Stripe Search: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Furocious Lust Shorts Book 5) Read online

  STRIPE-SEARCH

  FUR-OCIOUS LUST SHORTS (TIGERS)

  BOOK 5

  NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY BESTSELLING AUTHOR

  MILLY TAIDEN

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  Gabriella Cantur is a curvy dancer who’s not interested in hooking up. No way, no how. As a matter of fact, she’s too busy being a big sister to have a life. When her lying brother gets into trouble, it’s Gabby who’s going to pay the price. Suddenly the girl who grew up feeling unwanted is chased by the sexiest tiger she’s ever seen.

  Slade Tigris knew the moment he saw Gabriella, she was his. What he needed was a way to strip her naked and show her just how much he wanted her. Thanks to good old dad’s meddling, he might just get that and then some.

  Falling for a shifter was never in Gabby’s plans, but Slade is gnawing through her walls and making her heart skip a beat. Who knew she had a soft spot for pussy? Now all she needs to do is get rid of the pesky man accusing her of being a thief before her big kitty mauls someone to death.

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious or have been used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real in any way. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Published By

  Latin Goddess Press

  New York, NY 10456

  http://millytaiden.com

  Stripe-Search

  Copyright © 2015 by Milly Taiden

  Cover by Willsin Rowe

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  Property of Milly Taiden

  May 2015

  —For Tonya

  Gone but never forgotten. I love you.

  ONE

  Gabriella Cantur knew she shouldn’t have gone to the casino with her costume still on. The fact that she wore a long, pink-satin trench didn’t help. She hated the damn thing and felt it only gave her curves extra attention. Oh, it wasn’t that she didn’t adore her body. She did. One thousand percent. What she didn’t like was that the pink was so bright it made her eyes water. The coat had been a gift from her brother, and she didn’t have it in her to refuse the ugly thing.

  She sucked back the frustration from having to leave her job to go searching for Joel. Again. The constant sounds of slot machines and music surrounded her, along with laughter and cheers. Striped hotel was better known for being a massive, non-smoking casino that catered to the shifter community. Gabriella knew to stay away from that kind. They were big and dangerous. Yet here she was, in the center of their playpen, thanks to Joel.

  Bypassing rows of slots until she reached the roped-off back section of higher bet table games, she tried hard not to growl at anyone who got in her way. A woman bumped into her and clung to Gabriella’s jacket for a second.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

  Gabriella helped the woman steady herself and not fall on her face. She had just gotten the woman to straighten up when she took a step back and a waitress tripped, flinging a tray of drinks on Gabby’s trench. In the blink of an eye, she was bathed in so many beers she smelled like a brewery. She couldn’t believe her luck was this bad.

  “Oh, my god!” the waitress screeched. “I am so sorry!” she said, wiping the liquid off Gabby’s coat. “I didn’t see you there.”

  Right. Because a bright-as-hell pink trench didn’t stand out in a casino.

  Gabby took deep breaths and tried not to take out her anger with her brother on the waitress. She shook her head and gave a tight smile. “It’s ok. I’ll be fine.”

  She pushed the waitress’s hands away and headed for the poker tables.

  There he was. Joel sat ten feet away with a group of men, shoving the last of his poker chips into a giant pile. She curled her hands into fists and marched toward the table when someone stood up and slammed a hand over Joel’s.

  “He’s cheating.”

  Oh, god. Her stomach did an instant flip, and bile shot up her throat, burning her with its acidity. “Joel?”

  The other men at the table stood. All had varying degrees of gold in their eyes. One man in particular held her attention, with his short blond hair and intense, golden gaze. His jaw clenched tight, and he held up his hand on the men approaching from all sides.

  Joel turned at that moment, guilt written all over his face. “What are you doing here?”

  She shook her head, trying desperately to hold back the anger that made her want to hit him. “Are you out of your mind? You’re gambling? You haven’t bought your daughter food in days, and you’re gambling?”

  “Mind your business, Gabby,” he muttered.

  “No!” She ignored the security men surrounding her and the fact that the sexy man was watching her. “You are my business. She’s my business.”

  “You shouldn’t be here. I didn’t ask you to come here!” he threw back. “I don’t need you babysitting me.”

  “The hell you don’t!” She motioned to the people surrounding them. “This doesn’t look good right now, Joel. What the fuck did you do?”

  “He cheated,” someone said.

  Fucking hell. So what she heard had been right. Her idiot brother had decided to cheat when there was no way he’d get out of it alive—not in this place filled with shifters. He had to be high to come up with a stupid plan like this one.

  “You’re going to have to come with us,” said one of the security guys.

  Then, when she thought shit couldn’t get worse, a man yelled from the roped-off section. “That’s the woman!”

  She turned around and saw two other security guys with the woman who’d bumped into her not more than ten minutes before, and a giant of a man walking alongside her. The woman appeared shaken and scared, something Gabby hadn’t noticed before when she’d bumped into her.

