by Eve Langlais
It was one of those times she missed Lucy. Lucy with her bubbling personality and never-ending positive comments could make anyone feel like they were on top of the world. At this moment, she felt she was drowning. It didn’t help that Mildred would get Nick for a full week on this visit. Her high-priced lawyer got a judge to allow for grandparent visits that were longer than an overnight stay.
If she were honest with herself, Josie would admit she worried Mildred would go for full custody again and this time Josie couldn’t fight her. Not without money. Hell, as it was, she could barely feed the boy. But Frank and Lucy had been adamant about keeping Nick away from Frank’s mother and dammit, Josie would do whatever she could to follow their wishes.
She lifted the wineglass to her lips, took a sip, and rubbed her temple. She needed to figure out how to make more money. Unfortunately, she didn’t qualify for any loans and her credit was so bad, she stopped getting junk mail asking her to open an account. She’d have to take on a second job. It wasn’t ideal, but maybe she could beg Shawna to watch Nick when she was off at work and trade it for the Spanish lessons her friend had been wanting to take.
A soft knock sounded at her door. She put the half-empty glass down and didn’t bother worrying over how quickly she’d guzzled that wine. She opened the door to Shawna. At five foot four, she considered herself short, but Shawna beat her by about two inches. With short dark hair and a curvy physique that had a lot more toning than Josie’s, Shawna slid her yoga-attired body into the apartment like a breath of fresh air.
“I have good news!” Shawna exclaimed, her melodious voice a lot more excited than Josie had been in too long.
“Great,” she said, grinning. “I already opened the wine. We can celebrate your good news in style.”
Shawna snorted a giggle and sat, her pink and blue trainers tapping at the edge of the chair she’d swung her legs over when she sat. “Not for me, silly.”
Josie brought a second wineglass from the kitchen and filled it. With raised brows, she handed it to Shawna. “Then who are we celebrating for?” She sat again and shrugged. “What the hell, maybe it doesn’t matter. At this point I’d celebrate the fact I still have frozen vegetables in the freezer.”
Shawna sipped her wine, her smile widening. “You look so beat.” Her smile dimmed and she shook her head, making her short locks whip around her chin. “I’m sorry you’re so stressed, girl.”
She shrugged again. “I’m getting used to being stressed. I’m just worried about Nick. I don’t want to have to fight Mildred in court for him. I keep thinking no judge would let me keep him with how bad my finances are.”
“I told you I had good news!” Shawna dug into her pocket, pulled out a folded piece of paper and thrust it at Josie. “Here.”
Josie took the paper and unfolded it. “Mate for hire?”
She frowned and read the ad.
Wanted: Single Female.
Description: Opportunity for short-term assignment. Female to pose as mate. Must be available for functions and gatherings. Perks included. Half paycheck upon first week of work and half upon completion. Serious inquiries only.
“I don’t understand what this means. Some guy is looking for a friend?”
Shawna grinned and sipped her wine. “No. This is a new website my boss has me working on.” She rolled her eyes. “Apparently his boss thinks he’s the one running it, but the reality is the dick has me doing all the work. Anyway, so our clients want to hire a mate for whatever reason. The women sign up to be hired as a mate because they need the money and a lot of them are hoping the man will want to keep them. Mate for hire.” Shawna blew out a breath. “My program browses through the candidates and chooses the right person for each client.”
Josie frowned. “Okay?”
“The program chose you for this client. I put your information in and the system spit you out,” she squealed.
“You what?”
Shawna bit her lip and pouted. “I’m sorry, but I wanted to try and help you. I know you need money. These women went through a rigorous screening to get in there. I want to take stress from you.”
She glanced down at the paper. “Shawna, it doesn’t even say how much—” She gasped. “Holy shit! Is that the pay?” She glanced farther down the page.
“Yeah. That’s just half.”
Holy fucking shit she was going to start stripping if this was the kind of money available out there. “You mean to tell me I get hired by some guy and I get this?” she choked out. “Two times?”
