Cafe in the Park, #shifter erotic #romance is out in paperback for readers who still like to to feel a book in their hands

Cafe in the Park has just released to print by Siren Publishing

When Emily joins a dating agency, she never expects to meet someone like Chris. Everything she ever hoped for in a man, he’s special in more ways than one. Their intense attraction to each other is fueled by their shared loneliness. Will Emily find out his shocking secret when someone from his past comes back to haunt him?
How can love blossom, when someone is trying to tear them apart?

Chris was at Café in the Park early. He hung around under the tree where he’d watched Emily before they met formally. He saw her arrive at the café and was about to go to her when a man, dressed in a gray business suit, dashed up to her. He brandished a folded newspaper at her. It looked to Chris as if they were meeting for the first time. His heart sank. She was meeting someone from the matching agency. That’s what was happening, he felt sure of it, but to do it here and when he was supposed to be meeting her for lunch, hurt like hell.

Chris watched as they went into the café. He experienced a moment of rage, and then deep sadness took over. He couldn’t blame her. She’d be so hurt from seeing him with Veronique. Truth was, if he was Emily, and seen what she’d seen two nights running, he’d be at least suspicious. He’d likely look for someone else. Yes, he would. In pain and sorrow, after the way they’d had sex, he’d think the worst. He’d cut loose the way she was doing, just in case more pain was to come from clinging on.

He walked close to the café. After waiting for a few moments, he went in. Emily and the man were at a table in the far end of the café. Emily had her back to Chris. He got a coffee and went to sit at a table only a couple of yards away. He would have been able to hear the conversation if he’d stayed further away, but he needed to be close to Emily. His chest actually ached with sadness. Chris listened until he discovered they were meeting for dinner that night and where, and then he left the café, his coffee untouched.

* * * *

The mountain lion crouched low on the roof of the restaurant. It sniffed the air occasionally, waiting for the scent that told him his Emily had arrived.

Chris shuffled along the corrugated iron shielding near the kitchen fan vents on the roof. He filtered out the food and cooking smells. Emily had arrived, on foot. Chris identified the man walking with her by smell…adrenaline, a none-too-clean suit, an inexpensive cologne, and arousal. Chris growled low. Tension coiled in his stomach. The man already wanted to fuck his Emily. That wasn’t happening.

Chris waited for what dragged like hours, but was in fact only an hour, and then they came out. They walked along the sidewalk and Chris padded silently along the rooftops trailing them.

They came to a car. Not Emily’s.

Chris growled soft, deep, dangerously. Shock spiked him. The man had picked Emily up from her apartment. He was taking her home again. Chris lifted his head as the car drove off, and yowled. His strange cry echoed in the night. He took off at speed to Emily’s apartment.

Copyright Elodie Parkes 2015 Siren Publishing