Tigers Like It Hot (2 page)

What drew Jessi’s attention was their choice of costume. Both wore make-up that transformed their faces into a half-human, half-tiger mix. Both had short, black hair, one shot through with gold highlights, the other a silvery white. Each of them sported a mechanical tail that looked so realistic, Jessi had a difficult time keeping her hands to herself as they walked by.

The one with the white highlights paused for a few seconds on their way past Jessi’s booth. Light blue eyes glittered down at her as he let his gaze wander down to her feet and back up to her face. The entire encounter couldn’t have taken more than a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity.

Her stomach clenched and butterflies took flight in her middle as she met his gaze. Jessi had one weakness these days. Men who liked to Cos-play as cat boys.

These two were
anything
but boys. Broad shoulders tapered down to rock-hard abs, narrow hips and powerful-looking thighs. They looked nothing like the type of men she usually saw at Cos-play conventions.

Shaking her head, Jessi reminded herself that she
wasn’t
at a convention. This was a costumed festival the town had every year.

“Would you look at that?” Kelly interrupted her thoughts with a low whistle. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cat boy quite like those two.”

“Me either.” Jessi let her gaze follow the two men. It might be rude to stare, but she was sure their lack of costumes marked them as strangers in town. At least they had
some
excuse for their rudeness.

The bell over the door jingled yet again and they both turned to look. Who else could walk into this diner and top what they had already seen?

“I’m telling you, Jess, we
need
to stay here, at least for a few days.” Kelly practically drooled as two new guys walked in. Both sported partial cat faces like the first two, and they both also had tails. One, however, wore a costume glove shaped like a tiger paw complete with retractable claws.

“They’re serious about their costumes here, that’s for sure.” Jessi leaned back when the waitress brought their lunch.

“If you need anything else, just give me a holler.” The woman smiled at them before turning to face the four men who had just rocked Jessi and Kelly’s world just by existing.

Jessi glanced down, picked up her sandwich and took a small bite before turning sideways in her seat to better watch the four men.

The first two who had arrived didn’t look happy to see the second pair. They glowered at the new men as they sat down at the table next to them.

Deep brown hair hung down to their shoulders. Both sets of eyes, one gray, the other a deep blue turned her way, and her face heated. Jess was embarrassed that they’d caught her staring until she realized that they weren’t looking at her. They were looking at Kelly.

“You know,” Kelly said after swallowing her first bite. “Maybe we
should
leave.” She glanced back at the four men and sighed. “That’s
way
too much testosterone for us, and I don’t know about you, but I’ve settled down. A lot. Threesomes just aren’t my thing anymore.”

“Mine either,” Jessi agreed.
Liar,
a little voice inside her claimed.
You both still crave it. That why neither of you have ever married.

Jessi ignored that pesky voice inside her head. It wasn’t true. She
had
settled down. She had a higher sense of self-worth now and no one would convince her that she was less of a woman because her waist and thighs were thicker than most. In fact, she was more of a woman, literally, and if the men of the world didn’t like it, they could kiss her ever-widening ass.

Mac glowered at Gareth. “What are
they
doing here?” He canted his head toward the two men at the table next to them.

“Who knows?” Gareth shrugged. “Ask them. You’ll no doubt get a better answer.”

A growl rumbled low in his throat. “The blonde is our mate.” Mac narrowed his eyes at the other two men, who sat staring at the table where his and Gareth’s mate sat eating what smelled like a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich.

“I noticed that. Do you think my sense of smell is lacking?” Gareth made a show of checking the menu. “She also has a friend, which means that we cannot reveal ourselves at the moment.”

Mac sighed. He hated that Gareth was right. They couldn’t take a chance at exposing their kind to the world unless they wanted to become guinea pigs for the world’s governments. The world thought their animal side extinct. It was better to keep it that way.

Mac turned to the other two men, his upper lip curling in a silent snarl. “What are you two doing here?”
They’d better not be following us,
he said to Gareth through their mental bond.
Though I’ll bet they are.

