Tiger Born Read Online Free Page B

hate my job. This was my first week, and I feel like if I have to go back there on Monday, I’m going to throw up. Either that or die of boredom.”
    He leaned on the bar, facing her and ignored a couple of people trying to get his attention. “You really don’t like it? I thought the pace would be perfect.” A glass shattered somewhere nearby, and he jumped. “And the peace and quiet…”
    “That’s exactly what I don’t like about it. Gah, no one sends mail to Siberia, at least not much, and almost no one sends anything out. If they have to contact each other, they do it by strolling on over or calling. It says something when I can run the entire place all by myself and not break a sweat. So boring!”
    “Did you talk to Heath about it?”
    What was with him bringing up Heath all the time? If Jake weren’t human, she’d have thought he sensed things weren’t right between her and her man. The problem wasn’t that he was gay either because she’d seen Jake checking out her cleavage more than once. He’d never overstepped his bounds, so she let him look. As far as she was concerned, Jake was her only friend in Siberia, a fact that made her miss her old friend Brenda from back home.
    “I can’t talk to him.”
    At Jake’s arrested expression, she rushed to explain. “He’s bummed about the delay in buying a ranch. It wouldn’t be fair to lay my minor issues on him, especially when he got Ward to pull strings in getting me the job. Ugh! ”
    “Here, have another drink—on the house.” This time he set a shot of Jäeger on the counter, and she thanked him before downing it in one swallow. The noise level in the bar rose to near deafening, and she turned to see what all the fuss was about. A woman had come in that Deja had spotted only from a distance before. Big breasts and long legs, she commanded attention. Almost every man in the place stumbled over each other to get nearer to her. This was the kind of woman who should bring a girlfriend to beat off the losers, but she’d come in alone and took to the dance floor right away. Her gyrating hips drew the opposite sex in droves, all drooling with hunger. Deja turned up her lips in disgust.
    “Who is that?”
    “An unattached female, which is dangerous around here,” Jake explained.
    “So she doesn’t have a boyfriend?”
    “Nope.” Jake poured two beers from the tap and slid them down the bar. The receiver slapped bills on the counter, grabbed the glasses, and rushed over to the woman to hold one out to her. She flipped her long blonde hair in his face and continued to dance. Stupid . Deja rolled her eyes.
    “Of course she won’t choose just one guy with that kind of attention.” She glanced at her friend. “How come you know so much about her?”
    He shrugged. “Everyone comes in here, and everyone talks.”
    For a while, Deja watched the woman as she sipped on another beer. The woman was a cut above Candi Stapleton, the skank from her and Heath’s hometown. Candi had been stupid, but when this female shifter scanned the men in front of her offering alcohol and asking her to dance, Deja saw the light of intelligence in her eyes. Instant dislike tightened the muscles in her stomach, and she turned away. In the next second, she stiffened. Beneath the familiar odors of alcohol, sawdust, and sweat, she picked up a subtle hint of Heath. Any minute and he would walk through the door.
    She drained the last of her beer, stood up, and hoisted herself to lean over the bar. After kissing Jake’s cheek, she grinned at him. “I gotta go. Don’t let these fools mess with you. If they do, you tell me, and I will kick their asses.”
    A couple of the idiots raised their glasses to her, and she rolled her eyes and headed for the door. Out on the street, just as she’d known, Heath was there, and she approached him. “What are you doing here?”
    His eyes narrowed. “I was looking for you. Why shouldn’t I?”
    Not bothering to answer his question, she