Sass Appeal_Sassy Ever After Universe Read online

  By midday, he’d ended up leaving the second of three messages. Short and to the point, he’d just asked for a callback. Still, his simple request was ignored, and his phone didn’t ring once.

  A half an hour later, and nearly seven o’clock, he was finished checking the grounds and ready to head down the street and up to the pathway which led to the office.

  The air was pungent. A musty and dry heat hung in the air as he approached the finished side of the community.

  He’d just been about to head up the windy path when he heard a scream coming from the parking lot.

  A piercing chill shot through his body.

  Without a moment to lose, he sprung into action, racing toward the lot in the darkness, knowing that scream could be from only one woman.

  A second scream echoed through the air, slicing through him as he felt his primal urges forcing him to shift.

  He tugged at his shirt, pulling it over his head while he fumbled with his jeans.

  With a trail of shoes and clothing in his wake, he stripped down to nothing just before he lurched forward.

  His four legs pounced on the ground, running with the speed that a normal man couldn’t keep up with.

  He reached the parking lot and saw Jane lying on the ground. Huddled up by her car, she held her scuffed hand over her face while a large and fierce creature towered over her.

  If his instincts hadn’t taken over he might have stood frozen and in shock by what he was seeing. The large hairy beast wasn’t like anything he’d seen before. It wasn’t a shifter kind that he was familiar with, and it certainly wasn’t the most common of the Rocky Mountain large predators, the Grizzly Bear.

  No, whatever this was, it was much larger. Its roar foreboding and its smell atrocious.

  Without hesitation, Peter bit into the back of its leg. His stomach churned at the rotten taste of flesh that hit his taste buds.

  A painful and wrenching cry shot out into the night. It echoed around the silent mountainside. Filling the otherwise quiet and serene piece of the prime real estate that surrounded them.

  The creature swung around at Peter, snarling at his attack.

  With a growl, Peter lunged forward. He was determined to get the being as far away from Jane as he could. It was all he could do to not go to her right then.

  The animal, whatever it was, finally pulled away. Taking a few steps back before quickening his pace and disappearing into the forest.

  Peter waited, making sure that it stayed away before he turned toward Jane.

  Her wide eyes nearly broke his heart as he approached her. Her lower lip trembled as he came close and gently nuzzled her hand.

  “Peter?”

  He wished he could talk. But, shifter or not, words were not in his vocabulary while he wore his whiskers and fur.

  With a nod and a quiet chuffing sound, he let her know that she didn’t need to be afraid. Making sure she knew that she was safe. That whatever had just attacked her was gone. And that he wouldn’t let it hurt her again.

  She touched his face with her scraped and bloody palms and kissed the tip of his nose. It may not have been the second kiss he’d hoped for. But, for tonight, it was enough.

  Chapter Seven

  Jane stepped out of the shower, carefully drying herself with the towel Peter had given her. Her hands stung from the impact of going down hard on the asphalt. Tiny pieces of gravel had clung to her blood-soaked hands while Peter gently pulled them out with tweezers.

  Steam covered the mirror and she wiped a section free to get a closer look at her haggard state. She’d been in shock most of the car ride to his place. Her eyes unwilling to comprehend what her mind was sure that she saw.

  “Are you doing okay in there, sweetheart?”

  “I’m fine.” She called out. “Just give me a couple of minutes.”

  “No problem. Take your time.”

  Running the brush through her hair she did her best to look presentable despite the dark rings under her eyes.

  She wasn’t sure which were more frazzled. Her nerves, or her hair. Not that it mattered much. She didn’t want to be alone. And even more, she didn’t want to think what might have happened if Peter hadn’t come along when he did.

  With a large t-shirt hanging on her body, she walked out to the living room where Peter waited for her.

  “I wasn’t sure what you liked, but I figured you could use something to take the edge off.”

  She took the glass of wine he handed her. “Thank you.”

  “Sure.”

  Taking a drink, she looked out the living room window, staring at the faint look of city lights as they twinkled in the distance.

  “Hey.” Peter came up behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders, gently brushing her hair to one side. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “Yeah, I think so.” She turned to face him.

  “Why does that not sound so convincing?”

  “To be honest,” she shook her head, “I’m not sure what to think. I’m not even sure what I saw. I mean… I think I know what I saw but, my mind… I just can’t wrap my mind around it.”

  “I know. Honestly, me neither.”

  “So, it’s not just me? I’m not crazy? You saw… I’m not even sure if I want to say it aloud.”

  “Well, I will. It looked like a Bigfoot. A Sasquatch. Whatever the hell they’re calling it, that’s what I saw.”

  “But,” she searched his eyes, trying to find a rational explanation that would explain away something that she found unexplainable.

  “I know. I’m part tiger and I never even believed they were real. But,”

  “But?”

  “Well, we’ve been building on undeveloped land for months now. Trees have been cut down. Areas that were once overgrown with brush and rock are now wide-open spaces. If there was a time for a creature like that to come out of hiding, this would be it.”

  “Why do you think he attacked me?”

