room.

  Ursula busied herself by picking up one of the inn’s business cards as well as a brochure. It would be a good idea to plan out some of the things she was interested in doing while at Lake Tahoe. Nothing was preventing her from enjoying herself there, apart from the feeling that something was not completely right about the place or her host.

  A few minutes later, the lady she had seen at the counter before came out of the back office. She beamed at Ursula. “Hello again,” she said. “I understand you have some questions about Mr. Asher?”

  Nodding, Ursula slipped the business card and brochure into the back pocket of her jeans. The inn’s manager gestured for Ursula to follow her and led her to the lounge area of the inn’s lobby. She sat on the large, green couch and Ursula sat beside her.

  “Mr. Asher is the son of Howard Asher, who founded this inn and the recreation activities that it offers,” the manager said. “The senior Mr. Asher died about ten years ago, leaving the inn and everything in the junior Mr. Asher’s hands. He lives in the cabin you’re in and makes sure that everything is going accordingly. He’s a… strange man, but from all the time I’ve spent around him, I know he is kind and a good person to know.”

  Ursula listened attentively, nodding a little when the lady mentioned that he was strange. That was for sure. “He told me not to go on the mountain in the morning or the evening… Any idea why?”

  A darkness seemed to pass over the manager’s face. She frowned slightly. Ursula got the feeling that she wasn’t supposed to notice that frown. “It is dangerous to go far into the forest when the sun is not up,” the manager said. “That is when the bear comes out.”

  Something about the way she said that made Ursula gulp. “The bear?” she asked.

  The manager nodded. “It’s best to stay indoors. He keeps to himself, most of the time, but if he sees you…”

  “I think I get the message.” Ursula could understand why a bear catching sight of a human could be bad. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. Why did they allow a bear to hang out around their tourist inn? “Is it the bear the inn is named after?”

  The manager had to think about that for a second. “Yes and no,” she said. She got up from the couch and smoothed out her black business slacks. “I should be getting back to work now. Just please heed Mr. Asher’s advice. He is a good man. He just wants to keep you safe.”

  She went back to the room behind the counter, whispering something in the concierge’s ear as she went past. The concierge looked frightened and glanced over at Ursula.

  For her part, Ursula was starting to feel as though she was on one of those weird History Channel shows. Everyone at the Black Bear Inn was nice, but something about them was really starting to give her the creeps.

  Going back to her room took even longer than the stroll to the inn had taken, and when she arrived back in her cabin she was careful to close and lock the door again. Ursula went to the fireplace and, lighting a match, set the logs ablaze. The expansive living room warmed up in no time.

  She pulled the business card and brochure out of her back pocket. She set the card down on the table and opened up the brochure, flipping through the pages to see if there was anything that jumped out at her as a possible activity for her vacation. Apparently she could rent a fishing rod from the inn. She’d never been fishing before in her life.

  The wind s
tarted to howl outside and she wondered what kept John. He hadn’t explained what he had to go do, and the manager hadn’t really explained what sort of things he did there. As far as Ursula knew, he was just the owner who helped keep things up and running. Hadn’t he said something about his dad being a lumberjack? Maybe he was a lumberjack too…

  She could get used to the idea of hanging out with a sexy lumberjack. He just needed to get his ass back there and hang out with her. She’d be less worried about who he was if he’d stick around.

  Sure enough, as soon as she’d settled into the couch with her book, there was a knock at the door. Why on earth did John not carry a key? Ursula got up and went to the door.

  She pulled it open while debating in her mind about whether or not she should put on another layer. John lurched forward into the cabin and closed the door behind him. He looked disheveled, his shirt unbuttoned in odd places and his hair completely unkempt.

  “It must be windier than I thought,” she said. “Why don’t you have a key to your cabin?”

  He didn’t answer her but went straight to the kitchen. He turned the faucet and started drinking huge gulps of water from the sink. Ursula stood there with her arms folded in front of her chest.

  So far, this weekend had been completely weird.

  Suddenly, as quick as he’d gone to the sink, he was back in front of her, holding her in his arms. He brought his lips to hers and kissed her deeply. She dropped her arms to her sides, surprised, then brought them up to his back, gently rubbing and scratching at it as they kissed.

  “I see you lit a fire,” he said in his gruff, husky voice. She’d almost forgotten how he sounded and now that she’d heard him speak again, she melted a little. He was sexy and mysterious and she was starting to really like it.

  “I was getting chilly,” she explained. Her own voice came out quietly, almost as though she was timid.