by E A Price
Something inside her clicked. The whole world seemed to stop for a moment – noise, movement, it was all gone as she saw him for the first time. Sadie stared at him. He was… He was… What was he? What was going on?
She jolted as the bell sounded, and the world started turning again. Sadie shook her head as the thrum of noise blasted through her ears.
The male in front of her – the one she had completely ignored gratefully moved onto the next woman, and the growler slumped into the seat opposite, gracing her with a cagey, hard look.
“Hello,” she whispered.
“Hey,” he drawled, and a shiver trickled through her body.
“I’m Sadie.”
“Lorenzo.”
His eyes flashed with gold, and she let out a small gasp as she realized he was a shifter. Well, that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. Nothing wrong with shifters. In fact, friends of hers had said that being with a shifter was spectacular. She’d often wondered about that. Given that all her experience was limited to two awful husbands, yeah, she let her mind wander on it.
He jutted his jaw at her, and she struggled to find something to say. She was never the type to be lost for words. Especially not with men. She could flatter and cajole to her heart's content. Over the years she had flirted her way out of twenty-two parking tickets. She really needed to learn to park better. But there was something about him that made her a little nervous. What was it about him?
Was he intense? Yes, definitely. That square jaw and those infinitely dark brown eyes weren’t made for a kindergarten teacher.
Handsome? Yes, he was definitely handsome. She definitely thought so, and even the glower on his face couldn’t hide that fact. He had scars, but they neither detracted nor added to his attractiveness. They were just there – much like a nose or a freckle.
So what on earth was it about him?
*
Lorenzo stared at her. He had inner voices aplenty telling him to do something, to say something – not to mention an inner grumbling jaguar – and yet, what did he do?
He stared at her, saying nothing. Nada. Bupkis.
Jeez. But at least he had stopped growling. That was a step up.
He just had to stop Tomas from saying anything to her. Yeah, Tomas was a good friend, and a good guy and jaguar shifter. It was just that Lorenzo frankly wanted to tear him to shreds if he even dared look at her.
The evening hadn’t been going well. The women who weren’t lunatics – who like him were just looking for someone to settle down with, quickly made it clear that he was not the ‘someone’ they were looking for. No, he didn’t suppose the impression he gave was that of suitable future husband material. With his face and unfortunate glower, perhaps he was closer to suitable future kidnapper material. Which was kind of funny given the reason he was there in the first place.
But with Sadie, her beauty, her scent, they all called to him. More like hit him over the head and smacked him in the face. She was perfect. She didn’t stare at his scars. Didn’t wonder how he got them. Didn’t pretend she wasn’t looking at them and then sneak a peek when she thought his attention was distracted. Didn’t stare at them with sympathy. She just looked at him. Well, at that moment, she was scowling, but that wasn’t the point.
“Shouldn’t we talk about something?” she asked finally.
Lorenzo shrugged. “Like what?”
“I don’t know… do you like kids?”
“Sure.” He’d like some, one day.
Her nostrils flared slightly, and she was about to say something else when the bell sounded.
Sadie gave him a helpless look as all the men in the room started to shuffle along to the next table.
Say something clever urged his beast.
“Uh, see ya,” said Lorenzo.
Well, he’d never said anything clever up until that point in his life, so why start now?
“Yeah, see ya,” muttered Sadie with the slightest hint of frustration.
They hadn’t exchanged many words, but Lorenzo had heard all he needed. He bypassed the next female and went straight to the bar for a fortifying shot of liquor. Yep, he’d found his mate all right. Now came the hard part.
Eight
Sadie perched on the stoop of her building, wrapping her robe around her a little tighter. With one hand she was flicking through her phone, looking at all the new photos Mandy had posted. Oh, look they were eating chocolate covered apples. Oh, look they were eating mouse-shaped pretzels. Oh, look Mandy was having a magical time and not one that Sadie could ever provide for her.
