Island Stripe Pride - Chapter 60: Chapter 60

Mara tapped her pencil against the yellow legal pad she was doodling on when she was supposed to be preparing a sample menu for the surprise wedding taking place at the Lodge this weekend.
Toni had called her an hour ago with the exciting news. It was just after the dinner rush, and Mara had been going over the books, wondering how she was going to pay for the changes she wanted to make when Toni phoned. She should have been thrilled to get the job—should have been being the operative phrase. But how could Mara be excited when she’d have to spend even more time at the Shifter run resort? More time there meant more near him. The man was the bane of her existence.
Crap. Crap. Crappity crap.
Okay, fine. She was only complaining cause her inner hoochie wanted to climb the male like he was some hill for her to mount. He was just so big, so sexy, so muscled up. But whatever. That tomcat was just not for her. Regardless of what her inner slutastic Bunny thought, Bruno D’Italia was out of her league.
So, what if he was all tattooed and pierced with his sexy bad boy haircut and that totally kissable mouth? Not that she would know, much to her annoyance. Were guys even supposed to have lips that plump? Or an ass that squeezable. He really knew how to fill out a pair of jeans. Did she mention that bat he tried to hide beneath his zipper? Yowza. Dude was seriously sporting a foot long under there. Seriously. At least, she thought so.
You should find out.
Eeek! No!
Ugh. Whatever.
Whatever was right. It did not matter if he had a foot long or a mini because Mara was never going, nor did she ever want to find out.
Liar liar.
Fine. She was mildly curious. But Mara would never act on it. Bruno D’Italia was a total man-ho. She’d heard all the rumors about the ridiculously large, little black book of booty calls he had at his fingertips.
The guy might be a Tiger, but he was the quintessential Italian Stallion, servicing every female with a working vajayjay within a five-mile radius of his supposedly enormous dong.
“Hey.” Manny Rodriguez, their newest hire, and member of the Cottontail Flock, walked in with his usual neutral expression and nodded at Mara.
The Rabbit Shifter was quiet, straightlaced, and showed no sign of a sense of humor. But she’d known him since grade school, and he showed up on time and did his job. That was more than she could say for the last two people she’d hired to replace that lunatic who’d tried to kill her sister. Manny’s pace slowed as he walked past her, until he came to a full stop, and leaned down to read her paper.
“Um, Mara?”
“Yeah,” she mumbled noncommittally.
“Why are you drawing dicks all over that piece of paper?”
“What? Oh shit,” she mumbled, tearing the sheet off the pad and crumbling it into a ball.
Fucking hell.
“Care to explain? Cause I came in here for a job, not to be some kind of sex object for you⁠—”
“Oh my fucking gods, Manny! Like no way, no how, never,” she retorted, horrified.
“Relax,” the Rabbit Shifter replied, a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I’ve known you forever and am aware we have zero feelings for each other. But seriously, Mara, is something going on?”
Mortification made her face red and her pulse race. Manny patted her shoulder awkwardly, and she slumped forward, banging her head on the desk. Could this get any worse?
“This is a new low. Caught drawing pictures of schlongs by my staff!” she wailed.
“You know, staff is another word for penis,” Manny interjected unhelpfully.
“Hi!” Dominique, another new hire, came waltzing in. “What are we doing?”
“Listing all the nicknames for penis on that paper,” Manny replied, straight-faced, and nodded at the ball of paper Mara had tossed into the wastebasket.
“Oooh, I wanna place,” Dom replied cheerfully, dumping her purse and keys on the floor, and taking the crumpled up paper from the trash.
“Well, there are just pictures here. But I can start listing them on a new sheet,” she said when yet another person walked into the diner.
Fucking hell.
It was him. Bruno D’Italia. The man himself came striding in, wearing fitted jeans with rips in the knees, black work boots, and a skintight t-shirt that showcased all of his many, many muscles.
“What’s going on?” he asked, eyes going to where Manny’s hand rested on her shoulder.
The Rabbit released her and stepped back, and Mara became instantly annoyed.
“Nothing,” she growled.
“We’re listing alternative names for penis, er, penises, or um, penii—hmm, you know, I don’t know what the plural is for penis, but that is what we are doing,” Dominique, the pretty, young, and annoyingly blonde Bunny, replied.
Bruno grinned at her, approaching slowly with his hands on his hips. His eyes were dancing jovially, and he sucked air between his teeth as if he liked what he was looking at. Mara unfairly decided just then that she hated her new employee. Dominique was one of those obnoxiously adorable and perky females who looked cute in everything from yoga pants to ball gowns. She probably woke up with her makeup perfect and her hair all bouncy, like she’d just curled it. Ugh. Mara was a frumpy mess in comparison.
“Okay, first, who started this game? And second, what have you got so far?” Bruno asked Dom, and Mara had to bite her lip to stop her growl.
“We just started,” the younger woman replied.
“It was Mara’s idea,” Manny chimed in. “I believe we have dick and staff.”
Bruno laughed then, and Mara wanted to die.
