Page 5 of Catch a Tiger

“Do you have any idea how much trouble I could get in for that?”

Sean shrugs. “Only if they knew.”

Mark snorts and taps his finger on the desk. “Oh, they’ll know. Remember the janitor? They almost made me fire you for dating her.”

“And I thank you for that. For sticking up for me, that is. But we weren’t exactly keeping it a secret either. You could. It would spice up your life.”

“I don’t need any spicing up.” He likes the way his life is now. Right?

Yes. Having a woman would be nice, but it would complicate his schedule.

“Oh, come on, Mark. You go to work, you go to the gym, and you go home to sleep. That’s your life. You need a woman, and more importantly, you need to get laid.”

“I’m not going to take a date with a woman just to get laid.” He’s not that kind of man.

Sean wrinkles his nose and huffs out a breath. “Are you even a man?”

Mark scowls at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He points at Mark. “You know exactly what that means.” He stands up with ease and snaps the cuffs of his suit. Grabbing the papers from Mark’s desk, he adds, “Think about what I said.”

Mark waves him off and Sean heads out of the door without another word. Instead of going back to work, he decides to kill time by playing with his phone. He pulls his phone out of his pocket, opens it up, and starts going through his apps. He’s done enough for today. He needs the break or he’ll go crazy.

Chapter 3

Maria

Still standing in the same spot she was when Darius left her, Maria scrolls and scrolls for the next half hour. She didn’t realize how many friends she had on her social media, and she keeps getting distracted by how many of them she doesn’t know. So, she’s been searching their profiles to get an inkling of who they might be and how they might have met.

If her boss were here, she’d probably be in so much trouble for being on her phone for so long. But it’s slow and Darius is fulfilling the orders just fine on his own. He’d probably shove her away and tell her to keep looking anyway.

“This is stupid,” she grumbles. So stupid, and so childish, and completely something she wouldn’t normally do.

While she wants a boyfriend, what was she supposed to do? Start chatting with someone? Ask one of them on a date at random? She is bold, but could she be so bold this time?

“Fuck it.” With her pointer finger poised, she whispers, “Eenie, meenie, minee, moe, catch a tiger by his toe. If he hollers, let him go. Eenie, meenie, minee, moe.”

Her finger lands on a man. Thank goodness for that, because she’d have to start all over again. She’s not into women.

Squinting at the screen, she reads her pick’s name. “Mark,” she whispers. “Who are you, Mark?”

In his profile picture, there are two men. Both of them are seriously tall and seriously muscled out. One is smiling and the other is flexing, and the background shows that they’re clearly at the gym.

Unsure which one is Mark, she clicks on him and heads to his profile. It doesn’t take long to find his picture section, and she begins scrolling through them until she finds one where it’s just him.

He was the guy in his profile picture that was smiling, and he’s extremely attractive. So attractive, that she’s drawn to his baby blue eyes, dark tousled hair, and square jaw that any girl would love to run her tongue along. He’s shirtless in the picture, standing on some beach that’s water is the bluest blue she’s ever seen. Her mouth waters when she visually traces his abs that lead to the V between his hips. That V disappears into his black swim trunks and her mouth waters imagining what’s underneath.

She sighs a little. She can’t ask him out. He’s way out of her league. But maybe . . .

She grins and clicks “in a relationship.” Then she rocks back on her heels, her heart pounding at what she’d just done, and pinches her lips together in a mischievous smile.

Adrenaline courses through her body. This might be the dumbest idea she’s ever had, or the smartest.

Though he’s way out of her league, doing something so morally questionable makes her feel better about herself.

The poor guy. Everyone will think he is taken by some random chick they know nothing about.

Her grin widens.