The Mating Game: Big Bad Wolf

by Georgette St. Clair

  The Mating Game: Big Bad Wolf

  Copyright 2016 by Georgette St. Clair

  This book is intended for readers 18 and older only, due to adult content. It is a work of fiction. All characters and locations in this book are products of the imagination of the author. No shifters were harmed during the creation of this book.

  License Statement

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Thanks so much for buying Big Bad Wolf! If you’d like to be notified of future releases, freebies, contests and more, please sign up for my newsletter at http://mad.ly/signups/83835/join I blog regularly at www.georgettewrites.com, and my Facebook page is www.facebook.com/georgettewrites

  Going on a very public date with Ryker Harrison, the sexy, surly ex-boxer whose Alpha attitude and string of one night stands have earned him the nickname “the Big Bad Wolf”? Daisy would run as fast as her paws could carry her...if it wasn't a publicity stunt for her favorite aunt's new dating service.

  But it turns out the handsome shifter and his family have other ideas. Apparently after her first date, his nosy, interfering pack think she's agreed to be his life-mate. And the curvy she-wolf has Ryker convinced it's time to give up his playboy ways and claim Daisy for his own.

  Except Daisy's pack has other plans for her, and they’ll stop at nothing to use her for their own ruthless ends. And her friends keep showing up to rescue her, when she least needs their help. And his family can’t stop messing up Ryker’s attempts to court her. Ryker's determined to fight for Daisy...but can he roll with the punches when word reaches him that Daisy has ditched him for a wolf with a more impressive pedigree?

  Chapter One

  “I’ll pay you a million dollars to tell me I’m adopted,” Daisy Bennett said, flopping onto the velvety red couch in her aunt’s office at The Mating Game.

  It was Friday, September 20th. Another beautiful fall day in downtown Cedar Park, North Carolina, and the sun was streaming through the window, and Daisy was, as usual, fighting an intense desire to change her name, run away and join the circus. Would there be an opening for a rather clumsy wolf shifter? Probably not. Daisy’s primary skills were baking, decorating, and arts and crafts. If she tried to leap through flaming hoops, she’d set her fur on fire and break her ankle.

  Wynona Bennett was flipping through brightly colored files on her desk and didn’t bother to look up.

  “You don’t have a million dollars. What’s the problem? Your mother is passive-aggressively insulting you about your weight? She’s making you question all of your life choices? She’s asking when you’ll give up this silly idea that you can make it on your own, and come back home?”

  “Check, check, and check. The deadly trifecta. Except the aggressive is not all that passive.” Daisy leaned forward, folded her hands on her lap, and looked expectantly at her aunt. “So, tell me about how she found me on her doorstep as an infant.”

  “Sorry, no can do.”

  “Why not?” Daisy demanded in aggrieved tones. She reached into the glass candy bowl on the end table next to the sofa, and took a mini chocolate bar. “It could be true. I mean, I don’t look anything like her.” It was true. Daisy was a plump redhead with crazy, out-of-control curls that made a halo around her head. Her mother was a blade-thin socialite with glossy blonde hair flat-ironed to an inch of its life.

  “Of course you don’t.” Wynona frowned and tossed a pile of papers into the trash. “She’s basically purchased an entirely new face and body, starting with her forehead and working her way down. And she eats a diet that’s not fit for human or shifter, just so that she can still fit into a size two at age twenty-nine.”

  “I think I was an adult size two once…in kindergarten, for about five minutes,” Daisy said, helping herself to more candy.

  Her aunt threw a crumpled-up ball of paper at her. “Leave some for the paying clients,” she said. “Your mother is also somehow twenty-nine when she’s got a twenty-three-year-old daughter, but never mind that,” Wynona added, tucking her files away in a drawer next to her desk.

  “Yes, let’s not think about it – the implications are disturbing.” Daisy stuffed a final piece of chocolate in her mouth and threw the wrapper into the little gilded garbage can next to the couch. “So, tell me about the love of my life.”

