4. Wilder
Wilder
That gargoyle is a piece of work. I ain’t exactly innocent, though; I did pick this particular shirt—part of my winnings from the circuit a couple seasons ago—specifically to taunt him. I guess some small part of me didn’t think he was all that serious about the table.
Then for him to come over and literally demand I act like we’re together.
Just…odd. I debate whether I should even mention this to Willa. She’ll examine my face and tell me my innermost thoughts. It’s weirdest when she knows what I’m thinking before I even do.
Hours pass at the coffee shop as I go through my list of questions for the Sandovals’ representative.
Artur Sandoval’s retired and didn’t want to handle the sale himself.
His sons didn’t want the family estate or their line of prized bucking bulls.
All in all, I’d rather deal with someone unattached to the family.
Folks who are too attached to their properties are harder to buy from.
Eventually, the sun dips low over the horizon, casting long shadows over Main Street and into the coffee shop.
Checking the comm watch that allows me to make calls within Pine Gulch, I note the time and begin to gather my things.
I’m meeting the rep over at the wraith property on the other side of town.
Initially, I’d planned to take the haven’s magical train, Mabel, from downtown out to the wraith hotel.
Now that the time’s getting closer, I find myself anxious to just get there.
This is when it’d be nice to have wings and simply bullet into the sky.
As it is, I didn’t bring my truck downtown when I came to the coffee shop this morning.
I did plan that little stunt with my tee, and it landed perfectly.
A victorious thrill runs through me, reliving the look on that male’s face when he saw it.
No, Oz’s face. The vampire called him Oz. Like the human wizard? I wonder if it’s short for something.
Weird. I mull it over as I leave the cafe behind and head back to my place to grab my truck.
I consider him the entire half-hour drive out to the opulent wraith property.
Dark spires split the even darker sky, elegant and timeless in a way only wraith manage.
When I drop my car at the valet, one of the shadowy hosts gets silently into it and drives off.
A second wraith hands me a valet ticket and points me toward the restaurant where I’m meeting the Sandovals’ contact.
Turning from the front door, I walk around the edge of the property to the shopping area, a series of inlaid stone streets that interlock to form a miniature downtown.
I locate The Smithy, an upscale steakhouse where I’m meant to meet the contact.
An elegantly simple sign frames a chunky wood door leading into the restaurant.
Inside, a beautiful minotaur hostess smiles at me. “Mister Lane? I’ll take your coat if you like.” She winks as I shrug it off and hand it to her to coat-check. “I actually recognize you from your bull riding days. So excited to hear a rumor you might be relocating to Pine Gulch.”
I smile. “You heard that, huh?”
She hands my coat to another minotaur, who disappears into the coat closet with it. “The monster you’re meeting has already arrived, so let me show you to your table.”
She guides me around a black velvet curtain and into the opulent, masculine dining room. Curved pods are constructed around the room to make the seating areas more private. I suspect the rep I’m meeting will want that, given the sensitive nature of what we’re discussing.
I’m lost in thought as the hostess directs me to a covered table almost like entering a cave.
As I step inside, I’m shocked to find the black-haired vampire from the coffee shop earlier..
the one Oz was hiding from. He sits at the far right, one long leg crossed over the other.
Now he wears a gorgeous three-piece suit.
Something expensive from a custom tailor, if I had a guess. Vampires love all of that pricey shit.
“Well, well, well…” he purrs in a throaty voice. “Wilder Lane, I presume? I should have recognized you earlier, I suppose, but I was…distracted.”
That makes two of us. Of course, I didn’t know which rep I’d be meeting with, or I’d have researched them ahead of time. All I knew was that the Sandoval family got representation at the last minute, a change I didn’t love but had no control over.
I lean over the table, trying to dispel a rising sense of discomfort as I reach for the handsome male’s hand.
He takes mine and shakes it without standing, a smirk on his brutally angular features. Crimson eyes so typical of vampires land on me and narrow as he flares his nostrils.
When I slide onto the velvet bench, he watches as I lay my left arm along the back to get comfortable. I’m almost as big as a minotaur, which makes me about three times this male’s size.