Her other hand was resting on the packet of cigarettes she bought on the way home. Sadie had never been a big drinker. Her mom had been a recovering – sometimes not so recovering - alcoholic, and alcohol was not something that was allowed in their house when she was growing up. Then, she ran away with a penniless douche bag, who could barely afford food, and by the time she was legally old enough to drink, she already had a toddler to look after. Alcohol was something that she rarely thought about. The vodka at the speed dating had been the first to pass her lips in months.
Cigarettes though… she had been hooked on them since she first started dating the douche bag. She gave up when she found out she was pregnant with Mandy and had basically been on the straight and narrow since, but every time she was stressed or upset, she bought a pack. Mostly, she managed to throw it away before she smoked them all. Usually, she just had one or two and then came to her senses. Sometimes, she managed to overcome the urge all together and throw the unopened pack away, but it didn’t appear that this would be one of those times.
Wanting to hear Mandy’s voice, she called her. Mandy was sweet as always, chattering about her day. But Mandy made it clear that there was no need for them to talk every day – she would be home in less than three weeks anyway. Mandy urged her mother merely to follow her on her social media accounts. Oh, also, Karen – who was completely cool and virtually her daughter’s best friend – had confided in Mandy that she thought her dad was about to propose to her. Sadie doubted that, but Mandy had been thrilled at the prospect, and apparently Karen asked her how she would feel about having another mother!
Any sympathy Sadie felt for Karen evaporated when she heard that. Sadie was sure Karen was just a pawn in Al’s scheme to make her jealous, but rather than pitying her, all Sadie now felt was red-hot anger.
She tapped her fingers on the cigarette packet as she came across a picture of Karen and Mandy hugging. Humph. She scowled at Karen, but she smiled at her little girl.
Sadie breathed in and out and dropped the cigarettes into her pocket. She was not being replaced. Mandy loved her. Loved her enough to live in their crappy apartment and not mind that Sadie still hadn’t unpacked all their stuff. No, she had nothing to worry about. Though maybe Al should worry if Karen was expecting a proposal. That thought gave her a small amount of evil satisfaction.
She switched off her phone and rose to her feet. The building – as crappy as it was – had a strict no smoking policy, hence the reason she was outside wearing nothing but her nightie and robe. But, as tempted as she was to smoke, she wasn’t going to.
Mandy would be home before she knew it. She was worrying over nothing. Yes, and she had a lot more pressing matters to worry about – like the fact that she may lose custody of Mandy altogether.
The speed dating hadn’t gone well. Biggest bunch of losers she’d ever met. Well, at least she assumed so, after meeting Lorenzo, she hadn’t paid much attention to the others. Her attention was naturally drawn back to Lorenzo over and over. After leaving her, he went straight to the bar and stayed there for the rest of the event. She kind of felt all bubbly inside knowing that he didn’t want to meet any of the other women.
She fully expected him to approach her after the event, to ask her if she wanted to meet up again. Their exchange may have been a little on the awkward side, but she felt a connection to him, felt something she hadn’t for any of the other men, or any man ever.
<
br /> But when it was over, he was nowhere to be found. A couple of other men approached her, but she couldn’t even remember their names. She was more disappointed than she cared to admit, hence the double need to call Mandy and hear her voice.
Sadie shook her head, trying to loosen up the mounting cobwebs. She turned to move into her building. She couldn’t worry about her own disappointment. She had to remember the only reason she was there was because she was looking for a decent guy to make her look good when she requested full custody of Mandy.
She found one, called Lorenzo who was ‘sure’ he liked kids. Except he wasn’t interested and…
Sadie shivered as warm arms slid around her. Instead of feeling scared – like she definitely should have been – a strong sense of belonging pervaded her senses, and a name escaped her lips before she could stop it.
“Lorenzo?”
Then she was out like a light.
*
Sadie was dozing, leaning on his shoulder as they made the journey back home. Not just dozing, she was pretty much zonked out and snoring her pretty head off.
