Tigers Like It Hot Read Online Free PDF Page B

Certainly, she would know not long after they got to the hotel room, but what would stop her from calling them freaks and leaving? They couldn’t force her or Kelly to accept them. It was the most rigid law their people had. Their people had deemed any kind of coercion immoral as well as illegal.
    He had known some who ignored the laws and never returned to the cascade, but that kind of rebelliousness was out for him. He had to return to the cascade. His body was partially shifted for life. He could remove the mask that made him look like a tiger, but he could never remove the tail.
    “Are you ready?” he asked, holding out his arm. He hoped she would trust them enough to take it. It was a small step, but still one in the right direction.
    “Yes.” She glanced at his proffered arm.
    Instead of twining her arm through his as he’d hoped, she rested her hand on his forearm. It wasn’t much, but it was something. His muscles jumped and contracted beneath the warmth of her hand and he smiled down at her.
    He took a deep breath, ignored the acrid scent of car exhaust and concentrated on the lovely, natural scent of his mate. He hoped to wake up to that lovely smell every morning of his life from this day forward.
    “It’s not far. Just come with us and we’ll explain everything to the best of our ability.” As far as whether the women would believe them or not—only time would tell.
     

Chapter Nine
     
     
    Jessi bit her lip while Mac led her to their hotel. As promised, they stopped at the front desk. “My friend and I are going up to their rooms for a moment.” She studied the clerk, noting his short-cropped blond hair and green eyes. The man couldn’t have been an inch over five-ten. He didn’t look related to the men, at least.
    She placed the driver licenses and car keys on the counter. “We don’t know these men from Adam and we want to make sure that we leave their rooms alive. Please keep these here until I’m able to retrieve them on my way out.”
    “I sure will.” He smiled at her. “Ya can’t be too safe these days. If ya need protection, there’s a machine in the bathroom.”
    Jessi’s face heated. “We won’t be needing any of that kind of protection. They aren’t getting lucky today. I’m too old for that kind of crap.”
    “Sure, lady.” The young man grabbed the items and carried them to an office behind the counter. He closed the door behind him. “There’s a touch pad lock on that door. Only the clerks know the combination, and I don’t leave until six.” He checked his watch. “If you plan on staying more than four hours, I would suggest you come down here around a quarter to the hour and meet the night guy.”
    “We won’t be that long, I assure you.” Jessi was confident that they could tell them what they needed to know. Then, she and Kelly could be on their way and to the next town before dinner. She hoped so, anyway. She certainly didn’t want to spend the night here, knowing these gorgeous men were so close. Their supposed attraction to her was enough to make her want them more than she’d ever wanted anyone so much in her life. That pissed her off. She was over feeling as though she needed a man to make her life complete.
    She might need a man to have a baby, but she would never need a man to make her feel good about herself, ever again. She did that well enough on her own. Jessi Harrington was reformed.
    She no longer had low self-esteem and she no longer handed out her favors to feel loved. She found out long ago, unlike most women, a man didn’t have to feel a damned thing for the woman he had sex with. He had sex, he enjoyed it and he suffered no repercussions such as being called a slut or a whore. Women weren’t that lucky. She and Kelly had found that out the hard way.
    She slid a sideways glance to the men who claimed to find her so attractive. Though she no longer handed out her favors to men to feel loved, there was no reason she couldn’t do it for