  “I don’t know. Fear? Dominance? When I shift, sometimes my predatory ways take over. Whether I mean for them to or not. Sometimes it’s so deeply embedded in our DNA that we can’t stop it.”

  “So, does that mean that you could –.”

  “Hurt you? No!”

  She was glad by his quick response but, after the night she had, she wasn’t entirely sure about anything.

  “It’s not that I don’t believe you. I want to believe you. It’s just… How do you know?”

  “Jane,” he took her wine glass and set in on the coffee table. Then with a gentleness, he cupped her face and leaned closer to her before whispering. “I just know. As sure as I know I’m a tiger, I know I could never hurt you. I can’t prove it to you. But, if you’ll let me, I can show you.”

  She nodded in reply. “Okay.”

  “Come here.” He pulled her over to the couch and sat beside her. “Tell me exactly what happened. From the moment it started.”

  “Well,” she took a calming breath. “I was walking to my car. And I had this bad feeling. Like I was being watched. It wasn’t like… when I saw you the other night. It was different. Almost what it was like before I saw you the other night.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I was more than a little freaked out that first night I saw you. I don’t know if it was the darkness or the fact that it was so quiet. But, I –.”

  “What do you mean, quiet? Weren’t the crickets and other animals making their usual noise off in the forest?”

  She looked at him for a moment, thinking about his question and taking her mind back to that night.

  “You know what? No…” shaking her head, she continued, “they weren’t. As a matter of fact, I remember thinking to myself that it was too quiet. Almost like an eerie kind of quiet. I didn’t realize it at the time but, I think I was being watched. By someone or something. I remember the hairs on the back of my neck standing up, prickling my skin and almost paralyzing me with fear.”

  “Oh, Jesus. Yo
u must have been terrified.”

  “I was. That’s just the thing. I think ever since I started my job at Covington I’ve been having these feelings. I tried to rationalize it by my lack of experience with different people and shifters. That wasn’t it though. At least I don’t think so.”

  “Hang on. Let’s take this one thing at a time.”

  She sipped some of her wine, relishing in the soothing warmth the grape infused drink provided.

  “When did you start working at Covington?” he asked.

  “Umm… four, five weeks ago.”

  “And where did you see the listing? A website? A recruitment office? A –.”

  Her mouth hung open with the realization that his question gave her.

  “What is it, Jane?” he asked.

  “I didn’t apply for the job. I had been out of work for two months. The job market in the city is horrible. I was down to my last bit of savings when I realized I was going to have to take whatever came along, no matter how little it paid.”

  “I don’t get it. If you didn’t apply for the position, then how did you get it?”

  “I was in a coffee shop dropping off an application when Jerry came up to me and asked if I had any sales experience.”

  “Jerry?”

  “Yeah, Jerry.”

  “Our project manager?”

  “Yes. He was there at the shop. He said he was looking for someone with sales experience in real estate. And when… oh God.”

  “What?”

  “No.” she shook her head. “This is too much.” Getting up from the couch she paced the living room. Back and forth she walked while trying to make sense out of everything.

  “Take it easy. You’ve had a rough night. Come here and sit down with me. Tell me what you remembered.”

  With another drink of her wine she continued her story, “When he approached me, I told him I didn’t have any sales experience. Unless he counted working in a drugstore when I was sixteen. He said it didn’t matter. He said I had the right look. He said people would find me approachable. I took it… as a compliment.”

  She looked down, almost in disgust for her gullibility.

  “Hey, look at me.” Peter crooked her chin up with his thumb and forefinger, delicately swiping at her lip. “This. Whatever this is, it’s not your fault. Something is going on. What it is, I’m not quite sure of yet. But, we’ll figure it out, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Now, other than those beautiful little hands of yours, are you hurt?”

  “No. I don’t think so. I was more scared than anything.”

  “We got sidetracked, what exactly did he, or it do?”

  She shrugged. “It all happened so fast. I was walking to the car. Like I told you. I had this feeling that I was being watched. I tried to write it off as my imagination. I even tried to tell myself to relax because maybe it was you. But, the next thing I knew I smelled something foul. It really made my stomach roil. I turned around, and this gigantic eight-foot, heck, nine foot, or bigger creature was standing over me. His hand, which was oddly human like grabbed my arm and began pulling at me. I yanked my arm back, it let out some sort of howl or growl and then I fell to the ground. It was the single most scary and almost unbelievable experience of my entire life.”

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart. Look at you, you’re shaking.” He wrapped his arms around her.

  His warmth and comfort were exactly what she needed. She didn’t know what happened. But she was sure that whatever it was that she’d seen, it couldn’t hurt her. Not as long as she had Peter by her side. And tonight, that was enough.

  “Shh.” He kissed the side of her neck, trailing his mouth along the column and down to her shoulder. “Don’t think about anything. Just forget about it all.”

  His soothing words would have been enough to calm her but, his mouth and the things he was doing with his tongue were causing an opposite reaction.

  “Peter…” she whispered to him.

  He splayed his hands across her body, feeling her, touching her, making her melt by the feel of his fingertips.