All the males had found their mates at the speed dating. The van was loaded up with the kidnapped females and their luggage, and they were heading home. Each male had scooped up their female and packed up some clothes for them.
Lorenzo hadn’t known what to pack, so he chose clothes at random, as well as basically pouring all of the bottles and potions she kept in her bathroom into a separate suitcase. He had no idea what they were all for, but he guessed she would probably use them.
They would just take them home for a couple of weeks and in that time try and persuade them to stay. He didn’t think any male in the leap had failed yet to persuade his intended bride to stay. Plus, Sadie appeared to have just moved into her apartment, given all the boxes littering the rooms. Maybe that was a good sign – maybe she wasn’t too attached to the apartment.
Diego smirked at him as Sadie let out a particularly loud snort. “You remember that chainsaw that old Alberto had…”
Lorenzo growled lowly, and Diego stopped that thought in its tracks, merely chuckling under his breath.
He glanced down at Sadie. She really was a beauty. She’ll be pissed no doubt, but maybe she could see past his scars and the whole kidnapping thing. Maybe he could persuade her of what a good mate he could be. Or maybe he would be the first in his leap to fail.
Nine
The various detritus littering the floor was a testament to how pissed and scared Sadie was when she woke up. She threw everything she could – plates, books, lamps, cups. Though she managed to restrain herself when it came to the goldfish. Goldy narrowly escaped death by flinging.
The first thing she saw on waking was Lorenzo. She had a pleasurable second or two as she recognized him – happily thinking that they had hooked up – right before she remembered what happened. Or rather, remembered what didn’t happen. There was no hookup, no sexy, adventurous sex, there had only been a sudden trip into snoozeland which she figured was due to some kind of chloroform. Biggest disappointment of her life.
Then she realized that not only was she lacking a warming memory of having spent a night with the sexiest man she ever met, but she wasn’t in her own bedroom – wasn’t even in her own apartment. Nope, she had been kidnapped. That was what started the desire to throw anything and everything that came to hand.
Her panic had mostly been about Mandy – fearing for her little girl. But when she really came round, she gathered her wits and thoughts and remembered that Mandy was safe. Well, she was with her father, so safe enough, and at least away from whatever mess she was in.
Lorenzo had merely looked resigned as she hit him square in the forehead with a random paperback copy of Lady De Villiers Takes a Lover. Not a short read; it probably hurt. But, all he did was sigh and mutter something about getting her some breakfast.
Sadie quickly realized that she wasn’t alone. Nope, there were three other women from the speed dating event. One was still asleep, another appeared to be meditating, and the third was definitely freaking out.
Her eyes flicked around the room. It was plain but nice, airy and well kept. Not exactly a prison cell, but, she definitely hadn’t been brought there of her free will and were those her suitcases?!
Her jaw nearly hit the floor as she realized her two-piece matching set was there, and when she delved inside them, she found they contained her clothes, her underwear, and her freaking toothbrush. Well, it would have been more shocking if they were someone else’s underwear and clothes, but it was still pretty shocking.
“What the f...”
She looked up sharply as the door opened and a small Latina woman bustled through carrying a huge tray.
“You ladies must be hungry,” she said with a bright smile. “I brought breakfast.”
Sadie stared at her. Worry started to creep in that perhaps she was losing her mind. Could this be any more surreal? “Breakfast? Breakfast?!”
Al’s lawyer had seriously tried to infer that she was a little cuckoo at the various court hearings she had been subjected to – as apparently, she would have to be crazy to want to leave her husband. But she hadn’t actually considered there could be any truth in it until that moment.
“What the hell is going on?” demanded Sadie.
The small woman’s smile barely dimmed. “Oh, baby, you have nothing to be afraid of – you’ve just been brought here to be a bride of a jaguar.”
The meditating woman gaped at her. The timid woman gasped.
“Bride of a jaguar?” repeated Sadie slowly, not trusting her own ears.
