The Final Chase (Final Love Book 2) Page 5

  “Jake, I can’t be up this early. I’m going to be a monster,” I groaned. This was so not happening to me. I thought Rayne was bad by waking up at 6a.m.

  His grip loosened and his hands started roaming. I felt his cock behind me start to grow hard.

  “Seriously? No, you go to work. I’m going back to sleep.” I closed my eyes, trying to do just that.

  A hot mouth touched my bare neck, sending a bolt of electricity through my skin.

  “I’ll make the hours worth it.” I scoffed, but boy did he ever.

  An hour later, I was dressed in a pair of leggings tucked into a pair of fashion biker boots and a button up denim tunic, my hair was pulled back into a nice bun, with minimal makeup. Jake was, of course, looking fine in his signature Henley shirt, jeans, and boots, with a wee bit of scruff on his face that felt fabulous between my legs this morning.

  We didn’t have morning sex, because he said there wasn’t enough time, which I rolled my eyes at. I mean, really. We could have had a quickie and been all set.

  “Hop on.” He sat on an ATV and patted the back for me. Ugh, this was so not my thing, but I did it anyway. I straddled the machine and hugged Jake around the waist tightly. I was scared I’d fall off.

  “We won’t be going fast; you don’t have to hold on if you don’t want to.” I kept holding on. Last time I trusted a man around here, I almost lost a finger.

  Chapter Ten

  He started the four-wheeler and we began moving towards God knows where.

  We passed a few habitats, and he explained to me which animals were there and how many. He promised I would get to know their names as the week went by. I was beginning to see how massive this rescue was, and we hadn’t even covered a quarter of it.

  “This is the front of the rescue. You passed through here when you came for the birthday party.” He stopped in front of a block building. I recognized it from Natalie’s birthday party, but to be honest, I wasn’t truly paying attention to it last time. I think there was a gift shop in it. Oh, and they made us watch a movie on the dos and don’ts on the rescue, along with some other information I’m sure was important. I hopped off the machine and Jake followed.

  “I want you to see the rescue from the beginning to the end.” He beamed and I shuffled behind him as he walked through the open double doors in the back of the building. It wasn’t super large, maybe 1,000 square feet.

  It had a desk, a ton of shirts, and other gift shop memorabilia with the Wild Rescue logo on it. I took it all in and wandered around, leaving Jake behind. I giggled at some of the stuffed animals with their big wide eyes and little T-shirts on. There was a lot of hippie-like stuff there. I guess “save the animals” in tie-dye did have a good draw.

  I found my ovaries starting to ache when I looked at the cute onesies with animal-shaped heads on the front and a tail on the butt. Not wanting to go down that road, I moved on and saw a bunch of laminated papers displayed on a wall. You could adopt all sorts of animals, which was pretty much just sponsoring them. There were so many options, so many ways to help. I was starting to feel a little in awe of what all they had to do to help these animals. It wasn’t like a circus or a place that wanted to just get a bunch of money off of having animals.

  I turned back towards Jake to see him talking with an older woman who was working around the desk. Wanting to go say hello, I walked over and introduced myself.

  “Hi, I’m Cammy, Jake’s hostage for the week.” I waved. I noticed Jake bite back a smile as I stopped at the desk.

  “Hostage, interesting. I’m Patty, too old to be working but Jake just can’t get rid of me.” She was tall, and pretty thin. She looked like she was healthy, though. Her gray hair was cut short and she was wearing a blue polo shirt and khaki cargo shorts. I had seen a few other people wearing clothes like that so it must be their uniform.

  “Nice to meet you. Jake here was just showing me around the rescue. Seems pretty snazzy so far.” I looked around the little gift shop again.

  “We do put in a ton of hours keeping this place nice. I’m glad my grandbabies have somewhere they can go to learn about animals, and not have to worry about a crack needle getting stuck in their foot.” Her face told me she wasn’t joking. I felt a little awkward after that comment.

  “Yes, well, we can’t have that happening.” Thank God Jake decided to save me at that moment.

