“Yes. I could still use your help.”
She let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding. Relief washed over her, perhaps too soon. Lilah didn’t know if he would accept her counter offer, yet.
Finally, she dragged her gaze up to meet his. She found his eyes guarded. A shadow hovered over them. It gave her a little peace of mind. This situation was already so awkward, and every step forward was unfamiliar. She didn’t want to know what he thought of her as she stumbled her way forward.
“I would like to accept your offer, but I have a few boundaries I would like to discuss before this becomes finalized.” Every word she spoke felt sterile, unemotional. Lilah wanted to keep it this way. If she allowed herself to even like him a little, then this could end in disaster for her. He would go about his life none the wiser, but she would be the one nursing heartbreak that could have been prevented. “I would also like to ask you a few interview questions. There are things we should know about one another before we get into this. That way no one can poke holes in our story.”
Griffin didn’t look convinced. If anything, he looked slightly disappointed when his head turned, and the light touched his eyes. Lilah tried not to focus on that. She was providing a service and nothing more.
“Let’s start with your ground rules, then.”
She sat up straighter, moving further into the role of the professional. Once this was over, she would work on her devoted girlfriend act. Until then, she wanted to keep her head while they went over this part.
“First, I want both of us to understand that this is not a real relationship.” Lilah faltered at the hurt that flickered over his face. He composed himself, and it was like it’d never been there. “Second, I will move in with you to make the act convincing, but I will require a separate sleeping place. Sleeping in the same bed is out of the question.”
“I don’t know about that…” Griffin shook his head.
“That’s a requirement. It’s non-negotiable.”
“Do I get counter-offers? Am I allowed to bend the rules?”
She sat back, slightly startled. Everything she was trying to put into place was to keep them from letting this agreement spiral out of control. It needed to be properly contained if she was going to make it out without a broken heart. She could have come out and said that, but she feared that look of hurt.
“What do you have in mind?”
“Well,” Griffin began, “there’s only one bedroom in the house. If someone comes in, which my family is likely to do, it would look like we’re fighting if one of us is sleeping on the couch. We need to make this convincing, and to do that we both need to sleep in the same room.”
Lilah didn’t want to spend months sleeping on the floor, but she would have to if she was going to make this work. There was no way she could sleep in the same bed as Griffin. Not when just touching his arm filled her with desire. She’d been doing her best to ignore the way her body responded to him, trying to push it aside in favor of professionalism, but it would get the best of her if left unchecked.
“Fine. I’ll bring a sleeping bag.”
His brows flattened.
“If you hear someone coming inside, then I’ll jump into the bed. You can’t tell me your hearing isn’t superhuman. You’re a dragon shifter.”
The curse. It was a distant thought, but every time she acknowledged what Griffin was, it became a scream in her mind. There was no way she could avoid the curse if she went through with this. Yet, if she didn’t, the curse would take everything from her. She would lose not only her job and apartment, but Bumble.
She wouldn’t let that happen. She would brave whatever the curse could throw at her before she let anyone take Bumble from her.
***
Lilah’s demands planted a football field’s worth of space between them. The beast growled at each and every one, wanting to warn her that it would never work. Griffin had meant this offer to be a mutual agreement, but he was beginning to worry that he cared for her more than she would like.
The dissonance crackled around him. He wanted to find a loophole in her demands. He wanted to punch through them and make this real, a date, a relationship.
A possibility.
But, he’d already gone too far. Now, he worried she would never feel for him the way he was starting to feel for her. It was only the beginning, though. He would follow it through, and the beast would move on. Griffin was still convinced fate had made no mate for him.
He and Lilah would use each other, and his beast would get over her once she decided to leave. That was the way it had to be.
The beast strongly disagreed. It sunk its claws into him, sharp pain shooting through his chest and making him gasp. Lilah looked up at him in concern, the first emotion she’d shown.
“Griffin!” Kennedy’s voice echoed through the restaurant, cutting off any comment he would have made about Lilah’s concern for him.
Ice slid into his stomach. His head shot up and he found the human woman running for their table. Kennedy waved while Wyatt stoically marched behind her.
The whole point in choosing the fancy restaurant had been to avoid his family, but he’d been a fool not to consider the fact that Kennedy could be found wherever food was. Last he knew, she’d been spending her days concocting layered desserts in their apartment, not hounding the local restaurants.
He briefly considered lurching away from the table and pretending like he hadn’t been talking to a woman. If he could turn Kennedy around and push her through the door, then there was a chance they could avoid any awkward conversation.
He and Lilah had been too busy with her ground rules to go over any important details. They essentially knew nothing about one another. There was no way they could pull off the lie now.
But, Kennedy’s eyes widened. She’d already spotted Lilah.
The deal wasn’t finalized, Griffin realized. They’d never come to an agreement. Now, his family had seem him with a woman. If Lilah decided to walk out of his life after this, he would never hear the end of it. Ashton would buy him a stripper. Ryker would try to introduce him to some of the women he’d met while working as a roadie.
