Tiger Lily Read online

  Blake had a bundle of blue fabric in his hands, and he tossed it to me. I caught it and shook out a pair of coveralls in my size. Tiger was embroidered on the name patch. I looked at him skeptically.

  “You need the right gear for working on a car,” he told me.

  I debated for a minute, glancing around the brightly lit bay. There was no one else in here now, and the bay doors were all closed. The place felt bright and cheerful even though it was so dark outside. It felt like a home—a second home—for them and maybe for me too, and my heart ached with longing. But I pushed that heartbreak away—I had a lot of practice with that.

  “You got me a present,” I said.

  “It’s nothing,” he said.

  It was thoughtful and sweet, especially when I’d given him nothing but grief.

  The radio DJ blared from the speakers in the corner, “Now here’s my favorite sultry singer at her best… Lana del Ray’s West Coast.” The music that began to play was pretty sultry. An idea occurred to me, but my mouth went dry at the thought.

  With my gaze fixed on his, I said, “I better change then.”

  He nodded, started to turn his back—reluctantly—and I said, “No.”

  He stopped, turned back, cocking an eyebrow at me.

  He’d made this big deal about being my boss once before—would he stick to that? Even if I tried to tempt him?

  My heart was in my throat as I started to dance, the way I normally only ever did in the privacy of my apartment. I never even danced in front of Brad. I’d be putting away the dishes from the dishwashers, dancing away, and then he’d come in and I’d stop humming, stop moving as my cheeks flushed and I focused on putting away the forks.

  But for Blake…

  I started to dance to the music, and I could tell he liked watching me. There was no laughter on his face, nothing that said he thought I was weird. He looked at me with desire sparking in his eyes.

  I unbuttoned my blouse, inch by inch as my hips swayed. I let the blouse slide down my arms as I walked toward Blake, trying to strut around him. He smiled—but in a nice way—as I touched his chest, then walked around him. He watched every inch of skin I exposed as if he couldn’t look away.

  Then when I’d shed my jeans and shirt across the floor of the garage, I pulled the coveralls on instead.

  As I zipped the coveralls, he closed the distance between us. My breath froze in my chest, expecting him to ravage me like in one of those old school romance novels.

  Instead, he slid a finger under my chin and tilted my face up to his. His eyes had dilated with desire.

  “You are the sexiest girl I’ve ever met,” he told me, and as usual, there was nothing in Blake’s tone that brooked argument, even if I didn’t see myself as sexy. “But I want you to know, as much as I loved that, I didn’t really get the coveralls as a gift, and I certainly don’t expect anything.”

  I quirked an eyebrow, staring back at him. My heart was pounding in my chest at his words, but that only ever made me act pricklier. I was sure I had a case of Resting Bitch Face at the moment. Actually, I may have moved beyond Resting. I might have Aggressively Bitch Face at this point.

  “I got you the coveralls because you’ve got a gift working on cars,” he said. “Because the garage is better off with you here, at reception and in the garage. Because I want you to keep working here.”

  He paused, then went on, “And I say that not as the guy who likes watching you, but as the guy who loves working with you. Because you’re good at your job. And you earned those coveralls.”

  For a few long seconds, I just stared up into his handsome, serious face.

  And then I ravaged him.

  26

  I kissed Blake hotly. The two of us fought each other for control—his fingers gripping my jaw, his tongue teasing my lips apart—my hand cupped to his cheek, nipping his sweetly rounded lower lip—the two of us pushing each other back and forth across the floor of the bay.

  I unzipped the coveralls, all but ripped them off his body. He stepped out of them, leaving them in a pool of dark blue on the garage floor, but he still wore a t-shirt and shorts underneath. I made a disgusted noise at how rudely clothed he still was, and he laughed out loud as he peeled his t-shirt over his head. His abs rippled with the movement, and his t-shirt clung to his broad biceps before he threw it on the ground.

