Tigers Like It Hot (8 page)

He stepped into the waiting elevator, pressed the button and leaned against the back wall as the doors closed.

“I guess we can try to walk it, or put the name of the place into the GPS and see if that can find it.”

“I don’t know about yours, but my GPS is a POS and it doesn’t work worth a damn,” Mac grumbled with disgust.

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Zach chuckled. “Mine’s a piece of shit, too.” He shook his head. “I guess we’re hoofing it from here. With luck, it’s not too far.”

They were lucky. The shop was just down the street and it had just what they needed. The costumes were beautiful, almost as beautiful as their mates. It was all Gareth could do to keep his raging hormones under control as he thought about Jessi wearing it.

He didn’t like the thought of other men seeing her in it, though. Thinking about how the costume would enhance every one of her lush curves made him hard all over. He couldn’t imagine the sight not turning other men on and the thought almost made him growl.

He took the bag containing the costume for Jessi and hoped he’d guessed her size correctly. It would lose the effect if it was too big. A little too small would be okay. It would only accentuate the curves he loved so much. He couldn’t wait to see her in the costume. In fact, he and Mac loved the costume so much, they bought the damned thing. Who knew something so insubstantial could cost so much?

It didn’t matter. She would be lovely in it. He wanted her to see that, too. She needed to see that she was a sensual and sexy woman. She needed to see how beautiful she really was, and she wasn’t going to see that wearing baggy jeans and oversized shirts the rest of her life. Hiding her body wasn’t the answer. Showing it off like the goddess she was
was
the answer, and he and Mac intended to teach her that just that as soon as possible.

Zach snatched up the bag with Kelly’s costume and they left the shop. “I’m hungry. We never did get any lunch.”

“We’ll stop at that hot dog stand we passed on the way back to the hotel and grab a couple of dogs. I can’t wait to get back there and see this on our lady.” Gareth held up the bag.

“I can’t either,” Derek said with a sigh. “What do you think it is about the men these days?”

Mac frowned. “What do you mean?”

“They all seem to think that just because a woman has a little extra meat on her bones that she’s lazy or eats too much.” He shook his head. “Do you remember that girl that used to compete with the men during the festival in the village? She ran, shot, fished and climbed trees with the rest of them, but she was a big girl and I don’t remember ever seeing her eat more than any other woman ate.” He sighed. “You know I chased her for a year and a half and the woman never gave me the time of day?”

“She had good taste.” Mac grinned.

“Fuck you.” Derek shot him the bird.

“Those dogs smell great,” Gareth interrupted as they approached the booth. “I’ll take two of those with mustard.” He glanced at Mac. “He’ll have two with chili and mustard.” He pulled a fifty from his pocket and handed it to the teenaged attendant. “Keep the change. Save up. Go to college.”

“Thanks, mister!” The boy made change, shoved the remainder in the tip jar and sanitized his hands before preparing their dogs. “How about you two?”

“We’ll just take four with ketchup and mustard.” He grinned. “I noticed no one got onions.”

“Big date, huh?” the boy asked as he made the hotdogs, wrapped them in aluminum and handed them over. “That’s eight dollars, please.”

Zach, too, handed him a fifty. “Keep the change.” He smiled at him. “And my friend is right. Go to college.” He pulled a card from his pocket. “If you need help, just give me a call. I’ll find a good paying job for you, to help you work your way through.”

“That was…random.” Mac frowned.

“Yeah, well, he had his transcript on the bench behind him and his applications right there. Anyone who wants to go to school so bad he’s filling out his apps at a hotdog stand, deserves all the help he can get.”

“I guess you’re right.” Gareth hadn’t seen that. He glanced back at the boy who had returned his attention back to the bench. “I hope he manages it, then.”

“Yeah, me too,” Zach added between bites of his hotdog. “He makes a great hotdog, though. Just enough of everything to taste it, but not overpower the flavor of the meat.” He took another bite and moaned.

“You
were
hungry.” Mac chuckled and shook his head as he crammed the last of his food into his mouth.

They made their way back to the hotel and up to the sixth floor. “Should we all drop off the costumes?” Mac glanced between them. “Don’t you think all of us showing up at their door will be a little daunting?”

