2. Chapter 2
Cody
I cracked one eye open and immediately regretted it. A sword of morning light sliced through my eyelashes, stabbing directly into my brain. Fuck. How much had I had to drink last night?
My tongue felt like I’d licked the carpet of every bar in Reno.
What had happened last night? The last thing I remembered clearly was standing on the Strip in my panda costume, talking to—oh shit. That hot Chinese guy. What was his name again?
Something tapped my face.
I swatted at whatever it was, groaning when the movement made my headache worse. My hand connected with something soft that made an indignant sound. The tapping stopped momentarily, then returned with more determination, tiny prickles now accompanying each tap.
“Fuck off,” I mumbled into the pillow that wasn’t mine.
The tapping became a full-on pat, claws now involved. I forced both eyes open to confront my tormentor.
A white fluffball of a cat sat inches from my face. Its blue eyes narrowed as it lifted one paw, ready to smack me again.
“Jesus, fine, I’m awake.” I turned to the cat as fragments of last night reassembled in my pounding head.
My friends partying at the casino. The panda costumes we’d all worn because I’d insisted it would be hilarious.
And then that guy—tall, serious, ridiculously hot in that brooding way that made my stomach flip. Johnny?
No, Jian. That was his name.
Had we...? I quickly patted my stomach and legs. No, I was still dressed in half of my panda costume. At least I hadn’t gotten naked with a stranger.
I squeezed my muscles, double-checking that there wasn’t any pain there, but I had no idea how it was supposed to feel after getting fucked. 24-year-old virgin problems. Though losing my virginity and not even remembering it would be sadly on-brand for my disaster of a love life.
The cat stalked across my chest and sat down, staring at me, tail swishing.
More memories surfaced through the hangover fog. Something about pretending to be Jian’s boyfriend? And pandas. Something about pandas.
Had I gone home with a complete stranger because he’d promised to show me a panda? Was this how I died? The bed shifted beside me. My heart stopped.
I needed to face this situation head-on. Maybe Jian was still asleep and I could sneak out without an awkward morning-after conversation. Or maybe he was awake and could explain what the hell was going on.
Taking a deep breath, I rolled over and came face to face with a giant panda.
For a minute, I froze, trying to make sense of what I was looking at. But there was no question. There was an actual fucking panda bear. And it was snoring, its black-and-white face peaceful in sleep, massive chest rising and falling with each breath.
Could it be a hallucination or some weird hangover vision? I rubbed my eyes, but when I opened again, the panda was still there.
The panda lifted a huge paw, complete with long, lethal-looking claws, and my fear finally registered.
I screamed, scrambling backward so fast I slammed into the headboard.
The panda rolled over onto its back, still snoring, one massive paw flopping onto the pillow where my head had been seconds ago.
“Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit,” I pressed against the corner where the headboard butted up against the wall. Why was his bed against a wall? “Did he feed me to his panda? And why would he even have a panda? Surely that’s not legal.”
The white cat, completely unperturbed by the wild animal in the bed, walked calmly across the mattress. It reached the panda’s face, lifted a paw, and smacked the bear right between the eyes.
The panda snorted and rolled again.
The air around the panda... shimmered? Blurred? Like heat rising off asphalt, but faster, more intense. And then, instead of a panda, there was a man. A very naked, very beautiful man with long black hair splayed across the pillow and muscles that looked carved from stone.
Jian.
He blinked sleepily, looking confused until his eyes focused on my face.
“What the—” I stuttered, my back still pressed against the headboard. “You were—but now—WHAT THE FUCK?”
Jian shot upright, suddenly wide awake, revealing washboard abs, powerful thighs, and—holy shit—an impressive cock that hung thick between his legs even in its soft state. I tried desperately not to stare at it, but, I mean, come on.
“What did you see?” His voice was low, careful, his body tense like a predator ready to pounce.
“I saw a fucking panda!” I pointed to the space he now occupied. “Right there! And then the cat hit it, and it turned into you! Why were you a panda? How were you a panda? Am I still drunk? Oh no, am I hallucinating?”
Jian groaned and covered his face with his hands. “Fuck. Fuck!”
I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his body—the definition of his pecs, the tattoo of Chinese characters trailing down his ribs, the V-cut of his hips leading to... I swallowed hard.