  “What’s going on, guys?” Asked the hot-blond guy with piercing eyes.

  “She stole my wife’s winnings,” said the giant walking beside the woman.

  “Excuse me?” Gabby gasped. “Are you out of your mind?”

  “Look lady, I saw you bump into my wife earlier. She had a ticket in her hand, and when she finally came back to me, she didn’t have it. You must have stolen it.” The man might be big, but he sounded like total jerk. With a black tank top to show off his over-bulging muscles. He looked like he’d walked out of a weight-training room.

  “Are you fucking drunk?” Gabby asked, now getting pissed that the man continued saying she’d done something she clearly hadn’t. “First of all, your wife bumped into me, you asshole. And second of all, what the hell would I want her winning ticket for?”

  “You’re a thief,” the man said. “That ticket was worth almost three thousand dollars.”

  “Yelling isn’t going to get us anywhere,” hot blond man said. “Trys, Mike. Take the couple to one of your offices.” Then he glanced at Gabby and Joel. “You two will come with me. My father wants to meet with you.”

  “You shouldn’t have come, Gabby!” Joel hissed.

  “Shut up! Keep talking, and I will bash your head in.” She knew Joel would understand she wasn’t in the mood if she used her usual line on him. She’d never put a hand on her brother, so when she said that, it meant she was angry and didn�
�t want to talk.

  The group was split, with two guards taking Joel in one elevator and sexy blond and another guard taking her in a second one. They went up two floors. The doors opened to a large office. It was a bit confusing since she expected a hallway leading to an office, not coming out into the office itself.

  A man that looked a hell of a lot like hot blond stood in the center of the room. “Gabriella Cantur, right?”

  She nodded, pretty sure he had done a background check before she even got up to his office. “And you are?”

  He grinned, his smile wide with enjoyment. “Vincent Tigris. But please, call me Vincent.”

  TWO

  She gulped. Holy shit. She was in trouble now. She’d heard about Tigris. He owned half of Las Vegas, and some said he made people disappear if they ever crossed him by breaking his trust or...stealing. Stupid Joel.

  Vincent glanced over her shoulder at the men standing behind her. “Gentlemen, please leave us. I need to speak to Ms. Cantur for a few minutes.”

  She glanced at sexy blond man and saw him hesitate. He stared at her, his gaze so bright and deep she almost forgot there were others there with them.

  “Slade. You too, son.”

  Slade. What a name. It went with him: strong, powerful, sexy. Okay, so maybe the name had nothing to do with any of that, but he was all of the above, and she saw it from a single look. He took a step toward her, and as if realizing what he was doing, stopped and nodded at his father.

  She stared longingly after him, wishing him back but knowing she’d have to deal with the big man before she was able to get Joel out of there. That’s if Vincent was willing to be understanding to her plight.

  “Come, Gabriella. Have a seat.”

  She turned to Vincent and followed him to a seating area to the right of his massive office. “Mr. Tigris. I didn’t steal anything. I don’t know what the guy was going on about, but that wasn’t me.”

  He nodded and didn’t say anything, only stared at her for a few moments with an odd expression on his face.

  “You work at Charlie’s, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’ve seen you there a few times. He and I go way back.”

  Oh, good. Maybe he would be more understanding to her problem. “Mr. Tigris—”

  “Vincent, please. Mr. Tigris reminds me of my father.”

  “Sorry. Vincent. My brother has gambling problems. He needs help, and I’m trying to get it for him. I’m really sorry he tried to cheat today. Just tell me how much he owes, and I’ll take care of it.”

  She wasn’t rich, but dancing at Charlie’s had allowed her to save a lot of money. She wasn’t into the extravagant lifestyle. Her one vice was traveling, and she hadn’t done that in a while. Watching over Joel and making sure he paid his child support was like a second full-time job most of the time.

  “Five hundred thousand dollars,” he said and stood by the bar next to the sofa. He filled a tumbler with something and passed it to her. “I think you need a sip of this.”

  Half a million dollars? Joel had bet money he didn’t have. He’d bet money she didn’t have. What the hell was she going to do? Her damn house wasn’t worth that much money. She glanced down at the amber liquid swishing back and forth in the glass and blinked. Then she lifted it to her lips and took a giant gulp, letting it burn as it went down. She didn’t drink—ever—so for her to do it now was a sign of weakness she wasn’t fond of.

  “Now don’t stress about the money. I’m sure we can figure something out.”

  She snorted and then slapped a hand over her mouth. “Sorry, but there’s nothing that can be done. Joel doesn’t have that, and neither do I.” Shit. She’d thought her hundred grand in savings was a big deal, but not when it came to her brother’s debts. Charlie’s paid well, but not that well.

  “There is something you can do, but it will require a commitment from you to see my request through, or I won’t forgive your brother’s debt. The first thing is that Slade will handle getting your brother help. If what you say is true, and I have no reason not to believe you, he should go to rehab and have the problem addressed. Second, my son needs a mate.”

  She raised her brows and stared at the handsome older man like he’d grown a second head. “A what? A what?”

