ACougarsDesire (3 page)

“I’ve been here a few times and not once have I seen one do
that,” Katarina said.

Jase chuckled. “Maybe he thinks another big cat has come to
threaten his territory. I wonder what he’ll do if I growl back at him.”

Before Katarina could say anything in response to that, Jase
let loose with a cat growl that almost put the tiger to shame. The big cat went
completely still, then took off the way it’d come.

“Not so tough after all,” Jase said with a laugh. “I guess
I’m the head cat around this place.”

She looked at him. “That’s quite a talent you’ve got there.
I don’t think I’ve met anyone who could perfectly sound like a big cat as you
do.”

Jase stepped closer, bent his head and nuzzled the crook of
her neck. “I can also do this.”

He purred, the sound vibrating along her skin. He continued
to do so just like a real cat as he dragged his lips down the column of her
throat. Katarina shivered, her pussy clenched as a surge of pure desire shot
through her. She became instantly turned-on. She put her hands on Jase’s waist
and leaned into him. She couldn’t help herself.

Jase didn’t seem to mind. He cupped her cheek and turned her
head toward him before he brought his mouth down to hers. The kiss started out
as just a simple meeting of lips, but that quickly changed. Katarina clutched
him tighter and sighed as it became far from chaste.

She tried to push even closer, even though she was basically
as close as she could get to him. Jase licked the seam of her mouth, seeking
entrance. Katarina opened and sucked his tongue inside. Arousal pulsed through
her. A throbbing ache deep inside her pussy demanded her attention. It
increased as he purred once more.

The sound of a child’s laughter instantly brought Katarina
out of the haze of pleasure that had surrounded her. She jerked back from Jase
and looked around him to see a little girl no more than six or seven years of
age watching them. The girl’s mother grabbed her hand, then led her from the
exhibit.

Katarina took a few steps away from Jase and turned to face
the tiger’s enclosure. She’d completely forgotten where they were. Being caught
necking in such a public place wasn’t something she was prone to. She wasn’t
one for putting on displays. The way he’d kissed her, she hadn’t thought of
anything else but how good it was to have his mouth moving over hers. If not
for a child breaking the mood, she had a feeling that kiss would have lasted a
lot longer.

Jase looked at Katarina as she turned her back to him. Had
he gone too fast for her? He hadn’t intended to kiss her quite this soon on
their date, but having her so close to him, and the scent of her skin filling
his nose, he hadn’t been able to resist.

“Did I do something wrong?” he asked as he came to stand
beside her.

“No. The problem is me.”

“How so? I have nothing to complain about with that kiss.”

Katarina turned her gaze his way and gave him a small smile.
“Neither do I. The problem is I liked it too much and forgot where I was.”

Jase grinned, put his arm around her shoulders and kissed
the top of her head. “There’s nothing wrong with that. It shows you’re into me
just as much as I’m into you.”

“Come on. Let’s go see the snow leopards, then we can go get
something to eat if you’re hungry.”

He turned them away from the tiger’s enclosure and got them
walking toward the walkway that would take them to the snow leopards. “The
question is, when am I not hungry? You put food in front of me, I’ll eat it.”

“If I ate like that I’d be the size of a house. It’s already
bad enough I’m so short.”

Jase pulled slightly away from Katarina and looked her up
and down. “I can honestly say you’re perfect the way you are. If we weren’t in
such a public place, I would show you exactly what the sight of you does to
me.”

He dragged in a deep breath, detecting Katarina’s arousal in
her scent. He’d first smelled it while he’d kissed her. He was getting to her,
which was fine with him. She did the same to him. His cock was semi-hard and it
wouldn’t take much for it to become a full-blown erection. That one little
taste of her had him longing for more. Jase had no idea what else was on the
agenda for their date, but he hoped at some point he could get her alone
somewhere so he could continue where their kiss had abruptly ended.

At the snow leopard’s enclosure, one of the large cats came
up to the fence to investigate them. Jase knew full well it had to do with his
scent. He didn’t smell like a human. The snow leopard, as well as the tiger,
could detect the cougar in him. At least this large cat wasn’t trying to
intimidate him. It was a female, whereas the tiger had been male, which would
have had him trying to stake his territory.

They finished looking at the rest of the animals, which took
an hour, then headed out to the parking lot. Jase had never been to the zoo
before. He found he didn’t mind it as much as he’d thought he would. Being a
cougar shifter, he hated to see animals that were meant to be out in the wild
locked up. The enclosures, though, had been made specifically for each species,
trying to mimic as much of their natural territory as possible. So they weren’t
as terrible as he’d thought they’d be.

Once Jase and Katarina reached the cars, he asked, “Where to
now?”

“Time to eat. You can follow me.”

“You’re not going to tell me where we’re going beforehand?”