  “Shh… I know baby. Just let me make you feel good.”

  She dropped her head back as he trailed his tongue down between her cleavage. Her damn hair all but sizzled against her back as her temperature rose.

  Gently, he pushed her down on the couch, hovering over her as he moved down until his face was between her thighs.

  “Peter, I –.”

  Her words were stolen by the flick of his tongue against her clit. A surge of electricity shot through her body, creating quakes and quivers in her thighs.

  She reached down, clutching his hair between her fingertips as he dipped his tongue past her slip and into her wetness.

  Her head jerked from side to side as she fought against the ecstasy that was making her crazy.

  He reached underneath the t-shirt, pinching her nipples and squeezing her breasts while he continued to feast off of her pussy.

  Hot.

  Unrelenting.

  Forceful swipes.

  He was taking possession of everything that she had.

  At that moment, she couldn’t have moved even if she wanted to.

  She was surrounded by fire.

  A deep, treacherous fire that only grew hotter with every lick.

  He brought one hand down and flicked his thumb against her clit. Her body jolted and for a brief point she felt dizzy.

  She could hear herself moaning, begging him for more. Still, the words sounded like they were coming from somewhere else far away.

  He began moving against her. His mouth now suddenly back on his neck and the feel of his hands spreading her thighs apart.

  He whispered, “I want you.”

  She didn’t reply.

  Biting down on her lower lip, she braced herself once she felt the tip of his cock push past her entrance.

  He thrust into her quickly. Burying himself in her wetness, shuddering as he continued to flick his thumb across her sensitive and swollen nub.

  She wasn’t going to last. It was too good to stop it. Too good to even want to try.

  “Pete –!”

  She shouted his name, screaming into the echo that filled her mind. She felt her warmth spread from her pussy.

  He muttered words. Ones that she couldn’t understand.

  Then, reaching his hands down underneath her ass, he lifted her slightly, pivoting her body, taking more than anyone has ever taken before.

  Reaching parts of her that she didn’t even know existed.

  Floating, riding the wave of her orgasm, she heard his shout and spill his release inside her.

  Moments later she felt his arms, cradling her in a bed.

  She had no memory of how she got there.

  She didn’t even care.

  She just closed her eyes, succumbing to the sweet veil of comfort that pulled her under.

  Chapter Eight

  Peter opened his eyes, wincing against the harsh sunlight which sliced right through the room. The soft curves of Jane curled up beside him brought him both a smile and filled him with rage all at the same time.

  He laid awake for hours as she drifted off beside him. Her soft purr like snores were too adorable for him to resist. And hearing her take those breaths gave him relief.

  There had been a fear inside him that he couldn’t quite interpret. His instincts were almost always on point with how he felt. He knew what to do when to do it and how to do it. But, at that moment that he saw Jane on the ground, her blooded palm covering her face while the large beast hovered over her, it had all been too much for his human or tiger mind to comprehend.

  If anything had happened to her… No. He shook the thought from his head as quickly as it entered his mind.

  Slowly, he slid his arm out from underneath her, careful not to wake her. Standing there for a moment, he took in her morning appearance.

  Her long brown hair lay scattered across the pillow. Her curvaceous hips and legs w
ere emphasized by the t-shirt she wore. The thin cotton clung to her in all the right places, making it nearly impossible to keep his mind out of the gutter.

  His cock twitched, less rational than his other head, it wanted him to lift the shirt all the way to see what was underneath. But, he knew there were more pressing matters. Starting with, who exactly Jerry Larsen was, and what did he want with Jane?

  Grabbing his laptop, he went to the living room and began his search on the Covington Properties website. This was Peter’s first job with Covington but, Jerry seemed to know the company pretty well. Finding out more about the man who recruited Jane based on her looks would be the first step in discovering what in the hell was happening.

  Three cups of coffee later and an alarming lack of information on the web and he was ready to crawl out of his skin.

  Jerry Larsen was a ghost.

  An average looking man, with an average looking name and yet he couldn’t find a trace of him.

  Sure, his name was on the company website as a project manager, just as he claimed to be. But, there was no picture. Searches through city records, phone records, social media networks, nothing brought back a single clue to who Jerry was, or what he was doing at Covington.

  “Shit!” he slammed the laptop closed.

  “Is something wrong?”

  He looked up. The droopy eyed, brown haired beauty was standing in the hallway, looking shaken.

  “I’m sorry. Did I wake you?”

  “No. But, it’s almost seven. I need to get to the office.”

  “Are you sure that’s such a good idea?”

  “Well,” she motioned toward the window. “It’s daytime and, I don’t really know what happened. And unless I have good reason to miss work, I’d rather not. I’ve been unemployed before and it wasn’t a great time.”

  “I don’t know.” He walked toward her. “If you insist on going in then I’m going to keep a close eye on you. This was my scheduled day off anyway, so it won’t be like anyone is going to miss me.”

  “Okay.”

  “Just like that? You’re not going to argue with me?”

  She smiled and shrugged. “I’m sorry. Was I supposed to?”