Chapter Eleven
Wild Rescue was home to twenty-six big cats, including lions, tigers, a liger, panthers, and two cheetahs. We also passed by the home of a big grizzly bear. For some reason, the bear was scarier to me than the big cats we saw. Jake told me a few of the stories of the animals we stopped to watch. One of the panthers was abused. The owner wanted a big cat, but then as it got bigger, he used to beat it on the head with a shovel. Then we saw a bear who was retired from the circus.
One of the tigers, named Nala, used to be drugged so that people could take pictures with her for money. I felt sick to my stomach when we came to a stop at a house that had a large pond behind it.
“I’m not a big lover of animals. However, I’m really glad you do what you do, Jake, and that you’ve found a way to give these poor babies a home.” I wasn’t a very emotional person. Truth be told, I’ve only cried twice in my adult life. Once when Rayne accidentally hit me in the nose. It hurt so bad, I swore it was broken. Thank goodness it wasn’t. The other time was when my parents split up. I was upset because I thought everything was great, but apparently it wasn’t. They were just growing in different directions. I still talk to both, and when we are all together, they get along nicely. My sister and I both had nice childhoods, and aren’t bitter about it. But when I first heard they were splitting, I was sad. Then I moved on. Life was too short for a lot of tears and sadness. So the fact that on my first day with Jake and the animals I was close to crying, made me feel a little uneasy and out of my comfort zone.
“This is where our vet lives. Over to the right you can see the intern and employees’ homes.” He pointed to the right and I noticed a couple of houses. All different sizes. My guess was it was like a dorm type of situation, unless you had a family.
“Come on, I want you to meet the doctor.” We walked into the house, and it was not what I was expecting. It looked like a doctor’s office. I could see a big surgical room with a window to the right, and a wooden desk right before that.
Jake was kind of cute, how he wanted me to meet all the people that he worked with. I’ll admit I was intrigued by the man and what went on in his life. I still said we were different, but I knew he had a wicked tongue and he cared deeply for this rescue.
“Hey, Doc, I want you to meet someone,” my tour guide called out. I snickered at the thought. Jake was my little safari guide. Cute.
“Well, hello there. The young lady that was bitten by the wallaby!” The same older man who had tried to explain to me why Jake had his arm up a horse’s ass walked into the room. He was tall, in decent shape, and had a trimmed white beard and gray hair. He looked to be in his sixties, but I wasn’t the best at the age guessing game.
“That would be me.” I flashed him my middle finger that was now bandage free.
“I’m Cammy.” I waved. He smiled, then his green eyes looked at Jake with a different type of smile. Like an “I’m proud of you, son” type of smile.
“I’m just helping out for the week.” I tried to put that out there. In no way was I staying here for good. Nope. Not happening.
“Cammy, I’m Doctor Nick. My wife, Hannah, is assisting Casey right now with her lunch, but you can meet her in a minute.”
“Hannah!” a voice that sounded just like the doctor’s screamed in the room. I looked to my left and saw a big birdcage with a large gray bird sitting on the top. He screamed again, and I felt a little creeped out that it sounded just like the doctor. I would hate to be here at night and have it start talking. Nightmares galore, right there.
“That’s Booma, our African Grey. He has a very extensive vocabulary, and as you heard, can imitate tones of voice.” The doctor walked over to the bird and scratched its neck. The bird obviously liked it, but I was still leery. That beak looked sharp. Everything on this rescue could bite me or kill me. I eased over closer to Jake, ready to take cover should it fly over and attack me.
“He won’t hurt you,” Jake whispered to me, and I stuck my tongue out at him.
“He’s an animal, they all bite,” I countered, using his own words against him. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes skimmed over me, then came back up to meet mine, desire burning in those blue pools. He wanted to bite me. I felt my cheeks blush a little, because to be honest, I wanted him to. My mind had started thinking about all the wicked things I wanted to do to him, when a woman entered the room, carrying a little tiger in her arms.
“Casey is eating better; she drank the whole bottle in a snap. Oh, hi, Jake!” She had really curly black hair and deep brown eyes. She was in decent shape, but then considering the load she was carrying, I could see how she looked good.
“Give me my girl.” Jake walked over to her and lifted the little orange tiger right out of her arms. Did tigers purr? Because I’m pretty sure I heard it purr as it snuggled in his arms.
“I’m Hannah, Nick’s wife and other vet on the premises. We help take care of all the animals when they need us.” She smiled and rubbed the tiger’s head.
“Cammy, Jake’s hostage for the week.” I smiled, then went to peek at the kitty in Jake’s arms. I was curious about the mysterious Casey.
Now, maybe it was my maternal clock ticking away, or maybe it was like what happened with Jacob imprinting on Renesmee inTwilight, but when I looked into that little tiger’s eyes, something in me clicked. I wanted to care for that little cub. I wanted her to grow into a big tiger and be happy.
“Hi, baby. Oh, you are such a pretty girl,” I cooed at the cub. I walked over and for the first time in my life, I wasn’t afraid that an animal was going to bite my fingers off. I knew she could eat me, even at her size, if she wanted to, but I was oddly unconcerned.
Her big, blue eyes were watching me as she brought her paws up to bat Jake’s face playfully.
Be still my heart.
“Yes, you are going to grow up and be a bad ass tiger, aren’t you?” Something had to have possessed me. I was baby talking to a tiger. I reached out and her paws touched my hand. I felt claws, but not in a bad way. She was batting my fingers.
“She likes you.” Jake’s voice was husky. My hand moved back to my side and my eyes flew up to his. He was looking at me with even more hunger in his gaze. Oh hell.
“I like her too,” I admitted. I heard a growl from the man consuming my thoughts and looked down at the tiger. I didn’t want to embarrass myself by jumping on him in front of the doctors. Swiftly Jake walked towards Hannah and handed Casey back to her. I may have heard the little tiger meownooo, but that could have been in my head.
“I’ve got more to show Cammy; I’ll be back later for Casey. It’s my week.” I barely had time to say goodbye before Jake was dragging my ass back out to the ATV.
“I wasn’t done talking to them, you brute!” I took a step back but was lifted up and placed on the machine in seconds.Holy strong arms, Batman!Instead of Jake sitting in front of me, this time he was behind me, his chest against my back. His surprisingly hard cock was pressed against my lower back. A little shiver coursed through me. I wanted that cock.
My head fell back a little and my eyes closed, my thoughts solely on getting pleasured by the man behind me. I felt like a cat in heat around him; all I wanted to do was lift my ass in the air and wave it around likecome and get me big boy! I thought I felt his chest rumble behind me, but he also had just turned on the four wheeler.
My back pressed against his torso even more since he was speeding us somewhere. I mentally crossed my fingers that we were heading back to the lodge for some naughty time, but instead he drove off the beaten path and into the woods. My mouth pursed in confusion. Uh, did he take me for a woodsy type of girl?