  “You don’t need to sound so skeptical,” Wynona chided her. “I can assure you, I thoroughly screened this man, and the two of you are a perfect match. He’s sick of the dating game, he’s ready to settle down and have cubs, and he’s a highly successful business owner. Don’t cross your eyes at me. He’s also funny and charming.”

  “That would be nice if it were all true,” Daisy said doubtfully. She just didn’t know if she could ever get that lucky when it came to romance.

  Her recent dating history had been so dreadful that it had left a permanent bad taste in her mouth – and that wasn’t even taking into account that the reason she’d finally left her pack lands in Majestic Oaks, Georgia was because her fiancé had cheated on her and her parents still expected her to marry him.

  Ever since she’d moved to Cedar Park, each date had been worse than the last.

  There had been the guy who’d asked to borrow money on the first date – and then snuck out the back door and stiffed her with the dinner check when she’d said no. There had been the guy who’d told her that he’d gone out with her because he’d never been with a “larger woman” before and he wanted to experiment. There was the human who’d wanted to check “shifter” off his bucket list.

  “This guy is exactly what you’re looking for, believe me,” Wynona assured her. “You have a ton of things in common. You’re both wolf shifters. He bakes as a hobby, he loves musicals and Nora Roberts novels and rom-coms, he enjoys going shopping for clothes.”

  “He what?” Daisy straightened up and stared at her aunt.

  “What’s wrong? Those are all things you like,” her aunt protested. “It’s important to have shared interests.”

  Daisy frowned. “Shared interests, yes, but this doesn’t sound like an actual dude. What it sounds like is too good to be true. I don’t trust things that are too good to be true.”

  Her aunt hesitated, looking a little unsure for the first time. “Well…yes, those interests do sound unusually feminine, but I didn’t just look at his pictures – I’ve called his office and his cell phone and talked to him on the phone at length, and I can assure you, the guy I talked to on the phone was all man. Heterosexual man, at that. I do have a feel for these things. That’s why I started this agency.”

  Daisy nodded. “Your track record is good,” she conceded. Her aunt’s own marriage may have gone down in flames, but when it came to other people, she was the queen of match-making. Some said it was because Wynona’s great-grandmother on her mother’s side had been a witch. She had a touch of magic when it came to helping people find their life mate, whether human or shifter.

  She was responsible for eight happy marriages and six long-term relationships that seemed to be headed to the altar, among her friends, former co-workers at the bank, and even casual acquaintances. She could sniff out a good match from a thousand paces.

  That was why, after years of being nagged and prodded by her friends, Wynona had opened The Mating Game a week earlier, with money from a small inheritance and years of savings.

  “A
nd you’re fairly confident that he’s not some kind of Bluebeard with a bunch of dead wives stashed away somewhere? I mean, I have my pepper spray, but still…”

  Wynona looked at her niece in horror. “Good God, woman. I do criminal background checks, and I talked to five references including his mother. You will be meeting him in a public place. Also, he’s actually pretty well known in some circles. And please don’t bring up Bluebeard on your date with him – I suspect that would be something of a mood killer.”

  “Well known for what?” Daisy demanded skeptically.

  “Local wolf made good. He was an Olympic boxer. Now he’s the president of his own sportswear company. In fact, there may be some press involved.”

  Daisy swiveled around to stare at her aunt. “You fixed me up on a date with Ryker Harrison?”

  Wynona looked pleased. “So you’ve heard of him!”

  Sexy former Olympic boxer, who’d retired a few years ago at age thirty to form his own sportswear company? Seen on dates with one socialite after another clinging to his arm? Nicknamed “the Big Bad Wolf”? His image flashed through her mind – broad-shouldered, burly, with a sexy scar slashing through one eyebrow. He had thick, silky dark hair, a sexy scruff of five o’clock shadow, and a cupid’s bow curve to his upper lip.

