Page 23 of Bria and the Tiger

“Not yet,” Bria said. “But I don’t really have time to be picky.”

“Yes, you do. If you don’t find someone, you can just use -”

“I can’t use Jace for my heat cycle. He’s my boss now.”

“I wasn’t going to suggest Jace,” Kat said with a raised eyebrow. “But it’s interesting that you went right to that. Are you regretting turning Jace down?”

“No,” Bria lied. “But even if I was, it’s too late now. I’m not fucking my boss.”

“I know. But what I was going to say is that if you don’t find someone to date in the next couple of weeks, you can use the website to find someone. There are bound to be more shifters like Jace on there.”

“Yeah,” Bria cleaned the mushrooms and sliced them. She wouldn’t tell Kat this, but if she didn’t find herself a boyfriend before her next heat, she really would just chain herself to her headboard. She couldn’t use that website to pick out a shifter to sleep with. She just couldn’t.

* * *

“Jace? Hello…pay attention to me.”

Jace looked up from his laptop and gave Rosalie an apologetic smile. “Sorry.”

“What’s going on with you?” Rosalie leaned back in her chair and tapped her pen against her chin.

“Nothing.”

“You’ve been acting weird since you interviewed that Norsen woman this afternoon.”

“No, I haven’t.”

“Yes, you have.”

“No, I haven’t.”

Rosalie gave him an exasperated look. “Fine, you haven’t. Think you can pay attention to me long enough to get through this month’s budget report? It’s after six already and I’d like to get out of here.”

He winced. “Sorry. I know you’ve been working a lot of overtime this last month. But we hired Bria and she’s starting Monday. Once she’s trained, things should get easier for you.”

She nodded, and he scratched at his lean abdomen. “I really do appreciate all the extra work you’ve been doing, Rosalie.”

“I know. I didn’t mean to snap, I just have plans for tonight.”

“Ooh, going on a date, Rosie-girl?”

Lincoln strolled into his office without knocking and the scent of Rosalie’s desire immediately washed over Jace. He ignored it as the lion shifter grinned at his assistant. “Who’s the lucky guy?”

Her face bright red, Rosalie shook her head. “Uh, not a date. I have a dentist appointment.”

“Oh. You sure know how to party on a Friday night.” Lincoln dropped into the seat next to her and gave her a panty-melting grin. “I like your outfit today, Rosie.”

“Th-thank you.”

Jace groaned inwardly when the scent of her need increased. He knew Lincoln could smell it too. He wanted to kick his best friend when Lincoln reached out and pulled on a lock of Rosalie’s curly hair. “Thanks for getting me a coffee this morning.”

“No problem.” She chewed on her bottom lip and stared at Lincoln’s mouth.

“Rosalie?” Jace said. There was no reply and he repeated her name.

“Uh, yeah?” She dragged her gaze from Lincoln’s mouth. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing,” Jace said. “Why don’t you head out. We’ll finish going over the budget report Monday morning. Okay?”

---