Chapter 10
Lily
Shock.
That wasn’t my usual response even hours later, but that’s the way it was. I felt utter shock.
Not because Saint Masters was a consummate jerk or that even when he was all sweaty with tousled hair, he remained sexy, but because he’d blown the tests out of every freaking body of water.
I’d written down the results, trying not to think about them too much while we’d sat on an old picnic table underneath a huge oak tree discussing his social media accounts, but my stomach had remained tight the entire time.
The scores weren’t possible. They were… inhuman.
Was I actually thinking that maybe, just maybe the ridiculous reports on him were true?
Sadly, I couldn’t shove aside the possibility however remote.
Maybe the crazy stories on the news had tainted my views of the man and his athletic prowess.
He was in extremely good shape, all six foot five inches of him.
There wasn’t an ounce of fat on his carved body.
Whew. Saint was without a doubt one of the most perfect specimens of manhood I’d ever come across.
He’d run a four-minute mile. That was… ungodly. And I’d had a sense Saint had been holding back, but at that point, what did it matter? When he’d gone to pushups, I’d lost count at seventy-five and he hadn’t been short of breath, not once complaining about a single ache.
When we’d gone back to the arena’s weightroom, he’d bench pressed… Well, let’s just say an excessive amount.
The entire time, my mouth had been open, drool forming in the corners of my lips.
Not the best look for a professional attempting to boost a man’s social presence emblazed in a golden godlike appearance instead of a beast in the night.
If he’d noticed my reaction, he hadn’t commented, but I’d caught the sneaky smirk on his face when he’d finished. The jerk had barely been sweating.
Steroids. That had to be the answer.
Only he’d tested negative several times in the last few months alone. My father had been provided with the results before commanding me to work on the mission.
What the hell as I supposed to do with the results? I couldn’t share them. People would think he was… Fuck. A shifter.
Unless I lied, which I wasn’t prepared to do. Not even to please my father.
And on top of everything, my skin was hot to the touch, even itching. The only thing I was allergic to was chocolate.
As I scratched my neck, I was cognizant I’d already created long strings of red lines down my arm from digging my nails into my skin only moments before.
Maybe I’d already developed an allergy to the arrogant giant.
Stop scratching. Just stop.
Even as I pulled my fingers free, a dull throbbing remained in every muscle. Nerves. There was no other logical answer. I’d been prone to anxiety attacks, but years had passed since I’d felt anything close to the suffocating feeling in my throat.
I glanced at the book I’d purchased on the way home in hopes of securing answers to the age-old question of whether alternative beings did exist. Shifters and Their Origins.
My God. Was I buying into the crap he wasn’t human?
I had no idea what to think. Yes, he was in the best shape of his life or any other man I knew, but his scores were not normal.
As horrible as it sounded even to me, his scores weren’t the worst thing that had happened that morning. Not by a long shot.
His method of keeping me under control took front and center.
The moment I moved even a couple of inches, I was reminded again that he’d dared to spank me.
Like some bad little girl. Like I’d been the one to drag him into a kiss for the third time.
Okay, so I’d thought about how luscious his lips looked and how insanely handsome he was in his shorts and muscle shirt. But that was beside the point.
A fantasy was one thing. Acting out on insanity was another.
I’d been humiliated and enraged.
Sadly, I’d also been so aroused that I’d found it tough to put a single coherent sentence together to demand he stop.
Okay, maybe punching him in the jaw hadn’t been the professional response, but he made me crazy like that.
I took a deep breath and tried my best to shove aside the ridiculous thoughts. I had work to do, including figuring out how to fudge the results. Film him and use slow motion? Maybe. Or maybe I’d toss aside the idea altogether.
“Why do you put me on speakerphone if you’re not going to talk?” Vicky snarked at me.
“What about a physical exam?” I asked absently to myself. There had to be certain blood tests that would prove definitively he wasn’t Canis lupus. Right?
A cough startled me. Shit. I was still talking on the phone.
“What was that? Are you talking about that hunk of a man you’re spending all your time with?” Vicky was laughing at me.
Maybe because I was laughing at myself.
“Maybe.”
“I’ll give him a very thorough exam if you’d like. I might not have a license to practice medicine, but he doesn’t need to know that.”
