Free The Billionaire Jaguar's Curvy Journalist: BBW Panther Shifter Paranormal Romance by Zoe Chant

“I keep thinking, maybe it’s time to call him, but I’m afraid.”
    He hadn’t told anyone this stuff for years. Chris knew a lot of it but he’d never let it all out at once, just told the story. Told someone the truth, and the whole truth.
    And she wasn’t judging him. She didn’t pity him.
    She just cared.

11
     
    Abby ended up paying for the pizza in the end; they only took cash, and Paul’s wallet was too soaked to fish any bills out.
    “I definitely owe you dinner after this,” Paul said, taking a slice gratefully. “Two dinners, I think.”
    “Let’s not worry about that right now.” She sat across from him at her kitchen table. “I’m just glad we’ve got something to eat.”
    “Thank you,” he said. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me.”
    “It’s not that big a deal,” she said. “A little pizza, the washer and the dryer—”
    “You’ve accepted me,” he said. “Without—without even a question.”
    “I had a lot of questions,” she protested. “I still have a lot of questions.”
    “Not—not those kinds of questions.”
    She wasn’t sure what to say to that. “When I first realized—it was weird. But it wasn’t exactly like I’d seen you growling or snarling or anything. You were...safe.”
    He chuckled, but it was to hide some inner bitterness. “No one’s ever thought I was safe before.”
    “I bet Michael does now,” she said. “At least once he gets let out of the hospital.” That reminded her. She picked up her phone and checked. She had a few texts, one from Tina about the ‘mystery man’ and one from Michael’s mom. “They’re keeping him overnight,” she said, sending her a text thanking her for the information. “I should probably be writing the article now.”
    “Pizza first,” Paul said, tapping her plate. “Everyone works better on a full stomach. Remember I told you that everyone has to take real lunch breaks at Inti? It’s not just because I’m such a nice guy.”
    “You are a nice guy,” she said, picking up her own slice of pizza and taking a bite.
    “I don’t know about ‘nice,’ he said. “I try to be fair. And kind when I can be.”
    “That’s better than nice.”
    He smiled at that, and there was no bitterness this time.
    They were finishing the pizza as the washer buzzed, and she got up to put Paul’s clothes in the dryer. The fabrics were...really nice. Really expensive.
    She’d just put them on the low setting for now. At least then they could tell if they would shrink. She could just imagine handing Paul back a pair of pants half the size of his body.
    It was fun having him half-naked in her kitchen, but it wouldn’t get him back to his car, much less without the whole town knowing about it.
    That could lead to a lot of questions neither of them wanted to answer.
    He came up behind her. “Everything all right?”
    “I don’t want to shrink anything. You might have to wait it out a while.”
    “I’ll stay as long as I have to,” he said, slipping an arm around her. “I don’t have to be anywhere until the morning, and I can postpone my first business meeting if I have to.”
    “All right,” she said.
    “Hmm.” He pulled her closer. “I wonder what we should do while we’re waiting for my clothes to dry?”
    “We could watch a movie,” she teased.
    “We could,” he said, putting a hand in her hair. “I like movies.”
    “You have one of those big theaters at home? With the surround sound?”
    “No,” he conceded. “But I do have a Blu-Ray player.”
    “Even I have a Blu-Ray player,” she said. She’d gotten it refurbished, sure, but it was still a Blu-Ray player.
    “Do you like surround sound? I could get surround sound.”
    “I...I don’t think I need it,” she said.
    “What do you think you need?”
    “I don’t know,” she said, even as her body started burning. “You have any ideas?”
    “I think I do,” he said. “I was just thinking I’d like to see that bedroom of