The Final Chase (Final Love Book 2) Page 11

  “Do you have cameras watching me so you won’t miss any of my private performances?” I mean, seriously. He caught me every time!

  “Just great timing,” he chuckled. I washed my face and put my toothbrush in its new shower holder before exiting the shower, turning off my phone before another song could snare me in its grasp.

  “Great timing, my ass. You’re a secret agent, spying on innocent girls while they sing and dance. Creeper.” I was teasing.

  “Especially ones that sing about having sex, and that it felt so good.” Cue embarrassment. Yep, I was totally singing like a fool, naked, about having sex. My cheeks grew warm, but I tried to pull off a kick-ass come back.

  “Yeah, well, my fingers are pretty talented, so they deserved some praise.” Nailed it. I pretended to drop the mic in front of his face. He was smiling at me, obviously not at all bothered by my posturing. He was like a proud little peacock, standing there. I grabbed my towel and dried off, changing the subject so I wouldn’t dig another embarrassing hole for myself.

  “I thought you were waiting by the wolves.” I walked into the room and started getting dressed while Jake watched me.

  “My watch alarm went off that the cameras caught you doing a dance, so I got here as quickly as possible.” He was fighting back laughter and I wanted to die. Once I was fully clothed in a pair of cute tan shorts, my boots, and a blue T-shirt, I turned to him.

  “Okay, let’s go, smart ass.” I walked out of the room and down the stairs. I knew he followed behind me but I was on a roll so I kept on walking, out of the house and towards the wolves’ area.

  “So what happened this morning?” I asked him as we came to a stop.

  “Bobcat got shot in the leg by a punk with an arrow. The parents of the kid brought it to us. We have a rehabilitation area, so Doc fixed it up and put it in a temporary home for now. We’ll release it in a week or so, whenever Doc says he’s good to go.” His arms circled around me from behind, and like a cat doused in water, I lost all of my fight.

  “Oh, I’ll have to make it a pretty toy or something.” And the crazy thing was, I meant it. I wanted to bring a little joy into that poor kitty’s life.

  Over the next hour, Jake introduced me to the wolf pack. There were seven of them. The top dog, if you will, was bonded with Jake and listened to him. But there were some that kept their distance. Most of the animals at the rescue were completely hands off. For a select few, Jake or Derek could get in the habitat with them. One of the wolves growled at me, and I might have peed a little. Well, that was a lie, but it made me jump enough that I could have!

  We left the wolves, and went to go check in on the new bobcat. She was doing well. Very skittish, but she hadn’t really had any human contact, so I couldn’t blame her there. We kept walking and checking on all the animals, making sure the workers didn’t need anything from us, then went to go get my precious baby, Casey. Jake carried the wiggly kitty back to the lodge and I talked to her, telling her about how Jake and I finally got together, and I was going to see her as much as possible, even when she went into her big kitty habitat. Her big blue eyes watched me, and I swear I saw a wink, so I know she got me.

  When we made it back to the lodge, Jake got everything set up for Casey, making sure nothing breakable was in her reach and covering all the furniture, because those claws of hers were starting to do some damage. I ran up the stairs to check those notifications on my phone, but got distracted watching Jake put a baby gate on the stairs. Cute.

  I could see him doing that for his babies, so they wouldn’t fall down the stairs. His kids. My kids? Having kids with Jake wouldn’t be so bad. He would be a really good daddy. I smiled as I turned to go get my phone, feeling all sorts of jitters from thinking about Jake as a daddy.

  “Holy hell!” I was shocked at how many notifications, calls, and emails I had missed. Were zombies attacking and I didn’t know about it?

  Rayne, my sister, my mother, the salon, Mary. Everyone had tried to reach me. Even though I should have read everyone else’s stuff first, I read Rayne’s message. What if something happened to the baby?

  Rayne- Babe. You need to read this.

  There was a link below her text. I clicked on it to see the headline

  Sorry, Ladies, Jake Wild is finally taken.

  Uh, say what? I kept reading.

