Animalistic Galley Fin (15 page)

The Alexander men lounged in front of the fireplace where Uncle Victor, Savannah’s older brother, opened a very expensive bottle of cognac. Savannah joined them for the conversation. It was rare for them to have all the family together because of their busy schedules. Even then, Arielle could tell that they were a close-knit bunch. She was fortunate to have them as her new family.

She knew in her heart that she would never be lonely again.

She was on the second floor helping Vanessa undress when Trent called to them to come down. Apparently, Trent had an announcement to make.

“We were going to tell you guys after Quinn and Vanessa got back from their honeymoon. But what the hell, I’ll just do it now.” Trent pulled Arielle to his side, beaming like an overexcited kid. “We’re pregnant.”

The room was silent for a second and the next, it exploded with cheers. Savannah jumped from her seat and lurched to Arielle to give her a bone-crushing hug. The matriarch of the family might be slim, but she packed a lot of firepower. Everybody congratulated them.

“How far along? Have you gone to the doctor? When is your due date?” Savannah bombarded her with questions. “I can’t believe I’m finally going to be a grandmother!”

Vanessa grinned next to her. “Way to go sis, the pressure is off of me.”

“What are you talking about? We’re definitely going to try harder,” Quinn said to his new wife. “I’m not going to lose to Trent.”

“Don’t make this a contest. You’re being ridiculous.”

“I am not.”

“You are.”

“Damn it, woman, you’re so going to get it.” Quinn pulled his wife into his arms and kissed her amorously.

“Children, play nice,” John chimed in. “I’m pretty sure, soon this house will be filled with little Quinn’s and Trent’s. Just imagine if one Quinn or Trent is a handful, a dozen of their little clones would turn this house upside down. Mother is going to be very busy.”

“John, I’m not a baby factory,” Vanessa smacked John’s shoulder.

“Speaking of that,” Uncle Victor addressed John. “When are you going to get married? Don’t you have a special lady? You’re not getting any younger, you know? How old are you? Thirty-five?”

“I’m
almost
thirty. I’m in the prime of my life. Don’t make me sound like an old guy.”

Savannah also chimed in, “Yeah, John. Your brothers are getting married, but you’re still sowing your wild oats left and right. It would be nice if you found a nice girl and settled down. Your father would want to see you happy, with a family of your own.”

John visibly shuddered. “No. No way. I’ll never settle down. I’ll never fall in love or get married.”

“That’s what I thought before I met Arielle,” said Trent, looking at her with his kitten-in-love gaze. “She proved me wrong.”

“That’s not going to happen. I like being single and I’m going to be single until the day I die. Just you watch. Children and married life aren’t for me.”

“Yeah, yeah. Big talk.” Trent waved him off.

“I mean it.” John was adamant. “I’d never get married.”

Trent rolled his eyes. “We’ll see about that, brother o’ mine.”

The End…

~~EXTRA MATERIALS~~

Arielle’s clipping from The Daily Post…

BILLIONAIRE’S FIANCEE SPOTTED RIDING TIGER IN MANHATTAN STREET

Earlier this morning, Vanessa Lyle (25) the fiancée of billionaire Quinn Alexander, CEO of Animatrica, was spotted riding a 700 pound Bengal tiger in The Bowery. Vanessa, known by close friends and family for her eccentricity, appeared to be walking her exotic pet on a dog leash. When the animal didn’t cooperate, she hopped on the tiger’s back and rode it as if it were a Shetland pony. Miraculously, the tiger didn’t seem to mind and allowed her on its back for several city blocks. Bengal tiger
, panthera tigris tigris,
the most abundant tiger subspecies and also crowned as the national animal of India and Bangladesh, was classified as endangered in 2011 by the IUCN. The city of New York also bans private ownership of exotic species defined as “dangerous wild animals.”

Her action prompted negative reactions from the animal welfare community. Janet Willakowsky, the president of the Miami Big Cat Sanctuary in Florida voiced her outrage in her blog post: Bengal Tigers Aren’t Toys For Wealty [sic] Folks. Meanwhile, the hashtag #GetOffMyTiger has since trending on Twitter.