“I don’t give a shit. If you think we’re going to let you two look like Kelly’s knights in shining armor, you’re out of your fucking minds.” Derek growled.

Mac held his hands up. “Hey, we weren’t trying to steal your thunder. We just thought it might look a little odd to have us all show up at the same time.”

“Why wouldn’t we? We left together, and they know it. We’re friends, and they know it.” Zach frowned at the door. “Are you expecting something we should know about?”

“Nope. Not expecting a thing.” Mac turned and knocked on the door.

Jessi stood in front of the closet, staring in at the clothes she’d brought with her. None of them could remotely pass for a costume of any kind. Her shoulders slumped as she stared at her jeans, her black slacks and her blouses.

She frowned as she rifled through her things. When had she reverted back to wearing dark clothes and ones so baggy on her? She thinned her lips. “It was probably not long after I got to Langston. The people there could turn the most well-adjusted person into a neurotic.” She shook her head and yanked out a pair o black slacks and a gray shirt.

“I need to go shopping. This is horrible.” She’d just dropped the clothes on her bed when someone knocked on the door.

“Just a minute!” She ran to the dresser, yanked open the top drawer and pulled out a pair of underwear and a bra. She put them on in a hurry, pulled her blouse on, buttoned it in a flash and tugged on the black slacks.

She hurried to the door and peered out through the peephole. It was the guys. Her heart skipped into overdrive and her breathing quickened. She put her hand on her chest, willing her pulse to slow down.

They were shape shifters, for God’s sake. Real life shape shifters. They could probably hear her heart beating. The last thing she needed was for them to know exactly how much they excited her. She needed to calm down.

Closing her eyes, Jessi took a deep, calming breath before opening the door and looking up at the man who stood staring down at her with the most handsome of faces.

“Hi there!” She licked her lips and smiled nervously. She fought the urge to pull the towel off her head. She was nowhere near ready for dinner and poor Kelly was still in the shower. “You’re early.” She twisted her fingers together. “We aren’t quite ready yet.”

“Good,” Gareth said as he stepped forward, a large plastic bag in his hands. Mac stood just behind him, holding what looked suspiciously like a shoebox. “We knew you felt self conscious during lunch, so we took the liberty of buying you ladies a costume to wear tonight.”

“A costume?” Her eyes widened as Gareth handed her the bag. “This is from Mac and me.” He smiled. “It’s what we thought you’d look best in.” He gave her a smoldering look. “We can’t wait to see you in it.”

Mac handed her the box he held. “This is a pair of shoes to go with it. We aren’t experienced in buying women’s clothing. We guessed your size the best that we could.” He smiled. Don’t be offended if it’s too big, or too small. This,” he added holding his hands in a small circle in front of him, “is
not
an accurate form of measurement.”

“I-I’m sure it’s fine.” Whatever possessed them to do something so thoughtful? “It was very thoughtful of you.”

The back of her throat felt clogged and her eyes burned. When was the last time any man had ever done something so nice for her? It had been so long, Jessi didn’t remember.

Reaching up, Gareth cupped her cheek. “If you accept us as your mates, we will spend the rest of our lives attempting to do thoughtful things for you every day.”

“Kelly told me that Zach and Derek told her that you guys mate for life. Is that true?” She nervously glanced at the other two men.

“Yes.” He frowned. “Didn’t we tell you that earlier?”

“No. You didn’t.” She smiled. “But that’s okay. I just wanted to know what happens if things don’t work out between mates?”

“What do you mean,
don’t work out?
” Mac asked with a frown. “Things
always
work out. That’s how it is. We spend the rest of our lives making you happy and making you happy makes us happy. It always works out.”

“Are you saying there are no divorces with your people?” She looked at each of them in turn. “You all just live happily ever after, all of the time?”

“That’s pretty much it.” Zach replied with a grin. He handed her another bag and Derek handed her a box. “These are for Kelly.” He checked his watch. “We’ll give you another hour to dress and we’ll be back for you. Try to be ready.” He smiled. “Remember the red bag and box is for Kelly. The blue is for you.”

Gareth and Mac each pressed a quick kiss to her lips. “See you in an hour.” Turning, they followed the other two men through the door, softly closing it behind them.