  Notorious millionaire, and bad boy gone animal rescuer has been scooped up by a saucy redhead.

  As you know, women all over the country have been waiting in the wings ever since Jake gave up his New York bad boy image and traded it to help exotic animals in Southwest Florida.

  Son to Bernard and Lenora Wild, Jake lived up to his name of being exactly that, WILD.As the oldest child of four, his net worth was over fifty million and counting. But then one day, he traded that life of luxury to help animals in need—which only made the female population swoon even harder.

  Jake was seen at the local Aquarium Gala with the redhead, then was spotted dancing at the club Yimka with said woman as well, before they sped off in his Shelby GT 500.

  Who is this mystery woman who has apparently tamed the Wild man himself?

  I sat there staring at the article with wide eyes and confusion. There was a horrible picture of us together, dancing sweetly. Someone must have taken it on the sly. Jake Wild, bad boy, millionaire.

  They had to be wrong. Jake was so down to earth, although he had to be a little on the nutty side to want to be around my bag of crazy. But, seriously, besides the GT, he drove a truck that looked okay, but not millionaire worthy.

  Although, he did run this place, and it kind of made sense. I think he said the care and feeding of just one tiger alone was ten thousand a year. And the rescue sat on 200 acres. I’m sure he got donations, and other state assistance, but if he was loaded, then he would be able to take care of most of it himself.

  All these little dots in my head started connecting. What happened at the Gala, the car, piece by piece, things I had overlooked were making sense. I glanced through the rest of my notifications to see they were all about Jake and me. Nobody had died. Yet.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  I tossed my phone on the bed and marched down to have a few words with the bad boy millionaire in question. The baby gate stopped me briefly, but once I figured that out, I was back to my search. I found him in the living room watching Casey and Binksie play.

  “We need to talk.” I walked up to him and straddled his lap so he couldn’t go anywhere. When he put his hands on my hips, I remembered why this was a bad decision. He could turn our talk into something dirtier.

  “Who are you, Jake?”

  “Jake,” he answered flatly.

  “You know what I mean. I feel like I don’t know the man I’m in love with, and it’s freaking me out. My phone nearly exploded from all the notifications from people flipping out about me apparently being with a bad boy millionaire from New York. I mean, I feel like I’m on an episode of PUNKED or something.” I didn’t flail this time. I watched his face as he took in what I said.

  “I’m sorry.” He looked me straight on, no shame or regret in his eyes.

  “So it’s true. You’re some big hot shot wild man from the city. You’re a millionaire?” The last part I could have cared less about, it was just the fact that I didn’t know.

  “Does it matter?”

  “The money? No.” My answer was absolute and quick.

  “I just want to know who you are.” He pulled me in for a kiss then leaned his forehead against mine, eyes closed.

  “This is me. Who I was before, is not who I am now. Right now I am just a man who wants to be with the woman he loves and have her love him in return.”

  My breathing stopped. I knew how he felt. I could feel it with every gaze, with every touch. But hearing it did something to me. Some wall I had unknowingly built just crumbled.

  “You have my love,” I whispered to him. We were moving so fast, everything was a blur around us. He had me completely,
every breath, and every heartbeat.

  “Will you tell me about your life? Old, new, and everything in between?” I asked as I laid my head against his shoulder. I wanted to know everything about this man that I could. We chatted for a few hours, learning everything we could. Favorite colors. Mine was orange, his was red. My favorite movie was Pitch Perfect, his was 300.

  He grew up in New York, where his dad was a big hot shot in advertising, his mother was a doctor, and his sisters were doing their own thing. After one sister had a big sweet sixteen party with tigers present, he saw how they were treated and wanted to do something. So he traded in his naughty ways at twenty-five, learned everything he needed, and opened up the rescue a few months later. He’d been helping animals ever since. A higher purpose in life.

  My story wasn’t as glorified as his. I was a cute little girl, I only had one sibling, parents divorced. Fell in love with pretty dresses and makeup at twelve. Have been best friends with Rayne forever, she’s really like my family. I went to school for cosmetology, worked my ass off until I opened my own super awesome salon. He was a bit of a player, but with his money, good looks, and attitude, who could blame him? But since he started the rescue, there hadn’t really been anyone.