All
of their people were telepathic. Linked through a common path, they could speak to anyone at will. Sometimes they even spoke to those they didn’t know. It wasn’t an exact science, though mated sets had their own mental connection, established through the intimacy of love and friendship or a blood bond.

Mac and Gareth had both. They’d shared blood on a number of occasions when humans hunted them to near extinction and they had been best friends for over a hundred years.

“Corbin sent us to keep an eye on you two. In the event that you find your mate, he wanted to know that someone had your backs.” Mikhail leaned forward, grabbed a menu and opened it.

“We have each other’s backs,” Mac grumbled with another low growl. “And stop staring at our mate.”

“
Your
mate?” Mikhail scowled. “Which one?”

“Yeah.” Jake sat up straight in his seat, his expression grim. “Which one?”

“The blonde,” Mac replied with a sigh. It was as he suspected. One of the women was mate to Jake and Mikhail. He could only hope it was the brunette. Otherwise, they were screwed. Their tigers would fight to the death for their mate. They could share with their bonded mates, but Jake and Mikhail were
not
their bonded mates. They didn’t know each other well enough for that.

The other two men visibly relaxed and Mac grinned. “It looks as though someone else needs to watch
your
backs, as well.”

Mikhail grunted. “We’ll have to watch each other’s backs and make sure that none of us does something stupid.” He shook his head. “I’m not about to call anymore Tigers into this situation. Two mates for two different sets of tigers is coincidence enough. I refuse to take the chance that our mate could be compatible with someone else.”

“There is
one
good thing about the two of them being potential mates.” Jake sat back in his seat and crossed his legs at the ankles. “We can all move just that much faster. I don’t know about you two, but I can hardly wait to get our woman alone.”

“Neither can I,” Mikhail added.

Mac tilted his head and smiled toward their mate. “You two might like to take things fast, but Gareth and I like to take things a bit slower. We like things hot. You can’t get hot when you’re in a hurry.”

In fact, Mac would like nothing better than to take things slow, letting their natural attraction simmer until their mate couldn’t imagine a life without them in it. He could only hope they would have the time.

Mac stood and turned to his best friend. “I’ll be right back.” Standing, he took his time sauntering over to their table. “Excuse me, ladies,” he said as he smiled down at them. “Would you mind if I borrowed your sugar?” He turned and waved his arm toward Gareth. “Our table doesn’t have much.”

The two women stared up at him. The blonde’s heart rate sped up. Her breathing grew shallow, erratic, and her body emanated a wonderful, sweet smell, indicating that she found him attractive. It did his heart good to know that. It wasn’t often one met the most beautiful woman in the world and found out she was their mate. It was nice to know that she found them just as attractive as they found her.

“Um…” she licked her lips, causing his pulse to skip into overdrive.

It was all he could do to stand before her unmoving as she reached across the table for the glass jar of sugar at the other end. Already, he wanted her more than any other woman he had ever known.

She leaned forward, her breasts pressing against the edge of the table, drawing his attention to her low-cut blouse and the long line of her cleavage.

Mac’s mouth dried and he swallowed thickly. His cock hardened, pressing against his zipper as though attempting to break free of the confines of the strong denim.

Grasping the sugar jar, she lifted it toward him. “Keep it,” she said as she turned her head, her gaze level with his fly. Her face turned a becoming shade of pink and she hurriedly glanced away from the evidence of his arousal. “We obviously don’t need it.”

Mac frowned at the inflection in her voice that hinted at self-loathing over something of which she had little control.

He held out his hand. “I’m Mac. It’s short for MacKenzie.” He canted his head toward the other men. “The man by himself is my best friend Gareth. The other two in the blue and green t-shirts are Zach and Derek respectively.”

“I—um…it’s nice to meet you. I’m Jessi.” She waved toward her companion. “This is Kelly.” Jessi rested her hand in his briefly before jerking it back and wiping it on the napkin in her lap.

Mac wasn’t sure whether to be insulted or amused. “Well,” he replied with a grin. “You’re probably right about the sugar. It would only make you sweeter.”

Jessi pressed her lips together and then scowled up at him. “Don’t you mean fatter?”

