Page 28 of Moon Tamed

Fourteen hours would give me plenty of time to go to my apartment, pack a bag, and get some sleep. “That’s not a large window before regular working hours. Is there anything I can do to fill in while you’re handling the animals?”

While some humans developed telepathy, I lacked the ability. That didn’t stop me from glaring at Allasandro Stephans and thinking about how they would earn my wrath if they refused my offer to help.

He sighed. “There is. I’ll make a list.”

I glanced at Calden, and his eyes widened in surprise.

Teaching Mr. Stephans the art of delegation might be the solution Calden needed, but I wouldn’t be certain until I had a chance to start my assignment in earnest.

The future intrigued me.

FIVE

My blissful life as a free, single woman had done him in.

While it took some work, the cheetahs and the start of their empire, my library books, my bounty from the bookstore, and my suitcase fit in my dad’s SUV. The animals rode on my lap, and I fought the urge to open their cage and pet them.

I wanted to pet the pint-sized predators, who would rule over us all given a week. Or the next ten minutes.

“You’re not upset with us?” my father asked.

Was my family insane? I stared at him, wondering why I might be upset with any of them. “Why would I get upset over free rent?”

I’d spent most of my adult life dreaming of free rent, and I would enjoy the moment while it lasted.

“Well, we did go behind your back about it.”

I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “At any time during the insanity that was your knuckle slap games, I could have said no. I want to go camping, and being near work is a good thing. Having free rent, so I can spend more money on books, is great. With everything going on, having to deal with a commute might break me.”

My father’s pained sigh amused me, and I wondered which one of my decisions had gotten to him this time. “Between your work attitude, your general professionalism, and your beauty—inherited from me, of course—I don’t know how you’re not drowning in boyfriends.”

Ah. My blissful life as a free, single woman had done him in. While my mother hoped for grandchildren, she’d kept a lid on her personal desires. My father couldn’t help himself. Whenever he saw a baby anything, he wanted more babies around. “I don’t kiss on the first date,” I reminded him.

“You should still be drowning in boyfriends. Absolutely drowning in them. They should be waging war over you on your doorstep.”

“You know I can’t stand boring men, Dad.” I’d stopped reporting in whenever I’d gone on a date with someone determined to act like a peacock without possessing the charm of actual peacocks. Had a man come calling while screaming war cries and dropping a dead mouse at my feet while beating his chest, I would have considered a second date.

There was nothing boring about someone willing to do a display of utter insanity for the sake of a second date.

He heaved another sigh, casting forlorn looks my way. “I see. I’m too good of an example. I’m a rare breed, and now my daughter is doomed to forever search for perfection.”

Laughing, I shrugged. “It’s not my fault the perfect men are already taken or are emotionally unavailable.”

He chuckled. “What do you think of Allasandro?”

Ew. “Way too old.”

“Not as a boyfriend, Coraline. Get your head out of the gutter.”

Damn. My father had baited me before switching subjects, and he’d gotten me good. “Sorry, Dad. You failed to appropriately transition between subjects. He’s a lot nicer than I expected, startlingly generous, and much funnier than I thought possible. Overall, I like him.”

“Good. And Calden?”

Ouch. I’d feel that question for a while. “He definitely falls into the probably taken or otherwise emotionally unavailable category. He’s the dream of every woman in the city, and that includes a terrifying number of mothers and grandmothers. I can’t handle that sort of competition. He seems to have a good personality to go with his looks, which doesn’t help matters any.”

“It may not help much, but most of the mothers and grandmothers tend to fixate on Allasandro. It’s an issue. He’s convinced he won the last vote because of his sex appeal.”

I had news for my father, and the sex appeal of the Stephans men only accounted for maybe a quarter of the votes. As far as I could tell, Allasandro had earned his position and worked hard to keep it, and Calden busted ass doing whatever he could to help his father.

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