Embarrassment began to sear Griffin’s face.
Then, Lilah turned in her seat. “Hello again!”
“It’s you!” Kennedy’s smile split into a wide, surprised grin.
Griffin looked between them. When had they met? He had no idea the two knew each other.
“You should come to the picnic this week!”
“Picnic?” Griffin mumbled.
Since when did any of them go on picnics? He looked to his cousin, but Wyatt was watching his mate with a fervent devotion. Griffin wanted to groan. These fierce dragon shifters were being rendered into smitten puppies by the women they allowed into their lives.
Griffin’s attention turned to Lilah, who was still pleasantly grinning up at Kennedy. She spun toward him with a look of excitement that pierced him in the heart. His breath left him at the sight of her rosy cheeks and vibrant eyes. In that moment, he knew he’d do anything for her. Same as his cousins with their mates.
Though, Lilah wasn’t his mate.
He didn’t get one.
She was a human woman playing the part of his girlfriend while he helped her out of a rough spot. They were putting on a show, and nothing more. Even Lilah had made that clear. She had no feelings for him, so whatever he felt now and whatever it could become had to be shut down quickly.
“A picnic sounds lovely,” she said. “Why haven’t you invited me to more family affairs? Are you ashamed of me or something?”
He fought back a laugh. Lilah was good at this.
Griffin, on the other hand, was not as good an actor. He fumbled for words but came up empty handed. Lilah was his only saving grace. She launched into the conversation once more and left him in the dust.
“I’d love to come. Is there anything I should make? I’m not the be
st cook, but there’s a potato salad recipe handed down in my family. There’s no way I could mess that up.”
Kennedy was enamored at the mention of a family recipe. She clapped her hands together in excitement. Griffin was glad to be forgotten, perhaps feeling much the way Wyatt did. He understood why Wyatt came off as stoic. There was no point in speaking if Kennedy was going to say everything for him.
Finally, the two left. Griffin’s shoulders relaxed, releasing the tension he hadn’t realized had been there. The agreement was still only in the first stages and already they’d nearly been found out.
“I’m never going to hear the end of this,” he blurted out. Kennedy was going to ask him why he’d been hiding Lilah from them. He would have to think of a good lie.
“I guess that means it’s official,” Lilah began. “Unless you’d like to have a sudden and dramatic break-up.”
Alarm made him sit up, but then he noticed the spark of mischief in her eyes. He shook his head, laughing. This was going to be interesting, to say the least. He would have to work hard to keep his beast from latching onto her, but it would be worth it. Now, he could claim he was busy with Lilah whenever the others came knocking on his door.
He wouldn’t have to spend his life babysitting his cousin or dealing with the others’ incessant questions about his love life.
“I’ll help you move in tomorrow?”
Her relief was obvious, shadows leaving her eyes. They were saving each other.
“I’m free all day,” she said.
Chapter Six
“What is this?” Griffin shouted.
Lilah came running, terrified he’d come across a vibrator. When she came to a halt in the doorway, what she found was much funnier.
Bumble twined between Griffin’s legs, purring like a tiny machine. The cat looked up at the massive dragon man without an ounce of fear in his eyes. Griffin, on the other hand, looked down with the most perplexed expression she’d ever seen.
For a moment, her heart swelled.
Lilah had to pull herself back. She needed to remember that this wasn’t a real relationship. It was just a farce, an agreement to help Griffin escape the demands of his family. And a way to pay her bills.
Griffin was not her boyfriend.
She was not a dragon shifter’s mate.
“It’s a cat.” She spun on her heel and went back to grab more boxes out of his truck.
“I know it’s a cat!” he called after her. “What is it doing here?”
Lilah sighed, grabbed a box, and returned to what she’d been doing. By the time she came back, Griffin had crouched in front of Bumble. His hand hesitantly hovered over Bumble’s head, but that wasn’t good enough for Bumble. The cat leapt onto its back feet and bumped its head against Griffin’s outstretched hand.
It was in that moment that Lilah watched Griffin’s heart melt. Any fears that he would turn her and her cat away disappeared. Griffin looked up at her with wide, disbelieving eyes. She found herself smiling.
“I’ve never met a creature that liked us,” he said. “Dragons, I mean. It’s like everything is afraid of us. But this…this cat is insane.”
Lilah shrugged, weirdly proud of her cat’s ability to make Griffin smile. “His name is Bumble. It’s short for Bumble Bee because he looks like one. He’s certainly fat enough.”
She left Griffin to play with Bumble, the two of them all too happy with the other’s attention and finished bringing in her boxes. She stacked them in the garage and not in the house. This was not a permanent arrangement. Her things would stay packed so that when it was time to leave, she wouldn’t have to peel her life away from his.
She’d been left with no other options after she visited her bank and found her accounts nearly drained.
$55
There’d been just enough to pay one of her late phone bills and get her phone turned back on, to her surprise. Vivi had made away with the rest. When Lilah complained that the money had been stolen, the bank had told her there was nothing they could do because it was a family member. For all they knew, the money had been given freely and Lilah had later regretted it.