  “Who hasn’t? But seriously, Winnie, why would a man like that need a dating service? Rich, famous, gorgeous…women fling themselves at him. Literally. I was watching some awards ceremony and he was on a date with some model, and another woman ran up and leaped into his arms.”

  That hadn’t ended well. The two women had rolled around on the sidewalk, screaming and pulling each other’s extensions out. Daisy’s mouth twitched into a smile at the memory.

  Wynona looked at her with exasperation. “Do you not think you’re good enough for him, Daisy? That’s your mother’s voice in your head. Banish it. With an exorcist, if necessary.”

  “Well, kind of…” Daisy glanced down at herself and her generously sized figure. “I mean, that’s part of it, I guess. It’s also the fact that this guy dates a different woman every week, and he doesn’t seem like someone who’s looking for a real relationship. When it comes to the man-whore thing, I’ve been there, done that, gave back the ring. ”

  “Fair point,” Wynonna said. “I discussed that with him. A few years ago, a friend of his died in the boxing ring. That was when he finally retired from the sport, at his mother’s request. And he admits that after that, he went off the rails. But he hasn’t dated anyone at all in months. And the reason he wants to use a mating agency is because he’s looking to actually settle down. With someone like you. A down-to-earth woman who loves cubs, and who isn’t into the whole nightclub party celebrity thing. I told him that you weren’t into sports, and he said that was a plus, because he’s had it with groupies who only want him for his fame.”

  “Can you imagine me on a date with Ryker? My mother would have a stroke.” Daisy could hardly suppress a smile at the thought of her mother’s reaction. Daisy’s family was proud of its affiliation with the First Shifters of Georgia, and her mother considered consorting with commoners to be the eighth deadly sin.

  “Actually, Ryker apparently called your pack to see if this date would be all right with them, and your parents said it would be acceptable.”

  “They said that? That can’t be right.” Ryker Harrison came from a pack of scrappy redneck country wolves; her mother would sooner have mange than mingle with their kind. And her mother still held out hope that Daisy would take Frasier back, six months after she’d dumped him.

  Wynona shook her head. “I’ve given up trying to understand your mother, believe me. And of course my brother just goes along with whatever she wants, to keep the peace.”

  Daisy leaned back in her chair with a scowl.

  “I just don’t know. There’s something weird about this. Ryker Harrison likes to bake and watch rom-coms? That sounds like the kind of thing that would make the news.”

  Wynona stifled a snort of annoyance. “So, what were your other plans this weekend?” she asked. “What excitement do you have lined up?”

  Well, that was just playing dirty. Her aunt knew what Daisy did with her weekends these days. Sat there and watched sappy movies on the DVR and played solitaire.. Sometimes she even cheated. It was pretty depressing.

  So was listening to her roommates, Larissa and Cadence, chattering about their latest hookups.

  “I am getting way too good at solitaire,” Daisy admitted.

  “And,” her aunt continued with a slightly guilty look, “it’s possible that the local press is aware that you’re going to be meeting him, and there might be photographers waiting. So this date is actually very important to the success of my agency.”

  “Aunt Wynona!” Daisy squealed indignantly. “Jeez, no pressure or anything! Press? Why didn’t you warn me?”

  “Because you probably would have said no. I’m treating you to hair and makeup at the Uptown Girls salon on 35th Street, tomorrow afternoon,” Wynona said quickly. “And there’s a gorgeous new outfit and heels in it for you. Which will be waiting for you at the salon.”

  Daisy folded her arms and thought about it. She didn’t have much else going on this weekend – or in her life in general. Her biggest thrill was going to work at Wildwood Elementary and Middle School each morning, and given the neighborhood the school was located in, it wasn’t the fun kind of thrill.

  “I hate getting my picture taken, and I hate first dates, and the combination of the two sounds like a nightmare. You’re lucky you’re my favorite aunt,” Daisy grumbled, standing up and brushing a candy wrapper off her lap.

