Page 4 of Tiger By the Tail
What on earth is the matter with him?
“Of course, would you like to fix a date and time now?” I smiled and switched to my calendar app as he pulled out his phone.
He perused his schedule, striped brow furrowed at the screen, then cursed under his breath. “Shit. My next week is completely booked. I don’t suppose we could meet in the late afternoon? I have a photo shoot just around the corner from here on Wednesday and could drop by afterwards.”
“Or I could come meet you there, I don’t mind. I only have a staff meeting on Monday morning, and no other appointments for the entire week. I’m all yours.”
When his eyes lit up, it looked as if the sun had risen in his face. “You’d do that?”
“Of course.” I nodded with a smile. “It’s no big deal.”
“Thanks, Kat,” Roy said honestly, returning the smile.
Oh goodness, can he stop being so gorgeous, pretty please?
After we’d polished off the plate of desserts, Roy walked me back out of the café. His paw, hovering a hair’s breadth behind the small of my back as he guided me outside, made a shiver travel down my spine that had nothing to do with the hulking apex predator behind me, and everything with his warmth seeping into my body and sliding down into my core.
I couldn’t remember the last time a man had such an effect on me. He wasn’t even touching me and I was dripping for him.
I stared after him, hypnotised by his glorious backside, wondering if there was a saying about the girth of a tiger’s tail and if it applied to Roy Sinclair. Only coming to my senses when he’d disappeared behind the corner of the building, I slowly made my way back to our headquarters. We had the entire fifth floor for us after Dex had acquired a couple more rooms from a small consulting company that had moved to another part of town. He had a contractor knock down all the walls and moved our co-working space and the kitchen there to give us more room to spread out, and ‘get the creative juices flowing’.
With Beta growing and expanding for a while, it had been a long overdue move. I decided to grab another coffee and then get to work on the rough concept for the APC website. Hector, Mason, and Carine would be joining me on the team but the brunt of the work was mine to shoulder and I wanted to have a few ideas and mock-ups ready to show my tiger boy by Wednesday.
Chapter Two
Roy
Kat had come as a shock. I tried hard not to be that person but good Lord, she was smoking. Her short skirt, whose hem only just grazed that of her oversized blazer, in combination with her black heels made her legs look a mile long.
Don’t stare, Roy, I told myself over and over again in my head. But it was hard. And so was I.Shit.
“Anything in particular you fancy?” she’d asked me and I’d been about to tell her she could keep all the treats, and what kind of snack I’d rather have.
You are in a relationship,the voice inside my head chastised me.If Abbie could hear your thoughts, she would start–
Pushing the thoughts of my partner of five years aside, I watched Kat indulge in the red velvet cake. I’d gotten it only because I thought she might like it and I felt weirdly elated that I’d read her correctly.
The more we talked, the more comfortable I felt in her presence. Neither comfort nor elation were feelings I had experienced much over the last few years, if truth be told.
When Ben, one of Sadeeq’s friends, had referred us to his boss, I’d been reluctant to commit to such a large sum. Beta was the market leader when it came to software development, and charged a premium for their services. Life had taught me that few people actually delivered on their promises, so it had taken a leap of faith on my part. We had the money; our company had grown to become the UK’s top brands for monsters and non-human creatures like me. We had endorsement contracts with quite a few athletes, and our stuff flew off the shelves. It was about time we levelled up our online presence. My brother had built the one we were still using, and the number one complaint we got was that our shop couldn’t deal with the traffic it received.
I finished my coffee, deciding to take Kat and how much I already liked her as a sign the money would be well spent.
We left the coffee shop together, navigating between the small tables and trying not to stumble over legs or bag handles.I feared she might lose her balance, and I kept my hand poised behind her back to steady her.
Out in the sunlit square, she turned at me and extended a hand for me to shake. “Well, I’ll see you next week, Roy.”
I’d barely taken the offered hand, when her focus left me for the large Bernese Mountain Dog that had stopped right next to her, pressing its large wet nose into her free hand. Itwas off its lead, and I was torn between commenting on the irresponsible behaviour of its owner, and flinging my body between Kat and the beast.
What if it bites her?
Before I could react, a woman in her late forties came to a halt next to us. She half collapsed as she rested her hands on her knees, desperately trying to catch her breath. “Harvey, get back here you–” Apparently unable to say anymore, she began to disentangle the lead from around the dog’s legs. “Sorry about that,” she wheezed, righting herself, and brushing her windswept hair out of her face. “He spotted you from over there, and pulled himself free.”
With a wide grin, Kat crouched down to the dog's eye level. “Hi Harv, I’m happy to see you, too. How’s my pretty puppy? Are you taking Meredith for a walk? Aren't you the goodest boy? I bet you didn’t mean to cause any trouble, did you?” she crooned, scratching the animal's ears as she fussed over it.
Harvey was putty in her hands. He wriggled his body to get Kat's hands all over his black coat, huffing with delight as she petted him, and I was…jealous…of a dog.
“Sorry, we’ve become friends and whenever he sees me he refuses to go on without getting his scratches.”