Piece of Tail Read online

  Twenty minutes and aching thighs later, the park was in sight. Finally. Not only did her legs twinge and twitch in odd places, but her feet were on fire as well. The park had not been that fantabulous of an idea after all.

  She walked the perimeter, searching for a place with few people and lots of shade. What had started as a cool day quickly turned hot with the amount of time she'd spent in the sun. Even with the olive skin she'd inherited from her Greek papa and Italian mom, her body heated and she could practically feel her skin burning.

  She spotted a bench on the other side of the park, shrouded in shadows from the trees, but empty. Perfection. Instead of walking the perimeter further, she decided to cut through the park. Single-minded in her destination, she ignored the families and couples enjoying the day. Annoying little beasts, humans, whatever. They had each other to keep them company and she had… no one. The thought of living in half-were house alone, but not, churned her stomach.

  For so long it had been her and Blaze, then her, Blaze and Meg. Now, it was just… her. Sure, there were other half-weres who'd been put out by their prides. The reason? They were unable to shift into their feline counterparts and maintain the furry fun. But Gina had always been in her own little world and hadn't bothered getting to know the other residents. She sighed. It was probably time to become sociable again, dammit.

  Halfway across the park, still lost in thought, her heel sunk down into a fresh mound of dog shit. Well, lovely. And then, to make matters worse, the mangy mongrel who'd probably deposited the lovely mound of crap started barking and growling not far from her. Strangely, it almost sounded as if the barks were growing closer. She brushed aside the thought as she wiped her heel on the grass, trying to rid her shoe of the dog poop.

  "Andy. Andy. Andy, no.” The barking continued and Gina assumed the man was having a hard time calming his pooch. “Andy! Ma'am, don't run!"

  Gina swung her head toward the man, but her view was full of the huge fucking beast barreling toward her, teeth bared, barking and snarling. Not run? Not likely. Damned dog, beast, thing looked like it could bite her ass in half. Fuck that.

  Gina ran, hard and fast. The snarling giganto beast was on her ass, nipping at the hem of her skirt. She picked up the pace and thanked Sekhmet she'd inherited some snow leopard traits. Like speed. Speed was a good mother-fucking thing with a big ass dog trying to eat her in a very bad way.

  The heel of her shoe snapped off and she cursed, but didn't break her stride. Instead, she allowed the shoes to slip off her feet without interrupting her pace. Being barefoot would help with the climbing she was about to do anyway. She couldn't outrun the beast forever. She eyed her original destination and selected a tree that looked big enough to support her.

  A few feet from the tree and she leapt straight into the air, looping her arms around the branch she'd targeted and pulled her feet just out of biting range. She struggled for a few seconds, getting comfortable in her new perch. Then, she blew a raspberry at the fucking beastie while he jumped and barked at her from below.

  The dog's erstwhile owner finally jogged up and snared the beast's leash, berating the animal while he tried to pull it under control. This is when it dawned on Gina that perhaps the park hadn't been the best place for a half-were cat shifter to come… with the dogs and all that.

  "Andy, wait ‘til Daddy hears how bad you were. Bad dog.” The man tugged on the leash and smacked the dog's rump. “Bad."

  The dog turned its attention to the stranger, still shrouded by the branches protecting her from the beast below. Somehow, the voice sounded vaguely familiar. An ex? Naw, she never went for dog people. Too much pet/people drama to be had.

  "Ma'am?” The dog growled. “Andy, no. She's a friend.” The dog quieted, but glared up at her. She stuck her tongue out, causing the dog to growl again. “Dammit, Andy. What am I gonna do with you?"

  What am I gonna do with you? The way he said it really did sound familiar. True, she'd heard those words often enough from Tash and Sam back at Half-were house, but she was sure she'd heard them with that same drawl… Oh. Shit.

  "Patrick?” She buried her face against the tree branch supporting her and wished for the ground to open up and swallow her, and the tree, whole.

  She heard him step closer, but refused to look up, down, whatever. “Gina?"

