Page 21 of Bria and the Tiger

As Rosalie ushered her into the room, the woman stood and held out her hand. “Hello, Ms. Norsen. I’m Betty.”

The woman was a raccoon shifter. If her scent hadn’t given her away, the dark circles under her eyes and her fidgeting would have. Bria shook her hand. “Hi, nice to meet you. Please call me Bria.”

Betty indicated for her to sit down. Bria set her purse on the floor and folded her hands in her lap as Rosalie poured a glass of water from the jug on the credenza. She placed it in front of her before leaving.

“I’m so sorry that Mr. Shepherd isn’t here yet. He’s on his way, but I thought we could get started anyway.” Betty’s hands moved restlessly, toying with the pen, then her water glass and a pale yellow file folder.

“That’s fine with me.”

Betty yawned and then gave Bria a chastised look. “Oh, excuse me.”

“Not a problem.” Racoons were nocturnal, and Bria was a little surprised to see one who worked a day job. Most raccoon shifters preferred the night shift.

As Betty pulled her resume from the file folder, Bria took a deep breath.

You can do this, Bria.

* * *

“Well, Bria,” Betty said fifteen minutes later. “I think you’d be the perfect fit in our company. We’ve been without a receptionist for nearly a month now, and I know Rosalie in particular, is anxious to get the position filled. With your prior experience as a receptionist, I think you’d do very well.”

“Thank you,” Bria said. “I enjoy being around people and I can promise you that I’ll treat each client with respect.”

“That’s what we’re looking for. We have a few demanding clients and they require a little extra babying when they come in. Why, we’ve got one client that Mr. Shepherd’s shown over twenty-five houses to, and they still haven’t found the one they want. It’s starting to become a bit of a joke among the staff on whether they’ll – oh, here’s Mr. Shepherd now.”

Bria stood and turned around. The smile faded from her lips, but her cat purred happily and made a soft meow of excitement.

“Bria! What – what are you doing here?” Jace stared at her in surprise.

“You’re Mr. Shepherd,” she said stupidly.

“Do you already know Jace?” Betty asked.

“We, uh, well…”

“We met once before through a mutual friend,” Jace said.

“Then you must know how great she is,” Betty said.

“Yes.” Jace pulled on his tie. “Sorry, I’m late.”

“No problem.” Bria nearly fell back into her chair. Her palms were sweating, and dismay was flooding through her body as Jace took the chair next to Betty. She handed him Bria’s resume and he scanned it briefly.

There goes this job.

“We started the interview without you,” Betty said. “I have to confess, I think Bria would be perfect for the position.”

He nodded and placed her resume on the table before staring at her. “Good. When can you start?”

Bria blinked at him in shock as Betty made a particularly large twitch and touched Jace’s arm. “Do you not have any questions for her?”

“I trust your judgement.” Jace glanced at his watch. “I have another appointment in fifteen minutes. Did you go over salary and benefits with Bria?”

Betty nodded and Jace glanced at Bria. “Were they acceptable?”

“Um, yes,” Bria said.

“Good. Betty, why don’t you get Bria to fill out the paperwork and have her set up with a key card? Can you start Monday?”

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