“Okay, well, that is a pretty short list—pun intended,” he said with a wink at Mara. “Okay, if we’re gonna do this, we need drinks.”
“What? I don’t think we have time, I mean, we just closed, and Manny and Dom are here to clean and start the prep work for tomorrow⁠—”
“Plenty of time for that, boss,” Manny said.
The Rabbit walked behind the counter and grabbing a couple of bottles of beer. He passed them around, and with nothing else to do, Mara opened hers and took a long pull.
“Write this down,” Bruno told Dom, his golden eyes seemed glued to Mara.
She took another sip from the glass bottle of domestic beer Manny had handed her and ignored the behemoth. What was she doing with her life? Playing some sort of perverse drinking game with her employees and nemesis? This was not a good idea.
But it might be fun.
“Dick and staff are good places to start, but there are so many more options. Rod, lance, johnson, prick, wang, knob, pecker, and the list just goes on. So what we will do is go around the table taking turns calling out dick names—no repeats. Everyone drinks after each name gets added to the list.”
“No—”
“Yes,” Dominique replied, drowning out Mara’s no.
“Agreed,” Manny said. “I’ll get more beer.”
“Come on, kit. It’ll be fun,” Bruno whispered in her ear from his new seat right beside her.
When had that happened? She turned her head slightly, trying not to let his nearness affect her. He was a predator and would pick up on every nuance of her reactions. Keeping her body as still as she could, Mara nodded once.
“Va bene,” he whispered, his smile making him even more handsome.
“OMG! This is so much fun,” Dominique squeaked. “I got one—wonder wand!”
“That’s awful,” Mara replied and giggled, then snorted, and covered her mouth.
“Drink,” Bruno said, and everyone lifted their bottles.
“I know, how about pleasure pistol?” Manny added.
“That’s terrible, man.” Bruno laughed, then nodded at Mara.
Drink.
“John Thomas,” she added.
“Ooh, getting fancy,” Manny replied with a snort.
Drink.
“I know! Isn’t willy a name for a penis?” Dominique asked.
“That it is,” Manny replied, and Mara noticed he’d moved his chair a little closer to her young employee. Interesting.
Drink.
“How about trouser snake?”
“That is so gross,” Mara barked, and everyone laughed.
But she was still watching the others, noting the long looks Manny gave the other Bunny female. Dominique seemed oblivious, and Mara wondered if she really could not feel Manny’s eyes on her. But nope. The younger woman seemed fixated on Bruno, who was attentive but not overly so. In fact, he seemed just as interested in talking to Manny as he did to the very pretty Dom.
Hmmm.
“Your turn,” Bruno said to Mara, smiling and looking more relaxed as the game went on.
Gods, he was so hot. His smile was genuine. Real in a way that made her insides warm in response. Not at all like the stuffed shirts she usually dated. Mara worried her lower lip, thinking about the Flock’s meet and mate session she’d signed up for.
“Fine. I need a minute though,” Mara placed her bottle on the table and looked around at the three people sitting with her.
This was definitely not her norm for a weeknight, but it was fun, she realized. Always a good girl, she didn’t usually just go around thinking about dicks and chugging beer bottles. But this was the most fun thing she’d done in a long while. And to think, it all started cause she’d been thinking about him. Well, more specifically, his dick. Now that she started, Mara just couldn’t stop.
Dick. Dick. DICK.
Gulp.
“Come on, boss lady,” Dominique encouraged.
“You got this,” Bruno cheered her on.
“Okay,” she said, wetting her lips with her tongue. “I got a long one⁠—”
“Pun intended,” Bruno said, and everyone laughed, Mara included.
“Another name for a penis is a wet-heat seeking pulsating purple helmeted wonder rocket!”
The table erupted into moans and shouts. The four of them laughing and chugging, and Mara realized they were four beers in each—maybe not a lot for some, but that was more than she usually drank. Thank goodness for Shifter metabolism or she wouldn’t be able to find the floor when they were ready to leave.
“Oh!”
“Ha!”
“Mara Casabella, you are the queen of synonyms, the unparalleled champion of coming up with alternative names for penises,” Manny said, bowing to her before handing her another beer.
She giggled, accepting it, not noticing the big Tiger’s eyes on the two of them. Manny was bastardizing one of Shakespeare’s sonnets, comparing her to a naughty pun. The Rabbit was funny and loved to read. He always had a book in his backpack to peruse on breaks, and Mara enjoyed talking bookish things with him.
But that was all. He was just a friend. Like all the guys she knew. Mara was always the big sister or bestie they could be themselves with. She was mostly okay with it.
Mostly.
Only now, as she looked at the big Tiger, she started to wonder if maybe she could not be something more. Maybe she was silly for trying to abide by old-fashioned notions of mates and the Flock’s dating rules. Look what happened with Toni. Their dad had almost ruined her life with his prejudice and lies.
She had RSVP’d for the Flock’s Meet and Mate, but what if that was a mistake? Looking at Bruno watching her like she was worthy of a big, sexy tomcat’s attention had her thinking maybe she was selling herself short.
Just maybe.