Apple of My Eye (Tiger's Eye Mystery #7) - Alyssa Day Page 0,4

you singing and not the terrible shrieks of tortured tourists."

That was just mean. Accurate, maybe, but mean.

I focused—really hard—on not falling off my stepladder.

Jack was back.

I refused to turn around to look at him until I knew I could keep the emotion off my face. "Gone all this time, and the first thing you do when you get back is criticize my singing?"

I heard two fast footsteps, and then his hands were on my waist, and he plucked me off the ladder and pulled me to him in a long, tight hug.

"I thought I'd start with the 'I'm so glad to see you' kiss, but I figured you'd punch me in the face," he said, when he finally let me go.

"Good call," I said, narrowing my eyes.

And then I punched him in the stomach.

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"Ow!" I winced and shook out my hand. Punching a tiger shifter in the hard-muscled abs is like punching a tree. Not recommended and far more likely to hurt the puncher than the punchee.

His jade-green eyes sparkled down at me. "Um, ouch?"

"Jerk." I backed away from him. "So, how have you been? Where have you been? Why didn't you—"

I clamped my mouth shut. No way was I going to ask why he hadn't called me more often. It felt pathetic, and I wasn't.

I was a little bit hurt, though.

Okay, maybe a lot.

"Now that the punching is over, can we get to the kissing? I really missed kissing you," he said, his green eyes flashing with sparks of amber fire.

Well, what would it hurt? After all, I'd really missed kissing him too, and… I caught myself leaning forward and wanted to punch myself in the face.

"Not a chance, my friend. You don't get to take off with almost no word, making me—us—worry about you, and then take up where you left off."

I forced myself to back away from him, in spite of my traitorous hormones.

But he smells so good...

And definitely out of hugging or kissing range.

But he looks delicious…

Dang. He really did.

Jack, in human form, was six feet, four inches of hard-bodied, gorgeous man. He had wavy bronze hair that was a little long, since they apparently didn't have anybody who cut hair wherever he'd been. His eyes were green when he was human, mostly, except when he was furious or… um… feeling frisky. Then they flashed with hints of the amber of his tiger's eyes.

As a tiger? Terrifying, beautiful, and deadly.

Jack's tiger shape was five hundred pounds of orange, white, and black ferocity, except when he was curled up on my floor to protect me. Then he almost looked kind of cuddly.

I've really been missing cuddles… and he's so tan, and gorgeous, and…

"No!"

I hadn't planned to shout, but it takes a lot to overrule your own worst instincts. Human nature is funny that way.

"Got it. No kissing." He backed away, holding his hands up in the air, but the amused glint in his eyes made me suspicious.

"So. Are you back, back, or are you just stopping by to get your mail?"

His smile faded. "I'm back. We finished the job."

I waited, but he didn't say anything else. I might never know what exactly the job had been. Jack wasn't much to disclose what he considered to be other people's secrets. There was a 'sacred clown trust' adventure I'd never learned a thing about, for example.

I brushed my hands off on my pants and turned back toward my ladder. "Okay. You said hello. I've got to get back to work."

"I can help. See? Don't even need a ladder." He took a wreath out of the bin and held it up to the wall. "Do you want this here?"

Decision time: I could be grumpy about him not calling me, or I could get help decorating. It wasn't a tough choice.

"If we can get through these last two bins, I'll call it a day. Thanks."

We hung decorations and chatted, mostly him asking me about my family and our friends. After a quarter hour or so, I couldn't take it any longer.

"Are you ever going to tell me where you were? What you were doing? Was it dangerous?" I put my hands on my hips and fixed him with a steady stare. "Whatever this… friendship is between us, it's not fair to disappear like that and leave me—us—to worry about you like that."

He sighed and put the battery-operated miniature hay wagon back in the bin. "I know. I… I hope this is more than a friendship we have, Tess, but on the