Page 37 of Tiger Queen

He didn’t react, so I twisted to gaze up at him. He was watching me with a curious look on his face.

“What?”

“It wouldn’t be the craziest thing in the world,” he said slowly. “It worked just fine with Lara.”

“I can’t tell if you’re being serious or not.”

He kissed me on the forehead. “I’m dead serious. If that’s something you would be interested in. And if not? That’s okay too.”

He kissed me on the forehead, then got out of bed and put his pants back on.

“What, no cuddling?” I teased.

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m a light sleeper.” He smiled warmly. “I’ll be grumpy in the morning if I don’t get eight uninterrupted hours. See you bright and early.”

He gave me a final kiss, stared deep into my eyes, then left my room.

17

David

For all my talk of needing to get some sleep, I lay in my own bed long after leaving Rachel’s room. I could still feel her body underneath mine, warm and soft. My mind raced as I replayed everything that had just happened.

It all felt so perfect. Like we had a connection that extended beyond the two days of work we had done together. I couldn’t explain it.

When I did fall asleep, I dreamed of driving around the zoo in the Mule with Rachel in the passenger seat, the wind blowing her blonde hair back and a huge smile on her beautiful face.

I was an early riser back in Richmond because I led the first Crossfit class at five in the morning. I forced myself to wake up early and keep the schedule while I was here, so it would be easier to return to when all of this was over. I took a short shower and left my room. Her bedroom door was still closed.

I smiled. I liked being up before everyone else.

But when I went downstairs, I found her seated in a chair in the foyer. Her wavy blonde hair was down and she was idly reading something on her phone.

“Morning,” she said simply. “I thought you’d never get up.”

We walked to the zoo together in the early-morning silence, where the night insects had ceased their noise but the morning birds had yet to wake. Halfway there I reached over and took her hand in mine. I couldn’t remember the last time I had held hands with a girl. It felt more sensual than what we had done last night.

She must have been thinking along the same lines because she said, “I had fun last night.”

“Me too. We should do it again sometime.”

“I’ll check my schedule.”

Both of us chuckled together.

“Were you serious about Anthony?”

The change of subject caught me off guard. I had forgotten about my comment to her. It felt like an off-hand thing at the time, but now it was like an aroma in the air between us.

But I was serious last night. Everything had worked so well with Lara. In all my girlfriends over the years, I had never felt like I truly belonged in a relationship. Except for Lara. It was like the three of us could satisfy her in ways we never could individually. The pressure was off and everything just sort of worked.

Rachel let go of my hand and pulled her hair back into a ponytail while waiting for a response.

“I was serious,” I told her. “Only if that’s something you would be interested in. There’s no pressure or expectations or anything.”

“Okay.”

We got to work in our normal groove. Me prepping the food and Rachel feeding the animals. I liked it this way—despite working at the zoo when I was a teenager, I had never liked feeding the big cats. It made me feel like I was the food more than the meat I pushed through the cages.