Jaguar's Kiss (Lone Pine Pride) (6 page)

He grabbed them two bottles of water and closed the fridge. Twisting off the tops on both, he set one in front of her and another at his elbow and reached for one of the sandwiches. Lila began slowly unwrapping her own.

“I wanted to talk to you because we haven’t talked in…well, ever. I think it’s past time we get to know each other, don’t you?”

“I’m sorry for ditching you with Patch last night and forgetting to come back,” she said hurriedly, starting with the easiest of the apologies. “I’d had a little too much to drink and—”

“No. No, it’s okay.” Roman was suddenly fascinated with his sandwich. Was he
blushing
? What would make the big, bad Alpha-in-training blush?

His voice was rough when he began again, “I’d like us to be loyal to one another. Once we’re married. I think it would be best for the pride if there aren’t any perceived cracks in our relationship—”

“Right, of course.” Lila couldn’t agree with him fast enough. She needed him to know that what happened last night with Santiago, however Roman had found out about it, had been a fluke. “I’d like that too. I love loyalty.”

“And I thought perhaps it would be best if we got to know one another a little better.” He sounded so stiff and formal, just as uncomfortable as she was.

“I’d like that. Brilliant idea.” This was just what they needed. To get to know one another. Spend time together. Of course she had jitters about getting married, she didn’t know the man she was supposed to fall in love with, but if they could just talk…

“So.” Roman cleared his throat. “Ah, what kind of movies do you like?”

“Anything with a romance in it. Romantic comedies, romantic tragedies—as long as someone is falling in love, I’m hooked. You?”

“Action, mostly. Especially World War II. Strategy, life and death, honor being tested. What about books? Do you read a lot?”

“I love to read. Romances, again. And you?”

“Non-fiction.”

Lila forced herself to smile and nod. Lots of people had very happy marriages who had nothing in common. Lots of people.

Lila should not have been so relieved when their sandwiches were gone and she could make her escape. She glanced at her watch. Twenty minutes. She’d only been with him for twenty minutes, but they were among the longest twenty minutes of her life. They’d both been trying so hard and it had just been awkward.

Maybe next time would be better. Because there would be a next time. They were on a mission to make this marriage work and neither of them gave up easily. She was more resolved than ever. Roman may not be her soulmate, but he was perfect for the pride—more perfect than she could have imagined—and together they would make this work.

Climbing the external stairs to her apartment, she saw Patch bounding down them two at a time.

“Hey!” Patch leapt down the landing at her side. “I was just about to go looking for you.”

“I was having lunch with Roman.”

Patch’s eyes went wide. “Oh? How was it?”

“Awkward. Excruciatingly awkward. We’re trying to get to know each other. It’s like some bizarre Victorian courting ritual where we only talk about the most inconsequential things. By the end we were actually discussing the weather. Though, on the plus side, I now know that he likes thunderstorms, so there you have it. True love is right around the corner.”

“Come on. You need chocolate therapy.”

Patch grabbed her hand and Lila turned to head back down the stairs she’d just climbed. They didn’t speak until they were settled at a secluded table in the dining hall with a Death By Chocolate brownie and two forks.

Even with the influx of new people, the dining hall was relatively empty at this time of day. The only other shifters crowded around a large table on the opposite side of the room. Patch and Lila were about as private as they could get in pride life.

“Santiago was looking for you.” Patch scooped up a large bite of brownie and Lila nearly choked on her own at the announcement.

“He was?” She tried for an air of innocent confusion. “Did he say why?”

“I didn’t ask,” Patch said around another bite. “We mostly talked about this whole calling in the outliers thing. It’s kind of inconvenient timing for me.” When Lila shot her a look of alarm, Patch held up her fork placatingly. “Of course I’m coming in. Set a good example. Pride solidarity.”

“And Dad would kill you if you risked yourself.”

“That too. But honestly I’d rather be anywhere else.” Patch blushed and mumbled something under her breath.

“What?”

Patch grimaced and said in a louder whisper, “My heat is starting.”

“Oh.” Lila blinked. “
Oh
.”

Unlike cats in the wild, shifter females typically went into heat three times a year. Their hormone levels went insane, turning them into the proverbial cats in heat, and their scent became all but irresistible for shifter males. Different females reacted to the sudden sexual imperative in different ways. Birth control was taken care of with shots, so some women just enjoyed the marathon. Lila’s heats had never been as intense as some other girls she knew, but she still chose to seclude herself during that week, preferring not to run her life by her hormones.

Patch, however, had always taken it a step further. She disappeared. She went off into the wilderness on her own, far away from the temptation of any other shifters, and suffered out the heat in isolation. But if she was forced to stay here, for her own safety…

“Yeah. So not exactly the time of the year when I want to be hanging around a ton of shifter males. In fact…” Patch’s blush deepened until it covered every inch of visible skin. “I kind of—I kissed Roman last night.”

“You what?” Lila must have missed something. Patch couldn’t have said what she thought she just said.

It was like a dam had broken; Patch’s words gushed out. “I kissed Roman. Or he kissed me. I don’t know. There was leaning and then it just sort of happened. I was drunk and with my heat starting soon—it didn’t mean anything. I swear to God, Lila, it was nothing.”

“No, I understand.” She definitely understood. Hadn’t she done the same thing with Santiago, only without the excuse of going into heat? But why hadn’t Roman mentioned it? Was that what had brought on his sudden attack of loyalty this morning? Guilt to match hers?

“It will never happen again. I promise.”

“I’m not mad, Patch. By all means, have at him.”

That cut her friend off mid-apology. “
What
?”

