Vixen by Jessica Sims Page A

grinning at her. He hadn’t missed her quick appraisal – and approval – of their appearances.
    The dark haired one cleared his throat, the hint of a blush tingeing his cheeks. He pulled out his wallet and approached the screen door. “My name is Jeremiah Russell, and this is Sam Thorpe.”
    Miko kept the smile on her face. “And?”
    “Yui Westwood sent us.”
    God. Not another one of her mother’s matchmaking schemes. Miko raised a skeptical eyebrow and crossed her arms. “And I shouldn’t tell you both to fuck off…why, exactly?”
    Sam licked his thumb and raised it to the breeze, waiting a moment for it to change. As soon as it did, she knew.
    They were shifters. Just like her. Here on her doorstep. Two cat shifters, if her nose was correct. Her eyes narrowed. Well. That either made things really interesting, or really annoying. Either way, she couldn’t turn them away from her door. Miko opened the screen door, gesturing for them to come inside. “I should have guessed.”
    “Your mother said you should call if you have concerns,” the darker-haired one began in a mild voice.
    “Or if you’re just wowed by our charm,” the blond added with a grin and clapped his friend on the back. “Though this behemoth might make you a little anxious.”
    Again, the darker one showed signs of embarrassment, but it was a good-natured embarrassment. As if the two ribbed each other all the time and the blond just happened to get the upper hand. Sam and Jeremiah, she reminded herself, trying to memorize their names. Sam the cocky blond and Jeremiah the sweet, overgrown brunette.
    She wondered if they teamed up for everything. A throb of heat flashed deep inside her body, making her pulse flutter.
    Frowning at her instant response, Miko shut the door and moved toward the kitchen. Annoying visitors or not, she had to offer hospitality to fellow shifters. “Can I get you guys something to drink? I need to make a quick phone call to my mother.”
    “Of course,” said the tall one easily.
    She poured two glasses of iced tea into tumblers and reached for the phone, cradling it to her ear and turning her back to her guests. The phone’s short cord kept her in the room, which she found irritating; the two feline shifters would be able to hear everything her mother said, even through the phone line. Shifters of all kinds had amazing hearing.
    “ It’s about time you called ,” her mother said into the phone, in Japanese.
    Miko drummed her fingers on the receiver. Her mother always spoke Japanese, but mostly did it to annoy her daughter, who hated reminders of who and what she was. For once, though, it was working in her favor. She doubted either of the shifters in her house spoke Japanese. She replied in Japanese. “ Mother, why are you sending strange men over to my house ?”
    “ Not strange men. Two shifters ,” Yui corrected. “ They will help you this week .”
    “ What do I need help with ?”
    “ Did you find yourself a mate? Is he there to protect you ?”
    “ God, Mother. Do you have a one track mind? I’m twenty-seven. Is that what this is? Matchmaking? I don’t need your help with men—”
    “ You are headstrong and foolish and you —”
    “I’ll call you later, Mother,” Miko said loudly, in English. “When you’re ready to have a real conversation.”
    “ Miko-chan ,” Yui warned, “ listen to your mother—”
    “Gotta go,” she said, and hung up. Miko stared at the phone, and then pinched the bridge of her nose. Why had she even called her mother? Yui didn’t approve of Miko’s quiet lifestyle and thought she should spend her time recruiting men to service her were-fox needs if she didn’t take a mate or two. Her mother – still incredibly beautiful at fifty-five – had a harem of men that she kept at her disposal, and constantly had a new boyfriend in the wings. As a child, it had been confusing. As a teenager, it had been humiliating. When she’d grown up, she’d vowed that