  Yup, her day just got hella worse. She waved at him with one hand, but didn't raise her head. “Yeah, it's me. How you doing this evening?” She didn't give him a chance to respond. “Good? Good. Me, I'm just trying not to die of embarrassment or be eaten by Dogzilla here. How am I doing? Oh, wait, still alive. Damn. Better luck next time. If you'll just wander off with the radioactive dog, I'll crawl down from the tree and then keep going once I find a big enough rock to hide under. Thanks, see ya."

  She tightened her grip on the branch, arms and legs wrapped around the smooth bark, and waited for Patrick and the devil's spawn to leave. They didn't.

  "Gina, get down from there. Andy, so help me, you will not get any steaks ever again if you don't behave."

  She peeked through her lashes to see the dog's response. It stared at Patrick for a moment before flopping to the ground with a sigh. Steaks. Huh.

  "He's not going to go feral on me again?"

  Patrick shook his head. “He didn't go feral on you, Gina. He just got… excited. Now, crawl down. Unless you like showing the whole damned park that you're not wearing panties."

  He growled the last few words. Well, she thought she felt a nice cool breeze. But he acted as if she was personally affronting him by her lack of undergarments and that she was showing her bare ass.

  Adrenaline still coursed through her veins from her chase so it didn't take much to get the inner kitty to play nice and help her out of the tree. A quick shot of her were strength and she landed on the ground with nary a sound, four feet from the nasty animal Patrick called a dog.

  Patrick ran a hand through is light brown hair, making it a rumpled, but sexy, mess. “I'm really sorry about Andy acting up like that, Gina. He's usually a gentle dog."

  She eyed the animal in question. Two hundred pounds. Easy. Dog just didn't seem like a good enough descriptor for the animal. Beast had been more apt. “Uh huh.” She held her ground, not wanting to incite the animal's snarly wrath again and used her “I'm talking to a little kid” voice. “Why don't you keep a nice tight hold on him while I hunt down my shoes? M'kay?"

  He shifted to block her path. Several feet separated them, but she stood frozen. “You're bleeding, Gi.” She glanced down and realized that her venture up the tree hadn't been without collateral damage.

  "I'll be okay—"

  Patrick cut her off. “Let's just get you to the house and I'll come back out for your shoes. You broke one anyway so it's not like you're walking home. Daniel or I will take you home once we've got you taken care of. How does that sound?” He phrased it as a question, but she didn't imagine he'd take no for an answer.

  Her heart pounded in her chest. Most of what she'd heard was “blah, blah, Daniel, blah, home". Yum! Daniel and Patrick and home. She may have actually sighed. Aloud. Complete with dreamy look on her face and everything.

  Which Patrick took as agreement on her part. Before she could object (as if she would) he had an arm wrapped around her shoulders and placed his other behind her knees. He scooped her off the ground and walked toward one of the gates out of the park. Whoa, baby. Patrick was packing some serious muscle beneath his clothes and the fact that he picked her up without a problem just proved his strength. Considering her weight (and she did… daily), scooping her from the ground as if she was light as a feather just proved to her that he should be in a Mr. Universe competition or something. Okay, maybe Mr. Universe was going too far, but damn, the man had muscles. With her curves upon curves upon curves, she wasn't delusional when it came to her size or weight, but somehow, Mr. Pick-me-up made her feel petite. Small even.

  Gina didn't waste time pretending to be shocked or upset by his ha
ndling. Instead, she slipped her arms around his neck and snuggled closer. Gay or not, Patrick was a hot hunk of man and her body responded in kind.

  She peeked down at the ground and noticed that Andy seemed to have gotten over his objection and utter hate of her rather quickly as he followed sedately behind them. Patrick still had the dog's leash looped around his wrist, but as big as the beast was, it could run off quick as you please without so much as a ta-ta for now. Steak. Hmm…

  The dog must have felt her stare because it turned its attention to her and bared his teeth. So much for that.

  "Just a bit further. Are you in a lot of pain?"

  Pain? Wha—"Um, no, I'm fine. I appreciate you being so gallant and all that, Patrick."

  He snorted. “Gallant? Naw, just your regular creepy guy looking for an excuse to get his hands on a hot woman."