While they’d let her cancel the card, they were reluctant to investigate. If the bank did decide to investigate, it would still take weeks before she could get the money back. Which left her in dire straits. Moving in with Griffin was the only way she could survive. It was the only roof she could think to hide under. While he was nice and it would be easy to love him the way she pretended, she knew it wouldn’t last forever. She had to be prepared to leave at all times.
But, when Griffin finally found her, he scowled at the boxes she’d left packed. Lilah ducked her head and tried to escape, but Griffin caught her arm and stopped her.
“What’s this?” He gestured to the boxes.
Lilah shrugged. “This isn’t real. Right?”
His eyes widened, and he quickly glanced around to make sure they were alone. The warmth she’d felt earlier completely disappeared. “No one is going to believe this if you don’t unpack some things,” he reasoned.
His only concern was for keeping up the appearance of a happy couple. He wanted his family to believe it was a real thing.
It was only further proof that she needed to keep her heart guarded. This was nothing more than a way to make money.
She gritted her teeth. Lilah tried so hard to keep herself packed away, to keep herself from becoming a part of his life. She knew it would hinder their performance, but she didn’t want this to hurt when it ended. When he found his mate.
“What do you suggest I do?” she tried to keep her voice neutral, to keep from betraying the confusion she felt inside.
Bumble returned while Griffin knelt near her boxes. The cat lay down between them both and rolled to expose his belly, looking between both Lilah and Griffin for attention. Bumble so easily accepted this new life, the lie they were creating. She gathered him into her arms. At least the cat’s heart wouldn’t break when it ended.
“Do you have a favorite mug? A favorite blanket? There should be some sign that you live here.”
Lilah’s cheeks warmed. Griffin glanced at her and did a double take, as if he’d tried to look away, but was caught by the sight of her. She turned away, trying not to read into the expression. He wasn’t going to fall in love with her. This wasn’t some epic love story where everything would turn out okay in the end.
She had a curse over her head, one that was unrepentant in destroying her life. It would not stop at her job. It wouldn’t stop at her home. It would weasel its way into every aspect of her life until all she’d ever known had turned to ash.
Besides, he was a dragon shifter. While that carried a warning label of its own, it also reminded her that he would eventually find a mate. They could only pretend devotion for so long before the woman of his dreams destroyed their fantasy.
***
Griffin didn’t understand her. One moment, Lilah was warm, and the next she became cold as ice. He suspected it was something he was doing but had no way of finding out for sure. He certainly wasn’t going to start pushing her buttons to see what was causing the issue. Instead, he’d let her work through whatever problems she had.
The cat, Bumble, watched him with such open affection that Griffin couldn’t help but be smitten. He was not the kind of guy who thought he’d ever love a cat, but here he was, already mourning the day Lilah took Bumble out of his life.
Griffin did not admit to himself that he was mourning the day Lilah would leave. It was as though he tried to leave it in the back of his mind. She knelt near a small box, pulling out little pieces of her life. There was a ceramic mug in the shape of a llama, a blanket decorated with succulents and cacti, as well as a small frame that held the faces of two smiling girls. It wasn’t a lot, but it was a step forward.
Perhaps, next week, he would get her to unpack a bit more. It wasn’t like Griffin was actively searching for a mate. He wasn’t goi
ng to force her to leave. If anything, Griffin would be content letting their charade go on for as long as Lilah wanted. He was not convinced a mate waited for him. If his fate held love, then he would be surprised.
“Are you sure the cat isn’t enough of an indicator that I live here?” Lilah touched the soft fabric of her fleece blanket.
He couldn’t imagine wanting to part with those small bits of her life. It was like closing off a part of herself, acknowledging that she didn’t know when she’d be able to retrieve it.
“My home is your home,” he replied.
Her lips twisted into a frown, to his surprise. Griffin wasn’t sure what he’d said that was wrong. Instead of challenging it, he sucked in a breath and turned away. He wanted to retreat and work through the thoughts pinging around his mind but was brought to a halt by the audience they’d attracted.
From the front steps of Jasper’s house, nearly all of his cousins watched him and Lilah. A growl rumbled out of him. The sound and the territorial fury that bloomed inside him were both completely unexpected.
“Let’s go inside before the gawkers try to bother us.” He helped her up from the garage floor. She was warm and soft in his hands, and he pulled her a little too close.
She stared up at him, eyes wide. Her lips were still a soft red and parted ever so slightly in a way that beckoned his own. He let his hands slide down her back, enjoying the feel of her in his arms. The beast seized control, for a split second, and yanked her tighter to his body. The sound Lilah made was not of fear. It was of pleasure.
Griffin wanted to bend and claim her lips. He wanted to know if they would taste of pomegranates, sweet and tart. But Lilah danced out of his grasp before he could make a move. She quickly claimed her things from the floor and darted toward the door.
Aurum Court Dragons: Boxset Books 1-5 Page 45