Shawna nodded vigorously. “And the best part? No sex.”
She tore her gaze from the sheet to look at her friend. “Say what?”
“No sex. I mean,” she said, grinning sheepishly, “not unless you want to. The rules are very specific. Someone needs a mate for whatever reason and he’s willing to pay to fake it.”
“Isn’t a mate a friend? I don’t get it, though. Why would a man pay for a friend?”
Shawna shook her head, leaning forward excitedly. “Not a friend. These are shifters. They’re hiring you to fake being in a relationship. Like a girlfriend.”
Shifters. Deadly. Badasses. Super sexy. “A shifter wants to hire me to be his fake girlfriend?”
“Technically, he wants to hire any female to be his fake girlfriend. The point is the program picked you for him and this is your chance to make enough money to pay your bills, chica!”
Josie glanced at the paper again. The amount of money listed was a lot more than her bills were worth and that was only half the total offered. “No sex, you say?”
Shawna grinned. “None. The guy is pretty specific about having to hire someone urgently. Most women need a few days’ notice. He wants someone tomorrow. That narrowed down the list a lot. And since Nick will be with Mildred, that gives you a few days to get this done.” She stood and sat next to Josie on the couch. “Come on, Josie. This is what you’ve been waiting for. A legal way to make money and not have to sell your ass.”
Josie snorted. “That’s yet to be seen.”
“Trust me. My company is huge. The owner would never do anything as stupid as get caught up in some escort service when his mother is very much involved in all aspects of our day-to-day operations.” Shawna grasped Josie’s hands in hers and squeezed. “Do it. What’s the worst that can happen? You decide his offer isn’t for you and say no.”
She gulped. It wasn’t like her to be so indecisive. But after Michael and the downward spiral her life had taken in the past year, she had no idea what else could be looming in the distance. “Okay. I’ll do it. What do I have to do?”
“Don’t worry, girl. I will tell you everything you need to know to make sure this is a hit.” Shawna jumped to her feet. “Let me go to my apartment and grab the papers I brought home. Pizza should be here shortly. We can eat and discuss this.”
Man, if Shawna got pizza that meant she was serious. She never broke her Pizza Friday rule. It was only Thursday. Josie glanced at the amount again. If she got that much money, she could be clear of debt and put Nick in that martial arts class he’d been asking about.
Heck, she might even be able to rent the space and equipment to open up that bakery she’d been considering with her other neighbor, Tiana. Though Tiana was traveling, it was something they could discuss if the money thing happened. It was a lot of money at stake. Nick’s future was at stake. She wouldn’t—couldn’t—let him down.
Chapter Two
Xander Ursi tugged at his tie. He hated the damn thing. He couldn’t wait to be out of it every day after his meetings and undo most of the buttons on his shirt so he could feel less like he was being choked to death. He stomped down the long hallway that led from the office building to a private gym he and his employees used to destress. He’d rather go off and run the forest in his bear form, but he didn’t have enough time for that right now.
“What’s up, bro?” Keir his close friend and head of marketing greeted him. “Are you hitting the bags or running?”
“Hitting the bags.” Xander headed straight for the changing room with Keir by his side.
Keir glanced around the empty locker room before speaking. “Did that ad work out?”
“They sent me an email saying they’re sending the person their system feels would work best for this job over to me.” He switched out of his suit into a pair of workout shorts and a tank top. He grabbed his wrist wraps and gloves and headed to the main gym.
“This is good, isn’t it?” Keir got on a treadmill next to his and proceeded to start warming up. “You asked me to find you a way to solve your problem, and I did. Now you use the girl, let your grandmother think she’s your mate, and your troubles go away.”
Right. Then why did it feel like shit was only going to get worse? His human grandmother made it a point to let him know in no uncertain terms that the only way she’d give him the controlling portion of XJ Financial was when he mated and showed her he was ready to settle down.