  He picked me up as if I weighed nothing, and my thighs wrapped around his hard waist. I twined my arms around his neck, kissing his lips over and over. He just stood there, our bodies pressed against each other, holding me easily as his tongue teased against mine, pressing them open.

  My lips parted against his, and when his tongue slipped inside my mouth, a thrill of heat rushed through me. His tongue stroked over my front teeth, then tangled with the tip of my own tongue, and the sweet wet heat of his mouth left me thinking about where else that tongue could go.

  He let out a soft groan as he pulled away, resting his forehead on mine. “You don’t know what you do to me, Lily.”

  “Why didn’t we do this a long time ago?” I asked, before pressing kisses to the hard angle of his jaw, his cheekbones. His five o’clock shadow was rough against my palm as I pressed my hand to his face so I could claim his lips again.

  “We could make up for lost time,” he suggested, and before he finished speaking, I was already struggling with the zipper of the coveralls. He helped me peel them off between kisses.

  He set me on the hood of my grandfather’s car. The metal was cool even through my panties, but that was soon lost in the rush of heat as he bent forward, pressing kisses to my throat, to my naked shoulder. I ran my hands over his broad, powerful shoulders. It felt like a dream to touch Blake as much as I wanted after all the time I’d stared at him without feeling like he was mine to touch.

  He palmed my breast over my bra, his thumb stroking across the curve above the cup until I was moaning. I reached behind me to release the buckle, and his eyes were alight all over again as his gaze swept over me.

  “You’re so beautiful,” he murmured.

  “Well, you did say you liked to watch me, creep,” I teased him.

  “Don’t be mean to me with that pretty mouth,” he grumbled. He caught the waistband of my underwear, tugging them down over my thighs, and I rolled my hips up to help him. I really wanted those panties off too.

  “Okay,” I said, and I put my hands on his hard chest and pushed him back a step. Or tried to. The man was a mountain.

  I quirked an eyebrow at him, pushing him away again, and he straightened as he took a step back. A look of bewilderment crossed his face.

  “Is this moving too fast, Lily?” he asked, and his eagerness to take things slow, to do whatever I wanted, reminded me of what a good man he was. Blake might drive me crazy—but he was a good guy.

  “No, silly,” I said, and my voice came out husky.

  I dropped to my knees in front of him, kneeling on the hard concrete, and dragged his boxers down. His cock rose in front of his taut lower abs; it was long and thick, and the same satisfaction I felt over a big ice cream sundae made a smile light my face.

  “You have no idea what it does to me when you look at me that way,” he said, his voice coming out rough with desire.

  I took his cock in my hand. The look on his face was intent, affectionate, and then I wrapped my mouth around his cock and he drew in a quick inhale of breath. I moved my hand and mouth in time, up and down his cock, as his leanly muscled thighs began to tremble.

  I could make this big, muscular man shake with the power of my mouth. It made me proud.

  He pulled away from me abruptly. “I’m about to—”

  “I don’t mind,” I said, reaching for him again. But he shook his head—and his dick, accidentally—as he backed away.

  “Not like that,” he said, his voice rough with desire. “I want to be inside you.”

  He wrapped his hands around my waist and lifted me off my knees, onto the hood of the car.

/>   I wrapped my legs around him as the tip of his cock brushed between my thighs. He took himself in his hand, running his tip over and over across the slick heat he found there, and his eyes crinkled at the corners to find me so wet for him.

  “Any time,” I told him, my clit throbbing with desire. I wasn’t sure I could take another second’s delay.

  “Aren’t you ever nice to me?” he teased, leaning in to kiss me.

  I believed I’d been pretty nice to him just five minutes ago, but his kisses could even distract me from being a smartass.

  I pressed my heels into the back of his thighs, wanting more of him, and he stepped in closer. The tip of his cock pressed into my center, and I let out a ragged gasp as he slowly sheathed himself, up to his hilt, so deep his balls swayed against the curve of my ass.

