Page 11 of Tiger Queen

That was easy.

“The zoo currently sells personal photographs with the tigers,” I said. “That’s a terrible practice.”

“Why?” David held out a palm. “Not that I disagree. I’m just new to all this and am trying to understand.”

“You never know how a tiger will react to a new person,” I explained. “The only safe way to let people hug them and take photos with them is to pump the animals full of sedatives to the point that they’re barely conscious.”

“Makes sense. Just one problem: personal photographs are where most of the zoo revenue comes from. Most of the advertisements and billboards promote that service.”

“Then maybe don’t re-open the zoo at all,” I said. “A zoo this small is too exploitative to the animals. They should be kept in larger pens where they don’t have humans surrounding them at all times. That’s too much stimulation for a big cat. Yeah, the more I think about it, the better it would be to permanently close the gates until the animals are moved.”

David thought about it for a moment. “We were hoping to generate some income during the process, but you make a compelling argument. Okay. We’ll keep it closed.”

I nodded. “Since you brought up money… it may take years to relocate all the animals to permanent homes. Their enclosures and cages need to be refurbished and upgraded in the mean time, even if it’s just temporary. Larger enclosures, better sanitation and maintenance…”

“I agree.”

“It’ll cost money,” I insisted. “You said the zoo was bankrupt.”

“We’re setting up a GoFundMe page for donations. But in the mean time, my brothers and I are fronting the costs as best as we can.”

I was throwing demands at him, and he was accepting all of them. It was kind of shocking. Like telling Santa Claus that you wanted a fighter jet for Christmas and then having one land on the lawn.

David’s blue eyes gazed at me calmly. “I’ll be blunt. This isn’t ideal. None of it is. But we’re going to do the best we can with what we have. Will you help us?”

I tried to find reasons to tell him no. Nothing popped into my head. I wanted to say yes. This entire situation had been flipped around. If everything he was telling me was true, this was pretty much my dream job. And it would help me get some much-needed experience on my resume.

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

“Good.” He nodded like he expected nothing less, then pointed at my phone on the table with the TV. “Now you want to do us a favor and delete the photos you took?”

I hesitated. “Is this all a big scam to force me to delete those photos?”

He smiled. God, he was gorgeous. “I’m not forcing you to do anything. I’m just asking nicely. It’d be a show of good faith.”

I got up from the bed, grabbed my phone off the table, and deleted the photos and video. “Done.”

David seemed to relax. “Thanks for not screaming earlier.”

“Thanks for wanting to do the right thing. With your zoo. Assuming everything you told me is the truth.”

He strode toward me until he was close enough for me to smell his manly aroma. I took a deep breath because it smelled so good. He was taller than me, and I had to gaze up to look in his eyes.

“We aren’t like our father,” he said softly. “We’re good people. That’s the truth.”

It was impossible to ignore how devastatingly sexy he was. His body was covered with rippling muscle. His hard face and strong jaw challenged me to disagree with him. But I didn’t want to disagree with him.

I wanted to kiss him.

The sexual tension was thick between us. He sensed it too. His nostrils flared as he breathed deeply, chest heaving. I was absolutely positive that he wanted me. We were on the precipice of action, that wonderful moment when both people are certain something is about to happen but neither want to make the first move.

A knock came on the door.

The sound broke the spell. David exhaled and said, “See you tomorrow.”

I shook off the sexual daze I had been in. “How early?”

“The earlier, the better. We have a lot of work to do.” He opened the door. The girl from the front desk stood there with a stack of towels in her arms. She blinked when she saw him.

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