Vanessa Lyle, who became the most Googled woman earlier this year when she became engaged to New York’s most eligible bachelor, Quinn Alexander, is the child Princeton mathematics professor J.M. Lyle and former Broadway actress, Ava Greenway. At the age of three, Vanessa scored 141 in the Stanford-Binet IQ test and became the second youngest American to join Mensa, the largest and oldest high IQ society in the world. Vanessa, who completed her degree in mathematics at Princeton and earned her a PhD at the age of nineteen, is known as the brainchild of last year’s mega blockbuster video game, “The Northmen Saga.”

The Daily Post is trying to reach Ms. Lyle for comment but has so far been unsuccessful.

A follow up from the previous article from The Daily Post…

BILLIONAIRE’S FIANCEE RIDING TIGER IS A HOAX

Vanessa Lyle (25), the fiancée of billionaire Quinn Alexander, who had made headlines yesterday with a picture of her riding a pet Bengal tiger through Manhattan early Thursday morning has issued a statement through her representative. “The picture is clearly doctored. I don’t own a pet cat, let alone, a tiger. Don’t you people know tigers are dangerous animals? I’m adventurous, but I’m not suicidal, thank you very much.”

Millicent Andrews, the head of Manhattan Animal Care and Control, confirmed that she and her team visited the Lyle’s and the Alexanders’ residences and didn’t find any trace of exotic animals. In fact, Andrews elaborated that the couple didn’t seem own any kind of pet, nor could any kind of registered ownership of exotic animals be traced back to them.

Vanessa Lyle and Quinn Alexander, who are scheduled to tie a knot on Halloween Eve in Aspen, Colorado this year, told the New York Post that they learned a female fan of Quinn Alexander had posted the photoshopped picture online as a joke. The fan didn’t think it would go viral and for that, she apologized.

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About the Author:

Lizzie Lynn Lee is a gutter-minded hopeless romantic who doesn’t live in this world most of the time. In her perfect utopia, her heroes never take their women for granted, love at first sight exists and soul mates always find a way to be together. She invites you to visit her world, where she spins her tales because the men are sizzling hot, master the art of sex and they are really into their ladies—be that a slim girl, or curvy, interracial, interspecies, sassy or shy—their adventures redefine erotica. Are you ready to be thrilled?

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Lizzie Lynn Lee Bibliography

Shunga Chronicles: Lady of the Snow

Love in the Elevator

Shunga Chronicles: Prince and the Assassin

Payback

Shunga Chronicles: Flight of the Heron

Wicked Game

Eve Aizawa: Eve of Seduction

Busted

Eve Aizawa: Deus Eve Machina

Sexopalooza

Switched

Cyber Lover

Jumping Bones

The Wolf She Married

Savannah’s Menage

Charly’s Chocolate Factory with Celia Kyle

Original Sin

Lycan Wars 1: Instinct

Claimed

Hot-Blooded

Fierce Heat with Celia Kyle

Orient Fevre

Gilded Cage

Corporate Plaything

Spirit World: Maison Plaisir

To Bed A Goddess

The Last Siren

The Donor

The Alien King and I

Dangerous Curves: Wet

Lions of the Serengeti: Jennifer’s Lion

Lions of the Serengeti: Sarah’s Lion

Bound to Me: Fever Lust

Private Sessions

Lions of the Serengeti: Caly’s Lion

Faerykin

Werebeasties

Dragon Hunts

Night of the Lions

Chain of Lust

Taken By a Nymph

Maiden and the Lion

Dominate Me with Noelle Ashford

To Blackmail a Billionaire with Noelle Ashford

Her Dragon Billionaire

Kidnapped and Claimed

Her Tiger Billionaire

Raven’s Bride

Her Lion Billionaire

Bad Dick

Naughty Librarian

Lions of the Serengeti: Yazmina’s Lion

Naughty Boys

Scorched

Tamed

The Man with the Dragon Wings

Tiger In Her Bed

Hot Like Fire, Cold As Ice

Special Preview: Tiger in Her Bed

Available Now!