  I lay back against the cherry-red metal of the hood as we warmed it with our bodies, as the two of us moved in time. The bright lights of the bay blurred above me as I closed my eyes, clinging to his shoulders, lost in the sensation and in the sweet sounds that filled the garage: the music still playing, the sound of our bodies moving together, the slap of his balls as he rocked deep inside me over and over again.

  I bit my lower lip, trying to hold back the wave of my orgasm, trying to keep from screaming his name.

  But I couldn’t.

  He came too, shuddering inside me, then collapsed onto the hood beside me. The two of us lay there on the hood, looking up together.

  “I kind of wondered if you would meow when you came,” he admitted finally.

  “You’re such an ass.”

  He glanced at me sideways. “Woof woof.”

  And then I was laughing, even though my clit was still throbbing, even though I kind of already wanted to go again.

  His cock stood at attention again already, above those hard-angled abs. His muscles went taut as I ran my fingernails over the ridges.

  “Claws,” he commented.

  “Oh shut up and come here,” I told him, “before I forget why I like you.”

  He was grinning as he pulled me onto his lap, straddling him.

  “You’re never going to drive this car without thinking of me, pussy cat,” he reminded me.

  Lord help me, a lot of things would always remind me of Blake.

  If I ever left him.

  His gaze met mine, and he frowned slightly, as if he saw me thinking and he worried what was going through my mind.

  But I pressed my lips to his, distracting him, and he moaned into my mouth as his hand swept up my back, tangled in my hair.

  Then everything was forgotten except for the beautiful now.

  27

  The next morning, I was in a great mood as I got dressed for the garage. I threw my hair up in a messy bun, ready for another day of crawling beneath cars. I sang—full volume, unrestrained—except for when I had to stick my toothbrush in my mouth.

  I might as well be a Disney princess. I had three sexy men who adored me, a job that I loved. I’d thought that I lost everything, but I’d found everything I needed right back here in Silver Springs.

  I headed out of the house into one of those perfect early summer mornings. The sun shone on my face, the air smelled sweet with new growth, birds were singing. Birds always made my heart do little flip-flops. That was definitely a cat thing, even though I didn’t chase them down. It was the kind of morning made for happiness.

  I decided to stop off at Jewel’s Café on my walk. I was almost to the doors when a dog ran by outside the big windows, yapping frantically, and almost knocked over a pedestrian. A cat chased the dog, bounding along playfully. If cats could smile, that cat was.

  It was such a strange sight that it made me smile as I pushed the doors open.

  There was a couple walking behind me and one of them remarked to the other, “Usually you see that the other way around.”

  “Yeah, but dogs don’t know what to do with a cat or a car when they catch one,” the other said with a laugh. “I bet that cat has a diabolical plan.”

  “Cats are assholes,” the other agreed. “But they sure are cute.”

  When I froze, my hand on the door, they almost walked into me.

  Was that true? Did dogs just love the chase—and they were confused once they caught the cat they wanted?

  Was that why Blake, Dylan and Archer had pursued me so doggedly?

  “Are you going in?” The lady behind me asked patiently.

  “Oh yeah, sorry,” I said, pushing the door open.

  There was a short line inside. Julian and Amber were working at the counter. I raised my hand in a wave, flashing them a smile.

  Brad turned around. He was second in the line, and he grinned when he saw me, my hand still raised in the air.

  Shock rolled over me, and I froze with my hand raised in the air. Brad did not deserve my smile or my wave, and I wanted to snap that they weren’t for him, but that might make me appear a wee bit unhinged. So I just…stopped.

  “It happened again,” one of the people behind me muttered. “Do you think she’s under some kind of freeze curse?”

  “Lily, hi,” Brad said.

  “What—what are you doing here?” I managed.

  “I came to see you.” He sounded so confident, as if we hadn’t broken up. As if he hadn’t ripped my plants up in a mean-spirited tantrum.

  I stood there, nodding, for a second. I didn’t want to see him. I didn’t even want to try to be polite.

  I couldn’t do this. He took a step toward me, as if he were going to hug me, a broad smile across his face.

  I turned and fled.