“She’s got a good heart, but trying to get me to mate is not like getting a human to marry,” Xander growled. He hopped off the treadmill and wrapped his wrists. He was too antsy to wait any longer without hitting the bags. Once his gloves were on, he started with straight one-two punches and continued talking. “A bear can’t just mate any female just because she’s hot.”
“Well, my father did. Granted, he’s not a bear.” Keir laughed. “Didn’t work out as well as he would have wanted.” He strapped on his gloves and hit the bag next to Xander’s. “Try this new place. I know this is weird, but you need to do something to get her off your back and finally take control of XJ.” He took jabs at the bag. “Julia is a lovely woman, but just because she is loaded with dough does not mean she knows anything about shifter love lives.”
That was the truth. His mother had been human. That didn’t stop Xander from taking after his father and picking up the shifter gene. He’d been a bear and had bear needs. One of them was a mate. Unfortunately, he hadn’t met the right woman. His grandmother felt that dangling the majority share she owned of the company would somehow make Xander go out there and magically find a mate. If it were that easy, he’d done it a while back. At almost forty, he was yearning for cubs.
“Grandmother feels it’s time she had some great-grandkids. She misses my parents and I’m the only one she can really bug about it. No other grandkids to go harass and all that.” He ignored the burn in his muscles and the sweat dripping down his temples.
His grandmother was a great woman. But she assumed because she’d read up on shifters and had a few years knowing Xander’s father before his parents had died, that she was a shifter encyclopedia.
“When do you meet your new employee?”
“Later today. I have a dinner meeting at Ricardo’s. Maxton’s sister Ally is in town and she’s demanded I make time for dinner. I figured I could kill two birds with one stone and set up for Josilyn to meet me there so we can discuss the arrangement.”
“Ally.” Keir frowned. “I don’t remember an Ally being Maxton’s sister. I remember a Sara.”
Xander chuckled at Keir’s intense frown. “Yeah. Maxton has two sisters. Ally was younger, so unless you visited his house, you wouldn’t have met her. They sent her away to boarding school when she was young.”
“Ah. Well. That explains it.” Keir hugged the giant punching bag and huffed out a breath. “Let me know how that works out with … did you say her name is Josilyn?”
Xander stopped punching and started throwing high kicks at the bag. “Yeah. Ms. Josilyn Martinez. There was a photo included, but it wasn’t a close-up so I’ll have to figure it out when I see her. Thankfully, the staff at Ricardo’s knows me well enough to send her straight to my table when she arrives.”
Keir glanced at the clock on the wall. “Good luck. I think it would be a great idea to use their services. Especially since I might be needing to hire my own mate in the near future.”
“Your dad still giving you trouble?”
Keir growled and hit his bag again. “Yeah. For a lion, he’s being a real pussy. Ever since he lost his sense of smell, he’s freaking out over someone taking advantage of him and wants me to take over the operations at the bank.”
“What’s the problem? You know you can do it.” Xander punched and kicked the bag with his left arm and leg, staying on his toes and then doing the same with his right.
“I don’t want to mate. I’m fine as I am.” Keir started kicking his bag in full earnest.
“You mean having meaningless sex with women you’ll never see again?” Xander asked.
“Yeah! Let me tell you something: meaningless sex is very underrated. You don’t have to call, and everybody knows where they stand. I don’t have to worry about some woman getting her feelings hurt. It’s great.”
“Only you, bro.” Xander laughed outright, his arms starting to tire from the grueling exercise.
“Don’t give me that. You’ve had enough sex-only dates where you can appreciate how well it works.”
That was true. He had enjoyed it at one point. Not any longer. “There comes a time in a person’s life where you want more. You want to have that link to someone, and feel like there is another person who wants to be with you just as much.”
Keir stopped and stared at him with raised brows. “You need to get laid, man.”
He shook his head and tugged the gloves off to grab one of the towels on a shelf. “Sex is easy. What I need is a lot more complicated.”
