Page 32 of Mark & Don't Tell

The entire room stiffens.

We’re coming off as total assholes, but one thing Kai hates more than anything is overconfidence.

“That would be a mistake,” Arnold says, stupidly trying to argue his case. “I can assure you, my pitch is the best one in the room.”

The blonde scoffs and my gaze shoots to hers. Our eyes collide, and she sucks in a quick breath, face turning bright red before she looks down to mess with her top again. Definitely hiding something. I breathe in, trying to discern if the appealing perfume is coming from her, but the patchouli scent of the alpha still trying to argue his case is too overpowering to tell.

I tip my head and smirk at her. She swallows before wrenching her gaze away.

“Like I was saying—” the alpha begins, but I’m over him. Not simply because he’s an alpha. One: he looks like he’d confidently tout his ability to deep throat a bag of dicks. Two: blondie doesn’t like him.

Seems like reason enough to shut him up.

“Next,” I bark, glaring at the asshole alpha. “Or would you like to be solely responsible for Mandy losing Good Vibes as a client?”

“Arnold,” Mandy warns between clenched teeth.

Displeased but properly scolded, the alpha grinds his jaw and drops into his seat. The next few presentations are a blur. They could be good. They could be the exact sort of campaign that’ll launch Good Vibes into the stratosphere. I’m not paying attention, and based on the way Kai’s attention continues to stray around the room, neither is he.

I’ve narrowed it down to the two remaining at the back of the room. The gorgeous blonde who’s made it her mission to avoid my probing gaze and the pretty brunette sitting next to her, but my hopes are set on the one who scoffed at the alpha.

Like she was tired of his bullshit.

Like perhaps she isn’t afraid to speak her mind.

Like she’d match my jabs point for point.

She hasn’t so much as shifted, she’s barely breathing, and her fingers drum over her knee.

“Thank you, Jane?”

The brunette stands, and Kai and I both stiffen, waiting the five seconds it takes for a fresh wave of perfume to wash over us. This one is sweet, but barely discernible. A beta. Not our scent match.

My focus zeroes in on the blonde, and she narrows her eyes at me as I mouth gotcha. Her gaze falls to my lips for a second. As I quirk an eyebrow, her eyes lift to take it in before flitting to Kai, who is eyeing her with his quiet intensity.

We could be wrong.

There’s a slim chance that she might not even smell like lavender.

My mind roars in protest.

I want it to be her.

The brunette finishes—Joan?—and Mandy nods at the blonde. “Daria, go ahead.”

Daria. I roll her name around in my head as her knuckles tighten around the canvases she’s clutching.

“Please, Daria,” I practically purr, too desperate to taste her name on my lips to wait for her to stand. “We’re ready for you.”

We’ve never been more ready.

When she stands, Kai trembles next to me, another indication that this isn’t all in my head. He’s been dying to know who that scent belongs to, and it’s only a matter of seconds until we know for certain if it belongs to Daria. She places her canvases on the stand and keeps her back to us, but that doesn’t stop her scent from slamming into the both of us.

Kai sucks in a sharp breath.

I bite back a groan as that sweet and smoky scent coasts over my skin. But there’s a hint of something else, that musk from before. Only, this time, with her standing and the skirt billowing just above her knees, I know exactly what that scent is.

Slick.

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