But he smells so good...
And definitely out of hugging or kissing range.
But he looks delicious…
Dang. He really did.
Jack, in human form, was six feet, four inches of hard-bodied, gorgeous man. He had wavy bronze hair that was a little long, since they apparently didn't have anybody who cut hair wherever he'd been. His eyes were green when he was human, mostly, except when he was furious or… um… feeling frisky. Then they flashed with hints of the amber of his tiger's eyes.
As a tiger? Terrifying, beautiful, and deadly.
Jack's tiger shape was five hundred pounds of orange, white, and black ferocity, except when he was curled up on my floor to protect me. Then he almost looked kind of cuddly.
I've really been missing cuddles… and he's so tan, and gorgeous, and…
"No!"
I hadn't planned to shout, but it takes a lot to overrule your own worst instincts. Human nature is funny that way.
"Got it. No kissing." He backed away, holding his hands up in the air, but the amused glint in his eyes made me suspicious.
"So. Are you back, back, or are you just stopping by to get your mail?"
His smile faded. "I'm back. We finished the job."
I waited, but he didn't say anything else. I might never know what exactly the job had been. Jack wasn't much to disclose what he considered to be other people's secrets. There was a 'sacred clown trust' adventure I'd never learned a thing about, for example.
I brushed my hands off on my pants and turned back toward my ladder. "Okay. You said hello. I've got to get back to work."
"I can help. See? Don't even need a ladder." He took a wreath out of the bin and held it up to the wall. "Do you want this here?"
Decision time: I could be grumpy about him not calling me, or I could get help decorating. It wasn't a tough choice.
"If we can get through these last two bins, I'll call it a day. Thanks."
We hung decorations and chatted, mostly him asking me about my family and our friends. After a quarter hour or so, I couldn't take it any longer.
"Are you ever going to tell me where you were? What you were doing? Was it dangerous?" I put my hands on my hips and fixed him with a steady stare. "Whatever this…friendshipis between us, it's not fair to disappear like that and leave me—us—to worry about you like that."
He sighed and put the battery-operated miniature hay wagon back in the bin. "I know. I… I hope this is more than a friendship we have, Tess, but on the other hand, I don't know if it's fair to ask you for more, when I have responsibilities that may pull me away like that again. And, yes, it was dangerous, and that's not fair to you, either, is it?"
I rolled my eyes, even though my heart was thumping in my chest. "I live a life where dead bodies regularly show up at my shop's back door, alligators get left on my front porch at home, and I cansee how people will die just from touching them, so definitely, let's worry about poor fragile Tess and what's fair to me."
"I never called you fragile." He grinned at me. "I know better. I've seen you shoot. And park your car. You're deadly."
I narrowed my eyes, and he laughed.
"I'd better shut up now, or you'll never let me take you to dinner."
I didn't want to have dinner with him. I also really, really wanted to have dinner with him. I settled for a non-answer.
"I need to finish decorating the shop."
"We're almost done. The rest can wait, can't it? "
"I'm doing it now." I realized I was being unreasonably stubborn but didn't seem to be able to stop myself.
"Then we'll finish it up and go get some dinner. I'm really starving."