“No. That way if you don’t like it, you won’t have the
chance to try to change my mind about going there.”

Jase shook his head. “I wouldn’t since I said you could plan
our date, but lead on.”

They both got into their cars. Katarina backed up, then
waited for Jase to pull behind her before she drove to the lot’s exit.

On their way to their next destination, he had no problem
following her. He saw her checking her rearview mirror every once in a while to
make sure he was still there.

So far Jase had no complaints about the date. If Katarina
thought the zoo would be enough to scare him off, she was mistaken. It would
take a lot more than that. He had to laugh when he saw her pull into the
parking lot of a place that from the outside looked like a dive. He couldn’t
help thinking she’d picked that restaurant as a test to see if he would say
something about her choices. If he did, he was more than sure she would use
that as an opportunity to get rid of him. For some reason, he didn’t think she
trusted him.

After parking, Jase met up with Katarina at her car. She
looked at him as they headed toward the entrance. “Have you ever been here
before?”

“No, but I’m always willing to try new things.”

They stepped through the door and Jase’s assumption of it
being a dive was proven correct by the interior. It was kind of dark and dingy.
The bar took up a lot of the open space. All the seats there were taken. The TV
hanging on the wall above it played the sports channel. No hostess or host came
to greet them, and there was no sign saying for them to wait to be seated.

Katarina had obviously been there before. She headed for one
of the tables near the back. Once she selected the one she wanted, she took a
seat. Jase sat across from her. She seemed to be watching him closely, as if
judging his reaction.

He looked around. “I bet this is one of those places that
doesn’t look like much but the food is really good.”

Katarina nodded. “That about sums it up. I’ve been coming
here for a while now.” She shrugged out of her jacket, and Jase did the same
with his.

A waitress came and gave them menus. Before she left she
took their drink order. Jase was mildly surprised when Katarina ordered a beer
just like him. In his experience, women generally stuck with wine.

Jase looked over the menu, liking a lot of what he saw. For
a dive, it had quite a few main dishes he wouldn’t have expected. He’d finally
decided on what he wanted to eat when a heavy hand landed on top his shoulder.
He looked up to find the last person he expected to see there.

“Draven,” Jase said. “What a surprise.”

The large cougar shifter smiled as he pulled out one of the
empty chairs between Jase and Katarina, then sat. “Jase. I’ve never seen you
here before.”

“That’s because this is my first time. Katarina,” Jase
glanced toward her, “brought me to try out the food.”

Draven nodded at her. “Nice to meet you, Katarina. You don’t
mind if I join you two. I hate eating alone in a restaurant. I’d planned to get
some takeout, but since you’re here I can stay.” He slid Jase’s menu toward
him, then looked it over.

“Sure, go right ahead,” Jase said dryly.

He looked over at Katarina to see what her reaction was to
Draven inviting himself to eat with them. She looked at him and nodded.
Obviously, she didn’t mind. Jase sighed inwardly. He wasn’t too thrilled with
it, but he couldn’t very well be rude and tell the other cougar shifter to get
lost. For one thing, Jase wasn’t sure Draven wouldn’t pound the crap out of him
if he did. And that wasn’t something he wanted Katarina to be witness to on
their first date. It wouldn’t go over well. It was bad enough she’d already
seen him kick in Caleb’s apartment door.

The waitress returned with Jase’s and Katarina’s drinks. She
brought another table setting for Draven, then finished taking all their
orders. She returned only long enough to bring Draven his beer before leaving
them alone once more.

All three of them sat in silence, sipping their drinks. If
Draven noticed he was the third wheel, he showed no sign of it. Especially when
he started up a conversation that Jase would have preferred Katarina didn’t
hear.

“So, Jase, did you manage to track down that asshole Caleb?”

Jase glanced over at Katarina to see her closely watching
him and Draven. “Ah, yeah, I did. He gave me the slip, though.”

“That’s a start. If you do need any help capturing him, let
me know. I consider Blaise one of my good friends. I wouldn’t mind getting my
claws into Caleb for what he tried to do to Blaise’s father.”

“Thanks for the offer. I’ll be sure to give you a call if I
can’t handle it on my own.”

Draven nodded. “Good.” He turned his gaze toward Katarina.
“So where did you and Katarina meet? Was it at one of the bars where you go to
check out all the women? You said you’d take me with you and Grady the next
time you went. I guess you forgot to give me a call. If the ladies were as
pretty as Katarina, I missed out on something good.”

Jase couldn’t hold back the warning growl that rumbled out
of him. He thought he was bad for saying what was on his mind, but Draven was
worse. And from the way Katarina now scowled at Jase, he had a feeling his new
friend hadn’t done him any favors.

“No,” Jase said in a tight voice. “I didn’t meet Katarina at
a bar.”