The small woman nodded happily. “Yes, you have been brought here to be a bride. You have nothing to fear.”
“Yeah, see, those statements don’t really go together.” She ran her hands down her face. “Bride of a jaguar? Bride of a freaking jaguar?”
Then a small bubble of laughter erupted out of her mouth. Followed by another, and then another until she was laughing uncontrollably. The three other conscious women in the room watched her with a mixture of horror and concern, but Sadie could not stop laughing.
Hands down, it was the funniest and craziest thing she ever heard.
*
“This is your room,” murmured Lorenzo, shouldering his way into a bright, white bedroom.
“Aha,” muttered Sadie, eyeing him warily.
Though, it had to be said not quite as warily as he was eyeing her. Given that he was the one who kidnapped her, his suspicion was a little rich in her opinion. But, she wasn’t panicking. She wasn’t worrying. Nope, she was remaining calm and remaining practical about it. She needed to get out of there as quickly and carefully as possible. She had no idea who these people were or how they were going to react to anything, so she had to be cautious. Particularly when it came to mentioning Mandy. The last thing she wanted was to admit she had a daughter and have them track her down and drag her into this awful mess.
Sadie had already lied about herself, pretending she was merely a traveling sales rep working for a cosmetics company. Well, it was half true anyway. She just neglected to mention that the only traveling she did was in getting away from her ass of a husband.
She desperately wanted to see Mandy again, wanted to hear her sweet voice, needed to know she was okay, but she wasn’t about to blurt out the truth to her kidnapper. Not when he was looking at her like he suspected her of serial puppy kicking.
“That’s your bed,” he muttered, dumping her heavy suitcases on top of it.
Sadie felt a flash of amusement. “What really? This is the bed?” she asked pointing at it. “I could have sworn it was that large cupboard-type object in the corner.”
Lorenzo gave her a slight smile. It nearly cracked his face. He was handsome, but he was hardly Mr. Jolly Happy Pants – who was a clown she once hired for one of Mandy’s birthday. There was not an animal alive he could not make out of balloons, and he was seriously happy all the time. She supposed he would be, given
that he had a hot wife and three girlfriends. Apparently, some women found clowns sexy.
“You wouldn’t last a day as a bellhop,” she teased mildly.
Lorenzo grunted. “You need anything?”
Hmmm? Freedom? To speak to her daughter?
“My phone?” she suggested, knowing that was a non-starter.
Maria – the small, friendly Latina woman – told her they would get them back after a period of two weeks. After the ‘wooing’ was over.
“Except for that.”
“A quart of vodka?” she quipped.
“I’m sure I can arrange some vodka.”
“Maybe not. I could do with keeping my wits about me.”
Sadie pouted slightly, considering that she would actually like a cigarette. But, she decided against it. If she started, she wasn’t sure she would be able to stop.
Lorenzo stared at her for a few beats before he finally said, “I’ll leave you to it.” He stomped out of the room none too gracefully.
“You will?” she said peevishly, “how kind.”
He looked up; his eyes shimmered slightly. She thought he was going to say something, but no, he just shook his head.
Sadie rolled her eyes, gave him a smile and then slammed the door in his face. So far, his wooing left a lot to be desired, though a treacherous part of her couldn’t help the sigh and shiver that just the thought of him elicited.
There was a strange, disloyal part of her that wasn’t completely peeved at being kidnapped by him. No, that part was a little bashful, a little flattered and completely smitten. That part of her actually wanted to stay put, to see where this whole kidnapping thing went. That part of her also liked weepy romantic movies where one of the main characters always died. The theme music for that part of her was The Way We Were.
Thankfully, that part was being drowned out by the smothering mother part of her. The strongest part of her – the one that always put Mandy first. That part of her that was prepared to stroll over hot coals and sky dive over live volcanoes for her baby. The theme music for that part of her was Ride of the Valkyries, and right now, that part of her was telling her she needed to get out of there and make sure her baby was safe.
