Page 29 of Pulled By the Tail
“Find a job, earn enough money to get off-planet. I have a friend who’s moving to a colony in a few months. I’ll join her there.” She paused and then asked, “Is it okay to stay for a few days? I know what you said this morning, but—”
“The offer stands.” It’d be poor manners to turn her out and she needed a warm place to stay while she searched for employment. He scratched behind an ear, taken with a notion. “Work for me.”
“No,” she said quickly. “I don’t want your pity.”
“Hear me out. The way you handled those guests this morning was perfect. I need someone who can manage visitors, because I’m busy with repairs and renovations. Honestly, I’ve needed to hire a house manager for some time. I can give you room and board and fair wage.”
The more he spoke, the more his need for Georgia to manage the bed and breakfast side of the house became obvious. Quil was consumed by his plants and Fiona proved useless for making guests feel welcome or managing the lodgings. He and Charl spent all their time restoring and maintaining the estate. Bright spent her time cooking for the family and guests.
She hesitated to answer, and Talen suspected the source.
“It’s a big house. You can go days and days without seeing anyone you don’t wish to see,” he said.
“I’ll see him at meals.”
“He spends more of his time in the conservatory and often eats in the kitchen.” Then he said, “I can put a bell on him.”
She smirked and shredded the piece of bread, considering the offer. “I’m not completely broke, you know. I can afford a hotel while I’m job hunting.”
He spread his hands wide, turning them palm up to demonstrate his sincerity. “Understood, but I do need a house manager and I’ve already seen your skills.”
“Fine,” she said. Then, her green eyes narrowed. “But this is temporary, just until the contract is annulled, or I can afford a ticket off-world.”
“A reasonable position,” he agreed.
“And I’m leaving if things get weird.”
“Define weird.”
She huffed out a breath. “We,” she said, gesturing between them, “are not married. That door between our rooms stays locked. And if fuckface tries anything, I’m out.”
He assumed fuckface’s identity to be Quil. “Agreed.”
They returned to their meals. Eventually, Georgia broke the silence. “Did Quil inherit the estate?”
“He won it in a card game,” he said without hesitation. It never occurred to him to dodge the question or offer a vague answer.
She said nothing but popped another piece of bread in her mouth, studying him with her keen gaze. “You’re not pulling my leg, are you?”
Pulling her—
He gulped down his drink, trying to finish the thought. Did humans do that? Was it a sign of sexual attraction, like pulling a tail? His tail had been neatly wrapped around his leg but now it beat an intrigued rhythm against his leg. He was a brazen flirt and Quil would tease him mercilessly if he found out, but Talen realized he did not care. This female stirred curiosity in him, reaffirming his earlier notion that had they met under different circumstances, he would pursue her.
Perhaps Quil had not been wrong to force them together.
“No, I am not. Do you want me to? I know what you said about the door between our rooms remaining shut, but we are two adults with healthy appetites—”
She blinked at him, her gaze a verdant green and clueless as to his meaning.
“Do you not want me to pull your leg?”
Her eyes went wide. “Holy shit, no. No. Do you think I’m flirting? Because that just means ‘joking around.’”
His tail stilled and he kept his posture relaxed. “As you say, but I like the idea of flirting with a pretty female who is technically my wife.”
“I am not your wife. I don’t care what that contract says, and I was not flirting,” she said. Her voice took on a harder tone, almost angry but firm, and her eyes seemed to grow brighter. He liked this new passion in her as much as he liked her laughter.
“In my culture, it is traditional for a male to keep a harem and to gift a bride from the harem to another male,” he said, waiting to draw out more of that passion.