“It doesn’t count, right? Anything that happens before the wedding—any accidental kissing of other people—that’s just sowing wild oats, right? Just a little pre-wedding fling. Totally normal. No harm done.”

And maybe if he falls in love with you, I won’t have to marry him.

The thought slithered across her brain, leaving a trail of guilt in its wake. Roman would never give up his position as the next Alpha, and no lion pride—no matter how many strays they were willing to take in—would accept an Alpha who mated across the species gap. Even if Roman decided not to marry Lila, he would have to pick a lion. If Patch fell for him, she’d only be setting herself up for heartbreak and Lila would never wish that for her best friend.

“Patch. You’ll be careful, won’t you? Roman can’t—”

“He’d never let himself be permanently attached to a cougar. I know.”

Lila reached across the table and took Patch’s hand, squeezing tight. “He’d be lucky to have you. Any man would. But with him as the Alpha…even if he were willing to overlook all the other obstacles…”

“I know, Lila. It was nothing. And that nothing is never happening again.”

“Good.”

Lila might be able to get away with dating a jaguar, but Roman would lose too much if he tried to take Patch as his mate.

Not that Lila was planning on dating a jaguar. She barely knew anything about him. Certainly not enough to tempt her away from her neatly ordered life. Just that he smelled of smoke and cinnamon and kissed like a man born to sin.

Patch had said he was looking for her and she really should speak to him. Smooth things over from last night. Apologize for blowing up at him, explain that there could be nothing more between them. Perhaps even offer to be friends. Her hormones might want more from him, but if she wanted to be close to him, friends was all she had to offer. He’d just have to accept that.

Lila frowned and reached for another forkful of brownie. She may not know Santiago well, but he didn’t seem like the kind of man who would accept just friends easily.

Chapter Six

Santiago surveyed the studio apartment. It was his for as long as he decided to stay on the pride lands, if he wanted it. But he hadn’t decided yet whether he was staying or running.

It was a nice enough apartment, one of the most recently built. He’d designed the complex himself with more independent non-lions in mind, to maximize the sense of space and seclusion in the individual units. Even if the residents were surrounded by their pride mates on all sides, the views pointed toward the mountains and open land, giving the illusion of privacy.

Not a bad place to spend a few months, or even years. If he decided to stay.

He’d gone looking for Lila earlier, but only managed to run into Patch, who was doing the same. They’d leaned over the railing on the external stair of Lila’s building and watched the frenzy of activity below. Dozens of shifters all moving into the complex at once, plus more arriving from the south every day. A handful of outliers were refusing to be called in, but most had heard enough rumors of disappearances to make them wary of being off on their own. Vulnerable.

Patch was moving back—and none too happy about it—and she’d asked Santiago about his plans. He’d told her he was undecided, which was true enough—though he didn’t tell her the source of his indecision. That was between him and Lila.

Patch had warned him to be careful. Too late for that. He had a feeling he was already in over his head.

“You’re a hard man to track down, Santiago Flores.”

He spun toward the door, already knowing what he would see there. She was the only one who called him by his full name. He was still unprepared for the sight of her.

She wore high-heeled, polka dot sandals, a bright blue patterned sundress that left the long golden length of her legs bare, and a soft white cardigan in a nod to the fall weather that was driving everyone else to wear layers. Her hair was loose and her lips the same rosy pink as her nails. In an environment that prized utility and strength, she was a flower, a walking confection.

“Lila.”

“I heard you were looking for me. And I owe you an apology.”

“You don’t have to—”

“I do. I shouldn’t have gone off on you like that last night. You just caught me by surprise.”

She was trying to do the pretty. Put them back on proper social footing. Polite and sociable and distant. But he didn’t want to let her get away from him. Not when he’d finally gotten close. He eliminated the space between them with three long strides. “A good surprise, I hope.”

She danced away but not into the hall as she could easily have done. Deeper into the apartment. Not trying to escape him then. “I’ve figured out what I wanted,” she said hurriedly, moving in a constant, evasive circle as he stalked her. “You kept asking me what it was I wanted and I’ve got it. I know now.”

“And what’s that?”

“I’d like us to be friends.”

Santiago stopped moving. “Friends.”

Lila halted as well. “Yes. I’d like that.”

She was insane. They could never be just friends. He wanted her like an ache in his soul. That wasn’t friendship. She was his personal madness, his obsession. That wasn’t
friendship
. The subtle perfume of her skin made him want to mark her as his, to brand her with his scent until no other man would dream of trespassing where he alone could go. That wasn’t friendship, damn it.

But when he looked into her eyes he saw hope and vulnerability and just a flicker of fear. What was she afraid of? Him? Afraid of her feelings for him? Afraid of ending up with Roman? What? It could be anything. But he couldn’t see that look in her eyes without wanting to banish it forever. He would protect her. Until she was ready for him to love her, he would do as she asked.

They would be friends.

“All right. What exactly does being friends entail?”

Lila beamed, visibly relieved. “Well, I thought for starters we should get to know each other. Um, what sort of movies do you like?”

“You want to know what kind of movies I like?”

She blinked, considered it and then gave a light laugh. “You know, honestly, it doesn’t matter what kind of movies you like. Why do people ask that question as if it’s important?”

Now that she’d asked, he wanted to know. He wanted to know everything about her. “What kind of movies do you like, princess?”

“I don’t like being called that.”

“What do you like being called?”

“I like the way you say my name.” Then she blushed, looking at everything in the apartment but him. “Is this where you live?”

He jerked his head to the west. “A few miles off pride lands usually, but with things the way they are I’m considering staying here. Do you like it?”