You Had Me at Cougar (Heart of the Cougar #9) - Terry Spear Page 0,6

reserve will appreciate it."

“Anything for the cougars. So how do we do this?” he asked.

“I can make something up,” she offered helpfully. She noticed a line was already forming behind him and she heard someone say, "One of the psychic twins is giving fortunes."

“Or?” He smiled at her.

She thought he was too masculine, too adventurous for his own good and would want to know the truth. And he had contributed a lot of money to the Big Cat Reserve for this. But she didn't want to learn that anything bad was coming up in his life and with the kind of job he worked, it could.

“I can read your palm,” she said.

He reached his hand out to her, palm up.

She knew this wasn’t a good idea one iota. Not if she learned something really bad was going to happen to him, though she figured if she did, maybe a warning would help him avoid getting killed over it.

Chapter 2

Chet sensed the tension in Ava as soon as he offered his hand for her to give him a reading. He knew she was a true psychic, and he wondered if she would give him a true reading or something that was just made up. He could handle it if she wanted to tell him his life was in danger or something like that. He lived for danger. It was all part of his job. Though he hoped she could tell him a bit of good news. Like if he had to apprehend or eliminate rogue cougars, he would survive the mission.

She frowned as she took his hand and ran her finger over his lifeline. “It’s good news. You’re going to get a pay raise.”

“Really?” He was so surprised at her reading, he wasn't sure what to think. Was it for real, or made up to disguise something bad? Maybe she’d just been tense because she’d worried she might see something bad and she couldn't see anything about him.

“Take the good news and go spend some more money on something else,” Chase Buchanan said behind him. He was a part-time deputy sheriff and the owner of the Pinyon Pines Resort on Lake Buchanan, and Chet knew he was just joking with him.

Chet arched a brow at him. “I just paid a hundred dollars. I need a little more of my fortune read.”

“Isn’t a pay raise enough?” Chase asked, frowning at him, but he was just playing with him. “Tell him what he wants to hear, Ava. He’s going to be in a world of danger before he knows it.”

Chet laughed. With the kind of work he did, that was a given.

“Tell him he’s going to lose the canoe race to me if he doesn’t paddle hard enough,” Chase added.

Chet doubted she would see anything like that. It wasn't a situation that would be dire enough, as far as he thought.

“I can tell you right now, neither of you will win,” Ava said, looking perfectly serious.

“Oh, so who does?” Chase looked surprised that she would know that, despite knowing she had real psychic visions.

“Me.”

Chase laughed. Chet smiled, but he again wondered if she knew it for real or she was she just playing with them.

“You are going to be in the worst sort of danger,” Ava said, looking really serious, frowning. Then she smiled brightly.

“Seriously?”

“Of course, with your line of work it’s inevitable. Next.”

Smiling, Chet moved out of the way and folded his arms, watching while Chase got his reading. Ava took his hand and said, “Oh, you are going to be in the worst kind of danger.”

Chase smiled and shook his head. “I know. It goes with my line of work as a deputy sheriff.” Chase left to let the next person in line get their fortune read, Mandy Jones, their nurse at the clinic. He was about to say something to Chet but stopped to hear what Ava had to say to Mandy. She was one of the newest members of the cougar family, having been accidentally turned by her former boyfriend Ricky, also a deputy sheriff, who had also been newly turned earlier—not born as cougar shifters like the rest of them.

“You are expecting twins in the fall,” Ava said, smiling.

“Ohmigod, really? For real? No joke?”

“Yeah, for real.”

“Ohmigod. I’ve got to get back to the clinic. I just had a break to have my fortune read. I guess I’m going to have to have a blood test then.” Mandy reached into the booth and gave Ava a hug. Then she