Regina took a deep breath and pressed her index fingers to her throbbing temples. Why did everything rest on her shoulders? She'd worked hard to get to where she was. This company and the people who worked for it meant the world to her. She couldn't jeopardize their livelihood and careers in order to spare herself the inconvenience of having someone with her twenty-four-seven. Plus, she owed her grandfather this IPO. He was a major stockholder in her company. This public offering would give him enough wealth to make up for the fortune her dad had swindled.
No matter how hard it would be. She'd just have to figure out how to keep her secrets safely locked away from Bolt—and the rest of the world.
She’d been able to keep boyfriends from getting too close before.
How hard could it be to keep a fake fiancé, a stranger who obviously didn’t like her, at an arm’s length?
CHAPTER 4
Bolt paced Arek's office, stomping out his irritation with each step. "There's got to be someone else who can take this job." He glared at his alpha and snarled when he saw the amusement in Arek's eyes.The drive back to the Pack House had been tense. Bolt had tried to get his alpha to see how impossible the fake fiancé plan was, but Arek hadn’t wanted to discuss it. He insisted they’d wait until Justice, the other lieutenant of the pack, could join them.
"I don’t want Justice distracted from working on Bayden's disappearance, and he's going to stay on that until we get our pack member back."One of their wolves who worked a fraud case had all of a sudden stopped communicating with them, and nobody seemed to know what had happened to him. Bolt wasn’t close to Bayden, but the fact that someone in the pack could just go missing was disturbing.
"Sorry, mate." Justice shook his head. "Wish I could help, but I'm sure you got this all handled. What did you call this client, the ice queen?"His British accent made the consonants extra clipped.
Bolt regretted sharing that nickname with the others, but it had slipped out before he could filter his thoughts. He still needed that nap. Moving his glare from Arek to Justice, he claimed the visitor's chair next to the one in which the Brit sat. "I didn't mean to say that out loud," he grumbled.
"I love it." Justice grinned at him. "You, with all them bottled-up emotions, ready to explode, paired with a woman who's all poise and control." He reached for the mug of tea he'd placed on Arek's desk. Always with his fucking tea.
"I don't bottle up my emotions," Bolt countered just as Laney slipped through the door.The strong scent of witchcraft trailed after their alpha’s True Mate. She could manipulate space and time with her magic and send items into other dimensions. She also had the ability to figure out the age of ancient magical artifacts and what powers they held.
"You absolutely do," the witchsaid as she walked over to Arek, where he sat behind the desk and gave him a kiss. Their alpha's gaze softened as he looked at Laney. He tucked a strand of her wavy brown hair behind her ear and caressed her cheek. The couple shared a private smile before Laney threw herself down on the sofa along one of the walls. She faced Bolt. "There are so many emotions trapped inside of you, and it's a wonder you don't walk around perpetually constipated."
Warm liquid sputtered out of Justice's mouth, soaking Bolt's jeans. He jumped out of the chair.That was just fucking gross.
"Sorry," the Brit croaked out between coughs. "It's just, Laney described you perfectly."
"Fuck you." Bolt grabbed some tissues from the dispenser on Arek’s desk and blotted his jeans.He threw an apologetic look at Laney. Because of what had happened with his twin, he mistrusted witches on principle. But Laney used her powers for good, and so he liked her. It had, however, taken him a long time to get to that point. Saving his life had been a big help for her to become one of his favorite people, though. But after the constipation comment, she’d definitely slipped several positions in those rankings.
"It's okay to swear out loud even if I'm in the room," Laney said. "I'm not that delicate." Her golden eyes sparkled. "So, what's got Bolt so worked up?" she asked Arek.
He walked over to sit beside his true mate, putting his arm around her. "Bolt's just found out he’s going to pose as a fake fiancé for our new client."
Laney scooted closer to Arek, leaning into him. “Ah, yes. I wondered when you would drop that bomb on him. How did Regina Lansford feel about her engagement?”
“Well,” Arek hedged, throwing Bolt a crooked smile. “Let’s just say she was about as delighted as our friend here.”
Justice laughed again. “I don’t know much about the lady, but I can see why she’d be reluctant to become a fake fiancée to grumpy-ass here.” He gestured toward Bolt.
Before he had a chance to respond, Laney interjected excitedly. “I love her yoga videos." She scooted her slim, athletic body to the edge of the sofa. "Regina is such a badass. She built a multi-billion company from scratch that's all about women accepting themselves as they are and learning to love themselves." Her amber eyes shone. "I'm so excited she's our new client...well, except for that whole stalker thing. That's not good."
"I'm confused," Justice said. "I thought Lofn Wellness was all about getting women to work out. Doesn't that mean they want to change themselves, or at least their bodies?"
Laney shot him one of those I-can't-believe-I-have-to-explain-this-again looks that women used whenever they had to deal with a dense male brain. "Lofn Wellness's mission is to get women to accept themselves as worthy so that they want to feel better for themselves. Not so that they work out to look better for someone else."
Bolt didn't understand why this distinction made all the difference, but he wasn't going to tell Laney that. The witch looked at both him and Justice, so he nodded as if he understood. He worked out because he wanted to be strong and good at his job. When he'd been a captive in the fighting pits, he'd worked out in order to gain the strengths and muscles necessary to survive. To some extent, that was still true.
To be of value to the pack, he needed to do his job well. To stay sane and tame the wildness of his wolf, he needed to run in his animal form in nature. That cardio workout gave him stamina. But he didn't think being in physical shape made him more or less worthy.It was just something needed for his work. But them, he was a male wolf shifter, an apex predator. Human women had to navigate a much more hostile world than him, so he didn’t pretend he understood the rules under which they lived or interacted with their environment.
The nod must not have been convincing, or maybe Justice still looked clueless because Laney sighed loudly. She looked at Arek, who also nodded and then shook her head. "Look, I could work out because I want to look good on the outside, but until I love myself on the inside, I'm never going to believe I look good on the outside. Get it?"
Nope. Still not getting it.
But absolutely not admitting to it.
Bolt tilted his head, trying to look as if what she said made perfect sense. Loving the inside made you look good on the outside. He had no idea what that meant. Tall or short, thin or thick, women had a beautiful grace to them that the male species lacked. And most of them were smarter than men.
Justice shook his head. "I'm sorry, Laney. I don't."Proving Bolt’s point about not being smart enough to keep his mouth shut about his ignorance.