  “I’m going to finish giving my hostage a tour of her prison. We’ll see you later.” He wrapped his arm around my waist and directed me towards the door. We hopped back onto the ATV and he showed me the pavilion where Natalie had her birthday party, which happened to be near another smaller barn with two goats, Francine and Frank, and a pig named Judice, hanging out behind the fence.

  “You have quite the variety of animas here,” I yelled at him.

  “No need to shout, I can hear ya just fine.” He turned down a path and we came to a block building with two girls coming out of it. Both girls were young, maybe twenty. One had long brown hair and was petite but had a nice rack, and the other girl had caramel colored hair, petite as well, but with no rack. I wondered what they did here. As soon as their eyes landed on Jake I understood why they were here. Both of them had a sultry look in their eyes. They wanted the man straddling the machine right now.

  “Girls, I’d like you to meet Cammy. She’ll be helping us on the rescue this week.” Jake helped me off the ATV and then got off to stand next to me. The girls’ eyes swung to me and I saw a little sneer on the blonde’s face. I felt my inner bitch rear her head. These girls wanted to play high school mean girls? Fine, little did they know, I owned high school.

  “Hiya, girls. Nice to meet you. What’s your name?” I walked up and shook their hands. Showing them I was no little girl. I was a full bitch-blooded woman, if needed.

  “I’m Autumn.” The brown haired girl shook my hand but it was a weak shake. The blonde shook it next, a little firmer but still. Pansy.

  “I’m Helen.” We took a step back from each other and their eyes went straight back to Jake.

  “Autumn and Helen run our social media sites. Keeping everything updated and reaching new people. Social media has become one of our best tools for educating the public on exotic animal abuse, along with what we do here.” You could tell this place was his love. And these girls were helping him share that love with the world. I guess I could let their little love glares roll off my shoulder. Autumn suddenly got really excited, and had something to say.

  “Oh and it’s time for another picture, Jake. Don’t forget about it.” I looked at him in confusion. He sighed, but nodded.

  “A picture of me holding Casey got out onto Facebook and ever since then, I’ve been dubbed the Extremely Hot Animal Guy.” He looked uncomfortable, like that name was something new. I mean honestly, I bet he’s been called that many times before a picture went viral. Helen piped up with more on the subject.

  “It’s been great for the rescue, though. There have been articles written about him and his work. He’s all over Instagram and Pinterest. Donations have been coming in to support him, along with more hits on our website. Sorry, Jake, but sex appeal sells. You’ve got it going on, and we are going to use it.” While I didn’t like the way she said it, I understood. And it was probably true. I had heard about a hot veterinarian a couple months back, and his practice was booming. I bet things were doing great now that the world saw the hot man behind the scenes.

  “Yeah, yeah, maybe this weekend.” He nudged me towards the building while saying goodbye to the girls.

  “Bye!” I told them and they both stayed silent, watching us walk through the door. The room was open, it had a mini fridge, and a long shelf desk covering the wall. A man with a bald head turned in his computer chair.

  “Oh, Jake, you shouldn’t have. My birthday isn’t until next Monday.” The man appeared to be in his late twenties, had a trimmed beard around his lips, and glasses. He was a large man, but not heavy. He reminded me of a teddy bear. I jus
t wanted to hug him.

  “Chip, I’d like you to meet Cammy. Cammy, meet Chip. He’s our marketing expert and editor of the Wild Newsletter.” I noticed he was designing something on the computer. Papers were scattered everywhere and the printer was doing its job as we spoke.

  “Nice to meet you.” I went to shake his hand and he pulled me in for a hug. While I wasn’t always a hugger, I felt like this hug was okay.

  “Cammy, nice to meet you. And if you ever get tired of this brute, then come talk to me.” He winked and went to go grab something from a cabinet.

  “We’ll let you get back to work. Send me the weekend letter tonight. I’ll look it over,” Jake said and once again steered me back out toward the ATV. I felt I had been running around with him all day, seeing habitats and meeting his staff, but really, it had only been about two hours. The day was still young and I was somehow still awake.

