EXCERPT

Read Excerpts from all the stories (Off Site Link)

ANIMAL INSTINCT

By Michelle M Pillow

Chapter One

Eve Matthews stumbled drunkenly into her office trailer at the Jameson Wild Life Rescue and Preserve. The trailer was dim, but she spent more time in it than in her own apartment and didn’t need light to find her way around. Everything was neatly organized and put away. Her desk sat in the corner, dominating much of the small front area. An old brown couch was next to it. The poor piece of furniture had seen better days, but she couldn’t see spending the Preserve’s money on a new one when they had so many rescued animals to take care of.

Plopping down on the couch, Eve kicked her feet up on the broken coffee table and sighed. She rarely drank, but a night spent with her overbearing socialite parents was enough to warrant the rare occasion.

"Evelyn dear, why didn’t you bring a date?" her mother had scolded the second she walked in the front door of the mansion home.

"No, hi, how are ya?" Eve growled under her breath, feeling a small measure of drunken comfort in talking to herself. "How’s the job? Save any lives today? We missed you, Eve, glad to have you home."

Nope, what she got was, why don’t you have a man?

If it wasn’t bad enough, the entire party had heard her mother’s comment and it was all anyone wanted to talk about the entire evening. Are you dating? When are you going to settle down? What ever happened to that nice doctor you were seeing? What was his name? Henry Statton? Yes, what ever happened to Dr. Statton? You were so perfect for each other.

Eve frowned. A reflection of moonlight caught her eye as it landed on the small scrap of paper hanging on her wall. Evelyn Matthews, Veterinarian. You’d think that would have been enough to make her family proud.

Suddenly, a dark figure leapt from the floor to settle next to her. Eve jumped in surprise to see the black panther. A small giggle left her lips as the large animal set his head in her lap. She stroked him behind the ears, drawing comfort from the animal’s friendship.

"What do you think, Midnight?" she asked the big cat. She called him Midnight because of his beautiful dark coat of fur. It was so black it was almost blue. "Do you think I should have told them about Henry? I could just see it. Mom. Dad. I know you like Dr Statton, but after I found him in a dress, his cock shoved down his male receptionist’s throat, I just couldn’t bring myself to marry him."

The panther nudged her hand and lifted his face close to hers. She chuckled, feeling the animal’s warm breath on her neck. Eve loved all animals, always had since she was a girl. She found them easier to talk to. They listened, didn’t judge her, and she didn’t have to worry about them telling her deepest secrets. Animals didn’t betray their friends. Not like humans did.

She usually made the rescued animals sleep either in the lab or out in the large prairie they had set aside for the cats. But Midnight was different. He had come to her a mangled, broken mess. It had been the worst case of neglect and abuse she had ever seen. He’d been found in an old barn. No one knew where he’d come from. The best they could guess is that he’d escaped his owner and crawled to the barn for safety. That’s when she’d been called in. The stupid police officer at the scene had wanted to put him down. Eve wouldn’t let him--not when he had a chance to live.

For long months it was touch and go and she’d almost lost him on several occasions. He needed constant supervision those first weeks and so he had slept in her office while she nursed him back to health. Sometimes, thinking about all the cat had survived, she was astounded that he’d lived at all.

Ruffling his fur, she grumbled, "Oh, I am really going to miss our little talks together, you know it. But it’s not fair to keep you locked up in this office all day and night. You deserve to live out in the open with the other cats."

Eve closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the couch. A little moan left her lips and a small tremor worked its way through her body. She absently kicked off her shoes and pulled her socks off with her toes.

"Why don’t I have a man, Midnight?" Her head pulled up so she could look into his entrancing golden eyes. "My mom’s right. I am kind of pathetic. Why couldn’t men be more like you? Fierce and wild, strong, silent, knowing when to give comfort and when to take it. Protective."

A sound of misery and discomfort rumbled the back of her throat.

"And do you know how long it’s been since I’ve had sex? Not that the sex I’ve had has been anything to brag about, but at least it was something. Sometimes, I think I’m so aroused I’m going to explode from the pressure. Not that you understand any of this, I’m sure."

The panther’s ears twitched as if it truly listened. Eve frowned at him in thought, stroking her hands over his face. Sometimes, when she looked at him, it almost seemed like he did understand her. Midnight’s eyes closed as he enjoyed her attentions.

"Uh, I think I’m going crazy. I’m going to end up alone--the old cat lady children run away from in fear. It has been way too long, that’s for sure. But the only men who want to date me are stuffy, boring doctor types and I’m too much of a coward to go after what I really want. I am not sure I even know what I really want. If there ever was a truly sexually repressed human, that would be me. But, you don’t have that problem do you, boy? I bet not. I bet panthers never have to think about it. They just act on instinct, pure animal instinct."

Eve pushed up from the couch, walking to the small bedroom in the back of the trailer. The room was set off from the larger front office with a small bathroom next to it. The queen sized bed was covered with a mountain of pillows and blankets. A small dresser was along the wall, next to a full-length mirror. She began undressing, not caring that Midnight followed her and watched.

Throwing her silk shirt on a chair, she then jerked her long legs out of her slacks. Stumbling before the mirror, she looked at herself in the dim light. She was pretty or, according to her mother, she would be if she put on more makeup and did her hair in something other than a sloppy bun. Her body was toned from spending hours on the prairie caring for over three hundred animals. Her skin was tan and her blonde hair streaked from hours in the sun.

Tugging at her hair, she loosened the blonde waves down over her back. "I lied Midnight, I know what I want. I want just one night with no commitments, like a stranger I don’t have to talk to. I want him to be a wild, untamed lover. I want … I want him to be bold."

Eve began running her hands over her body, feeling the weight of her breasts through the tight hold of her white silk bra. Her nipples hardened with instant longing. It really had been too long. She was frustrated beyond belief and masturbating had long since lost its appeal.

Eve sighed and fell back on her bed wearing only her white silk panties and bra. A dreamy sigh came to her lips, as she closed her eyes. "Mmm, that’s exactly what I want. I want a big strong man who can pick me up, crush me against a wall, and fuck my brains out. I want someone who doesn’t care what others think of him--a true rebel. I want someone sexy and wild and confident, with a motorcycle and tight black leather pants that mold to his deliciously firm ass. Someone who’ll just look at me and make me melt into a puddle. Mmm, that’s what I really want. But I’m a coward, Midnight. I’m too scared to go and find him. Besides, guys like that aren’t attracted to safe, boring veterinarians who live in trailers, talking to animals as if they were people."

Eve started to laugh, a sad sound that held no merriment.

"It’s just as well," she murmured, too tired to move. "I wouldn’t know what to do with a man like that anyway. I’d probably tense up and start crying out of fear."

Midnight jumped on the bed and lay close to her side, not touching her skin. She sighed, long and loud, and absently patted his back before falling into a deep sleep.

© copyright 2005, Michelle M. Pillow

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence.

 REVIEWS

 AWARDS AND RANKINGS

Ariana Overton Award (Ari) for Best Cover Art
Ghost Cats (Amber Moon)

# 6 Best rated Erotic Fictionwise