A Fox's Love (American Kitsune Book 1) by Brandon Varnell

hands and watched him.
    Heat began rising to Kevin's cheeks as he felt her eyes boring into him, piercing him, stripping him, devouring him. It was unsettling, extremely so. Kevin wanted to say something, if for no other reason than to make this girl stop staring at him with those bright green eyes that looked like they were about ready to take his chastity, but he couldn't. His vocal chords weren't working. Even if they were, he was not entirely sure what he would say.
    Was this how all those girls Eric stared at felt? No wonder they disliked him so much.
    "So how is it?" Kevin started at the sound of Lilian's voice. He looked up from his plate to see the red head smiling at him. For some reason, her expression reminded him of a child. It was very innocent despite the feelings her eyes gave him as they bore into his own. He could just picture her feet swinging childishly underneath the table as she watched something she felt was interesting.
    "It's good," Kevin admitted after swallowing. "Really good, actually. Better than any breakfast I've ever made."
    Kevin was a simple guy who preferred making simple foods. He didn't like the hassle that came from trying to make anything too complicated. It just took more time and effort than it was worth. His breakfast usually just consisted of plain old scrambled eggs and bacon. Sometimes if he wanted to eat something different, he would make pancakes, but that was about it.
    "I'm glad to hear that," Lilian's shoulders relaxed significantly as she released a large gust of air. It was as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "I don't cook omelet's very often, or at all really, though I was taught how. Usually, our maid is the one cooking for us."
    "You have a maid?" So this girl was, like, super rich or something? Only the rich could afford a real life maid. Not even the spoiled brats in those large houses could afford their own maid. Someone to clean for them? Yes. But a full time maid that would wait on them hand and foot? No.
    At least, not unless they wanted to get rid of those $120,000+ cars that cost an extra $10,000 to $15,000 a year to maintain.
    "Well, I guess servant would be more appropriate," Lilian said thoughtfully as she looked up at the ceiling. "Kotohime pledged herself to our family sometime around 150 years ago." Hearing this caused Kevin to nearly choke on his food. "I don't know much about what happened during that time. I was just a vixen back then."
    "Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Kevin looked at the girl in shock. "What do you mean 150 years ago? Do you mean to tell me that you have a maid who's over 150 years old?" That was freaking ancient! Not even Gandhi lived to be that old!
    "Of course," Lilian looked very confused for a second before her eyes lit in understanding. "Ah, right. I forgot that you humans are very short lived." Her back straightened and she looked at him, a single finger pointed towards the ceiling as she raised her arm; she looked like a teacher who was about to go into a lecture. "To sum it up, Kitsune live a lot longer than humans do." She tilted her head to the left. "Kotohime has 3 tails, so she's older than 300, but younger than 400." She pressed a finger to her lips and tapped it. "I don't know exactly how old she is, though." She shrugged. "I never asked."
    Kevin bit his lower lip and furrowed his brows in thought as he processed the information he was just given. "So Kitsune gain a tail every 100 years then?"
    "Yes," Lilian nodded. "We first start off with just one tail, that's when we're still just plain old foxes. After our hundredth year we gain our second tail and a human form."
    "Oh," Kevin blinked, "That makes sense, I guess." He frowned as he looked at the girl in front of him. "But what about you? Since you have a human form, that means you should have two tails, but I only see one." He was curious to know how old she was, but knew better than to ask. It was one of the bits of wisdom his mom had given him. Never ask a woman