Spring for Tiger: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Shifter Seasons Book 2)
Read Spring for Tiger: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Shifter Seasons Book 2) Online
Authors: Kate Kent
Copyright © 2016 by Kate Kent
All Rights Reserved: No part of this publication may be replicated, redistributed, or given away in any form without the prior written consent of the author/publisher or the terms relayed to you herein.
This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination, or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to organizations, actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.
No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner, except as allowable under “fair use,” without the express written permission of the author.
Published by: Lil Black Dress Press
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“
What? Did you just say it was a fake?” I stared at Susie, shaking my head. I looked back at my beautiful, sparkling diamond ring again. “I don’t believe it!” I knew Susie had been working at Courtland’s Gems for a while so she knew a lot about jewelry, but she had to be wrong about my ring.
“
I’m so sorry, Janet. I really am, but it’s not real. Let me show you again.”
I handed Susie the diamond ring and she held it up between her thumb and index finger. She clicked on the diamond tester she was holding in her other hand and placed the metal tip on top of the stone. The tester made a low, rattling noise.
“
Hear that noise? It should make a loud, clear beep if it’s a real diamond.”
“
Well, maybe the batteries are dead,” I replied.
“
No, it works fine. See, this is the sound the tester would make if the diamond was real,” she said, gently placing my ring on the counter top. Reaching under the glass counter, Susie pulled out a pear-shaped diamond ring from the velvet display case it was nestled in. She placed the tester tip on the surface of the diamond and almost immediately a crystal clear beep emitted from the tool.
“
See how loud and clear that was?” she asked, setting the ring down. Picking up my ring again, she placed the nib of the tester back on the jewel. The same rattling noise from before cracked out of it.
I shook my head in disbelief. “It can’t be fake. It just can’t!”
“
Here is another test you can do,” Susie said as she put down the diamond tester and picked up both rings. She huffed on the two diamonds. “See this?” she asked, pointing at the jewels. “A real diamond conducts heat well, so the fog from my breath clears fast.”
“
But it’s from Eldon’s,” I said shaking my head. “When I take it off at night, I put the ring in the trinket holder you and Anne gave me, but I kept the original box it came in too.” At my recent Christmas party, Susie and her co-worker, Anne, who was a mutual friend of ours, had given me a lovely ceramic box. It was such a sweet gift, and a timely one, as Bob and I had announced our engagement that evening. The trinket box was perfect to put on my dresser and hold the sparkly ring when I wasn’t wearing it, but I’d saved the Eldon’s box in my jewelry drawer. Even though it was just dressed up cardboard, it was too special and pretty to throw away.
I reached into my purse and pulled out the distinctive gold and green Eldon’s box. Everyone knew that the name ‘Eldon’s’ was synonymous with fine jewelry. Bob had bought it for me at one of their stores when he was traveling.
I admit, I’d felt a little embarrassed that Bob had not bought the ring from Courtland’s. He knew that Sam, aka Samantha, the owner of Courtland’s Gems, was a friend of mine. Though Sam, Susie, and Anne had congratulated me, I was sure they were surprised he hadn’t purchased the ring from their store also. We all knew the jewelry store was struggling to keep their doors open and a sizeable purchase like this one would have helped them a lot. But Bob had said he saw it when he was traveling and thought it was perfect for me, so he’d just had to buy it.
I held the box out to Susie.
Susie winced. “I’m so sorry, Janet. It’s not real.”
“
But it came in this box from Eldon’s!” I cried aloud.
“
That box could have been from his mother. It could have come from at thrift store, or maybe from eBay?”
I shook my head, puzzled. “eBay?”
“
Yeah,” Susie nodded. “People actually sell empty boxes on auction sites like eBay. You can find a variety on there, especially for high priced watches.”
“
Well, what is the point of doing tha…”
“One reason would be to fool someone into thinking they were getting something they weren’t,” Susie grimaced.
I could feel my skin flush. “Bob would never do that.”
Susie looked off into the distance. I knew she felt as uncomfortable as I did, but the look on her face…
“Of course he didn’t know,” I snapped. “Bob would never give me a fake diamond ring!”
“
Yeah, he probably didn’t know,” Susie murmured half-heartedly.
But I could tell what she was really thinking. My friends had never accepted Bob. They thought he was after me for all the wrong reasons. I knew most of them, including Susie, didn’t like him. I had to admit, he could be overbearing at times, but he loved me and that’s what was most important.