“Saint Ashbourne,” he says with a smirk. “I’ll be your contact in the sale of the Sandoval estate, so I’ll be around for the next few weeks while we work out the final details.”
“Good,” I say with a flashy smile. If he dated the gargoyle, he’s obviously into men, so a smile might help my cause. “I’ve been doing a little research, and I’ve got some questions about a few of the details. Not to mention I haven’t seen the final paperwork.”
He grins, pausing for a moment as he scans my face.
It’s that same sensual perusal so common of his kind.
I don’t like it. Although the way he shifts in his seat tells me he’s attracted to me.
That and the way his scent deepens, taking on a rich edge I can almost taste.
But it’s tangy like blood, and that’s not my kink.
Great senses of smell and hearing are about the only monster abilities I did get, but they’re useful.
I keep grinning anyhow. My dimples might as well come in handy.
His smile softens, and he turns to a shiny leather bag on the bench beside him. After extracting a stack of papers, he sets them on the table between us.
“The final sale paperwork. The Sandoval family requested a few changes, but to make it easier to discuss over dinner, I outlined them in the topmost document. If your lawyer isn’t joining us, you’ll want him to go over them, of course, but go ahead and read those so we can continue.”
Last-minute changes.
That don’t bode well. Last-minute changes, in my experience, usually mean someone wants you real invested and desperate to close a deal before they spring bullshit on you.
I shake my head. “Willa’ll be along once we’re closer to the final signing.”
He says nothing as I grab the document, sit back, and scan the contents. Nothing’s terribly concerning until I get to bullet point five.
Purchaser must be mated.
I blink hard and read the line again. So few words and such a devastating meaning. Glancing up at Saint, I frown. “What’s this? Mated? That’s never been a requirement, and we’ve been at this for six months.”
He shrugs and grins. “Seems Artur Sandoval’s mate appreciates how she’s benefitted from the empire they built, and he swears he couldn’t do it without her.
They’d like a family to take over their success, not a single male.
They want to know whoever purchases their estate is putting roots down and has plenty of support.
” He flashes me another grin. “Her words, not mine.”
I scoff and slump back against the velvet, frustrated at this sudden change.
“I’m not mated,” I say quietly.
Saint cocks his head to the side. “Oz?”
Oz? It takes me a moment to remember he’s talking about the gargoyle male from BrewHaHa Beans. The one who introduced me as his boyfriend. An idea takes immediate hold. A stupid, stupid idea, but something I can probably drag out for a week or two.
“We’re taking things slowly,” I hedge. “Putting down roots but not rushing anything. I moved here just last week so we could be together.”
Lie, lie, lie.
Ashbourne smirks as if he can see right through the falsehood. “How long have you two been dating?”
This lie’s gonna fall apart the moment he starts digging for details. He’ll obviously know much more than I will if they have history. I’ve got no idea how long ago that history even was. Recent enough that the gargoyle cared about being seen alone and thrust himself upon me.
“Not terribly long, if I’m honest,” I say with a little smile. “But when you know, you know.”
Saint chuckles and reaches for his bloodwine glass. He lifts it to his lips and takes a delicate sip. When he sets it down, I worry he’s either about to agree with me or blow this entire deal up in my face.
“You could do better than Oz,” he says with a low growl. “Much better. Believe me.”
My brows lift as I take him in. Is he…propositioning me? This is gonna get outta hand fast. Maybe he’s testing my loyalty to the gargoyle. Either way, I can’t complicate this deal, and the bitty snip of a stupid idea is taking firmer hold.
“Oz and I don’t work like that,” I say, leaning back against the velvet cushions. “We’re monogamous.”
Saint laughs. “Oz? Monogamous? That’ll be the day.”
I ignore the barb and glance through the rest of the changes.
Nothing else concerns me horribly, but I don’t love some of the other details.
After grabbing my copy of the paperwork, I set it on the bench and offer up my list of questions, thrumming the top of the page.
“Based on our research, I have clarifying things I’d like the answers to as we proceed. ”
Saint smiles without looking at the paper. “So we’re moving forward, then? You’ll need to include your mate in some of the upcoming conversations, I assume.”
