Michael rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair.
Everyone was treating them like outsiders because neither of them had much interest in drinking and hadn’t been in this bar before. Michael, in particular, tended to stay to himself, and social places like the bar didn’t interest him. There were few things he had in common with the majority of the men here.
And it turned out that meeting women wasn’t as easy as he’d originally assumed.
“Gotta take some bad with the good,” Michael said with a shrug.
A middle-aged server came over, and the two of them ordered a pint of beer each. Jason fidgeted in his chair and kept looking around. Tonight, dressed in a button-down that was a little too loose on him and a pair of slacks, he looked respectable enough, although not polished. With any luck, he’d find someone while speed-dating.
Michael wasn’t all that hopeful for himself.
He’d come to Cub’s Cove after fleeing his pack in the hopes that there would be others like him, only to find himself on his own. There were other shifters—he knew them by smell—but there weren’t any tigers.
Especially not white tigers.
“I guess you’re right,” Jason said. The waitress came back with their pints. “You know your fair share about that, don’t you? You ever hear from the old man’s family?”
“No.” Michael set his lips and lifted his pint to his lips. The bitter taste of beer drowned the pang of regret he felt at the memory. “But let’s not think about that tonight. We’re here to have a good time, aren’t we?”
“Yeah.”
For a while they sat in silence and people-watched while they drank. At the bar sat a group of older men. Michael recognized them from around town. He’d worked repair jobs here and there with Jason, and he’d seen enough of the townsfolk around to know who was a familiar face.
The recognition didn’t go both ways.
Michael much preferred letting loose in the woods, pacing, roaming, and running. There weren’t many times he could let the tiger out, and he cherished his nighttime prowls.
“So,” Jason said after a while, looking to create conversation. “You think any girls are going to show up at all tonight? Pickings are slim out here. I’m disappointed. I thought a place like this would have eligible women to choose from.”
“There has to be someone coming,” Michael said. “If not from Cub’s Cove, then from Tucker Point, I’m sure. It’s not every day you have a speed-dating event in a small town.”
They worked their way through their pints and ordered another round as they chatted. With a little bit of alcohol in him, Jason opened up, and he had a lot to say about what kind of woman he was looking for.
For a man so shy, he certainly was opinionated.
“…But more than anything,” he continued, looking at Michael from over his pint, “she’s gotta be worthy of me, you know? A real woman. Not some shallow imitation. I’m done with games.”
“That’s a tall order.” Michael hitched an eyebrow. He thought life would be simpler in Helmwoods. Apparently, the dating scene in Cub’s Cove was just as complicated as in a big town.
“For me, maybe. But for you?” Jason scoffed. “Mr. Six Pack shouldn’t be hurting for women. And if that doesn’t sell you, for some reason chicks dig blond hair, and I’ve never seen hair blonder than the almost-white locks you have.”
“Is that a compliment?” Michael grinned. “Even then, it’s still not that easy, like you said, buddy.”
Jason laughed. “Shut the fuck up. You don’t even need to come speed-dating. For a guy like you, being single is a choice. All you need to do is flash them a look from your sparkling blues and bam, girlfriend.”
“You think so?” Michael held back a laugh. “You seem pretty confident about that.”
“Because I know,” Jason insisted. There was a little indignation in his voice.
The front door opened, and Jason craned his neck around to get a look at who’d entered.
“Like her,” Jason said. “I bet she’s here for the same thing.”
Michael turned and looked just in time to catch a glimpse of a curvy brunette before she ducked into a booth. He only saw her for a second, but a second was enough. The flash of skin of her exposed leg and the curve of her hip caught Michael’s attention and refused to let go.
The tiger inside of him stirred from slumber, growling with excitement, and with it came the animalistic impulses to claim and to protect.
Michael swallowed hard and masked his discomfort by sipping at his pint.
“It’s going to be an interesting night,” Jason muttered, still looking in the direction of the booth. From their angle, they couldn’t see into it.
“It sure is,” Michael replied under his breath.
There was no doubt about it.
The woman who’d just slipped into the booth had woken his tiger, and that could only mean one thing.
Maybe tonight wouldn’t be as lost a cause as Michael had originally assumed.
Chapter Three
“Here’s how it’s going to work, ladies and gentlemen…” The MC for the evening was one of the bartenders, Abby noticed. He was pushing fifty but dressed sharply. Purple shirt, black tie, and black suit-jacket that was ill-fitted for his stature. Despite his garish-colored shirt, he had a young face and kind eyes. His voice was good, too. Deep and sonorous like one of those TV commercial voice-overs.
“One man will be assigned to each booth along the back wall, where each of the tables have been numbered. Our ladies will be the ones moving from table to table, and ladies, know that tonight, you’re the ones in control.”
“Hopefully not the case all night, though,” Tiffany whispered in Abby’s ear with a wicked tone. “If I find the right guy tonight, I’m not going to want to stay in control for long.”
“Tiffany!” Abby scolded her in a quiet voice. Both of them had had a few drinks, and while Abby could hold her liquor, she knew that Tiffany was much more of a lightweight. Her friend had one beer and she was already tipsy.