Ah…so that’s what’s wrong. She’s under the mistaken impression that we think her too heavy,
he said to Gareth, whom he knew could hear the entire conversation between them.

Bending down, he set the sugar down, rested his hand on the table and met her gaze. “Sweetheart, not all men want a thin woman hanging on their arm.” He glanced back at Gareth before turning his attention back to her. “As a matter of fact, my friends and I prefer a little meat on our women. We ah…like it a little rough and like to know that we aren’t going to break our partners.”

Her face reddened even more as he took a moment, letting his gaze wander down over her lush curves and licked his lips. “And from what I can see,
you’re
damn near perfect. Don’t let anyone tell you anything else.”

Jessi gaped at the man as he winked, straightened and then sauntered back to his table, sugar in hand.

He likes curvy women.
She shivered as goose bumps covered her arms. “Oh, my,” she whispered as she met Kelly’s gaze. “What do you think of that?”

Jess wasn’t sure what to think, herself. Was the man serious, or did he say that just to mess with her head? She leaned forward. “Do you think he’s serious?”

Kelly glanced toward the four men, fanned her face and sighed. “I hope so. Which one do you want?” She licked her lips. “Because I have to tell you, I can’t choose between the second pair that strutted through here like a couple of proud Tom cats.” She frowned. What did he say their names were,
Zach and Derek
?”

“It doesn’t matter. As soon as they see us clean our plates, they’ll be running for the exit.” Jessi sighed and met Kelly’s gaze. “In my experience, men usually say one thing, but mean another.”

“Same here,” Kelly whispered. “But when have you ever heard a man say he preferred a big girl over a thin girl? Damn, Jess. He called you perfect.”

Jessi picked up her sandwich and stared at it for a minute before she took a big bite. To hell with nibbling the damned thing. She was hungry. Raising a brow, she chewed it and swallowed. “We’ll see what he thinks after we’re done with our lunch. If they’re still interested after that, maybe we’ll stay here for a few days, after all.”

“Yes!” Kelly grinned and took a healthy bite of her sandwich.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Jessi mumbled as five women strode in. They, too, were in costumes—sexy-as-hell costumes. One, dressed in a rust-colored body suit, nude stockings and four-inch spikes shook her bushy fox tail when she saw the four men in the back of the diner.

While Jess was comfortable in her own skin, it had taken her years to get there. She knew what kind of woman men like that liked, and it was standing in the doorway. All five of them were thin and just what men usually wanted, right down to their tiny, perfect feet in their spiked heels.

The fox whispered to her friends, who were dressed in equally seductive costumes. They chuckled softly and made their way to the back of the restaurant, each of them shaking their pert little asses as they meandered past the four men who, surprisingly, didn’t give them so much as a glance. They were all too busy studying their menus.

Jessi was sure the four of them would have drooled over the five women if they had seen them.

She shook her head when the conspiring women set their sugar dispenser on another table. The platinum blonde in the almost non-existent bunny costume stood and slinked her way between the two tables. “Excuse me, gentlemen, we don’t seem to have any sugar at our table. Could we borrow one of yours?” she asked as she bent down, exposing her cleavage.

All four of the men looked at her, then over at the other four women, who simpered and waved at them. If the men hadn’t noticed them before, they certainly had now.

Jessi felt sick. Her throat ached and she looked away. She couldn’t watch, though she
knew
what would happen. The women were beautiful. How could they resist?

“What if we split what’s left in here with you?” said a deep voice. It must have been Gareth. It hadn’t been Mac’s voice, though Jessi wasn’t sure. She didn’t look up. She couldn’t. She continued to stare down at her empty plate. Her stomach twisted into knots and she wished she hadn’t eaten all of her lunch.

“This isn’t our sugar. It belongs to the lovely ladies at that table, over there.”

Jessi looked up just in time to see the woman glance their way and chuckle. “Lovely ladies?” She leaned down and cupped his cheek. “Aren’t you nice to say that?” She practically purred, stroking his jaw as she retracted her hand. “They should pay you for that.” She took the full sugar dispenser and stood up. “I’m sure they won’t mind. It’s not like
they
need it.”