I grin. Confidence is the key to getting this deal across the line. “Oz stays busy, and he trusts me to get this done, but when he’s needed, I’ll make sure he’s there.”
“Excellent,” Saint says, lifting his wine glass toward me. “Shall we toast?”
Willa’s gonna kill me when I call her to fill her in on this turn of events.
Yet as I clink my whiskey glass to Ashbourne’s, dread fills me.
How the hells am I going to make this happen?
* * *
“Wills, you’re gonna murder me,” I say when my baby sister picks up the communication disk.
Her hologram rises tall, and she scowls, mouth pursed into a thin line. Pointed ears twitch, a sure sign I have her concerned with that opening statement.
“Wilder Orpheus, what do you mean? We’re weeks from completing this sale, and you’re pulling shit now? What happened?”
I let out a wry chuckle. “Wasn’t it just yesterday you were asking if I beat a guy up for calling me a motherfucker?”
She doesn’t laugh. “For real, Wild, what’s up? I can read your emotions. You’re actually worried.”
Sighing, I run my hands through my hair, pulling the blond strands as I blow out a breath in frustration. “The Sandovals’ representative laid a couple changes on me tonight, and one of ‘em’s big.”
Her eyes narrow and flash as she gets into cutthroat lawyer mode. “Now?! How big?”
“Yeah.” I lean forward onto my forearms, staring at her. “They want me to be mated. Seems Mister and Missus Sandoval feel the key to their success was their partnership, and if I’m not mated, maybe I can’t handle it. Don’t ask me why this never came up before.”
Willa chuckles and shrugs. “Pfft. It’ll be easy enough to hire you a temporary boyfriend or whatever they want.”
I shake my head and fill her in on the gargoyle complication. I shoulda known that male was going to be trouble the moment I laid eyes on him. Far too pretty for his own good and now draggin’ me into nonsense I’ve literally got no interest in.
Willa cocks her head to the side. “This is the same guy who called you a motherfucker, right? The crazy table dude?”
“Yep.”
She grins and claps her hands together. “I’m gettin’ an idea, Wild.”
I’m guessin’ she’s probably got the same stupid idea in her pretty head that I had in mine, but I can think of a million reasons why it won’t work. I thought about it a lot on the way home, and there’s just too many ways it could fall apart.
“Willa Alder Lane, it won’t work,” I mutter, but she starts hopping up and down, smiling victoriously.
“Here’s what you’re gonna do, Wild. You’re gonna find that guy, tell him he owes you for putting you in an awkward position, and ask him to fake-date you for a couple weeks.”
I snort. “Why would he? It was literally sixty seconds of conversation. Awkward, yeah, but not super awkward.”
She shrugs. “Offer him money, then.”
I snort. “To date me?”
She shakes her head. “To appear on some dates with you, do whatever in public so you look like you’re together. It’ll be a little weird, and it’ll be a charade, but why not? Make sure he benefits, Wild. Why would he say no?”
My mouth drops open. Silly as it is, the table war didn’t exactly put us on great footing for starting this. I’d so much rather ask a friend, but I can’t very well do that with Saint Ashbourne already thinking Oz is my mate.
“This is a great idea, Wilder,” she repeats.
“There’s literally no downside except having to hang out with this guy and probably pay him.
Just think of the long term, think of the ranch and those gorgeous bulls.
Everything you want is within reach if you do this, and as your lawyer and sister, I am fully in support of it.
I’ll even come out to help make everything seem more real.
” She beams at me. “I was comin’ anyhow, but this gives me a reason to join you a little quicker. ”
Shit, if she comes out, we could fake it a little bit better because she can pretend to know Oz and me as a couple.
“It…might work,” I murmur, thinking through the potential complications.
“I’m so glad you’ve found the one,” she says sweetly, batting her eyes at me. “Mom and I just adore…wait, what’s his name?”
“Oz,” I say. “Don’t know his last name.”
“Well,” she chirps, “we’re gonna change that mighty soon. Congrats on finding love, big brother!”