“Bob loves me. He would never try to trick me! It makes me angry that you think he would!”
“Whoa, calm down,” Susie’s eyes widened.
I wasn’t feeling very calm right now. It was upsetting enough to find out that my ring was a fake, and even more upsetting to see the ‘I always knew Bob was a jerk’ look in Susie’s eyes.
“You think he did it on purpose?” I accused Susie.
“Well…I...” Susie voice trailed off as she glanced away.
“I’m going to have a talk with him,” I stated firmly. I’ll just have to tell him that someone ripped him off royally!” Poor Bob. Here he’d spent thousands of dollars on this ring trying to please me, and he’d been duped.
“
Yeah, I think you need to talk with him for sure,” Susie replied gently. She handed my ring back to me and put the other diamond jewel back into the display case.
“I will,” I said, feeling a little calmer. I would get the receipt from him and slap it in Susie’s face, proving he paid the price of a real one but had been cheated.
“Good. I’m sorry this happened.”
“
It is shocking. I just feel so bad for Bob. Anyway, I guess I won’t need that diamond ring appraisal after all.”
Susie winced. “Well, it
is
a lovely CZ.”
“
What’s a CZ?” I asked.
“A CZ is a cubic zirconia,” Anne Williamson, a friend of mine who also worked at the store, said as she walked up towards us. She had just entered the room from the back stock area and must have heard the tail end of our conversation.
“
Bob was tricked into buying me a fake diamond. My ring’s a fake,” I told her. “I’ll have to tell him about it and see if he plans to press charges.”
“
I am so sorry to hear that,” Anne replied. “You say he was tricked into buying it?” she questioned.
“
Yeah, I mean Bob would never buy me a fake diamond and try to pass it off as real. I don’t wear fakes. He knows that and he would never do that anyway!”
“
There’s nothing wrong with a CZ, Janet. A lot of people can’t afford real diamonds. Look at those ads that tell a man to spend a few months’ salary on a ring! That’s ludicrous. If you’re going to buy a diamond, you should spend what you can afford—not what you think you’re
supposed
to spend. I mean, it’s pretty impractical to spend a lot of money on a diamond when there are more important things in life to pay for.”
“
Like food and rent,” Susie chirped. “I know all about being barely able to pay for that.”
“
And,” Anne continued, “some people think that diamonds are mined in conditions that are unfavorable to the workers, so they prefer other stones, or a CZ instead.”
“
Okay,” I waved my hand in the air, “I get all that. CZ’s are fine, but not when you try to pass them off as real diamonds. I will tell him he got ripped off.”
“
Maybe you should,” Anne said, “but before you do, tell him you plan to bring the ring in to get it appraised—then see how he reacts!”
“
Hilda, is everything ready? It smells great!” I sniffed the air as the delicious aroma of green onions and garlic wafted by my nostrils. Hilda, my housekeeper, was a good cook when it came to simple fare, but when I asked her to make something special she usually screwed up.
“
Yes, ma’am, let me know when you would like it served.”
I glanced over Hilda’s shoulder to the large frying pan on the stove. “What’s in it?”
“
Olive oil, tomatoes, black olives, onions, garlic, thyme, basil and a splash of that,” Hilda pointed to a bottle of white wine on the counter.
“
It does look tasty. Let’s hope it’s better than the dinner you made me last night,” I raised my eyebrows.
Hilda winced, “But ma’am, you did tell me to add three tablespoons of salt, even though I said that was a lot…”
I waved at Hilda dismissively. “I suppose I did. Anyway, this looks good.”
“
I just need to coat the angel hair pasta in this sauce and toss it with the shrimp. The cucumber salad is chilling in the fridge,” Hilda said as she stirred the vegetables and seasoning.
“
Good. Make sure you are ready when I call for it.”
Despite sounding as cheerful as I could, I had a lump in my throat. I was going to have to ask Bob about the ring. I knew he would say he’d been cheated when he bought it and hadn’t known it was a fake, but I really wanted to hear the words come out of his mouth. It was pretty damn rude of Susie to say she thought he knew it wasn’t a real diamond. Ok, maybe she didn’t actually say that, but I could tell what she was thinking from the look on her face. Plus, it was nervy of Anne to suggest that I tell Bob I was taking the ring to Courtland’s Gems for an appraisal to see his reaction. She, too, had made it very clear that it was possible Bob had purchased a fake deliberately. At first I had balked at the idea, but I’d decided to do it just to show them both. I knew that Bob would say he’d been duped and that would be that. So—why did I feel kind of nervous?
