Read Online A Fox's Maid by Brandon Varnell - Free Book Online Page B

inopportune moment, he didn’t believe they were worth mentioning.
    … Anyway, the point remained that this particular predicament had quickly gone down the drain, and was getting more awkward by the second.
    After Lilian’s maid-slash-bodyguard, Kotohime, found them at the small café, the two kitsune plus one human had traveled back to the Swift residence.
    Sitting at the table, her back straight and her bearing similar to those samurai he often saw in anime and manga, Kotohime cut a surprisingly imposing figure. Surprising, because the woman was drop-dead gorgeous, with her perfect white skin, dark raven hair, large doe-like eyes, and a bust even bigger than Lilian’s. When most people thought of imposing samurai, they didn’t think of a woman who looked like a pinup model.
    At least her clothing helped present the image of a traditional Japanese beauty—if not a samurai—but really, who the heck wore kimonos in this day and age? And to wear one in America, of all places? Talk about weird.
    Kevin thought about mentioning the woman’s odd choice in clothing. He wanted to ask why she was wearing something so outdated. Two aspects of her appearance prevented him from doing so: her katana, and the strangely terrifying gleam in her eyes. Those two characteristics made Kevin feel like she would slice and dice him if he so much as opened his mouth. So he did the smart thing and kept his mouth shut.
    “ Let me see if I understand correctly, the series of events that led to you living here.” Kotohime paused to take a sip of the tea Kevin had prepared, which he didn’t even know he had until he’d searched the pantry. He didn’t drink tea. Maybe Lilian had bought it. He supposed it didn’t matter. They had some, and he would be forever grateful for that small miracle. Now maybe he and Lilian could get out of this situation without being skewered.
    Setting the cup back down, the femme fatale took to staring at Lilian with those unfathomably dark eyes. Kevin felt for her. The redheaded kitsune was practically quaking in her seat.
    “ After running away from home, you hitchhiked from Tampa Bay all the way to Phoenix?”
    That was another thing he had learned; Lilian’s immediate family―plus two maids―had apparently been staying at one of their vacation homes in Florida when Lilian had run away. Kevin didn’t know why, but he assumed the reason had something to do with family issues.
    Lilian squirmed uncomfortably as she sat across from the woman, looking like a child that had been caught stealing gum from a grocery store. It was undeniably cute, but Kevin felt bad seeing her this way, even if she had sort of brought it upon herself.
    “… Yes.”
    “ And after hitchhiking across the country, you ran into an inu yōkai on the one night she lost control of her lust for battle?”
    A little known fact about female inu was their susceptibility to losing control over their battle lust one night out of the entire year. Kevin thought of it as a sort of annual PMS, except that the female in question was less liable to cry and more prone to rip one’s head off. He didn’t say anything about that, though, because he had no desire to be gutted by this Kotohime woman’s katana.
    Consequently, Kevin had learned that this didn’t happen to male inu. They had no annual night of battle lust, mainly because they always had a lust for battle and bloodshed. It was a 24/7 thing for them.
    Lilian didn’t say anything this time. After shrinking further into her seat, she simply gave the older woman a submissive nod.
    “ Do you know how dangerous that was?” Though her voice was still calm, still collected, Kevin couldn’t help the shiver that ran down his spine. There was something dangerous lurking beneath that voice. Lilian must have sensed it as well, because her entire body shuddered from tails to ears. “Hitchhiking rides from strangers without a clue as to who they are might just be the least intelligent decision I