  He was too focused on the animals.

  I wanted to cut a bitch when he said that most of the women wanted him for who he was and the money he had. Once they realized he was just a laid-back guy that made the rescue his priority, they didn’t want him anymore. Yep, I was feeling pretty stabby after that.

  I hadn’t been with anyone since my ex, just because I felt like I was missing something. Turns out it was a sexy man who lived and breathed rescuing animals. Who would have believed it?

  “Tomorrow’s the last day of our bet.” I felt like it was bearing down on us, and I didn’t really know what to make of it. Would I go back to my life? Would I stay here? What would become of us? I felt like I needed something from this. A path to follow, some sort of reassurance.

  “That it is.” He held me close but didn’t say anything else. I wasn’t ready to drop it, so I kept talking.

  “What are we going to do? I mean, we live quite a ways from each other. I have my salon, you have the rescue. When are we going to see each other?” I pulled back and looked him in his beautiful blue eyes. I wanted to make this work with him. I mean, hell, Cammy Jennings didn’t tell just anyone that she loved them!

  “We will work it out. Both of us are the boss, we can be a little more flexible than some.” It wasn’t the answer I was looking for, but I wasn’t expecting him to ask me to marry him either. Feelings of doubt and the unknown hit me. I hadn’t known Jake for long, and I was undoubtedly in love with him, but where did we go from there? I had to go back to my life. I had a business, and apartment. Jake couldn’t have me around distracting him, driving off to have sex in the woods.

  “Sweetheart. Look at me.” I was staring at his chest. I didn’t even realize I had looked away from his eyes. I returned my eyes to his.

  “You love me?”

  “Yes.” I nodded.

  “Then don’t worry, any relationship has its kinks. We will work it out. We want it bad enough that there is no other way. I already told you. You’re it.” My heart swelled and I leaned in to kiss him. I had to believe that things would be okay. I had to.

  “Okay, kitten.” I called him the nickname I gave him in the beginning, to lighten the mood.

  “I’ll show you a kitten,” he growled and mauled my neck. Teasing, licking, and nibbling.

  “Knock, knock!” someone sang out by the door. Who the hell? I hopped off Jake so he could go to the door. Yikes, I totally forgot that this house was right dab in the middle of this rescue. Anyone could see us through a window. I needed to be more careful about that, maybe head upstairs or get some pretty curtains.

  When Jake opened the door, he gestured for our guest to come inside.

  “Rayne!” I bounced up and ran to hug my preggy bestie. She and Arson were here.

  “What are you guys doing here?” I beamed. They looked so cute with their matching black hair and green eyes. Oh, their baby was going to be a cutie.

  “I hadn’t heard back from you today and wanted to check in on you, plus this place sounded cool. Jake said we could come by anytime, so I thought now was as good as any.” She smiled while looking around. A crashing noise startled Rayne and me, as Casey jumped up onto the table to the right of us and then dashed off, Binksie slowly stalking her. They never stopped!

  “Good lord.” Rayne had a hand on her heart.

  “Well, I’m glad you stopped by!” I hugged her again and gave Cammy Jr. a kiss.

  “You’re all right?” She gestured towards Jake.

  “Oh yeah, I’m just dating a millionaire, but who cares, right? Although now that I think about it… you do know I have an addiction to shoes, right?” I gave him a wink and started chatting Rayne up about everything.

  “Can we give them a tour?” I pleaded with Jake.

  “Yeah, let me just put Casey in her crate for a nap. Don’t want her tearing up the house while we’re out.” He had a point there. Not sure why some people thought owning a tiger would be fun. They destroyed everything. He walked off and grabbed the cub, placing her in her pen. She would be out in no time. Together, we all walked around, and I took the lead on the tour when I could. I was excited to share all the stuff I had learned. Everyone at the rescue knew everything already so I couldn’t impress them.