“He met me when he tracked Caleb down at the apartment
building I’m superintendent at and kicked in his door,” she said, her
expression guarded.

Draven laughed. “I guess that’s one way to pick up a woman.”

“Let’s change the subject,” Jase said, wondering how much
damage control he’d have to do once he and Katarina found a way to lose Draven.

Katarina looked from Jase to Draven and back to him again.
“You both have the same cougar head pendants.”

Now that was a bit awkward. Jase had no idea how he’d
explain that one, but soon had that chance taken away when Draven did it for
him.

“It’s a popular item among the circle of people we know. The
men wear it with the hopes that one day a woman, who ends up being his to keep,
will take it from him and put it around her own neck. Think of it as her
showing him how much she loves him and is willing to commit to him.” Draven
winked. “Would you like to try mine on and see what happens?”

Katarina looked at Draven as if she didn’t know if she
should take him seriously or not. “No, that’s quite okay. If it came down to
whose necklace I would take, sorry, I’d choose Jase’s over yours. You’re not
exactly my type.”

Jase had to hold back a smile. Katarina had quickly put
Draven in his place. The other cougar shifter took it in stride.

Draven shook his head and chuckled. “It would seem I’ve been
told. And it would stand to reason you’d pick Jase over me since you went out
with him, after all.”

Their food showed up at that point and everyone focused on
that for a short while. Draven started the conversation rolling again, talking
about some of the computer projects he was working on. Luckily, he didn’t say
anything more that would put Jase in an awkward situation with Katarina.

Jase was surprised to learn Draven actually ran his own
business of repairing computers and building new ones out of his house. He’d
thought the other man mostly worked on programs that could be questionable at
best.

Once they finished eating, Draven reached into his pocket
then threw some money onto the table. “Thanks for letting me eat with you. I’ll
leave the two of you alone.” He stood before he continued. “Jase, I hope to
hear from you soon about the Caleb situation. And tell your brother Grady that
I’m free whenever he is to go to the bar. I have a feeling you won’t be joining
us any time soon.”

With that, Draven gave Katarina a smile and walked away.
Jase watched him go through the restaurant’s door then faced the other way to
find Katarina staring at him.

“Thanks for putting up with Draven,” Jase said. “I really
don’t know him all that well. We just met yesterday.”

“I find that hard to believe. Didn’t Draven say the men in
the circle you’re both a part of wear those cougar head pendants? That gave me
the impression you knew him quite well.”

“I knew
of
him, but hadn’t had any interaction with
him until now.”

“Oh.”

“So what’s next on the agenda?”

“I’m not so sure if I want to suggest it.”

Jase cursed to himself. Obviously, Draven had done some
damage. “Why? Is it because of something Draven said?”

Katarina met his gaze. “Partially.”

“Was it his comment about me going to bars to check out
women? If that’s what’s bugging you, I wouldn’t do that as long as you and I
continue to see each other. You have my word on it.”

She swirled the last of her beer in her glass. “Okay, I
guess I believe that. The entire time we’ve been out you haven’t had a
wandering eye.”

Jase reached across the table and captured Katarina’s free
hand in his, then smiled. “I don’t need to look at other women when I have one
I’m very attracted to right here with me. How about you get all your concerns
out on the table and I’ll do my best to lay them to rest.”

Katarina smiled back. “I think you’re a bit of a sweet
talker. All right. I’ll be blunt with you. I don’t have a good track record
with men. I usually attract the bad boys and losers. They take advantage of me,
get whatever they can, then dump me for someone else. To be honest, I’ve pretty
much given up looking for someone I want to settle down with.”

Now Jase understood why Katarina hadn’t wanted to go out
with him at first. She sounded an awful lot like him, but in his case it was
females of his kind who had lost their appeal. The last one he’d dated for a
month had only been with him because she was going through all the single males
she knew to find her mate. She really hadn’t had any true feelings for him. All
she’d cared about was whether or not the magic had been set off in his pendant.

“I can understand where you’re coming from,” he said. “I’ve
had my fair share of women who have used me, then turned to another when I
didn’t turn out to be what they’d hoped. So are you willing to give me a
chance?”

She looked to think over what he’d said, then nodded. “Okay.
Why don’t you come to my apartment for a drink?” Katarina smiled. “Plus, that
way you can reimburse me for the repairs done to Caleb’s door.”

“I’d love to have a drink with you, and I’ll gladly pay up.”

Jase took care of the rest of the bill, then walked outside
to the parking lot with Katarina. He followed her to her apartment building.
Same as the last time he was there, he found the neighborhood not so nice. He
would have loved to tell Katarina to move, but at this stage in their
relationship it wasn’t his place.

This time he parked in the visitors parking instead of on
the street. Jase doubted Caleb was back. It was too soon. He met Katarina at
her car as she got out, then they both walked to the building’s entrance.