Page 41 of Her Fake Mate

She smiles. “Nice to finally meet you.”

“You as well. Actually, Mia, you’re the reason for my trip.”

“Not the end-of-season fire sale on acorn squash?”

Jake laughs at her. “If you call that a fire sale, I’d hate to see what you sell them for at full price.”

“They’re priced what they’re worth, I promise,” I smirk at him. “Organic. Homegrown. The best squash you’ve ever had.”

Jake reaches for an envelope in his light jacket. “I wonder if this will cover the cost of it then.”

Mia and I both suck in a breath. With a shaking hand, she grabs the papers from him.

“Are those what I think they are?” I ask.

Jake shrugs. “Depends on what you think they are.”

“How…” Mia whispers.

His dark brown eyes sparkle. “Let’s just say I don’t much care for mountain lions. Much less ones who feel the need to throw their power around. The Bureaucracy might not have the ability to intervene, but… a lone wolf is a little more mobile.”

I blink. “Mobile?”

Jake gives me a wolfish grin. “It was good to know all my special forces training hasn’t gotten rusty since I left the service.”

I have no doubt that Jake doesn’t let any of those skills go rusty. In fact, I get the distinct impression that he hones them pretty well, still. And that he does so precisely for situations like this.

Mia is staring at the papers in her hands.

“Open them,” I whisper.

Jake and I watch as she does. Her hands shake, but she manages to unfold the thick paper and look through the sheaf, one by one.

“They’re all here,” she whispers, looking through the documents. “Every one of them.”

“Sure are. I also took the liberty of filing a copy with the state office, and there’s a couple of lawyers mighty interested in taking up this case. Seems the lions haven’t been playing well with humans in that area,” Jake says with a wink.

I reach forward, holding out his hand. “Please, tell us what we owe you.”

“Not a darn thing. It’s a privilege to help out the son of one of my very best friends and his beautiful mate.” He smiles at us.

Before I can say anything else, Jake saunters away.

Mia looks at me. “Holy shit,” she whispers.

I nod. “Better go put those away. There’s a lockbox in the?—”

“Truck center console. I saw it the other day. What’s the code?”

I grin. It’s a good thing I took the emerald ring that I’m giving her tonight out of it. I give her the code, then watch as she walks away.

I love that woman. I love her with all of my heart.

“Well. You look smitten,” Terra says from my left.

I turn. She’s got her arms full of lotions, presumably restocking them for her table. “Hey, Terra. You having a good day?”

“Awesome. The humans are buying this stuff left and right. I even had some ladies who have a shop in Steamboat ask me if they can place an order once a month,” she says with a smile. It doesn’t reach her eyes.

---