Here Kitty, Kitty! (5 page)

Nik reared back as that dog growl leaped at him through the phone.  “Keep your brother away from my sister.”

Oh, this could prove to be mighty fun
.  “I don’t know.  My brother thinks she’s awfully cute.”

“I wonder how cute she’ll think he is when they start finding pieces of him all along the Eastern Seaboard.”

“Do you have a point, little puppy?  Or you gonna keep nippin’ at my heels?”

“Hey,” Angelina whispered.  “Is that you being nice?”

“Sssh, darlin’.  Big boys talkin’.”

From the expression on her face, Nik thought for sure she would launch herself off that dresser and beat the living tar out of him.

Man, what an uptight little thing
.

“Look, hillbilly-pussy, how do I know my friend will be safe with you?”

“My brothers saved her, didn’t they?  And they didn’t see any wolves out there helpin’ her.  But if you’re so worried, ask your sister.”

“What does that mean?”

“She’s been here.  On our territory.  Stayed in my momma’s house.  Eaten our food.  Hunted our deer.  It’s been quite a few years since then, but not much has changed.”

“Don’t bullshit me, Vorislav.  There’s no way my sister was ever on your territory.”

Normally Nik would kick the hell out of anyone who accused him of lying.  Because he prided himself on his Southern honesty.  But now he smiled.  He couldn’t help himself.  “She never told you, did she?”  The silence he got back answered his question.  Poor Nessa.  He knew she’d be getting a call soon from one angry big brother.  “Your little human will be just fine.  Don’t worry about a thing.”

Good Lord, he wanted her to stay.  He
really
wanted her to stay.

“You better protect her, Vorislav.  The hyenas have gone postal and we don’t know why.”

“Don’t worry, little doggie.  I won’t let anything happen to her.”  He reached over and grabbed hold of her ankle.  Just like he thought she might, she yanked her foot away from him.  But in the process, slammed her head against the heavy gilt frame of the mirror behind her.  Nik winced as she gripped the back of her head.  “I’ll even protect her from herself.”

“Yeah.  Well, good luck with that one.”

He tossed the phone back to Angie, hitting her in the forehead since her hands were still massaging the back of her head.

“Ow!”

“Sorry.”

She caught the phone before it slid off her lap and hit the floor.  She glared at him as she put it to her ear.  “Zach?  We cool?  Okay.  And don’t take any shit from Sara and Miki.  If they got a problem, they can call me.  But do yourself a favor…don’t eat anything Miki fixes for you.”  She ended the call.

“Well, now.  Looks like I have myself a guest.”

“Yes.  You do.”

“So, what’s the first thing?  Hungry?”

“That’s mighty Southern of you, but I’d prefer clothes first.”

“But they’re so unnecessary.”  The woman hit him with a toilet and he ends up flirting with her.  This simply couldn’t be normal behavior, even for shifters.  He blamed his father and the man’s defective tiger genes.

She slipped that amazingly hot body off his dresser and moved toward him slowly.

“Dude,” she crouched down next to him.  “Maybe we should get some things straight.”

“Dude?  Did you just call me dude?”

“I’m only staying here temporarily and because I have to.  Not so you can have a party with the Texas girl.”

He propped himself up on one elbow.

This was a woman who could easily make him crawl.  Happily.  “But we have such great parties here, Sugar.  The body shots alone can be quite entertaining.”

“Clothes.  Food.  Now.”  She stood up. 
Mmmmhhmm.  Tall. 
“Or I really will set shit on fire…and I’ll make sure to start with you.”

He willed his dick to behave as he stared up at her.  Maybe he’d break his “no full humans” rule this one time.  Just for her.

“So shift that ass into gear, Hillbilly,” she walked out the door, the damn sheet she wore blocking his view of her delectable tattoo.  “I don’t have all fuckin’ day.”

No.  He shook his head.  He would not be abandoning his rules for this one.  He knew crazy when he saw it.  The majority of his family was crazy.  And he wasn’t about to add another one to the pile.

As hot as the woman was—and good Lord she was hot—he would only worry about making sure she survived the next couple of days.  With that mouth, it wouldn’t be easy.  Then, when the wolves arrived, he’d toss her skinny ass out of his house.

Her head popped back through the door.  “I’m sorry.  Was I not clear when I said move your fuckin’ ass?”

Nik growled and followed after her.

Oh, yeah
.  When this was all over, he was going to beat the living tar out of his brothers.

Chap
ter Three

“I don’t see the problem, Sugar.”

Angie crossed her arms in front of her chest.  “First off.  Stop calling me Sugar.  Second, I would never allow that…
thing
to touch my body.”

He looked at the dress he held in his hands.  “What’s wrong with it.  It’s a nice, simple sun dress.”

Did he really believe for a second she’d wear the dress of a dead woman?  “It would be fine.  If I were ninety… and boring.” 
And dead.

“Look, until we get you something else…”

With a growl, Angie advanced on him.  Startled, he backed up until he hit the wall.  She reached around his waist, digging into his back pockets.

Smiling, “What the hell are you doing?”

“Doing what I always do.  Taking care of it myself.”  She located his wallet, pulling it out and stepping away from him.  “I swear.  The shit I have to do just to get through the day.”  She quickly found his credit card and took it out.  He had one of those all-black credit cards.  A redneck the man may be, but a painfully rich one.  You couldn’t even order this card…you had to be invited. 
Nice
.

She tossed his wallet back at him, making sure to hit him in the face.

“Where are you going?”

She moved toward the door, “Apparently, I’m going to be walking my Brazilian-Mexican ass into whatever dinky town you have around here.”

“Dressed like that?”

She could hear the laughter in his voice and she had the overwhelming desire to punch him in the face.  “Even this sheet is better than that fuckin’ dress.”