Kelly picked that moment to turn off the water and Jessi pounded on the bathroom door. “Hurry up and get your butt out here. The guys just dropped off costumes for us and I can’t wait to see what they got.”

Ten minutes later, the two of them stood staring at the two costumes they’d spread out onto Kelly’s bed.

“It was very thoughtful for them to buy these, but…there’s not much to them.” Kelly frowned. “I think I’ve worn bathing suits that covered more.”

“I know.” Jessi bit the inside of her cheek. “Do you think it’s just us?” She glanced at her friend. “Do you think that we have some sort of weird phobia, or something?” She wondered. Why would the guys want to see them in something like that if they didn’t think they would look good?

She sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and bit down. “I’m going to try it on. If it doesn’t fit, or if I look like some sort of clown, I can always take it back off, right?”

“Right,” Kelly agreed as she picked up the costume reminiscent of the outfits worn by the women in the diner earlier.

The design of the costumes was identical. However, Kelly’s costume was orange with black stripes and Jessi’s was white with black stripes. The two skimpy long-sleeved tiger costumes came complete with ears, whiskers, tails and striped nude stockings. The vee of the neck cut down so low, it was sure to reveal their belly buttons along with every inch of their generous bosoms.

“It seems that our men have similar tastes in costumes.” Jessi held hers up in front of her. “Are you sure we won’t just pop out of the thing?”

“We can’t. It looks like it’s got a vee cut-out on the neck line, but that’s a transparent mesh kind of material. It’s not going anywhere. See?” Kelly held it up to the light. “There’s a panel of material here, even though it’s difficult to see.”

“Oh.” Jessi slid her pants down over her hips. “I wonder just how big my ass is going to look in this thing.”

“I wouldn’t worry about it. If you saw the way those two look at your ass,
you
wouldn’t.”

Jessi frowned. She wasn’t sure that was much of an assurance, but it was all she was likely to get. “Well, we’d better hurry. We don’t want to keep them waiting too long.”

Something told her the guys would be waiting a good long time for her to gather enough courage to walk out of the room wearing the costume they’d rented for her, but she decided she’d do it. Come Hell or high water, she was wearing the thing in public for them. She was good enough. She always had been.

Mac and Gareth stood behind Zack and Derek at room Six-fifteen. Mac’s palms were damp, his mouth was dry and his stomach felt as though it was still on the fifth floor. He couldn’t wait to see their mate.

It wasn’t because they’d bought her the sexiest costume imaginable. It was because she counted this as their second date. She had said that maybe, just maybe, she would accept them as her mates after tonight.

He couldn’t wait to pull her into his arms, hold her close while he ravaged her mouth with his. Her scent was exquisite. Mac could only imagine she would taste as delicious as she smelled and he couldn’t wait to bury his face between her legs and lap up the cream he smelled dripping from her vagina.

Sweet, like a ripe peach, she was soft, her skin velvety and he couldn’t wait to feel her wrapped around him, her slick flesh sucking and gripping his cock as he drove himself into her tight confines.

His cock hardened to near bursting at the thought and he reached down to adjust himself in his jeans.

The door opened slowly at Zach’s knock and they all gaped at Kelly who stood in the doorway wearing a bathrobe.

Mac’s hopes fell. He’d hoped they would wear the costumes, but, he supposed, years of teasing and ridicule kept them from doing so.

“You didn’t like the costume?” Zach asked, the disappointment evident in his voice.

“I loved it.” Kelly smiled, threw herself into his arms and planted a long kiss on his lips. Stepping back, she untied the belt on the bathrobe and shrugged the garment off, revealing that she was, indeed, wearing the orange tiger costume in its entirety.

“You look gorgeous.” Zach pulled her into his arms, pressed a chaste kiss to her lips and pulled her out into the hallway to better see her, spiked heels and all.

Jessi stepped around the wall on the other side of the bathroom, her hands behind her back, her head held high.

If just the thought of seeing Jessi in her costume could make Mac hard, it certainly hadn’t prepared him for actually seeing her in it. Her voluptuous hourglass figure filled out the costume perfectly. She looked like an ancient tiger goddess, with her full hips and thighs tucking into a narrower waist and filling out into a full, ripe bust that had his mouth watering to suckle the berry-tipped mounds.