Page 25 of The Billionaire Alpha Surrogate

The tension eased as soon as he walked inside the house. Sometimes he didn’t know which part of the remodeling he liked better: Tearing out all of the old stuff or doing his magic and creating a masterpiece. In the end, both were very satisfying.

He decided to start with the cabinets. Normally, he tried to salvage everything and donate it to Habitat for Humanity. However, these cabinets were beyond repair. Micah took the hardware off because those could be reused. Then, with a huge grin and a hammer, he took all the cabinets down. He half-filled the huge dumpster with everything he pulled off the wall.

Micah was looking at the countertop trying to decide whether it was worth saving when a high-pitched nasally voice interrupted his train of thought.

“What are you doing?”

He sighed and lowered his head, closing his eyes for a brief second.

Micah turned around with a grimace. “Caroline. Why are you here?”

“I saw your truck outside. I wanted to see what you were doing and to talk to you.”

Gesturing around him, Micah said, “I think it’s pretty obvious what I’m doing here. Today, I ripped out some cupboards and threw them away. I’m thinking about taking down a wall in a minute.”

She walked over to him and wiped his face with a dainty, lacy handkerchief before he could register what she was doing and move his face. He smacked her hand away.

“Why are you doing this? You don’t have to get dirty. It’s disgusting. You have billions and should hire someone to do this work for you.”

“I love the work. It is a part of who I am,” Micah said.

“You are a businessman. You need to be wearing a suit and sitting in your office. Not wearing holey sweats and that nasty T-shirt.”

Micah grinned and shook his head. “You don’t know me at all if that’s what you think.”

“I know you just fine,” she said. “We would do great together, you know.”

“Caroline, when was the last time you shifted?”

She looked startled and said, “I don’t know. It’s been a long time. Why would I want to do that?”

Micah just shook his head and grinned.

“Who is that woman living in your house?”

Micah groaned. Is every person in Angel’s Creek going to question me about Lucy?

“She is none of your business. That’s who she is.”

“Your father says that she is just some slut who is after your money,” Caroline said.

“My father has a habit of talking out of his ass. I need you to leave,” Micah said.

Caroline stomped her foot and crossed her arms over her chest. She pouted. “Not until you give me an answer,” she said petulantly.

“First, I gave you an answer. She is none of your business. Second, I don’t owe you any kind of explanation about anything. You are not a part of my life. At most, you are simply a very obnoxious woman who happens to belong to my pack, although I don’t know why you are since you don’t act like a wolf shifter.”

The woman stared at him, her bottom lip quivering. Micah didn’t know whether it was because she was angry or if he had hurt her feelings. It would surprise him if it was the latter because he wasn’t sure she had feelings.

Later that night, as the five of them hung out together, playing poker with chips, he couldn’t help but compare Lucy to Caroline. There could not be two completely different women in the entire world.

The next morning the doctor said, with a smile, “Lucy, you are ready if you’re sure you want to do this the old-fashioned way.”

She looked at Micah, blushed, and nodded.

“You have a three to five-day window. You should have sex about the same time every day, or at least every other day, starting today,” he said. “I’ll see you in about eight days. Good luck.”

Micah opened up the truck door for her. He grabbed her hand and kissed it.

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