I walked out of the kitchen and double-checked the dining room table. Though there would only be two of us for lunch, I’d had Hilda set the table with antique lace linens and my heirloom silver.
As I lit the cream colored taper on the table, a flash of my ring caught my eye. I twisted it on my finger, holding it up to the light. Somehow a lot of the sparkle seemed to be missing. Ever since I’d found out it was a fake…well, I just didn’t enjoy it anymore.
I couldn’t wait to hear Bob confirm that he’d been cheated. I toyed with the crystal salt and peppershakers on the table. I had just rearranged them for the fifth time when the doorbell rang, and I rushed to answer it.
“
Janet, baby!” Bob grinned at me. “How’s my beautiful woman?”
Just seeing Bob made me feel better. I knew we would get this misunderstanding straightened out.
I gave him a peck on the cheek. “Come in, darling. Hilda’s made us shrimp provincial along with a vinegar cucumber salad. I picked up a loaf of crusty French bread at the market and I have a bottle of Chardonnay to wash it all down with.”
“
You’re the best, Janet. You look delicious and the food sounds delicious, too.”
“
Come, darling,” I led Bob to the table. We sat down and Hilda served our salads. I was a little nervous as we talked. I wasn’t quite ready to bring up the fake ring yet. After we’d munched on our appetizers, Hilda set the main course in front of us.
“
Did you finish cleaning the kitchen, Hilda?”
“Yes ma’am,” my housekeeper responded.
“You may go for the day, then.”
Hilda turned to leave.
“Oh…and I will need you to work late several nights next week.”
Hilda nodded her head, “Of course, ma’am.”
As Hilda left, Bob and I dug into the entrée. Bob was hungrily forking a piece of shrimp and I debated if I should even bring up the ring at all. I decided it was now or never, and took a deep breath.
“
Bob?”
“
Yes, honey?”
“
I’ve been thinking that I’d take my diamond in and get it cleaned and appraised at Courtland’s.”
“T
here’s no need to do that. I have an appraisal from where I bought it from.”
“
I know, darling, but it’s always good to get a second opinion.”
“
Of course you can do that, honey,” Bob said.
Whew. There, I knew it. Bob didn’t care if I got the ring appraised or not because he truly believed it was real.
“
Great, I’ll take it in soon,” I smiled. I couldn’t wait to tell Anne and Susie that Bob was totally fine with me bringing in the ring and prove their opinions about him wrong.
Bob cleared his throat. “However, I would prefer that you didn’t.”
My eyes widened. “Why not?”
“
I just want you to look at the ring as a symbol of our love. If you take it in to get appraised, it feels like you’re just interested in the value of it…not in what it represents.”
“
Silly, I still have to get it insured.”
“
Darling, I’m asking you not to. Please…if anything happens to the ring, I promise I’ll replace it.”
That was it. I couldn’t stand it anymore. I had to know. “Bob, I already took the ring in to Courtland’s Gems. Susie and Anne said it was a fake.”
“
Wha…? That’s impossible.”
I narrowed my eyes. I’d heard that tone in Bob’s voice before…whenever he lied. There were a lot of little lies like the time we took his niece to a theme park and he’d pretended she was under the age of three just so he could get a discount. And there were bigger lies like when he’d told me at the last minute that he couldn’t take me to a charity event because he was sick in bed. I decided to stop and visit him, on the way to the event, with some of Hilda’s hot soup and a hug but he wasn’t there. He finally admitted he’d gone to the movies instead. Over time, I had started to notice a pattern. Whenever he lied, his left eye would begin to twitch. Over the past few years, there had been lots of lies I’d caught him in. When I wasn’t sure if he was telling the truth or not, I’d just look at his left eye. If it was twitching I knew for sure. I’d just dismissed it because his fibs really weren’t that important. But this was.
“
Bob, the ring you gave me is a fake.”
I looked at Bob as he bit down on his lower lip.
“I want to know…
no
—I need to know. Did you know the diamond wasn’t real?”
Bob shook his head, and suddenly his left eye started to twitch.
I gasped. Now I knew for sure he hadn’t been telling the truth. His eye was still in spasms as his face grew beet red.
“Bob!”
The man I was in love with—the man I was planning to marry, had given me a fake diamond—and he knew it!