  “A mate.”

  She knew well and good what a mate was. That didn’t mean she was going to sell herself to a tiger for her brother’s debt. No fucking way!

  “Look, Mister… Vincent. I don’t think your son would appreciate having his father finding a woman for him.”

  Vincent waived a hand dismissively. “My sons are too slow, at least according to my wife. She wants to see them with children. Happily mated.”

  “But I thought with shifters the animal decided who the right partner for them is?”

  He nodded. “This is true. But I can tell you’d be perfect for him.”

  He had to be crazy. “Thanks for the offer Mr. Tigris, but I’ll pass. I like men who ask me out themselves, without their dads doing the foot work. I’ll get the money some other way.” Maybe she could get a mortgage on her house or even beg Charlie to help. Something had to work.

  He sighed. “Okay, that didn’t work. I guess I will give you another option before I have to send your brother to jail for cheating. I don’t like seeing how upset you’re getting over this.”

  She gulped. Hell. She’d been refusing stuff like she had options. “Look, whatever it is, I’ll do it. But don’t ask me to be your son’s girlfriend. That sounds really weird, considering how hot he is and the fact he’s also a grown man.”

  Vincent laughed. “Then you will not mind two weeks of filling in for Slade’s assistant. She is out on vacation, and the lack of help is making my son cranky.”

  She’d bet. His gorgeous face appeared carved from stone. “Like office work? How do you know I can even do that?”

  A sly smile spread over his face. “I have my ways.”

  She should be worried Vincent seemed to know everything about her. It was true, she had worked at an office up to some months ago. When one of her co-workers, a guy who wanted to force her to go out with him, saw her there, he gave her an ultimatum: go out with him or he’d tell human resources she was a stripper and gave their company a bad image. She told him to fuck himself and got fired. But she’d managed to slap the smirk off his face before she was booted from the building. Jerk.

  “Are you serious? Half a million in debt forgiven for two weeks of work? What the hell, is your son an ogre?”

  He barked a laugh. “Not at all.”

  “Well, something’s gotta be wrong with him for you to be offering that kind of money. I have never heard of anyone paying that for a two week temp job. No offense. I hope you’re not thinking of setting us up, because like I said, I just don’t have the patience or time to be hooked up.”

  “I understood you, child. Nobody is hooking you up or playing any games. I am a bit of a charitable man and want to try to help you. This is your only other offer aside from me letting my staff handle things. Your choice.”

  She gulped, trying to figure out what to do. For a second, all she could think of was her niece, Jill, and how badly she couldn’t afford her work schedule to be interrupted. “Alright, Vincent. You got a deal.”

  He stood and offered her his hand. “Excellent. I’ll get Slade in here to talk to you.”

  THREE

  Slade Tigris paced his office like a...well, like a caged tiger. It had been absolute hell holding back the need to rip Joel’s throat open. To make shit even worse, when Gabriella arrived, he realized he had even bigger problems. She was his mate. And she was Joel’s sister. Fucking hell.

  A knock sounded at the door, and his father walked in before he had a chance to say anything.

  “I have good news and bad news,” Vincent said.

  “Dad...”

  “The good news is that she’s not a thief, though the same can’t be said for her brother.”

&nbs
p; He sighed, scrubbed a hand over the back of his neck, and started pacing all over again. “I know. I saw the guilt in his face when she confronted him. And I heard the truth in her voice when the man accused her of stealing the money.”

  “Good. We’re on the same page.”

  He folded his arms on his chest and waited. “What’s the bad news?”

  “She won’t go out with you.”

  “What?” He frowned. “How do you even know that?”

  “I asked her,” Vincent said, matter-of-factly. “Not like you were going to. Your mother is all over me to get her boys mated.”

  He lifted a brow and stopped pacing in front of his desk. He leaned back over the edge to stare at his father. “Mom?”

  Vincent flushed. “Yes. Your mother. She wants grandbabies as soon as possible. So much so she’s gotten me to try and find you boys mates.”

  “Dad, I don’t need you to find me a mate.” Not before and certainly not now that he knew who his mate was.

  “No, but try telling your poor, sweet mother that. She’s been sitting quietly by the windows just gazing out at the yard, wishing for grandbabies.”

  “Dad, Mom has never sat quietly for a second. She’s too busy for that,” he grinned. He had to. His father was the one desperate for grandchildren. It would have to be his idea to get his sons mated and quick. “I can find my own mate.”

  “Glad to hear it, son. Because it won’t be Gabriella Cantur,” his father said with command. “But she needs help, and I can’t help having a soft spot for a woman who’s trying to help out her family. Family’s very important.”

  Slade knew that. Not only in the shifter community was family important, but it was an integral part of how Vincent had raised his children. Family always came first.

  “What did you decide?”

  “The brother needs help. Putting him in a program that allowed him to get right out wouldn’t do much for him. We need to make him want to be there.” Vincent pulled out his cell phone and started pressing buttons.