Page 107 of Tiger Queen

“I’m relaxed,” I said.

“No, you’re not. You’re doing that thing where you worry too much. We’ve made all the preparations. There’s nothing left to do but open everything up. So, you need to relax.”

I took a deep breath. “I’ll relax after one final check of the perimeter.”

Jake smiled lustily and scooched closer to me. His hand slid along my thigh. “You’re going to relax right now.”

“Make me,” I said stubbornly.

His hand found its way between my legs, and I opened my knees for him. Jake rubbed me through my khaki shorts and kissed me with tongue. It felt so good, and I wanted to surrender to his sensual touch, but then I put a hand on his chest and pushed him away.

“We have cameras on the perimeter with motion-sensing alerts. We’re probably being watched as we speak.”

Jake grinned wider and showed me his phone. “Anthony is patching the software to the newest version before we launch. The entire camera system is down for the next ten minutes.” His dark eyes sparkled.

“You’ve given this a lot of thought.”

He kissed me again, and this time I surrendered completely. One button and a zipper was all that stood between his skilled fingers and my sex, and then he was rubbing my pussy with calloused fingertips. I moaned as he rubbed up and down, the heel of his palm stimulating my clitoris in a way that he had mastered over the last year. He knew all of my buttons. I reached for his crotch, but his free hand snatched my wrist and pushed it away.

This is your time, his kiss said. Soon I was squirming and moaning and coming there in the Mule, at the edge of the wildlife park.

As we drove back after, I couldn’t stop smiling. I was indeed relaxed, now.

We had spent the last year refurbishing the zoo into the headquarters for the wildlife park. The medical facility had been gutted and replaced with state-of-the-art equipment. The visitor’s center had been transformed into a command post where we could monitor all of the animals on dozens of computer screens, with sensors that showed us their thermal scans, behavior, and migrations around the park.

Transferring tigers into larger habitats was a complex business. Some made the transition easily, while others required more time to adjust. Large cats had territorial tendencies, so we needed to make sure they didn’t get into fights with one-another.

Hopefully, over time, the animals wouldn’t need to be tracked. But for now we had to be prepared.

Donations had continued pouring into the park, especially when we received publicity for expanding into a seven-thousand-acre park. The total fund was now worth about twelve million. Enough to keep it running for decades at an annual return rate of seven percent, according to David.

Some of the big donors were here today to witness the park opening. After working with a small team for the last year, I had to mentally prepare myself for a larger crowd of spectators. But when Jake and I pulled up by the headquarters, nothing could prepare me for who was waiting.

“Mom? Dad?” I exclaimed.

They rushed forward and hugged me as I exited the Mule. “We wanted to be here for the opening! Jake invited us.”

“Hi Rebecca, Tom,” Jake said. “Glad you could make it.”

I blinked. “Rebecca?”

“We’re on a first-name basis,” Jake said with a grin, then walked over to chat with David by another cluster of visitors.

“I like him,” mom said in a whisper. “He’s yummy.”

Dad frowned. “Rebecca!”

“I’m just saying. You should go out with him.”

“David’s more responsible,” dad argued. “He’s the one you should date.”

I smiled. I hadn’t told my parents that I was madly in love with not only Jake, but the other two Haines brothers as well. I wasn’t sure how to tell them. We were still getting used to the locals around Blue Lake whispering about us behind our backs.

But that was fine. Our strange polyamorous relationship didn’t need to make sense to anyone but the four of us.

Another familiar face came running up. “Ashley!”

She squealed with excitement and hugged me tightly. “I wasn’t going to miss this for the world. You magically turned Crazy Carl’s Zoo into the most talked-about new wildlife preserve in the country!”