She got as far as the stairs before his arm slid around her waist.  She shuddered at the contact.  No, she never liked being touched, but this felt different and she had no idea why.  She just knew it was freaking her the fuck out.

Angie snatched herself away from him, but her feet slid on the sheet.  She would have tumbled head over ass down the marble stairs, but he caught her, turning her so that she slammed flush against him.

“Oh, no you don’t.  Be clumsy in your own house.”

She frowned.  Okay.  First he said something about her non-skinny ass.  Now he was saying something about her being clumsy.  She was
never
clumsy.  She was the elegant one.  What the hell was it about this man that had her falling all over herself?

“Something happens to you, those dogs of yours will drive me insane with their howling…  I hate that sound.”  Carrying her against his side, he walked down the hall.

“Where the hell are we going?”

“My bedroom.”

She tried to pull out of his grip, but he held her easily.  “I don’t think so.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.”  He walked into his bedroom and dropped her to the floor.  She stumbled back and almost had to grab him to keep herself from hitting the floor…again.

“Okay, Sugar, now let’s get you something at least tolerable to wear.  Can’t have you embarrassing me in front of the neighbors.”

Angie expected him to pull out some other woman’s clothes.  Some piece of ass he had in his house before.  But apparently, the old lady’s wardrobe was all he had because he pulled out a big white T-shirt.  He glanced at her and then, with an adorable, wicked smile, tossed it so that it landed on her head.

She snatched the shirt off, only for a pair of shorts to hit her full in the face.

She snatched those off as well, “What are you doing?”  Angie shoved the hair out of her eyes.

“Trying to get you to loosen up.  You are one uptight filly.”

“Sorry, kidnapping does that to a girl.”

“No, I’m pretty certain you were born with that stick up your ass.”

“Why you motherfuck…”

“You throw those things on, Sugar.  There’s a drawstring, so that should tide you over until we get you some clothes.  And sorry, no shoes for now.  But this is the South.  Shoes are always optional.”

He walked past her.  “I’ll meet you downstairs, sweet cheeks.”

His hand slapped her rump, but by the time she spun around, her fist pulled back and ready, he was already gone.

***

“What about these?”

Nik took a deep breath.  He did that every time she shoved her size ten hooves into his lap.  Especially when she’d adorned those hooves with eight-hundred-dollar Prada shoes.

Shoes that he would be paying for.  Who knew a slap on the ass would cost him so much?

“They look fine.”  His jaw began to hurt.  All that talking through his teeth.  But he couldn’t help himself.  The woman had moved through his town like a demon.  A demon with
his
credit card.

“Just fine?  Is that all?”

She’d purchased new clothes.  Lots of new clothes.  At the moment, she wore an adorable mini-dress that cost him enough to feed a family of four full-humans for a week.  Every time she lifted up her legs to show off a new pair of shoes, he caught glimpses of her white lace panties.  And he hated himself for his weakness.  The more she showed him those panties, the more he wanted to tear them off.

It couldn’t be normal to dislike someone and want them all at the same time.

She lifted one long leg, holding her foot up right near his face.  “Well, which do you like better?  These or the black strappy ones?”  She’d already bought three “black strappy ones.”  How the hell was he supposed to tell the difference?

“I don’t care.”

“Hhhmm.”  She lowered her leg.  “Then I better get both…and the Ferragamos.”

He bit the inside of his mouth so that he wouldn’t start cursing at her.

She slid her feet out of his lap, grazing his crotch and easily got to her feet.

“I’ll take these, too,” she motioned to Janette, the owner of the store.  Janette glanced at him and he nodded.  Unable to hide her grin and unwilling to stop laughing, Janette followed the evil viper across the shop.

Angelina Santiago.  He finally got around to asking the evil viper’s name.  Now it would be the name he would forever associate with deep, passionate annoyance.  The woman had spent nearly twenty grand of his money in little under three hours.  Actually, the Ferragamos put him way over the twenty grand mark.

And what amazed him was how she simply didn’t care.  She spent his money like they’d been married for twenty years and she just found out he was cheating with his secretary.

How full-humans put up with this he would never know.

“I’ll be right back,” she strutted past him toward the exit.  And it was a
strut
.  The kind of walk bands like ZZ Top wrote songs about.  She didn’t move like a supermodel.  She moved like a stripper.

“I’m supposed to be protecting you.”

“Well, good job!”  She gave him the thumbs up and strutted her fine ass out the door.

Janette sat down next to him.

“How’s your day, Nik?”

He looked at her.  She smiled, her fangs peeking out a bit. 
Damn leopards.

“Fine.  Not as good as yours though.”

“Very true, Nik,” she patted his thigh.  “Very,
very
true.”

***

“A permit,” Angie gave a little pout.  “Really?”

“Sorry, darlin’.  You can buy a hunting rifle now, though.”

Her shoulder still hurt from using that damn shotgun from earlier in the day.  She really preferred handguns.  Besides, she would still need ID and all her stuff was in Texas.

She shook her head.  “No thanks.”  She glanced around the sports and firearms store, deciding to go back to the standard weapons she once used before she became old enough to start buying guns.

Quickly grabbing what she needed, she had the lovely man charge it to Nik’s account.  It seemed everyone in town knew the hillbillies.  And every woman definitely seemed to know Nikolai Vorislav.  Not surprising, though.  Even she had to admit he was damn fine.  
Especially
when she found ways to annoy the living shit out of him.

She took her bag of purchases and walked out the door, heading to the store she’d left Nik in.  Halfway there, a sweet black leather skirt caught her eye in one of the shops.

She walked in and immediately a salesgirl was at her beck and call.  She really liked this town.  They knew how to treat people.  Of course, almost everyone she’d met so far were a little less than human.  But after finding out about most of the people in her own town, she really wasn’t too concerned.