Top Gun Tiger (Protection, Inc 7)

A terrifying roar shattered the night. Ethan was hard to startle, but he barely stopped himself from jumping out of his skin. It was some big cat, and close. A cougar? Could they roar like that? It wasn’t as if Santa Martina had lions…

The enemy at the lakeside stopped shooting. “What the fuck was that?”

The other man, who was near the edge of the woods, took a step back. “Must be a mountain lion.”

The roar sounded again, making the enemies twitch nervously.

“Maybe we should get out of here,” said the one who’d been shooting at the reeds.

“No!” the other snapped. “She’s from Protection, Inc., and they’re why Mr. Nagle is in jail right now. We’re taking her dow—”

A tiger leaped out of the woods and took him down.

Ethan’s jaw dropped. But he only let his shock stop him for an instant. As the other enemy started to swing his gun toward the tiger, Ethan charged him. The man heard him coming, looked round, and froze for a fateful second, caught between the man and the tiger. In that instant, Ethan punched him in the jaw, knocking him out cold.

The other enemy lay still between the big cat’s massive paws. Ethan didn’t see any blood. It seemed like both their enemies were unconscious, not dead.

The tiger stepped away from its prey. For such a huge beast, it moved with a strange daintiness. Ethan stayed still, his heart pounding. His enemy’s gun was right there at his feet, but he didn’t want to bet that he could stoop and grab it before the tiger could leap. Besides, he had no desire to harm the beast that had just saved his life. It was a magnificent creature, with its soft-looking fur and deadly grace. He’d always loved wild things; he’d hunted for food, but never for sport.

If he didn’t attack it, probably it wouldn’t attack him. Maybe it had been scared by all the shooting and had acted in self-defense. Or maybe it had cubs it was protecting.

Ethan and the tiger looked at each other. His pulse throbbed in his ears, but from excitement and awe rather than fear. He’d never been so close to a big cat before, not even at the zoo…

…of course. It must have escaped from a zoo. No wonder it didn’t seem afraid of him. Very slowly, Ethan held out his hand. The tiger cocked its head as if it was trying to figure out what he was doing, but it didn’t seem frightened or angry. He made the clicking sound that his sister’s best friend, Catalina, used to talk to her housecats.

The tiger padded up to him and nudged his hand with its head. Barely able to believe this was really happening, Ethan scratched it behind the ears. Its fur was incredibly thick and soft.

“You beauty,” he murmured. “I wish you were mine…”

The soft fur melted away from under his hand. Incredulous, Ethan stared into Destiny’s merry brown eyes.

And a whole lot else. She was completely nude, and standing so close that he could feel her body heat. Between that and the tiger, his brain went into a total shutdown.

“You can let go of my ear now,” she said.

“You’re the tiger!” he blurted out.

“Yup.”

“And you’re naked!”

She looked down at herself. “Whoops. Better give me your shirt.”

Ethan had been half-sure he was dreaming, but as he automatically moved to obey, the sensation of slimy cold cloth dragging over his face convinced him that no matter how bizarre the situation, he was awake and it was real.

He started to offer her the wet shirt, then thought better of it. “Take one of theirs instead. At least they’re dry.” He indicated the nearest unconscious enemy.

Destiny pulled a face. “Not quite. Got some tiger drool on it. My tiger’s drool, but still. I’ll take the other.”

Dazed, Ethan watched her pad over to the enemy he’d knocked out and start stripping off his shirt. Her nude body was every bit as lushly tempting as he’d imagined—no, it was ten times more tempting. A hundred times. A thousand. The perfect globes of her breasts, the sweet roundness of her belly with its dimpled button, the delicious sway of her thighs, her absolutely spectacular ass that he was getting a truly incredible view of right now—

She twisted around and snapped her fingers. “Get busy, jarhead. These guys could wake up any second.”

His face burning, Ethan started ripping up his own shirt, which was a lost cause anyway. He tied up the first enemy, then came over to help Destiny with the one who was now shirtless. To his regret, she’d already pulled on the shirt, which came almost down to her knees. But he comforted himself with the recollection that they’d been planning to duck into the woods to make love anyway. He’d see her naked again. Maybe even later tonight.

She rifled through the men’s pockets while Ethan made sure they were securely bound, extracting their wallets and cell phones. He peered over her shoulder as she looked through their contact lists.

“Ah-ha!” Destiny indicated a number labeled ‘Mr. N.’ “I was right: they’re from the same organized crime ring that attacked my boss and your sister. That’s the private phone line for Wallace Nagle, the Godfather of Santa Martina. At least, it was. He’s in jail now, so I guess his phone is sitting in some FBI evidence lockbox. Let me call Hal and tell him what’s happened.”