The Maverick Pride Tales - Chapter 168: Chapter 168

“Oh my fur, you ate four frozen supreme pizzas!” Toni declared, shocked and somewhat impressed.
Pierce raised one eyebrow, swiping a chip from the basket that sat between them. The man didn’t even look full yet. Heck, he was still rummaging around for something else to sink his mighty sharp teeth into.
“You ate two,” he pointed out unhelpfully.
“Rude,” Toni replied. “You aren’t supposed to comment on how much a lady eats.”
“Why? I think you look sexy when you eat,” he said, propping his forearms on the table and leaning over.
No elbows. Nice.
“Sure I do.” Toni gave an unladylike snort.
“I speak the truth,” Pierce said. “You chew more than any Shifter I have ever seen. It’s cute and ladylike. Also, I like you’re honest about food. I hate when people pretend to live on spinach leaves and water. I don’t. I mean, I’m a Tiger, I eat all the time. Nice to sit and eat a meal with a woman who is comfortable with her love of pizza,” he said, a hint of teasing in his voice at the end.
That was new, Toni thought. Lion males ate like pigs, but many of the Lionesses she grew up with acted like that. Not her sisters, of course, but she remembered sleepovers or parties before school dances where the girls all ate before the guys arrived because they didn’t want them to think they were heifers. It was all weird to Toni, and she never did play into it. Even so, it was nice to hear him speak honestly.
Okay, he likes that I eat.
She’d heard the truth in his voice, but the way he dropped compliments left and right was enough to make her head spin. Maybe that was the point. He sure was handsome, sexy as sin truthfully, and Toni wondered what he needed a matchmaker for.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“I was wondering why you contacted Uncle Uzzi,” she said, going for broke.
“We can have that talk any time you want, Toni, but the truth is, I don’t think you’re ready yet. How about we ease into it?” he asked.
“Alright. Easy does it,” she replied.
Pierce nodded, his aqua gaze glued to hers, and she shivered involuntarily. The gleam in his eyes made certain long forgotten parts of her stand up and take notice. She’d never seen such eyes on a person before, and they were positively mesmerizing. Not quite blue or green, but some mystical combination that seemed to inspire passion and evoke curiosity.
“Okay, so what are we supposed to do? Just like, share the cabin for the weekend?” she asked, determined to quit staring.
This was ridiculous. She was a grown ass Lioness. Not some cub who’d never spent the night with a boy. But this was new, she had to admit. Her body was reacting to his nearness in ways she would have never expected.
Didn’t matter. They weren’t sleeping together the first night. Or maybe not ever. Her Lioness took exception to that. The big Cat had been watching Pierce with unwavering attention ever since she’d seen him leap over her to chase that bear away.
Grrrrr.
“Yeah. I mean, it’s a vacation,” he said, interrupting her train of thought.
“Vacation?”
“Yep. So, what do you normally do on vacation?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I don’t normally go on vacation,” she admitted.
“Ah, workaholic?” he asked, and he was teasing, but it still made her nervous.
“Yeah, actually,” she said, gauging his reaction. “I think it’s important we start out truthfully with each other, if slowly. See, for a while now, work was the most important thing in my life.”
“But it’s not now? How come?”
“Are you fishing for information, Pierce McDowd?” she replied with a question.
Truth was, Toni really hoped he was fishing for more info on her. It was not every day a man who looked like him stuck around to chat Toni up.
Her rep as an ice queen meant the only guys brave enough to approach her were narcissists or ego maniacs. But not him. Oh no, Pierce McDowd was something else.
Sexy, tempting boy with soul-piercing eyes.
“I want to learn everything I can about you, but I’m a patient man, Miss Golden,” he said, a grin playing at the corner of his sexy mouth. “Tell you what. We can go for a hike after we clean up.”
“That’s a good idea. Maybe we can shift,” she said, and her thoughts returned to images of Pierce just after his earlier change to his beast.
The Tiger was gorgeous, and the man even more so. Toni would not mind getting another peek. Of course, the moment Toni agreed thunder boomed and lightning flashed outside the huge ceiling to floor glass windows that made up the one entire side of the cabin.
Mother Nature sure was a pussy-blocking beyotch sometimes.
“I guess not,” he replied with a bark of laughter.
They made quick work of the kitchen, clearing their junk food feast and playing twenty questions. It was the kind of thing she hadn’t done since she was a kid, and never with a boy she was interested in—and she was interested.
She could admit that, even if only to herself. Anything else would be a boldfaced lie. Pierce McDowd was interesting AF.
“Lemme get this straight, you dunk pizza crust in diet cola?”
“Yup. Cheese puffs too,” she told him, grinning when he made a face of abject horror.
“Toni, that mouth of yours has had me hypnotized since the moment I saw you, but your questionable snacks leave me wondering if maybe I was dropped on my head as a cub,” he teased.
“Hypnotized, huh? That’s a good one,” she said, turning around to watch the rain pelting the glass.
It was shockingly beautiful. The power of the sudden storm beating against the glass. Lightning struck very close by, and she jumped, eyes wide at the trees shaking in the fierce wind and the absolute raw beauty of it.
“Easy, pretty girl. This window wall is made using top of the line insulated glass panels. No lightning is coming through them.”
“It’s really something else. Did you, uh, did you build this?”
“Maverick Development built all the cabins here. This is Pride land.”
“Oh, I see, and you work construction?” she asked, and looking him over, well, it was obvious.
The Tiger Shifter was massive. He had wide shoulders with thick cords of muscle circling his arms and chest, down his belly and legs. He wasn’t gym rat buff, but he was big, and he was strong. She could just tell.
“I worked for Maverick Development since I was eighteen,” he said, a little evasively, but it was the truth. “See here, we used towering pine trunks from the woods here to frame the glass. The perfect merger of nature and tech.”