  She whipped her head around to stare at Patrick, but before she could question him or shove her tongue down his throat for saying she was hot, Andy barked.

  "Yeah, boy, we're almost home,” he assured the dog. Only the barking didn't stop. The whole trudge up the steps and toward the door, he barked and hopped and acted like a general nuisance. Her annoyance grew until she felt the telltale tingle in her lower back. Well, fuck.

  Before she could cool her temper, she'd sprouted. The damned tail grew from her lower back, just above her ass. Three feet of near white and grey fluffiness sprouted and lengthened from beneath her dress as Patrick climbed the stairs. Thank goodness the dog kept him occupied enough to not notice her new appendage. Not that he'd be too overwhelmed. It wasn't as if he didn't know she was a halfsie. Then again, he probably hadn't been faced with too many half-shifts in his lifetime either. Secrecy of the prides and all that.

  The damned dog kept barking and tugging on Patrick's wrist, which in turn, jostled her and then… The fucking beastie had the gall to sniff and then growl at her tail. Her. Tail.

  Oh hells, no.

  Before she could think better of it, not that she would of anyway, she rapped the dog on the end of his nose. Not hard enough to hurt, but hard enough to teach the dog that regardless of his size, she was the big cat. The dog whimpered like a baby and quieted immediately. Pansy.

  Patrick finally reached the top step and set her on her feet just as the front door swung open to reveal Daniel. She took a moment to look him over while he got over the shock of finding her on his doorstep. After she'd broken his… hand? Her eyes landed on the hand in question and she didn't find a cast. Well, that just made her day a hundred times better. Like, over the moon better. Now, she didn't have anything to confess to Tash and Sam. Whew.

  Well, he had to still be a little sore, but at least it wasn't broken. His hand shifted and tightened the towel around his waist. Towel?

  Whoa, baby.

  She scanned his body quickly. Trim hips, flat stomach, killer pecs and wide shoulders. Yum. The man seemed to have muscle upon muscle upon muscle. By the time she reached his face he was smiling with one eyebrow arched. Well, she'd never been bashful before, why start now? Besides, he was gay, like all the other hot men in the world, and practically married to the man standing next to her. She could look, just not touch since it'd probably gross him out.

  Tail swishing between her legs, she quickly wrapped it around her thigh and prayed no one had seen her little slip up. She liked to call them blips, but when explaining “blips” to Tasheka, the word just seemed to piss the woman off even more. The silken hair tickled her legs and she hoped pleasantries would get underway. She really needed to get somewhere private to take care of her spontaneous fur problem. Any second now, guys.

  Chapter Three

  "That was fast.” Daniel winced internally and cursed himself. He didn't imagine Gina appearing on his doorstep wearing next to nothing meant she was here because of what he and Patrick had discussed. Dammit, couldn't Patrick have called and warned him? That was why they had cell phones. Sort of.

  Best play it off somehow. Then again, when he looked at Patrick the man just smirked at him, proving that his lover was well aware of his discomfort. He cleared his throat. “Hey Gina, uh, I guess you ran into Patrick in the park.” Stupid. He turned his attention to Patrick for some help. “Andy not up to much of a walk today?"

  Please play along, please. Before I get a fucking hard-on in front of her, for her… in her. No. Wrong way for my thoughts to turn.

  Patrick released the dog's leash and Andy bound into the townhouse. Odd since the dog rarely left his side when he was home. He'd had Andy for years before becoming Patrick's partner and the dog was practically a second mate. Minus the sex, of course.

  "Actually, Andy was in mind for a run.” He raised his eyebrows, shocked that the big bear of a dog who normally hated walks wanted to run. Patrick continued. “In fact, he ran Gina up a tree.” Patrick nudged Gina forward and across the threshold. “I now leave her to your tender mercies while I go hunt for her shoes.” Patrick leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to his lips, and then jogged down the steps. “Bye, Gi!"

  With that, Patrick did exactly as he promised and left him with Gina. He wanted to scream at the man to come back, but the words died in his throat as the woman in question skirted around him and into their home. Her ass brushed his hip and he fought the urge to grasp her and grind his growing erection into her ass. Fuck.

