Here Kitty, Kitty! (13 page)

“Excuse me,” Nik growled.

“You heard me.  She’s a lovely little thing, and I don’t want you gettin’ lazy.”

Nik growled again.  Why his daddy insisted on pissing him the hell off, he would never know.  Especially when he was trying so hard not to rip his throat out.

“Daddy, that’s not fair,” Ban cut in.  “Nik’s takin’ great care of her.”

“And maybe you should mind your own business,” Alek added.

“This family and everything that happens in it,
is
my business.”

“What’s going on?”  Nik’s mother stepped in front of her sons.  As if they were still cubs, she continued to protect them.

Boris’ eyes dragged down Natalia’s body like he was checking out a stripper and not facing off against the mother of his children. 
What a horn dog!

“Just talkin’ to our boys, darlin’.  Is there a problem with that?  Somethin’ we should straighten out in private?”  He wiggled his eyebrows and she growled in annoyance.

“I hate you.”

Before his parents could really get out of control, Kisa rushed up to them, Reena behind her.

“We’ve got a problem. 
Szervác
is making a move on Angie.”

The entire family looked at where Angie was sitting.  Next to her,
Szervác
had moved in close.  Too close, Nik knew.

Ban snarled, “Let’s go kick his ass.”

“No one move.”  They all looked at Nik and he shrugged.  “I wanna see what she does.”

His mother turned on him, “Nikolai Vorislav, you can not be serious!”

“Fifty bucks says she takes him out.”

His mother glanced at Angie, then back at her son.  “A hundred.”

***

Angie turned to look at the idiot invading her space.  “I need you to back away.”

“Now, now, sweetheart.  Don’t be so difficult.”  He ran his index finger against the inside of her arm.  “I can make it good.”

Angie shuddered in anger and disgust.  It amazed her how much she hated non-requested physical contact.  She knew she could call for Nik, but she’d grown up taking care of herself.  True, she wished she had her bat, but she’d have to make do with what she had available.

She pulled her arm away from his touch, bent it, and slammed her elbow into the man’s face, breaking his nose.

Blood gushing, he let out a roar of pain.

Angie slid out of her folding chair, grasped it with both hands, turned, and swung.  The metal slammed into the back of his head, knocking him into the table, which crashed into the floor.

Angie dropped the chair.  Calmly, “Next time a woman tells you to get your hands off her, get your fuckin’ hands off her.”

She spun on her Ferragamos, but stopped when she found the entire Vorislav family staring at her like the freak she suddenly realized she was.  She didn’t mean to embarrass them.  Actually, she felt almost a physical pain knowing she probably ruined Boris’ important evening.

Christ, can this night get any worse?

She decided to face the nightmare head on.  No point in ducking and running.  Besides, where the hell would she go?

She moved swiftly away from her prone admirer before he could get back to his feet.  As she approached the Vorislavs, she realized that they were swapping money.

“Boris, I’m really…” she began.

Boris held up one finger, cutting her off.  He glared down at Kisa.  “I do not owe you a hundred.”

“You do, too, daddy.  I told you she’d find a way to use that chair.”

“It was fifty.”

“Hundred.”

“You’d take money from your own daddy?”

“In a heartbeat.”  She held her hand out.  “Now give it over.”

He grumbled under his breath, but handed her a crisp hundred from the wad of money he held in his hand.

Angie turned to Nik.  “You were betting on me?”

Nik nodded.  “Yeah, the odds were too good to pass up.”

“Momma and Daddy underestimated you,” Ban counted his cash.  He didn’t even look at her.

“But didn’t I embarrass you and ruin your evening?”

They stared at her, just before they burst out laughing.

“Oh, darlin’.”  Nik’s mother put an arm around Angie’s shoulders, and Angie fought the desire to scramble away from her.  The woman was being so nice, how could she tell her to get her cotton-pickin’ paws off her?  “You’ve got to do much more to this family than that.  Besides,
Szervác
only did that because you’re human.  He’d never have the guts to try that with one of us.”

“Well, thanks for being so…nice?”

“My pleasure.”  She winked, and then glanced at her son.  “I think you need to take your houseguest home, son.  Before things get difficult.”

Szervác
’s family had picked him up off the ground, and were looking at the Vorislavs with a less-than-friendly glare.

“Good idea.”  He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the room.

Angie waved at Nik’s parents.  “It was nice meeting you both!”

She let him hold onto her until they got outside and then she snatched her hand away.  “You know, I can walk without your assistance.”

Nik moved on her so fast she stumbled back, slamming up against a limo.  Again he braced both of his arms on either side of her and leaned in close, but not quite close enough to touch.

“So it’s okay for my father to touch you, but I can’t.  Is that it?”

“He didn’t touch me. 
I
touched
him
.”

Nik blinked.  “What?”

“He held his arm out and I took it.  Your father never touched me.  Unlike you that man understands boundaries.”

“I see.”  He moved away from her.  But he wasn’t angry.  Far from it based on the grin spreading across his handsome face.

“What are you smiling at?”

“Get your pretty ass in the car, Sugar.  Before
Szervác
’s family get out here and start somethin’ they can’t finish.”

Angie didn’t like this one bit, but she wouldn’t argue the point.  Not now.  Not here.  But she had the feeling this was far from over.

Chapter Eight

Angie had to admit, she never slept so well before in her life.  Between the fresh smell of real pine trees, the wonderful bed she currently slept in, and the soothing sounds of absolutely nothing, Angie found herself catching up on any sleep she may have missed over the last few months.

