How to Tame a Cat (ManxMan)

Chapter Thirty: Forced Together - Part Two

~Chapter Thirty: Force Together~

"Oh no...you didn't," she says in entertained disbelief, moving her hand up to hide her smile. "She was the one who thought 'threatened' would be a better word to use than 'scared'. More manly, she said."

"I'm screwed. So royally screwed," I groan, bumping my head against the nearest hard surface, which happens to be Ryland's shoulder.

The lion leans in a little closer, forcing me to stop hitting him with my head. "All in due time," he promises softly, his accent growing to imitate the perfect bedroom voice.

My sister starts laughing, having heard exactly what he said and seeming not at all worried that he implied he is going to...stick it in me. I am not going to pretend for even a moment that he would not be the – what was the term? – 'pitcher'. "You are a heartless sister, Tory," I glare, as I try to sidestep out of Ryland's grip. However, he only pulls me in tighter, which means I have to resort to verbal communication to convey my thoughts, "Hungry."

Victoria rolls her eyes at my lack of manners, but nods her head, "You two should head to dinner. If you are still there after I take a little nap, my husband and I would love to join you. And, Cade, don't worry about Mom. I might have figured it out, but she does not know as much about your disinterest in friendships as I do. You'll have to tell her eventually, though."

"Yeah, eventually," I grumble, not at all looking forward to that conversation. My parents are not homophobes, but they will probably react the same way I did when Ryland first proposed it. Even if – when – Ryland leaves, I am, at the very least, bisexual now. And I am probably leaning more towards the male gender.

My sister shakes her head, but turns her back to us to ask the woman at the desk a few more questions like I did. Ryland rubs his hand up and down my arm before releasing me. I take a thankful step away, but our arms are practically touching when we enter the restaurant a minute later. We are seated in one of the booths almost immediately, seeing as the room is quite large and there are not a lot of people. This is not a popular time of year for tourists, so it makes sense that there would be so few people.

The room has a really rustic feel to it with dark wooden walls, like the kind you would find in a log cabin, and another large stone fireplace at the center of the room, visible from all sides of the room, but protected by glass. It is very real, like the one in the lobby, which is why the tables around it are empty. It looks like it would be a little hot to be around right now. Maybe when it dies down more, people would be more willing to sit by it.

Similar to the lobby, the floors are covered in the same multi-color stones, but dark brown rugs run down each aisle, almost like a pathway, forming boxes around the tables not against a wall. While they could easily fit more tables into this place, it looks like they took out some of them to make more room while business is slower. It gives a greater illusion of privacy at each table.

With sight alone, I can pick out a couple of cats in the room, both on separate sides of the room. When we are seated, we are on the right side of the room and closer to the cat I know to be a Sumatran tiger, the smallest of the tiger family. He looks up as we pass by his table and offers a tight-lipped smile, which I return along with a small nod. The tiger glances at Ryland, who does not so much as glance his way, and returns to his menu a second later.

Once the host has left us with our menus and taken our drink orders, Ryland and I sit in silence as we contemplate our options. The options are not that vast, but they never are at hotel restaurants. Not that I am complaining. It is a relief to have fewer options to choose from, and it means I will probably be able to try everything at least once during the trip.