  “Oh gosh, now she’s running.” The woman behind me gently pushed the guy out of my way.

  “I could do without the commentary, sister!” I snapped at her, just before I shoved out the door.

  I raced down the street and didn’t stop until I reached Hot Wheels.

  I felt safe as soon as I dashed into the bay and the guys looked up at me.

  “Lily, what’s wrong?” Blake barked.

  He was at my side in a second, and Archer and Dylan were right behind, surrounding me.

  “Brad is here in Silver Springs,” I blurted out. I didn’t want to tell them what I’d done, but I couldn’t lie to them. “He knows what I am.”

  Blake’s gaze was worried as he reached for me, but I took a step back.

  I blurted out, “He knows I’m a cat.”

  28

  “Okay, so he can see Silver Springs magic,” Dylan said slowly.

  The guys had just glossed over my mistake as if it were nothing. I wasn’t sure if that would last after the emergency was over, but it still felt like a relief.

  “What are the odds he careens around Silver Springs being a dickhead,” Archer began.

  “I’d place that at one hundred percent,” Blake cut in.

  Archer finished, “and gets eaten? Do we care if he gets eaten?”

  The guys looked to me.

  I shook my head. “We do not.”

  But it wasn’t going to be that easy. I heaved a sigh. “Listen, I made this mess and I’ve got to figure out how to fix it. I’m going to talk to Juniper. Maybe there’s a forgetting spell we can use on him. Once he forgets that he saw me shift, Silver Springs wards should work on him.”

  “I can come with you,” Archer offered.

  “Thanks, but you guys should get to work,” I said. “I’ll go over to her shop and be back as soon as I can.”

  “What if Brad… bothers you?”

  “Then the claws will come out,” I promised.

  Blake studied my face, then nodded. “Okay.”

  “Thanks for being…” I trailed off. I felt overwhelmed by how much I loved all three of them, by how good they were to me.

  I was still searching for words when Archer crushed me in a hug. “Always.”

  After a second, Dylan jumped in, hugging us both. He squeezed me so tightly that even though I’d been on the verge of tears, I started to smile.
/>   Then Blake piled in, wrapping the three of us in his huge muscular arms.

  “I always knew you were secretly a hugger,” Archer said.

  “Shut up, Archie. Don’t ruin the moment,” Blake growled back.

  I laughed. It was a shaky laugh, but it was still a laugh. They made me happy, but even more than that—they made me feel safe, no matter what I’d done.

  I walked back by Jewel’s Café on my way to Juniper’s shop. I glanced in the window, but Brad was gone.

  Two girls came out of the café, laughing. “Well, my love life could use the help!”

  They’d probably just ordered a pumpkin spice latte.

  Just then, realization fell over me like a heavy blanket landing on my head, smothering me.

  If a pumpkin spice latte could carry a mating spell, couldn’t a book?

  Abandoning my plan to see Juniper, I speed-walked all the way home. My heart pounded and I barely kept myself from breaking into a run—even though the truth would be whatever the truth was, it didn’t matter when I arrived.

  Dogs chase cats until they catch them.

  Pumpkin spiced lattes bring people their soul mates.

  Most of all, I kept seeing their faces, and my heart raced as I wondered what really sparked the special moments that brought the three of us together.

  Blake, smiling down at me so confidently, telling me I was going to work at Hot Wheels.

  Dylan, telling me he wanted to fix my grandpa’s car.

  Archer, urging me to sing just because I loved it—so eager to hear my voice that he would go on stage himself, even though he always hated being the center of attention.

  There was something going on…something supernatural. The way those men loved me so stubbornly—no, scratch that. They didn’t love me. Not if they were enchanted.

  If there was a spell altering our behavior, then nothing that happened between us since I came home mattered.

  I already expected the worst to be true. The way those men pursued me so stubbornly even though I was prickly and unlovable couldn’t be real.

  I ran up to my room and grabbed the copy of Love Blooms from my nightstand. The book felt too heavy in my hands.