Read Online Jaguar Hunt by Terry Spear - Free Book Online Page B

along. She couldn’t say enough about how much David’s approach meant to her.
    Still, she felt reluctant to tell him about her father’s affair. She loved her parents, but knowing this about her father and having nobody to share her secret with was eating her inside out.
    The ceiling fan whirred as it whirled around and around. But she couldn’t get cool. Not after that kiss. Not with David’s sculpted body radiating so much heat. Not with the mosquito mesh surrounding the bed.
    She threw off the bedcover, realizing she must have jerked it off David, too. She glanced at him. He smiled knowingly at her.
    Moving to the bungalow was going to be the right move.
    She thought again about the lipstick on the tree. She hadn’t realized the teens had taken it. Was anything else missing from her toiletry bag? When she’d looked to see what was gone, she’d only glanced at her clothes in the drawers. And when she dried her hair, she still hadn’t thought anything about it.
    She let out her breath in annoyance and got out of bed.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?” David asked immediately.
    â€œNothing that important. I’m checking to see if the kids took anything else of mine besides the lipstick. I hadn’t examined the bag that it was in.”
    The mattress creaked as he left the bed. She glanced over her shoulder at him. “You don’t have to come with me.”
    â€œI never checked my razor kit, either.”
    She noted the sexy shadow of stubble just beginning to appear along his angular jaw. “Surely they wouldn’t steal your razor. They probably aren’t shaving much yet. Then again, who would think they would steal my lipstick?”
    â€œI doubt they would have taken my razor,” he said as he followed her into the bathroom. “But I won’t be able to sleep if I’m wondering whether they absconded with anything else.” He unzipped his shaving kit and poked around inside it.
    â€œMissing anything?” she asked. “Doesn’t look like anything else of mine is gone.” She was relieved about that.
    â€œMy bottle of aftershave lotion. Wild Earth Essence—the fragrance of Indonesian sandalwood combined with patchouli.”
    She had to admit she would like smelling the aftershave on him, though only if he applied a hint of it—much more, and her sensitive sense of smell couldn’t handle it. “The hippies wore patchouli—the odor of pot, sex, and forest. It’s from the mint family,” she said, recalling having read that somewhere.
    â€œI never thought of it that way, but you’re right.”
    She frowned at him, not meaning to, but still… “So you wear it to attract human women?” Here she was defending herself against her brother’s claim that she only dated humans. Did David?
    â€œI haven’t dated a human since last year. Bad mistake.”
    â€œWhat happened?”
    â€œI learned not to date a woman who had a former boyfriend who wasn’t ready to let her go.”
    She waited for him to elaborate, but he didn’t, though she was dying to know what had happened. Not that it should matter, but it piqued her curiosity. Would Maya know? Maybe David’s brother had told Maya and Tammy could ask her. “I don’t remember you wearing it earlier before you took your shower.” She zipped up her toiletry bag.
    â€œI didn’t need to. I wasn’t planning on being with any human woman,” he reiterated and smiled a little as if he thought she might care. “In truth, the fragrance also attracts jaguars and other kinds of big cats.”
    â€œGet out of here.” She didn’t believe it, yet he looked so sincere.
    â€œYeah, really. Zoos spray the fragrance in the big cats’ enclosures. The cats need to smell new odors, like they do when they’re in the wild. The fresh scents enrich their lives. Some of the perfumes and colognes are a