Safari Island Shifters: The Complete Collection(47)

He’d had a bad feeling when he left Beverly Hills. The grand opening and the first month had done very well. It wasn’t as good as the other four launches, but he’d figured that was due to the time of year. He’d spoken to the manager of the location a few times and he was always aloof and dodged questions. In the back of his mind, Parker had been expecting this call all summer.

“If we wait, it will tarnish our brand,” Alfie said. “We need to get ahead of this and close up shop before tongues start wagging.”

“We don’t have anything else in the pipeline. It’s going to hurt us anyway.”

“Not as much as an empty restaurant will.”

“Do you think it’s the food?”

“Not at all. Your menu is fabulous. The demand is just lower than we projected. It was a good try. Everyone has to have a few failures. We’ll bounce back.”

“I know, but I’d hoped to get a few more open before this kind of thing happened. How are the other locations?”

“Business is steady. No chance of any of the other four closing.”

“Okay.” Parker sighed. “Start the process.”

“I’ll get right on it. Don’t worry. You still have this Safari Island gig. You’re going to be fine.”

“Thanks.”

Parker poured himself a glass of whiskey and waited for Jasminda to get home. She wasn’t going to be too happy to hear about the closing. Beverly Hills was her hometown. She wasn’t going to have a free restaurant for her Hollywood friends anymore. That was going to put a big strain on their relationship.

He liked the saucy singer, but something had been off between them recently. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was, exactly, but it was familiar. All of his relationships had gone this way eventually. He knew that she wasn’t his mate, so it was inevitable. Until he found his one and only, he wasn’t going to be able to hold on to a woman for long. Logically, he knew he should give it up and let Jasminda go as he’d done with all the others. But he couldn’t. A professional failure was bad enough. He didn’t want to fail in his personal life too.

There was a slim possibility that he was wrong. His cheetah didn’t seem that thrilled about Jas, but it could be wrong. Maybe it wouldn’t even recognize his mate. He’d been told all his life that he was an aberration. A cheetah who didn’t eat meat? Must be crazy, everyone said. Something had to be wrong with him, for him to be so strange. And maybe they were all right. Maybe his cheetah wasn’t all there and that was why he could never make a relationship work.

By the time Jas got home, he was a drunken mess. She didn’t even kiss him hello. She went straight to the shower and then to bed. He climbed in with her as the sun was coming up.

“Do you like it here, Jas?” he asked her.

“I’m sleeping.”

“I know. Sorry. But do you?”

She rolled over grudgingly. “I guess. It’s a nice change of pace for half the year. I’d love to go back to Beverly Hills next. It would be nice to be close to my parents and friends for the spring.”

“I don’t know. I like it here. They’ve asked me to stay on for another season.”

“I don’t want to do that. We’ve been here long enough. It’s going to be almost a full year come June.”

“Yeah, but you said you liked it.”

“I do, but you know I hate doing the same thing over and over. I’m ready for a change. Beverly Hills. It’ll still be warm, and you can cook at your own restaurant instead of this tourist stuff.”

“Not Your Average Cheetah Beverly Hills will be closed before we can get back,” he said glumly.

That got her attention. Jas sat up in bed. “What? Why are you closing it? Everyone I know loves that place.”

“I guess you need to make more friends, because we’re losing money.”

“Maybe you need a new menu,” she said testily. “You’ve been running on the whole vegan cheetah thing for years. You need a new shtick.”

“It’s not a shtick. I don’t eat meat and my restaurants don’t serve it. I’m not going to change to appeal to the masses. I’m a five-star chef. I don’t make cheeseburgers and french fries.”

“You’re full of yourself, and you’re old news. Wake up, Parker. You aren’t relevant anymore.”

“Tell me how you really feel.”

She snuggled up to him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want that to sound so mean. I’m just saying you need some good publicity. When the restaurant closes and you’re quiet, people are going to forget about you.”

“I’m not a celebrity. I’m a chef.”

“You make money because of your brand. And your brand needs new life injected into it.”

“I’ll think about it. Thanks for the input.”

He was tired of the conversation and ready to go to bed. She might be right, but he had no idea how he was going to do it. The residence at Wild Eats had been his new “thing,” but after two years, it was getting old. He was going to have to find something to breathe new life into his image.

***

“Look at that cover!” Bunny Blue yelled, waving the magazine in front of her. “You’re a star, baby girl.”