Focus, Cody. The man was just a panda. That’s the priority here.
“I don’t understand why my panda would come out like that. I never shift while I’m sleeping unless I’m very comfortable and—” He stopped and scrubbed his hands over his face with a groan.
“Your... panda?” I repeated. “You’re naked. Did we have sex?”
“Of course we didn’t have sex. You were way too drunk to make a decision.
Hell, you wouldn’t even tell me your address to take you home!
” “So you tucked me into your bed?” “You crawled in and told me you wanted to snuggle!” “So, we snuggled?” “No. You passed out. Besides, I’m straight.
Mostly.” I’d met enough mostly straight guys to know that probably meant he was bi and just hadn’t realized it yet, but I teased him anyway.
“Why would a mostly straight guy need a boyfriend?”
“Fake boyfriend,” he corrected, running a hand through his long hair. “Remember? I told you I needed someone to pretend to be my boyfriend to get my family off my back. You agreed because I said you could see a panda.”
The memory clicked into place. “You said it was a panda sanctuary! Not that you were one!”
“I’m not—” He started pacing the small room, muscles flexing with each agitated movement, his cock bouncing between his legs in a very distracting way. “This is all fucked up. You were just supposed to come to breakfast, then I was going to fake a little panda sanctuary somehow.”
“I knew there wasn’t a panda sanctuary around here. I should’ve trusted my gut instinct.”
“Do you even have a gut instinct to trust?” he asked.
“You got into a car with a guy you’d known for five minutes.
” “Jian, are you aware of how hot you are?” I shot back.
“A drunk gay is going to have zero self-control around that.” I waved my hand at his general hotness.
“Wait, this isn’t actually a kidnapping, is it? ”
“Of course not. Just a favor.” He paced back across the room, still naked. I should probably have reminded him to put on pants, but who was I to rob myself of a show?
“Are you some kind of... werewolf?” I asked. “But, like, a werepanda?”
Jian stopped pacing to glare at me. “That’s not a thing.”
“Well, excuse me for not knowing the proper terminology for people who turn into pandas!”
The fluffy white cat meowed loudly from the floor, circling Jian’s feet.
“So demanding! You look hungry, Dandelion.” He scooped up the cat, which immediately started purring loudly against his chest. I didn’t blame her.
I watched in disbelief as he walked out of the room; the cat cradled against his bare chest, like we weren’t in the middle of the most insane conversation of my life.
“Wait!” I scrambled off the bed, pausing to rub my forehead as my hangover headache made the room spin.
“The cat needs to be fed.”
“You can’t just—you have to explain!”
I followed him into a small kitchen, where he was already opening a can of cat food. Dandelion sat on the counter, tail swishing impatiently.
“There’s nothing to explain.” He scraped the food into a bowl. “You were drunk, you had weird dreams, and now you’re confused.”
“Bullshit! I know what I saw!”
Jian set the bowl down for Dandelion, who attacked the food with enthusiasm. He scratched behind the cat’s ears, then dug through a cabinet for a minute and returned with a bottle of ibuprofen and a bottle of water. I took it gratefully, swallowing a couple of pills and chugging down the water.
“Look,” he said. “Can we just stick to the original plan? You pretend to be my boyfriend for breakfast with my family, you pet a panda, and I drive you home after.”
I rubbed my temples, trying to ease the headache. “Not until you explain how you turned from a panda into a naked man right in front of me.”
“I didn’t.”
“You did! Stop gaslighting me.”
“Even if what you think you saw was real,” he said. “Would you really want to know more? Some truths are dangerous, Cody.”
The way he said my name sent an unexpected shiver through me. “I’ve wanted to see a real panda up close for my entire life. If you’re somehow... connected to that, then yes, I want to know everything.”
Jian sighed, stroking Dandelion’s fur as the cat finished eating. “I need you to forget what you saw and focus on our agreement.”
I should have said no. I should have demanded answers or run screaming from this cabin and the impossible man inside it. Instead, I found myself nodding.
“Fine. But after breakfast, I’m petting you.” My cheeks heated as I realized what I’d said. “I meant panda you.”
His eyes held mine for a long moment, then he reached up and wiped something from under my eye with his thumb, probably a smudge of mascara. “We’ll see. Come on, I’ll find you a spare toothbrush and some face wash.”