  Why did Patrick have to leave him with her? After all they'd talked about this afternoon, he had to bring the object of their collective lust home with him? Now?

  She moved silently as a cat in their home. One moment she stood in the hallway with him and the next she'd disappeared, little bits of dirt and grass the only evidence that she hadn't been a dream.

  Daniel followed her trail through his home. He passed one door and then another. When he strode past the living room, he noticed Andy doing his best to fit his two hundred pound body underneath their leather couch. What the hell was up with that dog?

  The muffled footsteps above him wrenched his attention away from their pet and back to the woman. His woman. Their woman. Okay, in his dreams maybe, but nothing could change the fact that she was there, in their house, and he was getting the chance to take care of her. The reasons, whys, and wherefores didn't matter any longer. He and Patrick had talked, agreed and sealed the decision with a good old fashioned fuck before Patrick had taken the dog for his daily walk. Only… he hadn't imagined his lover jumping into things so fast. Or maybe it was just fate fucking with them. Either way, he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

  Holding his towel, he took the stairs two at a time, ignoring the smudges of dirt on the polished stairs. His inner neat-freak wanted him to stop and wipe the floor clean, but lust rode him hard, right beside nerves and just behind anticipation.

  He didn't find her on the second floor, a quick look into the spare bedrooms and office revealed that she'd been there, but wasn't there now. Again he bounded up the stairs. The third floor only held the master suite. Oh. Shit. He stopped at the top of the stairs and begged his dick to soften, willed his heart rate to slow.

  Years. Years of listening to tales of Gina's antics, humor and unrelenting loyalty had him feeling emotions that he wasn't sure were justified just yet. At least, he didn't think she'd believe him if he ran in with a raging hard on and words of love and shit. Okay, it probably wasn't love, but it was definitely lust with a big heaping helping of like. Yeah, lots and lots of like. He stared down at his cock, straining against the weight of the towel wrapped around his waist. About eight inches of solid, nail pounding, like.

  Daniel closed his eyes and tipped back his head. He took a deep cleansing breath and shook off the lust riding him like a damned bronco and straightened his shoulders. He could do this. He could be the nice amenable guy that takes care of the girl without any sexual overtones. Yeah. This, this he could do. He swallowed past the lump in his throat and stepped into the bedroom. He heard their guest tinkering in the bathroom and assumed she was looking for first aid supplies. He wa
sn't going to tell her that they had some in the kitchen downstairs. Not when he had her so close to a bed and… No. Not going there. Not yet anyway.

  Attention focused on the bathroom door, he slipped into a pair of loose-fitting shorts. His cock, still half-hard, caught on the elastic and he wondered for a moment if he should slip on a pair of briefs to help keep the Big Man Below restrained. A muffled curse reached his ears and he decided against any further clothing. Gina sounded as if she were in pain and here he was, wondering how best to handle his dick. Asshole.

  He strode toward the open bathroom door and stepped over the threshold only to be pole-axed by the vision before him. Gina, all curves, spit and fire, was sitting on the bathroom counter, legs forming a V that left her completely open to his gaze. One leg dangled and bounced against the cabinets while the other foot was resting on the counter, pressed against her ass on the smooth granite beneath her. And she wasn't wearing panties or knickers or underwear, or whatever the fuck you called the damned material that should have been hiding her most intimate place from his view. Nope, the most perfectly constructed woman in the world was propped open, pink and slick and damned if he didn't want to sink to his knees in front of her. He wanted to make a meal of her pussy, gorge himself on her for as long as she let him.

  Gina's attention was focused on her leg and while she seemed oblivious to his presence, he decided to look his fill. Perverted? Absolutely. He'd proudly state his status as the Perverts Club President if it meant he could stare at this woman. Her kinky, curly black hair hung like a curtain, shielding her face from his view. Good thing there was a lot more of her he could look at for now. The dress she wore clung to her curves, outlining the generous swell of her breasts, the curve of her stomach and flare of her hips. When his gaze landed on her lush thighs, his perusal ended. Damn. That tree Andy had chased her up did a number on the skin of her thighs and here he was…