Page 8 of Tiger Betrayal

She was a liar.

She was absolutely attracted to him in that way. She had had a fantasy and then a dirty dream about him last night.

Stellan was the hottest man she’d ever been around, but even more than that?

He was interesting and kept her on her toes and was unlike anyone she’d ever met.

Second reason…

Laramie was here in Salt Lake City, a place she’d never been, for a specific reason. It was a painful, but beautiful reason that no one could understand, nor that she could do justice by explaining.

On the hard days, it sure would be nice to have a distraction like Stellan.

A smile took her lips as she pulled away from Whiny’s. He was in there eating the food she’d got him. He hadn’t flinched away or thought she was lame. He’d gone right in and claimed a lunch break.

That smile hung in her heart the entire way to Liberty Park.

She pulled in and parked, then got out and scanned the green space. There were plenty of bikers on the sidewalks thanks to the pretty weather today. From here, she could see a pond. Was that it?

She pulled out the notebook and flipped to the right page. There was a diary entry, but she didn’t need to read it again. She had it memorized. The sketch was what she was looking for. It was a fast one of two pairs of jean-clad legs on a blanket, looking out over a duck pond.

Laramie tucked the journal into her cloth bag and grabbed a blanket out of the back of her car, then made sure to lock the door before she started walking across the grass toward the pond.

This part always took a while because she was a perfectionist, and she wanted to be right where they had once been.

She studied the sketch and had to take an educated guess on the placement, since the bench looked different than in the picture. The trees were much larger now too.

She set her blanket up right where she thought they’d been and laid down. She placed the journal beside her and rested her hand on top of it as she looked up into the branches of the towering tree overhead. The sun looked muted, and speckled, and the sky was so blue. There wasn’t a cloud in sight.

That part always made her feel the distance. Rainy days were best for memory lane adventures.

She rested her free hand on her stomach and focused on relaxing every muscle in her body.

Moisture streamed from the outer corner of her eye, but it wasn’t from emotion. Not this time. Her eyes just watered sometimes when she laid down like this.

Stellan was a cool name.

She crossed her legs at the ankles and sighed, knowing exactly what she was doing.

Laramie was thinking about something other than this moment, but that wasn’t the deal.

The deal she’d made with herself was that if she moved here to Salt Lake City, she would be present for moments just like these.

Laramie closed her eyes and silently recited the journal entry from memory.

And as a calmness took over her body, inch-by-inch, she knew she had crossed another one off the list.

Chapter Four

Stellan was agitated, but he didn’t understand why.

He’d Changed last night, he’d given the tiger his skin, so why did he still feel right on the edge?

It was nearly time for his lunch break, and he would take it at the picnic table at the back of the shop property to regulate his system. Everyone was pissing him off today. Probably because the guys couldn’t stop talking about Laramie, who was training on the computers up front.

She’d been quiet and focused today. Even when he’d pretended he had to go to the bathroom four times as an excuse to check on her, she’d only looked up at him for a few seconds before she went back to asking questions and practicing inputting jobs.

She would be fine here. He knew it. She was smart and had common sense and seemed to be learning well and asking the right questions.