“It looks amazing,” she agreed.
The tree trunk frame and seamless glass made it look as though she were standing in the forest the deeper she stepped into the room. The entire first floor of the cabin was an open design with no walls separating the rooms. The kitchen, dining room, and living room all flowed together, with access to an outside terrace. Even in the middle of the storm, it was breathtaking.
“How about a movie?” he asked, turning to the huge entertainment system on the opposite side of the room.
“Sure. What are our options?”
Pierce ran down a list, and after a little while they decided on a horror spoof flick they’d both seen a million times but could always watch again. She had never had so much fun.
“I’ll make popcorn,” she told him, turning to go back to the kitchen.
It didn’t matter that they’d just eaten enough to choke a pig. She could always use a snack. The cabin’s kitchen was equipped with an air popper, and microwave oven, and a dozen other gadgets and gizmos. It was like glamping, she mused, wondering what her sisters would say if they could see her now.
“You put salt on this?”
“Yep. And butter,” she said, grabbing a handful before taking a pull from her bottle of beer.
She brought one for him too, settling down next to him on the enormous love seat.
“I can’t believe I am sitting here with a virtual stranger watching a scary movie in a cabin in the woods. It’s like a scene from this movie,” she scoffed, laughing when he made choking sounds.
“You think I’m some kind of serial murderer?”
“Well, I don’t know you,” she teased, shrugging her shoulders.
“Yes, you do. I’m Pierce, remember? Handsome Tiger, saved you from a wild bear⁠—”
“I did not need saving,” she interrupted, but he just went on like she had not said anything at all.
“Besides, pretty girl, I saw you text my picture to someone, likely asking for the lowdown. Was it Uncle Uzzi?”
“When did you see that?”
“When you thought I wasn’t looking, but I am glad you did, Toni Golden. Shows you’re smarter than the average kitten.”
Oh snap. He caught that, did he?
“See, now I am thinking maybe this whole thing is not a good idea. I mean, yes, I did take your picture to get confirmation of your person. I mean, you don’t just meet some hot guy in the woods and decide, yay, vacation buddies. Besides, you took off your clothes seconds after meeting me and tried to wrestle a bear. Clearly, you have knight-in-shining-armor issues. And another thing, I am no kitten,” she stated.
“Okay,” he said, nodding and placing his beer bottle on the coffee table before hitting pause on the movie.
“First, I said I approved of you finding out who I was for sure by texting Uncle Uzzi, but I apologize if that came off as condescending. I did not mean it that way at all. I am well aware you are a badass Lioness, and again apologies if you don’t like being called kitten, I meant it more like sexy little kitten, and not cub, but I get it if you don’t like that pet name,” he said, pausing a second before starting up again.
“Also, might I remind you, you were actually wrestling a huge black bear by yourself before I arrived with my knight-in-shining-armor issues. Don’t get me wrong, I think you are a total badass. Hear that? You. Are. A. Total. Badass. I don’t pretend for a minute you needed me to rescue you from that bear, but I really could not help myself. Tiger wasn’t having any chance of you being hurt,” he whispered the last bit, having emphasized the badass part in a crisp, even voice that gave her shivers.
Shivers. Shivers. SHIVERS.
“Last, and perhaps the strongest argument as to why this,” he continued, gesturing between them, “is a fantastic idea, Antonetta Golden, is that you think I am hot.”
“Ha!” she gasped her laughter.
Damn the man for being a good listener! She was grinning like crazy at him, and the Cheshire-worthy smile that split across his ridiculously hot face.
“Okay. Okay. So, really? That is how you’re going to close? I think you’re hot.”
“that’s my story and I am sticking to it,” he teased some more. “You aren’t denying you stated that, are you? There are witnesses.”
“Witnesses?”
“Yeah. me. Anyway, that was not a question. So, are we ready to move onto the hard ones?” he asked, taking a sip of beer.
“The hard ones. What are the hard ones?” she asked dumbly.
Toni was having some trouble concentrating, but who the heck could blame her? The lights were dim. Her heart was pounding. The storm having created a sort of charged atmosphere had her skin buzzing and her Lioness hyperaware of every move the man made.
“You wanted to know why I contacted Uncle Uzzi, right?”
“Um, yeah. I did.”
“Well, that’s an easy question to answer, Toni Golden,” he murmured.
He was so close she could smell the strawberry licorice rope he’d just eaten on his lips. Anticipation hummed in the air, alive and zipping between them. She wanted his kiss.
Craved it, even. And just when she thought he was going to give in, Pierce leaned down, bypassing her lips to whisper in her ear. His fingers sent shivers down her spine as they brushed across the sensitive skin there, tucking her hair back.
Ooh, she could smell him now. Gods, he really was hot. Face like a movie star, body like an Olympian, and smelling like forest and fur, man and musk, Toni was falling under his spell and fast. Anticipation had the butterflies in her stomach turning into fighter jets as Pierce’s lips grazed her earlobe.
“A Shifter contacts Uncle Uzzi for one reason, right?” he asked.
Toni nodded her head, leaning in closer to his warmth. She closed her eyes, every fiber of being tense with the need to hear his answer.
“I contacted him because I wanted him to find my mate,” he told her, his gravely voice doing delicious things to her insides. “I wanted him to find you.”
Oh fuuuuuuuccckkk. That did it.
Any hope she’d had of resisting the sexy as sin male was gone after that. It had been a really long time since Toni had felt a connection to someone, and never was it like this. With no thought for her own sanity or self-preservation, she went in for the kill.
Wrapping her hands around his neck, Toni tugged Pierce to her for a kiss that was as charged as the storm raging outside. All the while, her inner Lioness growled one word.
Mine.