Animalistic (Tiger in Her Bed)

“Hmm. Can’t say I blame you.”

“Mr. Hoffman paid a pretty penny for my tuition. I couldn’t disappoint him. But Sabrina liked parties and did outrageous things on a whim. I couldn’t keep bailing her out on assignments and everything else when I had my own studies to focus on. If I flunked out, I would have felt like a failure.”

“Wise choice. If you don’t mind me asking, how did she end up stealing your boyfriend? You told me you and Chris had been together since high school. Did he go to Columbia with you and Sabrina?”

She took a long pause before she answered. “Yes, the three of us were high school buddies. Sabrina was the popular… mean girl. Chris was the school jock and I was Sabrina’s lackey. By some strange coincidence, the three of us were accepted at Columbia. It was a big deal. Mr. Hoffman threw a big party for all three of us before we started school.” She sighed, taking a sip of her iced tea. “Chris and I had drifted apart in the past year. He’s ambitious and quite brilliant. But we both had a lot going on. Actually, about six months ago, we decided to break up. But then, my mom died and he wanted to reconcile because I needed support. I kind of suspect that he’d been cheating on me, but I never thought that person would be Sabrina. I feel so… stupid.”

“Hey.” Trent grabbed her hand and comforted her. “You’re not stupid. Don’t blame yourself over what had happened. You couldn’t possibly know.”

“I know that, but I can’t stop feeling that way.”

“Is Sabrina a vindictive person?”

“She’s selfish sometimes. And I think she’s jealous of me because Mr. Hoffman spent more time with me than his own daughter. When I was a little girl, I spent most of my time after school. at the office, helping out my dad with the cleaning. My favorite place was the firm’s law library. I like the smell of old books and the feel of those heavy tomes in my hands. I also thought Mr. Hoffman was very cool. He dressed nicely and got to meet important people and defend them.

“Later in my high school years, I got to talk a lot with Mr. Hoffman, especially after I expressed my interest in studying law. And years later, when I passed the bar and joined the firm, Mr. Hoffman kind of made me his protégé. Sabrina absolutely hated that. She failed the bar once and Mr. Hoffman totally crushed her for that. He’s a perfectionist and can’t abide failure. I honestly think that Sabrina holds a grudge because of it. One time, she told me that it was my fault that she dropped of Colombia.”

“Jesus. She’s a brat, isn’t she?”

Arielle smiled. “I can’t really blame her for turning out like she did. She had no one to look up to when she was growing up. She was practically raised by nannies. She rarely saw her dad and her only friend was me, since I’m the only one who put up with her nonsense at school. I count myself lucky because I had two loving parents. We didn’t have much but we were happy.” She took another bite of her chicken. “How about you, Trent? You came from money and yet, you chose to go in to the military. You could have become anything you wanted, and yet you chose a life of service instead.”

“Not really. On the contrary, my choices were limited when I was growing up. When I was six, I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, so I spent most of my childhood in the hospital.”

She looked surprised. “Osteosarcoma? Like bone cancer?”

He nodded. “In my left leg. I was forced to learn to walk again when I was eleven. Then endless therapies, doctor vi

sits, and tests. It was exhausting. I was declared cancer free when I was thirteen. Doctors said it was a miracle that I was able to recover. Because of that I was behind academically, so my dad decided I didn’t need to follow the Alexander family tradition.”

She tipped her head aside. “Which is?”

“All the boys in our family went to Collegiate then Cornell. My grandpa, dad, uncles, my brothers, and nephews all followed the same path. Instead, my dad sent me to a Tendai monastery in Japan for convalescing. I learned meditation. One of the monks taught me martial arts. I was hooked. I learned karate in Tokyo to compensate for my weak physique. I ended up in a local high school there too. After graduation, I came back to the US and got into MMA. I even spent eight months in Israel studying Krav Maga. Mom wouldn’t let me compete professionally, so when I got back here again, I decided to join the military and got shipped to Iraq fresh out of training.”

“Wait – your mom didn’t want you to compete in martial arts professionally, but she was okay with you joining the military and getting shipped to a war zone?”

“Initially she didn’t want me to join, but my dad put his foot down. She couldn’t coddle me forever. Sooner or later I had to learn to be self-reliant, right?”

“So true. And you actually went to school in Japan? That’s fascinating. How was it?”

“I liked it, but the women were crazy. They followed me around and shouted, ‘Kyaaa!’ each time I made eye contact. Every morning when I changed into my indoor shoes, I found notes in them asking for a meeting on the rooftop. Mostly confessions.” He shrugged.

“Confessions?”

“Well, when a kid in Japan likes you, she gives you a note asking for a private meeting, usually on the school rooftop or in the back of the school. And when you show up, she confesses that she likes you and asks you to be her boyfriend.”

“Is that so? That’s so adorable. So there’s no casual high school hookups like here?”

“I don’t know now, but it wasn’t like that in my time. Seriously, the girls drove me nuts. Other than that, the food was great. People are friendly and polite. It’s a nice place.”

“I’m not surprised that you had a lot of female fans. I bet you dated a lot of girls in the past.”

“No, not really. I only like a particular type of woman.”

“Oh? And what is your type?”

“You,” he said, deadpan, thinking there was no use in beating around the bush.

She clearly hadn’t expected that answer. A smile blossomed at the corner of her lips. Her face blushed into an adorable shade of pink. “I’m flattered, but listen, Trent, I’m not ready—”