Taken by Night: BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance (Night and Day Ink Book 4) by Milly Taiden

ONE
     
    Valentina Cruz, glanced at the bar entrance, unsure of how much longer she would last. She yanked at the neckline of her red blouse. Even though she was a big girl with big curves, Tina liked to wear sexy clothes. It was who she was. She’d been raised to embrace her curves. To love her body and to appreciate every single part of who she was. Especially the tigress inside her.
    “Are you enjoying yourself, Tina?” Stephanie, Bryan and Brent Days’ girlfriend asked. She’d been giving Tina the run through of operations at Night and Day Ink. Thankfully, Stephanie wasn’t a shifter, or she’d have realized how much discomfort Tina was under. Stephanie was a curvy woman too, who appeared to be very comfortable in her own skin.
    Tina eyed the navy blue dress Stephanie wore with approval. She had something similar at home. Tina’s neighbor, Alex was always telling her how good she looked whenever she walked out the door. If it wasn’t because he happened to get in his car at the same time as she did, she’d swear he waited for her to leave to bump into her.
    She lifted her cool drink and smiled. “Yes, gracias. It’s been wonderful catching up on the new job and hear all about how things work.”
    Her cousin Kiara and her sister Ana had both mated Night wolf shifters. Kiara and Royce were spending time together, getting ready to buy a house to move into. Ana and Callum were spending her heat away from everyone. The couple was still in the early stages of their relationship and needed time to get to know each other. That put most of the business dealings on the other Night Ink men to handle, like Tina’s boss, Brett.
    Stephanie made a dismissive hand gesture and laughed. “You would have caught up soon. You’ve been there all of a week.” She pressed her lips into a line before bursting into giggles.
    “What’s so funny?” Tina asked, confused over Stephanie’s sudden laughter.
    “I’m sorry,” she choked. “I am hoping you hook up with Brett Night so that we can continue this kitty and puppy combo we have going in the office.”
    Tina shook her head. Not going to happen. She’d been warned about the Night men. Unlike Ana and Kiara, she didn’t have a boss that popped up from time to time. He was working from the other side of the world. So there was no chance in hell of them hooking up.
    Not to mention Tina didn’t have anything to do with wolf shifters. She didn’t even know what her boss looked like. They had yet to have a video conference. “Get that out of your mind, Steph. I’m pretty certain Brett Night will want nothing to do with me. Besides, I’m not looking for a mate.”
    Stephanie frowned, leaning forward and placing her arm on the table.  “I thought you guys got the call of the wild to mate and have babies sooner than humans.”
    Tina took a long swallow of her fruity cocktail, hoping it would calm the heat spreading inside her. There was little chance of it working, but she’d try anything at that point. Her tigress pushed under the skin, wanting loose. She needed a man or she’d be in some serious pain later. How could she have not realized she was out of pills to help her get through her heat? Such a rookie mistake.
    She shook her head and sighed. “Not really. We have a heat phase we go through every certain number of months. It is our body’s way of saying ‘hey, you wanna have babies? Get to work!’ Unfortunately, our heat can be very overwhelming and intrude in daily life. A lot of us use drugs to help combat the powerful need to breed.”
    She tugged at her neckline again. If she didn’t leave soon, she’d start purring and that would definitely call unwanted attention. She’d decided to wear the sexy frilly red blouse with a plunging neckline to feel pretty. Not that she had huge boobs. Quite the opposite. But she wasn’t going to stop wearing sexy tops just because she didn’t have the boobs her sister did. Dressing was usually a game of what fits best for