Free Undercover Attraction by April Rankin

him from his vicious teddy attack, causing him to jump up
and run.
    She turned back to the computer. 32% loaded.
Might as well clean up the destroyed remains of the poor
unfortunate soul who offended Chuckles.
     
    #
     
    Someone was holding a chainsaw to his
ear.
    Jacob slowly lifted one eyelid to see who
would dare awake him so early. All he caught was a flash of brown
before being attacked. Something fuzzy was thrown against his face,
claws ready, teeth biting. He had no warning, and after a few
seconds, realized he was fighting a cat. A vicious, one eyed, hell
raising cat. And at the moment, it was winning.
    He felt claws tear into his cheek, and teeth
grab hold of his ear. That was it. He grabbed the pillow closest to
him, and began to beat the bloody hell out of the mad, rabid
animal.
    It still didn’t let go. Change of
tactics . He held the pillow to his face, practically smothering
himself and the cat. But it worked, the cursed animal got in
another scratch or two before squirming free of the pillow and
running to the foot of the bed.
    And they just stared at each other. Jacob
wanted to say You stupid cat, you should be neutered.
    And he can imagine the cat’s reply: You
first, you bastard.
    Jacob would then say, Why the hell did
you attack me for no reason ?
    And the cat would say, I’m a cat, I need
no reason.
    Jacob narrowed his eyes at the evil
creature. “Next time, Tom, you won’t be so lucky.”
    And the damn cat narrowed his eyes at him.
“Mreownn.” Its tail lifted and swishing it in victory, he left
Jacob to his business.
    He went to the bathroom first, smiling at
the memory of Jenna in the shower. When he caught a glimpse at his
face, he cursed the cat with every foul name he had ever heard.
There were scratches along his cheeks, his chin, and forehead.
Granted, none of them were deep enough to warrant more than a good
scrubbing, and few barely broke the skin, but he looked as if he
had been mauled by a clawless bear.
    The little droplets of blood washed off
quickly, but the slight sting was still there. Not much he could do
about that other than eliminate the damn cat.
    He dug out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt
from his duffel bag, and went in search of Jenna, hoping she hadn’t
sent the flying furry projectile in to kill him in his sleep.
    She was knelt down on the floor in her
living room, cleaning up what looked to have previously been some
sort of pillow.
    She froze when she spotted him in the
hallway. “What is this?” She held up a handful of fluff.
    Jacob thought she was beautiful. Her hair
was down, and she was wearing a snug green shirt with a picture of
cookie monster on it over a pair of hip hugging jeans. Her eyes
were bright green, whether illuminated more by her shirt or
whatever she was feeling, he didn’t know.
    “That looks like a maimed pillow,” he began
walking to her, “and I swear I didn’t kill it.”
    “Stop right there. Don’t come any closer.”
She held a hand out in warning.
    He stopped, thoroughly confused by the woman
holding a ball of fuzz.
    “Not the fluff, that’s the bear that was in
the gift bag you gave me last night. I’m talking about what
was inside the bear,” Jenna said.
    She thrust out her hand again and he looked
closer. True to her word, there was a plastic baggie wrapped in the
fluff.
    “Oh, shit,” he said.
    “Yeah, no crap. You brought drugs into my
house. What was I thinking? I should have known you were a junkie,
or a dealer, or whatever you are. This is why I never do this,” she
said the last more to herself than to him.
    “I didn’t know anything about the drugs. I
swear it. Now you need to listen to me. I have to take those with
me-"
    “I’m sure you do. Any drug addict would say
that just so they get away with the drugs. No, you can go without
them, I refuse to be an accomplice in this.” She put her hands on
her hips, glaring at him as if he were the bane of her
existence.
    The laptop behind her pinged, notifying her of the