Cafe in the Park (Siren Publishing Classic) (3 page)

When she went downstairs, it was obvious some of the men and women had arranged to meet against the organizer’s advice and request. She looked around for the man she felt she wanted to meet again, but he wasn’t there. Emily jerked on the jacket she carried and left the bar.

As she walked to her car, she decided to cancel her membership at the dating agency. She smiled wryly. It had been a stupid idea after all. She would just give up, throw herself even more into her work, and forget about finding someone to love. Deep in thought, it was a shock when, as she reached her car, she heard a deep voice behind her.

“Hi, I just met you in the speed dating, didn’t I? I’m not following you. I’m parked here, too.”

Emily turned. There stood the man with the sunglasses and the curled label. Emily saw it had gone from his lapel. The street was empty of other people, and some distance from the venue. The traffic zoomed by. She couldn’t see another car parked on the street. Fear surged through Emily. He’d sneaked up on her, silently, like a predator.
Why does he hide behind the sunglasses in the night?
She quickly opened her car door and nodded at him.

“Yes…goodnight.”

She got into her car, pressed the button on her key that locked all the doors, and then started the engine. Without another glance at the man, she rapidly joined the flow of traffic.

Chris gazed after her car until it turned the corner at the end of the block. It took a lot for him to speak to her away from the speed-dating venue. He sighed and walked the few paces to the short alley that led to a square of spare ground where he’d parked his car.
She’s not interested in me. She’s so pretty and I bet she’s intelligent, gentle…Her eyes give her away.

Chris knew Emily’s first name, having eavesdropped on the conversation between her and the guy who sat at her table prior to his turn. He’d written Emily’s number on his form for the organizer, and left it on the briefcase stashed against the wall behind the table and chair where the organizer sat to time the sessions, and ring her little bell. Then he’d speedily left the room.

He sat in his car.
Emily…could you love me?
He started his car and drove home.

Temptation to find out where she lived gnawed at him, until finally, as he drove into his garage, he decided to ask Art to help him. Art knew people on both sides of the law. He could find out where Emily lived from her car number plate. Chris had told Art that afternoon about the speed-dating event and might be expecting an update anyway.

Chris was many things, including computer literate, but he never crossed lines that might draw authority’s attention. He made his wealth legitimately through real estate, art, and stocks. Chris was so rich anyway, it wouldn’t have mattered if he didn’t work, but he liked to. These days he sang and played in a band, too. When they’d accepted him, his joy was immense. He’d immediately called Art and they’d celebrated over a beer, with Art continually grinning at Chris’s excitement.

He knocked on Art’s door.

“Hi, Art, I need a little help.”

His old friend and assistant opened the door wider with a smile.

“Come in, Chris. What’s up?”

Chris closed the door and followed Art into his living room where Art aimed the remote at his television to turn it off. He gestured at an armchair for Chris to sit.

“I’ve come across a woman who I’d really like to get to know. She’s called Emily. I have her license plate number. Can you find out more about her with it…such as her address?”

Art sat back in his chair opposite Chris. “Let me have the number. It might take a few hours.”

“Thanks, Art.” He smiled and took the pad of Post-It notes Art pushed across the coffee table. Chris leaned over to take the pencil, too. He wrote down the number plate he’d memorized as Emily drove away. He gave Art the pad and was about to leave when Art spoke.

“Chris, stay a few minutes, tell me about this girl. You’ve been looking for years. She must be special.”

Chris sat down again. “What she wrote in her profile drew me to her. I don’t know her. I asked to meet her in the park. I watched her there. She seemed so lost. I had a hard time not sprinting over and scooping her up to cuddle.”

Art sighed. “So you only watched? Not very nice, Chris, you stood her up.”

Chris shrugged. “I needed to see her before I invested hope. I spoke to her tonight. She parked her car near mine. I feel drawn to her. Not just because she’s hot, which she is, but something deeper. A weird feeling of belonging to each other shook me as I stood there on the street. I must have given off vibes. She took off quickly. Maybe I scared her. I don’t know.”

Art shook his head. “Who knows? Did you talk to her in the venue, other than getting her name?”

Chris looked away from Art’s questioning expression. “She didn’t tell me her name. I overheard it. She didn’t speak. She stared at me. I wanted to talk, but I couldn’t. Art, I’m so out of practice and lonely. I don’t want to come off as a desperado.”

Art laughed. “Chris, if you were in the audience at one of the gigs the band plays and saw the way the girls look at you, you’d know that you don’t have to be lonely. They’d line up if you asked. Trust me.”

Chris narrowed his eyes in an expression that made Art laugh again.

“That’s not the kind of love I want, Art.”

Art took a deep breath. “Just sayin’ there could be someone in an audience that might be the girl for you. Don’t the other guys ever question the fact that you take off after every show?”

Chris ran his hand through his hair. “I hang out at rehearsal.”

Art nodded. “Sure. I’ll get onto this address. Are you in for the rest of the night?”

Chris stood. “Yeah, come down or call, whichever suits.”

Art went with him to the door.

Emily stood in the shower. The water soothed her. Why had she felt the urge to run from that guy? The only man she’d found attractive. She could have talked to him, cut out the wait to discover more about him. She sighed. The water ran over her breasts and she turned to have it run down her back.
I’ll never meet a man acting like that.
She pictured his mouth. It might be good to kiss him,
if I let myself get near enough
. The thought should have been amusing, but tears welled up and one trickled down her face mixing with the shower water.

I wish I’d talked to him.