  After we climbed back onto the ATV, he took off and told me about a few more of the animals as we passed them. Each of the habitats had an indoor and outdoor area, with a customized environment that the animal would expect based on where it originated. We passed the wallaby area, and I kid you not, that little asshat Dundee gave me the death look. He wanted to finish the job of taking off my finger. I looked up at the Spanish moss-covered oak trees and marveled at how peaceful it was out here. Until I heard a loud roar.

  My fingers gripped onto Jake’s side a little harder.

  “We’re coming up on the larger habitats back here.” Larger? Goodness, did he really have big lions, tigers, and bears back here? So far we had seen plenty of animals, but other than the horse and the wolves, nothing was huge.

  We drove by tall fences that surrounded a couple acres of mostly fields. I saw a lion get swatted at by a lady lion. He backed away and lay down next to her. Maybe she had a headache.

  There were a few other lady lions in there as well. I felt like I was in The Lion King.

  “That’s Talib and Subira. She’s his number one. They were brought to us from a drug bust. The owners were using them as guard dogs for their drugs, giving them a status of power. They were chained and had maybe a fifteen-foot radius to move around in.” He was calm telling me their story, but I could tell it made him unhappy. I looked at them now and they looked to be enjoying themselves. They had a big space to run around in, a little play area where they could climb on stuff and a small pool with giant balls scattered around the field. They were living a good life now. I felt myself snuggle in a little bit closer to Jake. What he did here was starting to pull at my heartstrings a little.

  Chapter Eleven

  Wild Rescue was home to twenty-six big cats, including lions, tigers, a liger, panthers, and two cheetahs. We also passed by the home of a big grizzly bear. For some reason, the bear was scarier to me than the big cats we saw. Jake told me a few of the stories of the animals we stopped to watch. One of the panthers was abused. The owner wanted a big cat, but then as it got bigger, he used to beat it on the head with a shovel. Then we saw a bear who was retired from the circus.

  One of the tigers, named Nala, used to be drugged so that people could take pictures with her for money. I felt sick to my stomach when we came to a stop at a house that had a large pond behind it.

  “I’m not a big lover of animals. However, I’m really glad you do what you do, Jake, and that you’ve found a way to give these poor babies a home.” I wasn’t a very emotional person. Truth be told, I’ve only cried twice in my adult life. Once when Rayne accidentally hit me in the nose. It hurt so bad, I swore it was broken. Thank goodness it wasn’t. The other time was when my parents split up. I was upset because I thought everything was great, but apparently it wasn’t. They were just growing in different directions. I still talk to both, and when we are all together, they get along nicely. My sister and I both had nice childhoods, and aren’t bitter about it. But when I first heard they were splitting, I was sad. Then I moved on. Life was too short for a lot of tears and sadness. So the fact that on my first day with Jake and the animals I was close to crying, made me feel a little uneasy and out of my comfort zone.

  “This is where our vet lives. Over to the right you can see the intern and employees’ homes.” He pointed to the right and I noticed a couple of houses. All different sizes. My guess was it was like a dorm type of situation, unless you had a family.

  “Come on, I want you to meet the doctor.” We walked into the house, and it was not what I was expecting. It looked like a doctor’s office. I could see a big surgical room with a window to the right, and a wooden desk right before that.

  Jake was kind of cute, how he wanted me to meet all the people that he worked with. I’ll admit I was intrigued by the man and what went on in his life. I still said we were different, but I knew he had a wicked tongue and he cared deeply for this rescue.

  “Hey, Doc, I want you to meet someone,” my tour guide called out. I snickered at the thought. Jake was my little safari guide. Cute.

  “Well, hello there. The young lady that was bitten by the wallaby!” The same older man who had tried to explain to me why Jake had his arm up a horse’s ass walked into the room. He was tall, in decent shape, and had a trimmed white beard and gray hair. He looked to be in his sixties, but I wasn’t the best at the age guessing game.

  “That would be me.” I flashed him my middle finger that was now bandage free.

  “I’m Cammy.” I waved. He smiled, then his green eyes looked at Jake with a different type of smile. Like an “I’m proud of you, son” type of smile.

  “I’m just helping out for the week.” I tried to put that out there. In no way was I staying here for good. Nope. Not happening.

