Page 109 of Bria and the Tiger

Bria patted her arm. “Lincoln is an ass, Rosalie. He’s not even a good friend.”

“He is,” Rosalie snapped. “He’s just…flirty and- and… oh, never mind. I don’t want to talk about it.”

Bria sat quietly and after only a few seconds, Rosalie said, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”

“You didn’t. I’m sorry I was being so nosy.”

“You weren’t. How did your date go?”

“I didn’t have one.” Bria gave her a confused look.

Rosalie checked the door to the kitchen before lowering her voice. “Remember this morning when the phones were ringing off the hook and I took a couple of calls?”

“Yeah.”

“One of those calls was Jace’s cousin, Ashley.”

Bria’s sandwich tasted like sawdust in her mouth. She swallowed it down painfully. “Oh yeah?”

“Yes. She’s a sweetheart. The last time she visited Jace, he got bogged down with a client and Ash and I hung out for an evening. She still texts me and emails me from time to time.”

“That’s, uh, nice.”

“Anyway, she wanted to talk to Jace, but he was out of the office. We ended up chatting, and she happened to mention how much she adored Jace’s date at her engagement party this weekend. Said she was the tiniest tiger shifter ever, but super sweet. Said it was obvious how much she and Jace were into each other.”

Bria took a drink of water. Rosalie leaned closer and grinned at her. “She asked me if I had gotten the chance to meet Bria - Jace’s new girlfriend.”

Bria paled and set her water bottle on the table. “I can explain.”

“You don’t have to,” Rosalie said. “It’s no big deal if you and Jace are dating. Jace told me himself that he was attracted to you.”

“We aren’t dating,” Bria said. “I was just doing him a favour and posing as his girlfriend.”

“Why?”

“It’s a long story. Will you do me a favour and keep this to yourself? I don’t want people thinking I’m banging the boss or something.”

Rosalie studied her for a moment. “Are you banging the boss?”

“No, of course not.”

“Are you always this bad at lying?”

Bria pressed her lips together and stared at the table. Rosalie touched her hand. “I’m not going to say anything to anyone. I promise.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

They sat in silence before Bria gathered up her lunch bag. “I’m gonna go for a walk and get some fresh air. You want to come with me?”

“Sure. Just let me change out of these heels first.”

Bria returned to reception and slipped out of her heels and into her running shoes. Her cell buzzed, and she fished it out of her pocket. Her mouth dropped open as she read the text from Jace.

Hi. Hope your day is going well. Do you want to have dinner at my place tonight?

What the hell was happening? She read the message again. Her tiger was purring and trilling at the prospect of having sex with her mate again.

Knock it off, she snapped at her tiger. He said dinner, not sex. Besides, you just slept with him this morning.

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