Billionaire: Billionaire Romance: Billionaire Tiger (A Billionaire New Adult Shifter Contemporary Romance) Read Online Free Page A

man as he was as a tiger.
    That handsome head turned and looked out to the street, and those sparkling, soulful green eyes fell on Lara once more. The eyes blinked, and he smiled. A wave of warmth passed over Lara's body at that smile, and she smiled back--at the sight of him motioning her to come inside and join him.

 
     
    CHAPTER 4
     
     
     
    Lara could not believe it was just the two of them, that he had bought her a drink and they were alone together, facing each other across the table, and that he was as happy to see her as she was him. Happy? Yes--he was actually
happy
to see her.
    "As I explained, Gemma was not my date," Manik said. "And I think I disappointed her quite a bit. She got into her cab and never gave me another look."
    That's all right,
thought Lara.
I'm more than happy to look at you.
"She didn't make a contribution, either," she said. "I think she had a very specific reason for being there."
    "I'm sure she did. I found her rather...obvious."
    Lara's face lit up at how perceptive he was. "Obvious! Yes, that's the perfect word for her. She
was
obvious."
    With a dash of mischief under the British accent, Manik said, "Perhaps at her next function she'll be a little more attentive to the dress style, yes?"
    Lara giggled. "And to how much she's had to to drink!" She hoped she wasn't making herself as obvious as Gemma, having heard Manik make a similar observation.
    "I like what you chose to wear," he said. "It's exactly right."
    "Thank you!" she replied, warmed again by the compliment. "And I loved your tiger face. It was so real. It was like something a Hollywood makeup artist would do. You looked like something out of a movie. When did you have the chance to take it off?"
    "I took it off in the back seat of my Jaguar, where I had put my shirt. It's much easier than you'd think."
    Lara almost burst out with a belly laugh at that. She loved the very English way he pronounced it:
jag-you-are.
"Oh my goodness, you're kidding! A Jaguar!"
    "Of course," Manik said, smiling the sexiest smile that Lara had ever seen.
    "We've really got a whole theme this evening," she said. "A tiger party, a woman in a leopard skin suit, a man who drives a Jaguar. That's perfect."
    "Yes," he said softly. "Perfect." His eyes glittered at her.
    "So, your name: Manik. Is that something related to cats too?"
    He gave her a thoughtful look. "I suppose it could be if you looked at it in a certain way. Manik is an Indian name. It means ‘ruby’."
    "Ruby," Lara whispered back in a quiet awe. The name
was
perfect. The red ruby, the color of lust. This man dazzled like a red jewel. "That's beautiful," she said.
    "Lara," said Manik, "when I was speaking to Gemma earlier, I said I wanted to be alone tonight. I'm afraid what you heard was a little bit of a lie."
    A hot flash of anxiety hit Lara. "I'm sorry. What I heard...?"
    "Yes, when you were standing just off the entrance, listening. You heard me tell her that I wanted to be alone. I lied."
    Lara's mouth fell open but only her breath came out. She fidgeted, fumbled for her purse, embarrassed. "Manik, I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did that. It was inappropriate, childish... I'm so sorry..."
    What he did next was the greatest surprise of her evening. He reached across the table and took her by the hand, the same hand that he kissed at the party. She looked up with eyes filled with apology into the green pools on his face and found no rancor there, only infinite gentleness. Her heart melted while the rest of her froze. "Don't be sorry," Manik said. "I'm not offended."
    Lara half-whispered, "How did you know?"
    Smiling mischievously, he answered, "I'm very perceptive, remember?" The moment suspended itself in time. With her hand in his, Lara wished it could stay forever.
    Somewhere at the end of forever, she heard herself say, "You said you lied...?"
    "Yes. I lied. I didn't really want to be alone. It's only hers wasn't the company I wished I could have. I should have liked much better to