You Had Me at Cougar (Heart of the Cougar #9) - Terry Spear Page 0,1
she can take you in.”
Stryker Hill was their deputy sheriff and so was Nina. Ava was a baker at Fitz’s Bakery and Coffee Shop.
“She’s a single she-cat.” Not that Chet was averse to staying with a single she-cat, but she might be averse to having a bachelor male staying with her.
“Right. But she’s the only one we could find who might have some space for you to stay,” Bridget said. “As far as we know, she has an extra bedroom and no guests. Now, you know she is psychic and that means she needs some alone time. Downtime, if she starts to get her premonitions.”
He wondered about that since Bridget could read minds, and he had learned Ava’s twin sister could see future events too. Did Nina need the space from others after working all day as a deputy sheriff? Bridget would work long hours with the CSF too. Maybe it all had to do with using their abilities and if they didn’t, they wouldn’t need to take time to rest from them.
“I will give her the space she needs.” That was saying she would even allow Chet to stay with her.
“I’m ready to head over to the lake now. What about you?” Travis asked Chet.
“I sure am.” Chet was so ready to just have fun and let loose.
“Ava will be at the lake later. Tell her thanks when you see her, if she lets you stay with her,” Bridget said.
“I will. See you in a little bit.” Chet really hadn't expected to be staying with someone other than his good friends.
“You did a fantastic job taking down those three men who were killing the cougars and human hunters,” Travis said to Chet.
“Thanks. I sure could have used your help. Or Bridget’s. Leyton’s too. I’ve been crazy busy out that way because I haven't had much backup.”
"I hear Chuck's going to hire a couple of more agents to work that region."
"Yeah, he is. He just hasn't found anyone qualified enough yet." Chet was even hoping that one of the agents he hired was a woman. Chet had the notion that if Chuck did, maybe Chet would work with her and fall in love with the she-cat like Travis and Bridget had done.
“We have been really busy too, but hopefully next time, one of us can come out to assist you.” Travis got a call and smiled. “Yeah, Nina, Chet’s here. I’ll tell him.” He got off the phone and they climbed into his car. “Nina’s going to talk to her sister at the bakery, if she can spare her guest bedroom. We’ll have an answer soon.”
“Okay. I mean, I could just sleep at the lake in my cougar coat, somewhere safe.”
“You could, but we’ll give you a room somewhere. Sleeping on the couch at one of our places even. We'll manage,” Travis said.
Ava Lamar was busy baking at Fitz’s Bakery and Coffee Shop, preparing cakes for all the July fourth birthdays and party cakes and cookies for the 4th of July celebration. It was a sunny, 96 degrees outside and despite the air conditioning inside she was sweltering just doing all the baking in the kitchen. She was so ready to strip off her clothes and throw on a bikini and dive into the lake, lie around on a float for a few hours, and just enjoy herself. The heat was perfect for that.
Her brother-in-law, Deputy Sheriff Stryker Hill, was in charge of crowds for the morning, until everything was set up. Then she saw her sister bounce into the shop. Ava swore Nina bounced—her step springy because she was so excited about all the celebrations. She had the day off from serving as a deputy sheriff and was helping to organize all the events. Ava knew that gleam in her sister’s eye meant she was about to ask her to do something for the celebration when Ava felt she’d done quite enough. She was helping to provide a lot of the baked treats for the event after all.
She wanted to just kick back and enjoy the rest of the day. The shop was closing in an hour and she was thrilled. The owner, Florence Fitzgerald, had already headed over to the celebration, to supervise the setting up of the tables to display their baked goods. Ava didn’t think she’d ever worked this hard at the bakery since she started working there.
“Before you say no, I have a favor to ask of you,” Nina said.