* * * *

Chris leapt from roof to roof. He padded along the flat areas, where people had strung colored lights or placed potted plants. The part of town where Emily lived was full of apartment blocks of different height and style. Most places were in darkness. Most people would be asleep. Chris sniffed the night air. A gentle wind had shifted any traffic pollution and he inhaled the scent of the gardens and park nearby. His muscles rippled beneath his pale golden pelt. When he encountered light, he sped up, his normally indigo blue eyes glinting a brilliant night shine green. He came across a roof top swimming pool and skirted it, listening appreciatively to the lap of the water as he passed.

He’d grown to enjoy the times he shifted to a mountain lion. Sometimes he’d wander along the riverbank. There were voles living there and he’d play hunt them. An old soul now, he didn’t ever kill, only used this as a game. Not even nipping them, he would use the soft pads of his paws to flip them gently once. They always ran off perfectly fine. Completely aware when he was the mountain lion, Chris knew exactly what he was doing. He’d perfected that skill, or phenomenon as Art called it, in the last few hundred years. The way many of his cat abilities transferred when he was fully human was a bonus. His speed, his strength, his senses, all enhanced so that he barely needed to shift to enjoy them.

He arrived on the roof of the building where Art discovered Emily lived. Chris had looked it up on a street map noting the direction as he considered the starry night.

Art had cautioned him. “Don’t be seen.”

Chris shifted after making certain he knew which direction to head in. He could have driven there, but the night called to him. The excuse to stretch his muscles, leap along roofs, climb trees and balconies proved irresistible.

Emily’s tall apartment building was mock Gothic. That meant balconies and turrets, but all built with a modern, clean, creamy stone so that it looked more like a candy castle than a spooky haunt. Art’s research was thorough, and Chris knew she lived on the top floor. He accessed her roof garden easily.

With huge stealth, he stalked through the potted plants. His tail trailed along the top of the garden table setting, and he nudged a chair with his huge leg muscle. He did it silently and on purpose, wanting to touch where Emily might have sat. He sniffed at some of the plants and sat down by a row of huge pots containing night-scented stock. The roof paving cooled his haunches, and the perfume from the flowers filled his nostrils. A purr started deep in his throat. Happiness at being near Emily washed over him. He put his head down on his paws.

The roof door opened. Emily stepped out, silhouetted by the light behind her. She held a watering can and watered a basket of ferns hanging near the door.

Chris crouched lower, his ears flat against his head. How could she fail to see him? If she came any further into her roof garden, she would. He was huge, and at more than seven feet long, he took up the entire length of the left side of the crenellated roof wall. The pots of stock wouldn’t hide him.

Emily went indoors after she’d watered the basket of ferns.

Chris waited. His tail swished a couple of times. The light inside went off. Chris stood and walked to the door. It was glass, but he couldn’t see much inside. He caught Emily’s scent, all woman and sweet. His mouth opened silently to breathe the heady perfume over his back teeth. He wanted her. He leapt up onto the ledge that wound around the upper part of Emily’s apartment. Chris jumped onto a balcony. Something like desperation to glimpse her again drove him to peer into the big window.

She’s in there.
Light pooled from a dim lamp by her bed.

Chris looked in and Emily looked out.

* * * *

The eyes staring through her window were emerald and shone like lamps. Emily held her breath. If that was a cat, it wasn’t the one that lived in the apartment below. Her window was closed, but this animal must be big enough to burst through the glass if it wanted to. Emily shivered as fear trickled into her stomach and made her legs feel useless. The creature still stared in. She didn’t know what to do…and then the animal was gone.

Emily jumped out of bed and ran to the window. She pressed her face to the glass trying to see where it had gone. What she saw was a massive cat shape leaping over to the next roof defined in the sudden white light of their security lights.
Has something escaped from the city zoo?
She picked up her cell phone from the bedside table and called the police.

After two minutes on the call, she realized they judged her as crazy. Their patient voices designed to soothe as her call was transferred from one department to another. The incident worried her and she didn’t fall asleep for a long time.

Chris didn’t hang around, but on the way home, he recalled how the indoor light had outlined Emily’s figure. His passion ignited, he let out a growl as he landed in the grass, and raced the last mile home through the nearby parkland. He went into his house via a balcony door left open for his return.

The scent he’d breathed in as Emily watered her fern basket, teased him even now, as he shifted and dressed in jeans and a T-shirt. Chris made coffee and sat down at his laptop. He checked his e-mails hoping there was one from the dating service, but it was too soon after the event for there to be one. He logged into the magazine mailbox that allowed him to send messages to Emily.

I’m so sorry I missed you at Café in the Park. Something delayed me. Please give me another chance. I’ll be there tomorrow at the same time. I’ll bring flowers, so that you know who I am. Chris

He added his name after reading the e-mail a couple of times. He clicked on send.

Let her get this. Let her be there.
Chris slumped for a few moments. He wanted her in his arms so that she could physically feel the connection he knew they had. He pictured her face. The blue eyes expertly made up with that smoky look, the small rounded nose, and those kissable lips. He groaned a little. He daren’t think about her breasts or hips that taunted him when she was backlit on the roof garden.
Don’t frighten her away. Soothe the need.

When he took a shower after pacing the floor for ten minutes, he sheathed his cock in his hand and pumped a couple of times. The water ran down his stomach. It sprinkled onto the head of his erection. He gave a low groan as he leaned back in the shower stall and stroked his cock. He savored the feeling and imagined it was Emily’s hand. Her gentle fingers would tease, stroke, pump him until he couldn’t take it and would lift her onto his huge cock and fuck her. He pumped hard until the cum sprayed up his stomach and over his hand. He shuddered with relief as the moan of orgasm burst from his lips. When he felt calmer, he pictured how he’d be gentle with her. Kiss her, lick down her body to tongue and suck her clit. Kiss along her stomach as he finger fucked her. Stroke her thighs and kiss her mouth until she moaned to be fucked. He wanted her to love him. How did he know he would love her? Instinct, he was sure of it.