He needed a fake mate, but if he had his wish, he’d finally find the right woman for his bear. His animal was growing antsy and needy. It wasn’t natural to go this long without a life partner. Xander’s bear reminded him daily that he needed offspring and a mate. A real one.
Chapter Three
Josilyn smoothed her hands down the sides of her leggings and long top. She had paired the outfit with nice sandals and simple makeup so she wouldn’t look too outdated. The reality was she’d gone from a huge closet full of things to a handful of items she could work with. This was one of the only outfits she’d refused to part with. The top had been a honeymoon gift from Lucy.
She stared at the usually busy main street, which happened to be deserted at that moment, and stopped when she reached Ricardo’s. This was a top-of-the-line restaurant. She’d loved coming here in the past. The food was delicious and their caramel bomb lava cake did things to her no man ever had.
The restaurant was never empty. She glanced in the window to see tables filled with couples on dates. Nerves made her belly quake and rethink the plan. What was she doing there? She was going to work as some guy’s fake girlfriend. No, not some guy. Some shifter. Even worse.
She paced outside the restaurant, her mind trying to come up with a plausible excuse to call off the meeting, but all she could think of was the money she’d be giving up. Money she needed more than another sleepless night.
Suddenly someone grabbed her arm and she whipped her head to look into a pair of angry, glowing gold eyes. “You’re mine.”
“Excuse me? What the hell do you think you’re doing, asshole. Let me go.” She tugged on his hold to no avail.
He started pulling her away from the restaurant toward a dark alley around the corner. “I said, you’re mine.”
“And I said to let me go, asshole,” she yelled.
He backhanded her with his other hand and scratched her shoulder with his long dirty claws. “I’m taking what’s mine.”
What the fuck? Fear and anger sprouted wings in her chest. Her blood boiled with rage that a stranger put his hands on her. She dropped her bag and started hitting the guy with the cell phone she had in her hand. The sound of the phone hitting the guy’s face made her wince. Still, he wouldn’t stop. A man coming down the road stopped and frowned at them. “Help me! I don’t know this guy!”
She tugged the other way while the man continued to pull her to the alley. The stranger pulled out his phone and started recording a video instead. She wished she coul
d toss something at him. Meanwhile the man was almost dragging as she strained in the other direction. Pain shot up her arm, but she ignored it and continued fighting. Her heart raced.
Finally, the phone she’d been hitting the guy with cracked. The glass screen broke on the side of his face. He wasn’t fazed. She really started to worry at that point and screamed at the top of her lungs. “Help! Somebody help me!”
It had been too good to be true for her to come here and get paid so much money for a job. Something had to go wrong. Her luck lately had been that bad. She glanced around but there wasn’t a body in sight. Even the guy with camera had run off when the man tugging her let out a loud growl.
She screamed again and then remembered that during these types of situations people might assume it was a domestic dispute and not get involved. “Somebody help me! I don’t know this man!” She slammed her fist on the guy’s shoulder, but it didn’t stop him. He growled again and kept fighting her for power. He was winning. “Let me go, you piece of shit!”
“Fire!” Nothing. Then she heard a couple talking behind her and knew someone had left the restaurant. “Help me!”
Her plea came at the right moment. The man hauling her yanked harder and was about to pull her into the mouth of the darkened alley when a mountain of a man showed up out of nowhere and punched the guy on the side of his face.
The hit was hard enough for the other guy to let her go. She fell on her ass, pain thumping on her backside and legs. The man who had been hauling her turned to her rescuer, bared his fangs, and started to shift. Oh, shit! The guy was a shifter. She glanced wildly around. There was a beautiful woman watching the whole thing. She must have come out with the guy who’d hit the freak. The woman didn’t appear concerned over the insanity. She watched her boyfriend toss the lunatic to the ground.
Josie glanced up and met the gaze of the man who came to her rescue. His eyes appeared to glow a deep gold and a furious frown that would scare anyone was etched on his forehead. He was big and didn’t seem bothered by the other man’s body ripping through his clothes.