  “Cammy, I’m Doctor Nick. My wife, Hannah, is assisting Casey right now with her lunch, but you can meet her in a minute.”

  “Hannah!” a voice that sounded just like the doctor’s screamed in the room. I looked to my left and saw a big birdcage with a large gray bird sitting on the top. He screamed again, and I felt a little creeped out that it sounded just like the doctor. I would hate to be here at night and have it start talking. Nightmares galore, right there.

  “That’s Booma, our African Grey. He has a very extensive vocabulary, and as you heard, can imitate tones of voice.” The doctor walked over to the bird and scratched its neck. The bird obviously liked it, but I was still leery. That beak looked sharp. Everything on this rescue could bite me or kill me. I eased over closer to Jake, ready to take cover should it fly over and attack me.

  “He won’t hurt you,” Jake whispered to me, and I stuck my tongue out at him.

  “He’s an animal, they all bite,” I countered, using his own words against him. He didn’t say anything, but his eyes skimmed over me, then came back up to meet mine, desire burning in those blue pools. He wanted to bite me. I felt my cheeks blush a little, because to be honest, I wanted him to. My mind had started thinking about all the wicked things I wanted to do to him, when a woman entered the room, carrying a little tiger in her arms.

  “Casey is eating better; she drank the whole bottle in a snap. Oh, hi, Jake!” She had really curly black hair and deep brown eyes. She was in decent shape, but then considering the load she was carrying, I could see how she looked good.

  “Give me my girl.” Jake walked over to her and lifted the little orange tiger right out of her arms. Did tigers purr? Because I’m pretty sure I heard it purr as it snuggled in his arms.

  “I’m Hannah, Nick’s wife and other vet on the premises. We help take care of all the animals when they need us.” She smiled and rubbed the tiger’s head.

  “Cammy, Jake’s hostage for the week.” I smiled, then went to peek at the kitty in Jake’s arms. I was curious about the mysterious Casey.

  Now, maybe it was my maternal clock ticking away, or maybe it was like what happened with Jacob imprinting on Renesmee in Twilight, but when I looked into that little tiger’s eyes, something in me clicked. I wanted to care for that little cub. I wanted her to grow into a big tiger a
nd be happy.

  “Hi, baby. Oh, you are such a pretty girl,” I cooed at the cub. I walked over and for the first time in my life, I wasn’t afraid that an animal was going to bite my fingers off. I knew she could eat me, even at her size, if she wanted to, but I was oddly unconcerned.

  Her big, blue eyes were watching me as she brought her paws up to bat Jake’s face playfully.

  Be still my heart.

  “Yes, you are going to grow up and be a bad ass tiger, aren’t you?” Something had to have possessed me. I was baby talking to a tiger. I reached out and her paws touched my hand. I felt claws, but not in a bad way. She was batting my fingers.

  “She likes you.” Jake’s voice was husky. My hand moved back to my side and my eyes flew up to his. He was looking at me with even more hunger in his gaze. Oh hell.

  “I like her too,” I admitted. I heard a growl from the man consuming my thoughts and looked down at the tiger. I didn’t want to embarrass myself by jumping on him in front of the doctors. Swiftly Jake walked towards Hannah and handed Casey back to her. I may have heard the little tiger meow nooo, but that could have been in my head.

  “I’ve got more to show Cammy; I’ll be back later for Casey. It’s my week.” I barely had time to say goodbye before Jake was dragging my ass back out to the ATV.

  “I wasn’t done talking to them, you brute!” I took a step back but was lifted up and placed on the machine in seconds. Holy strong arms, Batman! Instead of Jake sitting in front of me, this time he was behind me, his chest against my back. His surprisingly hard cock was pressed against my lower back. A little shiver coursed through me. I wanted that cock.

  My head fell back a little and my eyes closed, my thoughts solely on getting pleasured by the man behind me. I felt like a cat in heat around him; all I wanted to do was lift my ass in the air and wave it around like come and get me big boy! I thought I felt his chest rumble behind me, but he also had just turned on the four wheeler.