After we ate, I'd hoped he would sit beside me on the loveseat, but he'd returned to his papasan chair. The farther away he was, the more my body yearned for him. I was lucky I wasn't near my heat, or my ass would be dripping with slick.
I never thought I'd be down to fuck on a first date, but he smelled so good. It didn't help that half of the show's second season had been filmed during meerkat mating season. It was weird how turned on I was by the primal way they rutted against each other.
No, I would not play with myself on Mika's loveseat. I curled into a ball and willed my boner away, even though my cock had been at half-mast since we'd arrived. I'd untucked my overlong shirt from my pants before I sat down, so at least he couldn't tell, or so I hoped.
I snuggled into the leather loveseat. I imagined I was tucked away in a tunnel like the ones the meerkats called home. The room had cooled with the dropping desert temperatures outside, but inside, I was cozy and warm.
I startled awake when a thick blanket fell over me.
"Sorry," Mika muttered. "You looked cozy, so I was going to leave you until morning."
"Yes, please." I hoped I said the words aloud, not only in my head.
I fell asleep again, this time feeling much warmer. My dreams of meerkats were so vivid, I could feel their soft fur and warm bodies against me as we lay in a pile in the middle of a burrow.
I wokeflat on my back with my legs tossed over the loveseat arm. It wasn't the worst position in the world. My lower back, which usually protested loudly each morning, was oddly quiet.
The strangest part was, I wasn't alone. On top of the cozy blanket Mika had draped over me, a soft, furry body lay on my chest. Did Mika have a cat?
Something was off. I ran my hand down the cat's body and then returned to the ears. Little round ears, not catlike at all. I cracked one eye open and found a meerkat gazing at me through half-lidded eyes.
"Mika?"
If meerkats could smile, this one smiled at me. He opened his eyes a little wider and stretched his paws out on my chest. He shimmied and shook his body into a line down my abdomen. When he lay down, his tail brushed against my cock, and I groaned.
"I'm going to be late for work," I muttered to take my mind off his soft fur and warm body.
The meerkat sprang backward, squishing my balls before leaping to the coffee table and then to the floor. He scampered off in the direction of the bedroom.
A moment later, Mika reappeared in a pair of loose red shorts. He pulled on a gray tank top and slipped into a pair of flip-flops.
I was still fully dressed in my wrinkle-free dress shirt and suit pants. I slid my shoes back on and folded the blanket before placing it over the back of the loveseat.
"Do you want something to eat?" he asked. "I've got bananas and breakfast bars."
"I'll take one of each to go, please." I added another five dollars to the money still sitting on the coffee table. "I had a great time last night."
"Me too." He grinned. "What are you doing this weekend?"
I stared at him for a moment. "Are we really not going to talk about what just happened?"
He clasped his hands to his chest and stared at me beseechingly. "I was hoping you would forget, or think you were dreaming, or both."
"You're a meerkat shifter, and I woke with a meerkat on my chest," I prodded.
He met my gaze with a sheepish grin. "It pretty much explains itself."
Even though I was getting later for work by the minute, I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned my hip against the couch. "It really doesn't."
He tried to stare me down, but then he shrugged. "You're my mate."
"Thank the gods, you feel it, too." I dropped my arms to my sides and took a step toward him. "Ever since I hopped in your car, I thought you were mine."
He braced his hands on my shoulders, but instead of pulling me in for a kiss, he held me at arm's length. "My meerkat couldn't resist you. I don't even shift during the week, or in my apartment, but he wanted to be closer to you." He squeezed my shoulders. "I thought seeing my animal form would be less traumatic than waking up in my bed with a naked man draped over your chest."
Now that he'd said it, I wouldn't be able to get that image out of my head for the rest of the week. "Maybe next time?"
He stood up a little straighter and dropped his hands to steeple in front of his chest. He reminded me so much of a meerkat searching the grasslands for predators. "Next time?"
