Page 19 of Bria and the Tiger

“I’m good. Actually, I have a job interview tomorrow and another one the day after that.”

“Awesome,” Ava said as Lila’s face scrunched and she made a loud, wailing cry. “Okay, sorry to cut this short but this kid’s hunger cry can break glass. I need to feed her.”

Bria laughed. “Fair enough. Good to see you again, Ava.”

“You too,” Ava called as she picked up Lila’s car seat and hurried toward Bishop’s office.

Kat’s office door opened and Ava waved at her. “Hi, Kat, sorry about the noise.”

Kat laughed. “It’s fine. Come see me before you leave so I can get my Lila fix.”

As Ava disappeared into Bishop’s office and shut the door, Kat smiled at Bria. “Hey, sweetie, what’s up?”

“Do you have plans for lunch?” Bria asked.

“Nope. Was just going to go downstairs to the café.”

“Want some company?”

“I would love that,” Kat said.

The café on the first floor of the building was crowded and noisy. After grabbing their food, they snagged a small table by the window. Bishop was just leaving the café with a bag of food and they waved at him before Kat opened her bottle of water and took a drink.

“What’s wrong, Bria?”

Bria glanced around the café before leaning forward. “I met with the tiger shifter this morning.”

“Great. How did it go?”

“Kat, it was him.”

Kat crumbled some crackers into her soup before stirring it. “It was who?”

“The tiger shifter! From the club! Jace was the tiger shifter from the club!” Bria said.

Kat’s spoon clattered to the table. “You’re kidding me.”

“I’m not,” Bria said. “Oh God, Kat, I was so humiliated.”

“Seriously? Jace was the tiger shifter you fucked in the bathroom at the club?”

“Keep your voice down.”

“Sorry.” Kat picked up her spoon and wiped it with her napkin before dipping it into her soup. “I’m just really surprised.”

“How do you think I felt? I almost ran out of the Starbucks.”

“You didn’t, did you?”

“No, Jace convinced me to sit and talk to him.”

“Good. How did it go?”

Bria stared at her untouched sandwich. “Embarrassing. I apologized for just attacking him in the bathroom and then running away in the morning, but he said it was fine. It didn’t even seem to bother him.”

“Well, that’s a good thing, right?” Kat said.

“Yeah, I guess.”

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