The Leopard in Love (BBW Shifter Mail Order Bride Romance) (Mail-Order Mates Book 8) Read Online Free PDF Page A

the occasion, and it was making Sarah nervous.
    She’d only made a small investment so far. She was wearing a new dress and tights she’d bought in town. It was a very pretty look but not overly sexy. She was trying to set the right tone for the evening. Had Kai met her at the house, it would have been ruined. She had been trying to keep her hopes at a reasonable level and her excitement tempered.
    The short walk was invigorating and made her feel even lighter than before. Even repeating “this is not a big deal” to herself didn’t help. She saw him sitting at the gazebo and waved. Her heart beat furiously in her chest and she couldn’t help smiling ear to ear. He was just so handsome. She wasn’t even fooling herself. She was very excited for the date. Even if he was an American and had a kid, he was still a nice guy with great potential.
    He jumped up and came to meet her on the sidewalk. “Nice to see you again.”
    Sarah smiled. “Very nice.”
    Kai offered her his arm as they began the walk downtown. “It’s a pretty short walk to Two Wolves. We won’t have to walk home, though. It can get chilly here once the sun goes down. I’m parked at the restaurant.”
    “Good thinking,” Sarah said. “How was your work day?”
    “Pretty easy for a Monday. I didn’t have any passenger flights, but I did do a supply run for someone in town.”
    “Right. Supply run means they pay you to pick stuff up, right? I bet that’s very expensive.”
    “Not usually. I try to keep my rates reasonable for my customers. I try to wait until I have multiple runs before heading out. If there are five people paying for special pickups, it’s a lot cheaper for each one.”
    “I see. Do you fly every single day?”
    “No way.” Kai laughed. “I’d be braindead if I did that. I fly four days a week, but I have to be in the office for three days now that things are busy.”
    “You work seven days a week?” Sarah was impressed. “I usually work six and people think I’m crazy.”
    Kai held the door to of the restaurant open for her. “I’m really only in the office for six days. I try to stay out of work at least once a week. It’s hard being my own boss sometimes. I know exactly how much work is piling up when I’m out of the office. And I know what’s possible if I work just two hours each day on the weekend.”
    Sarah looked around the place. It looked exactly like she pictured an American eatery. It also smelled delightful.
    They sat at a booth near the back. Once they had their menus, Kai continued the conversation. “You’re a vet, right? You can understand what it’s like to be dedicated to your work.”
    “Oh, for sure. My friends tell me that I’m going to have to slow down once I have kids, but I can’t imagine it. I’ll just work more nine-to-five days, but I couldn’t see myself not coming in every day. My animals need me.”
    Kai nodded. “It’s tough. I worked less when KJ was younger. My parents were still living in the same town as us back then. I had it easy since my mom would babysit all the time. But I still didn’t want to miss those important milestones.”
    “Oh, totally. That makes much more sense to me.” The waitress came and took their orders. Then Sarah went on, “Speaking of KJ, we have to talk about that, right?”
    “I would say so. I have to thank you big-time for taking interest in a kid by himself, and an even bigger thank you for telling me what you found out.”
    Sarah shrugged. “I didn’t have much of a choice. Once he told me, I had to tell you or I would have felt awful. I know how important shifting is and how unusual KJ is. If it was my kid, I would want to know. How’s he doing?”
    Kai sighed. “Not great. He’s just hitting the rebellious phase and it isn’t helping that some punk counselor at the school is spreading misinformation about shifters.”
    “That’s awful. You have a very vibrant shifter community in Sunset Falls. How is he getting away with