Page 40 of Knot Her Reality

“You’ve never seen me and Tessa together,” she says with a grin. “My pack is great at calming me with anything that isn’t business. Tessa’s the only one who can keep a handle on me when it comes to business. Plus, Emmett is the only one here. He watches Emmy while I’m working. The rest of my pack works full time. They make it down when they can.”

I hum. “That has to be hard—to be away from them for months at a time.”

She shrugs. “It’s not ideal, but they knew from the beginning that I wouldn’t be giving up my career, and I’d never ask them to. Emmett stepped back from his career without anyone asking. He says he likes being a stay-at-home dad.”

“Good for him. I could never.”

“Me neither. Which is why he’s with the baby and I’m working.”

The two of us laugh together as we approach Reginald. “And what are you two lovely ladies finding so entertaining?”

“Your face,” Bree says with a straight face, causing the beta to frown.

“That’s mean.”

She shrugs, a grin sliding across her lips. “How long until the first suitor arrives?”

“Any minute now. Evangeline, come with me. I need to get you away from Bree before she turns you into a mean girl, too.” Reginald turns his back on Bree, laying his hand on my lower back and leading me to the edge of the driveway. “Are you ready for this?”

Already I can hear the sound of the tires of the limo turning toward us. “What option do I have?”

He shrugs good-naturedly. “Good point. How are you doing? I feel like I haven’t had a moment to check on you since the show started filming again.”

“That’s because it’s been all of two days, but I’m doing fine. Your alpha is making sure I’m safe every time I leave the compound.”

Reginald smiles, eyes going hazy. “He’s the best, isn’t he?”

I laugh, nodding. “He is.”

“Also, this look? It’s making me very hungry.” He waves his hand up and down, as if I didn’t know what he was talking about.

I shoot him a mock glare as the limo comes into view. I perk up as I turn to focus on it instead. Time to meet another suitor. Tonight I’ll meet four of the remaining eight suitors, and tomorrow they’ll all have arrived. That’s when the fun will really start.

So far, my experience on the show has been interesting, to say the least. Here’s to hoping for something not quite as interesting. I hold back my giggle as the limo comes to a stop and the door swings open.

The man who steps out has black hair and a rugged beard. His mouth turns up at the corner, turning him from attractive to downright hot as sin. His black-on-black tux fits him like a glove, and I find myself wondering what he’d look like without it. I bite my lip as desire races through me, slick sliding into my panties. Let’s hope that the scent-canceling panties and soaps actually work today.

The man approaches, his dark brown eyes focusing completely on me. His cinnamon and pumpkin scent surprises me, but I find my mouth watering. I’ve never been one for pumpkin anything, but the combination in his scent sends more heat rushing through me. He’s tall and slenderly built, which isn’t a surprise given he’s a beta. We’re about the same height with my heels, putting him close to six feet tall.

“Hello, Evangeline. It’s so nice to meet you. You’re even more lovely in person.” He reaches for my hand, lifting it to his lips. “My name is Gavin Mallory.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Gavin,” I tell him with a smile. “Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”

Gavin releases my hand, and I find myself wanting to reach for his. Having gone thirty-four years mostly single, I’m surprised by the draw I feel to so many of the suitors. Surely I won’t be drawn to all of them—I can’t be, right? No one can be drawn to twenty people in the span of five days, can they? Last season’s omega, Sophia, had a huge pack, and I’m not sure I’m up for that. Why do they all have to be so attractive and smell so good?

“I’m twenty-eight, a beta, obviously, and a chiropractor. I’m half Filipino and half Polynesian. My parents are betas, and Mama always wanted a big family. Sadly, she just ended up with me and my older sister, who is also a beta. They kept trying for more kids after me, but it wasn’t in the cards for them. Instead, my parents opened our home to foster kids. They’ve been taking them in for years, and they even have some now.”

“That’s amazing,” I gush, loving that his parents were able to find a way to have the big family they wanted. “With such low birth rates, I know babies are adopted quickly, but the older kids? I’m glad that they have someone like your parents.”

“You and me both. They’ve adopted a few of the kids they fostered—the ones who wanted to be adopted—so I have a million other siblings. Okay, not a million, but so far, they’ve adopted ten over the course of the last twenty-eight years.”

My smile only grows. “You’ll definitely have to tell me more about them later. I don’t think we have time to talk about that many siblings.”

He shrugs. “Probably not. Tell me something about yourself that wasn’t likely in the packet they gave us.”

I make a face, trying to figure out what they might have left out of the packet. Bree is very thorough, from what I can tell. “Oh! I was afraid of heights as a kid, but I never did like being afraid of anything. I climbed onto the roof of our house—it was a huge two-story monstrosity and getting on top of it was not easy—and jumped off of it into the pool.”

Gavin’s eyes go wide. “No, you didn’t! How old were you?”

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