She rolled out of bed sometime around eleven.  Took a quick shower, and changed into a comfortable pair of denim cut-off shorts and a T-shirt.  Then, barefoot, she headed to the kitchen.  A fresh pot of coffee waited, and Nik even put out a mug for her.

Damn him. 
Why he suddenly felt the need to be so nice she would never know.  On the drive back from the party, he didn’t say anything to her unless she asked him a question.  But he did keep smiling.  She hated that smile.  True, it was gorgeous, but that wasn’t the point.  It was a cocky, I-own-the-world smile.  And it annoyed the living shit out of her.

***

He heard her bare feet slapping against the marble floor as she headed back to the stairs.

“Hey.  Angie.  Could you come here a sec?”

He knew using her name would freak her out.  But he needed to keep her a little off balance.  She didn’t answer him or move for a good minute.  He bit the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing.  And when she gave a big dramatic sigh, he had to bite down harder.  She walked into the study.

“Well?  Where are you?”

He raised his arm so that she could see it over the couch.  She walked around the huge sofa, and stopped to stare at him.

“Is there a problem with the couch?”

“No.”

“Then why are you sitting on the floor?”

He shrugged, “I like it.”

“Whatever.  What do you want?”

“Come here.”

“I am here.”

He patted a spot right next to him, “Here.”

Grumbling curses, she stomped over to the front of the couch and sat on the floor.  But she still kept her distance.

“What?”

He grabbed the loop on her denim cut-off shorts, quickly snatching her over to his side.  Just as quickly he released her before she could start hitting him.

“Now, that’s better.”

“What do you want,” she bit out between clenched teeth.

“To talk.”

“About?”

The temptation to say—while staring deeply in her eyes, of course—“About us” so that he could watch her lose her mind, almost overwhelmed him.  But he really did have a purpose here.  His purpose became clear as soon as he pushed her up against the car last night.  His no-human rule didn’t matter anymore.  Nor did it matter she had a whole Pack of hounds protecting her.  Or that the woman made being mean a lifestyle choice.  He wanted her.  More than he’d wanted anything before in his entire life.  First, though, he would have to find a way around the wall of ice she built up.

But tigers were all about waiting for their prey.  She would be no different.

And when they had their fill of each other, he’d send her back to her pound puppies and he’d go back to looking for the right tiger females to bear his cubs.

“I wanted to discuss our conversation from last night.”

She sighed.  Another big dramatic sigh.  “There’s nothing to discuss.  Really.”

“See, but I think there is.”

And another sigh.  “Fine.  Let’s just get it over with.”

Good.  He got through the hardest part.  Getting her to sit and listen being a major triumph.

“So, I was thinking…”

She opened her mouth to say something, but seemed to think better of it.  “Too easy,” she muttered.

He kept going, “…about what you said.  And I wanted to ask you if you’re okay with not wanting to be touched?”

She frowned in confusion, then shook her head.  “Yes.  I’m fine.  Can I go now?”

“No.  We’re not done.”  He worked hard not to smile.  When this cranky, she didn’t make it easy but she made it fun.  “You see, I think it’s about control for you?”

Her head snapped around to glare at him, her eyes dangerously narrow, and he knew in that moment he’d been absolutely right.

Oh, baby, this is going to be fun.

“What?”

“Well, I just thought you didn’t like to touch or be touched.  But you don’t like anyone touching you but you can touch anyone you want.  So it’s about control and trust for you.”

Once again she opened her mouth to say something and, again, apparently changed her mind.  Instead, “What do you want, Hillbilly?”

Got her
!  “To try a little experiment.”

***

No.  No.  No!  She did
not
like the sound of that.  The last experiment she’d become involved in she’d lost all her hair for three weeks and had beaten Miki Kendrick within an inch of her life.  She was twelve at the time, and she’d grown intelligence-wise since then.

So, she would not be tripping down experiment lane with this big idiot.

“I’m leaving.”

She went to stand up, but he grabbed the belt loop on her shorts and yanked her back down.

“Because what I’m thinking is,” he continued without missing a beat, “we give this a try.  See if it works.  If not, we never discuss it again.”

That sounded reasonable and a quick way out of this hillbilly nightmare.

“Will you leave me alone if this doesn’t work?”

“Yes.”

“Will my hair be involved?”

“Um… not unless you want it to be.”

“Fine.  Let’s get this bullshit over with then.”

“Good.”  He jumped to his big tiger feet.  For a large man, he was quite spry.

He pulled off his T-shirt and went for his jeans as he began walking around the couch.

“What are you doing?”  She didn’t bother to hide the panic.

“This experiment requires me to get naked.”

He disappeared behind the couch.

“No!  No!  No naked required!”

She tensed, ready to bolt at the first sign of his massive cock. 
Damn him.
  If she saw it again, she really wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep her mouth off it this time.  She didn’t know what he thought he was playing at, but she’d be damned if she’d play along.

But when he came around the corner at the opposite end of the couch, she found she couldn’t move.  She pushed herself up against the sofa and let out a whimper.

What the fuck
was
he playing at?

The son of a bitch had shifted.  He had to be ten feet long from nose to tail and his paws were as big as her head!

She’d just begun to hyperventilate when he laid down.  She wondered if she’d make it to the exit in time if she bolted now, when he suddenly rolled onto his back.  And, like an enormous kitten, he brought his paws up and swatted at the air.