“What? Don’t tell me you don’t think the same thing,” Tiffany growled back. There was a twinkle in her eye and a cocky grin curved up one corner of her lip. “I saw how you sneaked into the bathroom and came out looking at least twice as sexy as you were when you came into the bar. You saw that guy with the white hair, didn’t you?”
Abby’s cheeks heated in embarrassment. Damn, she thought. She couldn’t hide anything from her. Tiffany read her like an open book.
The white-haired hunk who Tiffany was talking about was the one who’d caught her eye as soon as she’d walked into the bar. It had been too early then to tell who was there for speed-dating and who wasn’t, but Abby found herself hoping against hope that he’d be one of the ones who’d gather when the MC took the mic and started the event.
And he was.
Tall, muscular in just the right way, and with blue eyes whose color seemed too good to be true, he was a dream come to life. His hair was so pale it was almost white. If she had to guess, he was probably in his early thirties.
White hair or not, he was flawless, and she had sneaked into the bathroom so she could tease out her hair and try to make the dress she was wearing fit her just a bit better.
Tiffany knew her too well.
“So you caught me.” Abby harrumphed. “Guilty.”
Tiffany’s grin didn’t die. She finished off the last of her drink and turned her attention back to the announcer, but even as she did, she whispered to Abby, “It’s okay to live a little. That’s why we came here, right?”
Living was something Abby hadn’t been doing for a while. She’d been in survival mode since she found out her best friend, Kate, had slept with Tyler. After the storm was over, getting out there and cutting loose was draining and scary.
But for the blue eyes across the bar, it was so worth it.
The MC made a small joke that nobody laughed at and continued, “Each of our lovely ladies will be carryin
g a secret scorecard, with numbers corresponding to the bachelors at each table. After five minutes of flirting fun, a bell will ring and the ladies will move on from the booth and grade the bachelor inside with a score. At the end of the night, you’ll be able to choose which of the guys you want to get to know a little better by comparing your scores. With me so far?”
There weren’t all that many people gathered, Abby realized. And as she took inventory of who was in attendance, she realized there were at least twice as many women who’d shown up than men.
The one-dollar, ladies’-night drinks had worked their magic.
The crowd replied in the affirmative, so the MC continued.
“All right! Great! Now, as I’m sure you’ve seen, tonight we have a surplus of the fairer sex.”
“Good problem for the guys to have,” Tiffany joked in a whisper. Abby elbowed at her.
“So what we’re going to do is, tonight we’re going to have two rounds. Our lady participants have been randomly divided into two teams. One team will go first, and the other team will go after them. The team not on rotation will be able to enjoy free nachos, and as a ‘thank-you’ for participating, each member will be given a voucher for one free mixed drink each.”
Teams? Abby bit down on her bottom lip. It wasn’t like she was going to hop table to table with Tiffany, but she liked the idea of the two of them speed-dating at the same time. Knowing that Tiffany was chatting up guys at the same time she was supposed to give her strength, but if they were apart?
She suddenly felt clingy. She couldn’t do this without Tiffany.
Was it too late to back out?
Desperate to look for a quiet exit, Abby lifted her head and looked across the room. Before she could find a subtle escape route, her gaze landed on the man with the striking blue gaze.
Abby’s heart leapt into her throat, and any will she’d had to escape fled.
She could do this. He’d be worth it.
“The teams are as follows,” the MC said. “Team One is Sarah, Jillian, Naomi, Lisa, Abby, Penny, and Tiffany.”
Yes! Abby grinned when she heard Tiffany’s name called out alongside her own. Now she wouldn’t have to worry about making small talk with the girls while they waited after their turns, and she could rely on Tiffany’s support if she needed it.
“Team Two is Brenna, Donna, Erin, Lucy, Kim, Catherine, and Victoria.”
So far, so good. Abby leaned toward Tiffany to whisper to her, “I’m so glad we’re in this together.”
“Me, too!” Tiffany whispered back. “And I’m glad we’re going first. We’ll get the guys fresh, before their eyes glaze over and they confuse all of our names. And, if it turns out all of them are creepy losers, we can slip out while team two is still doing its circuit and no one’s going to be any wiser for it.”
“What about if Carmen’s having a good time?” Abby asked. Carmen sat on the other side of the bar, and when both Abby and Tiffany looked her way, she smiled and waved at them. Out of the three of them, Carmen was the cutest, but she was also easygoing to a fault.
Luckily, she’d found a man who wanted to protect her from her own willfulness rather than take advantage of her kindhearted nature. Both Abby and Tiffany loved and respected Kevin, because he was so good for their friend.
“She’s not going to argue,” Tiffany said. “She’s here for us, anyway. If we decide to ditch this place early, we’ll just go back to her house and get Kevin to make us mini tacos while we watch some chick flicks or something. I’m sure she’d have an even better time doing that. And if she’s not driving, it means we can put her margarita mixer to work and all three of us can get our buzz on.”
“Not that you need much help with that,” Abby joked in good nature.
Tiffany rolled her eyes dramatically and shook her head. “Details, details.”
“If you ladies will kindly give us a minute to set up the bachelors at their booths, we’ll have this event started in no time,” the MC announced. “Team One, get ready to get chatty.”