“Ha. Ha. I need to make people understand he’s just a man.” Even if I was beginning to believe otherwise. How else could I explain what I’d seen today? There was something else too, something I’d yet to be able to explain.
There was more than an intense attraction. I just couldn’t put my finger on why I was hungering for the man like no other.
Vicky let out an exaggerated sigh as her contemplative answer.
“Sorry I’m a little off today, Vic. Just thinking about everything. Saint is a tough man to deal with. So arrogant and self-centered.” A little off? That was the understatement of the year.
“You mean that hot new boyfriend of yours.”
“He’s not my boyfriend! Just a test case of insanity.”
“Said a little too emphatically. So you get to play with Saint Masters for a little while. You get to pretend, making everyone including me jealous. Woe is you. Your life is terrible. You’re getting paid six figures for a month’s worth of work and spending your time with the hottest bachelor on the planet.
Tell me again who you are and why I consider you my friend. ”
“Because we’re connected at the hip,” I told her, thankful she was able to take my mind off the craziness of my life. “Plus, you really don’t know what he’d like to deal with. Every time I see him, I have the urge to slap him across the face.”
“All men love that.”
“Yeah, right. I think that would get me fired and maybe tossed in jail. He’s not worth it.”
“If that’s the truth, then I deserve a little taste. Just one. I’ll do what’s necessary.”
“Very funny and no, you won’t.” Almost time for the date with my fake boyfriend. How ironic. Two dates with two men in a few days under totally different circumstances and both were as fake as some women’s tits. The irony was fascinating.
“What are you wearing?”
“A suit. I bought a couple at my father’s insistence.” At least it was red.
She burst into laughter. “Let me get this straight. This is the first time you’re being seen out in public with the man. Correct?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re supposed to be madly in love.”
“It’s called dating, not marriage, and there will never be any love involved.” And I certainly could never be madly in love with the man. He was far too egotistical, totally not my type.
“Right. You’re determined to wear a suit and you think that’s going to do anything positive for his reputation?”
I sagged against the wall, shifting my gaze back and forth from the book to my phone. “You have a point.”
“I always do. Wear something sexy and make all the women jealous. Everyone will start paying too much attention to determine how you got so lucky to worry about whether the full moon will force Saint to transform into a man-eating beast. Try and have fun. The guy isn’t so bad.
He’s been photographed holding puppies.”
“For a pinup calendar. I don’t even know if he likes dogs.” Just making the statement almost made me laugh. For God’s sake, the man could be a Canis lupus, a member of the dog family.
Unless shifters ate their young.
“Oh, even better. Like I said. Try and enjoy your time. At least the job is getting you out of the house and you’ll have some sexy material for your book.”
I hadn’t thought about that. “Fine. I’ll see what I can do.”
“You are going to provide juicy details. Right?”
“If I don’t kill him first. He’s annoying.” To say the least.
“So you’ve already said. Haven’t you figured out by now most men are?”
“Good point. If I get through this with him, my guess is I can handle anything.”
Vicky snorted. “Well, then it’s a win-win all the way around. Who knows. Maybe you’ll even get laid.”
“I’m going to smack you next time I see you.”
“Muah. Kisses.”
Have fun. How exactly was I supposed to do that?
“You look… different.” Saint offered the words with a sly smile on his face.
I was self-conscious, more so than I’d ever been in my life. Just the thought of walking into the restaurant gave me the heebie-jeebies. “What exactly does that mean?”
“That means you look good. Well, hot.”
“You don’t like doling out compliments. Do you?”
“And you don’t like taking them.” Thankfully for him, he didn’t attempt to take my arm. I might have punched him at this point. He’d insisted on picking me up at my apartment and even opening the car door for me.
He had a point as much as I hated admitting it. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“Hey, I don’t bite.” As soon as he made the statement, he shrugged. “Not much anyway.” He had his hand in the door leading into the restaurant I’d handpicked, some snazzy upscale location with a popular sports bar attached.
We weren’t here for the food, but the opportunity the location provided.
Photo ops.
The restaurant was well known for its celebrity sightings.
“Do you really need to do that?” I tossed back.
“Do what?”
I took a deep breath as the door was opened. You can do this. You can pretend. That meant I’d need to touch him and vice versa.