  “This is Koda, the bear. He’s a retired circus bear. He had a pretty hard life, kept in a small cage, forced to do stunts, and travelling constantly. But he’s pretty happy now. He likes to laze around his habitat and enjoy the fresh air.” I pointed to the big bear that was hanging out in some water, enjoying the summer breeze. We kept walking. Rayne enjoyed seeing the wolves the most—something about her inner animal being a wolf.

  I could think of myself as a house cat. I wasn’t about to kill creatures to eat, I liked to be petted sometimes, and I loved naps. Yep, my inner animal was a house cat.

  We walked around the rescue, saying hi to all the people and animals we passed.

  Rayne cried a couple of times when hearing about some of the animals’ stories. I didn’t like it either. Humans were really terrible when it came to animals. One of the facts that Jake stated, and it hit me pretty hard, was that there were more tigers in backyards than in the wild. I hated people at that moment. Both Rayne and I were pretty upset about that, but we ventured on. The young lions we passed were rescues from cub petting, just like Casey, but instead of getting sick, they just got too big and were going to be “canned.” Which meant they were going to be sold to the exotic hunting industry to be used in canned hunts where the hunter pays to hunt a fenced area for a guaranteed kill. Horrible. I just wanted to snatch all those animals that were still out there and bring them here, where they would be safe.

  When we made it to the gift shop, I went straight to the kids’ section and bought Cammy Jr. some cute animal outfits. Patty, the crazy lady at the desk, greeted me sweetly, and wrapped up the outfits for me.

  “Okay, I think I’m good.” Rayne plopped down so much stuff on the table, I was a little worried how she carried it all over.

  “Rayne, good gracious!” She had picture frames, T- shirts, stuffed animals, a few packets to sponsor the animals, Skittles, and a wolf snow globe.

  “I felt compelled, don’t judge me.” I saw Arson chatting with Jake off to the side, and gave my attention back to the mess in front of me.

  “Oh and I’d like to donate, as well.” Rayne smiled.

  “Okay, dear, how much would you like to donate? I see you grabbed a couple of the animal sponsors. How would you like to split that up?” She held out four animal sheets. I stared at them. Those were not cheap sheets.

  “A thousand for each, please.” My eyes bugged out of my head at her answer. Holy shit, she was donating four thousand dollars! Plus everything she was buying in front of me.


  “Holy hell, Rayne.” I was stunned.

  “I have to help somehow. This is all I can do.” She looked at me and I saw the need to help in her eyes. After hearing all she had today, her heartstrings had officially been pulled. She wanted to give a new life to the poor creatures that had been mistreated for most of their lives.

  “Thank you.”

  I didn’t need to say anything else to her. What she was doing was amazing. As we said goodbye to my friends, I started thinking about things I could do to help. Maybe I could do a Wild Rescue day at the salon, with half off services, and donate the money to the rescue. Or maybe T-shirts or something. I wanted to help. This place was like my second home now. I felt it in my bones.

  Chapter Twenty-five

  I was pretty damn tired by the time I hit the hay. Jake had to run and check on the bobcat with the arrow wound, but promised he would be back shortly. I hoped that when he got back we could play hide the snake. And by snake I meant his penis.

  I played with Binksie and Casey, letting them chase a laser light. Jake said that they loved to chase, and it was good for them. Made them use their physical and mental abilities. It just made me laugh. I fed the cats and made sure they used the litter. Casey wouldn’t have a litter pan once she was in her habitat, but it helped for now. After they were tuckered out, we sat on the couch and they both snuggled against me on the couch. I grabbed my phone and was reading a hot romance when Jake walked in the house an hour later and put Casey in her crate.

  “Let’s go take a shower.” He held his hand out to me and helped hoist me up. Binksie wasn’t happy about me moving him to get up, but he sauntered over to his bed and flopped down.

  “He’s so comfy,” I commented. Jake looked at the serval and nodded.

  “He’s a pain in the ass, too. They don’t make good pets, but he gets too stressed being outside the house.” Yeah, Binksie probably would be better out in the wild. Although after the high life he lives now, he would totally not survive. Spoiled cat.