The men who’d gathered for the event rose from their seats, and the MC directed them to their booths and got them settled.
“I wonder why there aren’t a lot of men who signed up,” the woman sitting on Tiffany’s other side said.
Abby leaned over to look at her. Whoa. She was flawless. Big, blonde, Texas-cheerleader hair and a skinny waist were completed by stunning breasts and the sexiest lace dress Abby had ever seen outside of a lingerie store.
“You don’t think it’s because they saw us and decided not to sign up, is it?” Abby asked. Beside her beautiful best friend and this woman who looked like she belonged on the red carpet rather than in a small town like Cub’s Cove, Abby was starting to doubt herself.
She wasn’t beautiful. Her whole life she’d been second choice. The girl guys got to know so that they could get to her best friends.
“Oh, honey,” the woman said with a confident smile. “That’s not it at all. Have you even seen me? No. It must be something else.”
How was she supposed to compete against women like these? With so many more women than men, the men would have their picks. Abby got the feeling she was always going to be second choice.
But before she could ruminate on it for too long, the MC returned with the scorecards he’d mentioned and a handful of miniature pencils.
“Okay Team One,” he said. “We’ve got the gents settled and we’re ready to go. If you ladies would follow me over…”
Tiffany grabbed Abby’s arm and pulled her to her feet, and along with the rest of Team One, they approached the booths.
Maybe Tiffany and the other girls in their team were gorgeous, but Abby was different. She was real. And curves or not, if she got a chance to talk to these guys, they were going to see it.
And maybe the man with blue eyes would see it best of all.
All she’d have to do was put her mind to it, believe in herself, and have fun.
Fun was what they were there to have, wasn’t it? And really, anything was better than moping around the old cabin hung up on Tyler.
The first round of speed-dating began.
Chapter Four
What was her name? Michael tried to imagine which of the names listed fit her, but he couldn’t make up his mind.
Victoria was beautiful, and classic, and regal, but there was a sweet innocence about the name Sarah that fit her so well, too. And Donna? Michael bit down on his bottom lip and thought about it. There was something about all of the names that appealed to him, and not one stood out against the other.
All this time, he thought that when he’d come across his mate, he’d know her right away, and that the connection of their souls would tell him everything he needed to know. It turned out that the bond wasn’t like he thought it’d be.
He’d have to learn all about that beautiful woman on his own.
Waiting was the hard part.
When the bell sounded and the first round started, Michael hoped that the first woman would be the one who’d stirred the tiger and made him feel alive for the first time in a long time.
It wasn’t.
Instead, an attractive woman in a tight, lace dress slipped down onto the bench across from him and leaned across the table to smile at him. From the way she sat, Michael was fairly certain she was pushing her breasts together to make them really pop.
Yesterday, what she did might have roused his interest. Today, Michael didn’t even care to look.
“I bet a man like you would love to get a taste of something like this,” she said with a wink, making it very clear that she was putting herself on display. The brazen nature of her statement left Michael feeling uncomfortable.
Yikes. What the hell was wrong with her?
This was supposed to be speed-dating, not speed-hooking-up, wasn’t it? They were supposed to talk and get to know each other, not trade cheap hook-up lines.
Michael fought hard to keep frown out of his face. He wanted to remain polite.
“No,” he said, maybe a touch colder than he would have liked. It was the truth. Now that his possible mate was on his radar, maybe as close as a booth away, Michael didn’t want anything to do with anyone else. No matter how attractive the woman across from him was, she wasn’t going home with him, no matter what she said or did.
“What?” the woman asked. “Honey, I mean these. Maybe you misunderstood what I was saying.” She ran her hands along the outsides of her breasts, pushing them just a little closer together. Michael had never seen a woman trying so hard before, and he wondered if that was a reflection on him, or a reflection on her.
No matter what she did to her breasts, Michael didn’t look. He remained seated on his bench, feeling uncomfortable.
His jaw twitched. “I’m sorry,” he said simply. “I was pretty sure that the purpose of tonight’s event was to chat, wasn’t it? To get to know each other?”
The woman blinked and sat back in her seat, taken aback. “Are you fucking serious right now?”
“I am,” Michael insisted. He folded his arms on the table and kept his eyes on her face. “I can see your body. I saw it the second you walked over. So why don’t you spend some time talking to me about who you are instead?”
Shock read plainly on her face, and then she narrowed her eyes and scowled at him like he’d just insulted her. Michael had no idea what she was so pissed off about.
“Are you gay?” she demanded, angry.
“I beg your pardon?” What kind of a question was that? “I’m at a speed-dating event for straight people. What do you think?”
“I think that you’re crazy if you’re not gaga over me right now,” the woman jabbed back. “I’m giving myself to you on a silver platter and you want more? What am I going to have to do?”
Great. This woman was one Fruit Loop shy of a full bowl.
It looked like his first partner had a different idea of what tonight was about than he did. Michael felt bad for her, but he wasn’t hung up on the feeling. The truth was, he was still thinking about the curvy girl in the black dress.
Tiger Speed Dating: BBW Paranormal Weretiger Romance Page 2