It was a simple dare. Walk to her brooding, hot boss, Quinn Alexander, in the middle of the New Year’s office party and kiss the arrogant smirk off the bastard. Fueled by too much alcohol, Vanessa Lyle impetuously takes up the challenge.

The next morning after the hangover fades, she’s mortified. To think she’d been drunkenly brazen enough to steal a kiss from her boss. Quinn will fire her for sure.

To her surprise, she gets to keep her job because Quinn demands she fix the problem she’s caused. Someone had taken a video of that scandalous kiss and posted it on social media. The video went viral. Quinn’s mom happens see the video and demands to meet his “girlfriend.” Quinn orders Vanessa to pretend to be his woman just to keep his mom off his back.

During a weekend at his parents’ house, Quinn takes pretending to a whole different level. He can’t keep his hands off her, in and out of his bed. But then she discovers his furry secret. Hot guy + big cat = trouble, and curvaceous Vanessa learns it the hard way…

Chapter One

Not once had Vanessa Lyle considered she’d have to endure the dreadful walk of shame when she got to the office this morning. All eyes were glued on her as she shuffled past the lobby, into her cubicle. The partition in the workspace was so low—the company insisted the open space plan promoted workers’ productivity—that Vanessa couldn’t hide her face, even if she wanted to. So she dove under her desk, pretending to fix a computer cable, until it was safe for her to emerge.

Someone cleared their throat. Vanessa instinctively looked up.

Her coworker, Ivy Bishop, loomed from behind. “What are you doing?” she asked in her whinnying voice.

Vanessa winced inwardly.
God, how she disliked this pugnacious person. It was Ivy’s fault she was in this situation. If Ivy hadn’t goaded her. If she hadn’t consumed so much alcohol.

If only.

If only.

That was the game she played over and over in her head.

Gah!

She needed a re-do
button. She’d like to take everything back from that New Year’s Eve party.

“Do you need something?” Vanessa ignored Ivy’s query. She forced her face into a blank mask and climbed into her office chair. She powered up her dual monitors and the desktop and began her morning ritual: tidy up her workspace, arrange her notes and writing implements, then check her work journal.
Mise en place.
Preparation before work led to maximum productivity. It was going to be a busy day: two project meetings with the animation department and writing a patch program for the render farm.

Assuming she still had her job.

Vanessa wouldn’t put it past Quinn. She’d seen him fire people for lesser offenses. What she did to him at the office party put her in the cardinal sin category.

“I can’t believe you really kissed Quinn,” Ivy blurted.

Before Vanessa could open her mouth, others swooped in like hungry vultures.

“They said you walked up to Quinn and kissed him. Is it true?” asked the girl from accounting.

“Yowza. So how was it?” asked the girl’s friend.

Vanessa waved them off. “It was nothing. I was drunk. I didn’t know what I was doing,” she answered diplomatically. Like she was going to spill her guts to these people. Never! They were Quinn’s hardcore fangirls.

“You? Drunk?” The accounting girl rolled her eyes.

“What did Quinn do after you kissed him?” the other girl pressed.

“Uh-oh.” Vanessa pinched the bridge of her nose. The incident was rather hazy. Quinn looked surprised when she snuck up on him and tapped his shoulder. She then tip-toed and planted a light kiss on his lips. She remembered giggling afterward and did a thumbs up in Stephen and Ivy’s direction.

Then what happened after that?

Oh yeah
. She recalled that Quinn had herded her toward the restroom, suggesting she was drunk. Duh, Captain Obvious. She remembered her boss helped her into a taxi, but not before pinning her against the wall, and kissing the life out of her.

Did that really happen or was it just a figment of her imagination?

There was no way Quinn would kiss her back. The man was an Ice King. Mr. All Work and No Play. His Majesty Lord Demon.

Now that she thought about it, did Quinn also get into the taxi and escort her to her rented home? Vanessa lived with two housemates, but at that time, Nina and Silvia had also been out partying. She couldn’t verify if Quinn had indeed taken her home.