  “Only aunt.”

  Daisy glanced at her watch; it was her lunch hour and she needed to get back to school.

  “Whatever. And I’m still bringing my pepper spray.”

  Chapter Two

  Saturday night

  Flashbulbs popped as Ryker strode towards the Café de Vivre. He walked quickly past the reporters. There seemed to be an unusual number of photographers gathered there, even for a restaurant that was known as a local celebrity watering hole. Ryker had heard of it only by reputation; this wasn’t the kind of place he wanted to be, tonight or any other night.

  He didn’t bother pasting on a fake grin or stopping to sign autographs. That was part of his persona – the Big Bad Wolf thing. And it suited him just fine, because he wasn’t a huge fan of paparazzi or idle chit-chat.

  The maître d’ raised a disapproving eyebrow at Ryker’s appearance. Ryker was wearing jeans, a leather jacket, T-shirt and boots. And he probably smelled like a horse.

  “Sir, we have a dress code here, and—” A hostess leaned in and urgently whispered something in the maître d’s ear, and the man blanched.

  “Ryker Harrison? Right this way,” he said, gesturing at Ryker to follow him in.

  Just walking through the door confirmed that this wasn’t Ryker’s kind of crowd. Women in cocktail dresses, men in formal evening attire, and waiters looking at Ryker as if he’d come to steal their silverware.

  As Ryker scanned the room, he saw that his Uncle Water, whom he was there to meet, was waving frantically at him by the bar. Walter was on Big Bad Wolf’s board of directors.

  Why wasn’t Walt sitting at the table already? Oh well, Ryker could use a drink. He’d been arguing with the company’s suppliers all morning, his mother had been riding his tail about settling down and giving him grandcubs, one of his boxers had been arrested and needed to be bailed out of jail…it had been a long, annoying day.

  As he made his way towards the bar, his bored gaze swept the crowd of diners…and came to an abrupt halt. A stunning woman was sitting by herself at a table towards the back, checking her watch.

  She had shiny red hair styled in retro 1950s-looking waves, and a deliciously curvy figure. Her satiny emerald dress flowed over her and emphasized her luscious body, including her rounded tummy and full hips. Now, there was a woman who had a healthy app
etite – in all areas, he’d like to imagine. It was so hard to find a woman like that these days; the boxing groupies were all skeletal anorexics who would order a salad with no dressing for dinner, stare hungrily at his plate of food, and refuse when he offered to share it with them. Ryker hated that; ruined a man’s appetite.

  There was no guy with her; she was clearly waiting for some jerk who couldn’t be bothered to show up on time. With a hot ticket like that waiting here? What an idiot. Well, her date’s loss would be his gain. Whatever Walt wanted, he’d have to talk fast, because Ryker was going to swoop that woman up and show her the time of her life.

  Ryker strode up to the bar with a big grin; he felt all the tension of the day uncoiling now. Worrying about losing the pack land, kissing up to their investors, reining in his crazy pack before he was forced to eat one of them for breakfast to set an example…none of that mattered at the moment.

  What mattered was how he could dazzle the panties off the hot redhead. Nothing was going to put him in a bad mood, not even Walter’s pissy attitude.

  “Damn it, Ryker, this is exactly the kind of thing I’m talking about!” Walt snapped at him. He glanced his watch, and then at the clock on the wall, as if he hadn’t already made his point. “You’re fifteen minutes late, you’ve got hay in your hair, and you’re dressed like you were just out riding horses!”

  “I was,” Ryker said, plucking off the strand of hay and setting it down on the bar. “I took Lightning out for a run after I left my office. So? Since when are you so eager for my company? Is the honeymoon over?” Walt had married a lovely woman named Carlotta a few years ago.

  “Our honeymoon will never be over, and it’s not my home life we need to worry about, party boy,” Walt growled at him. “We are having a hard time getting our investors to commit to this expansion, because of your reputation for being late and irresponsible. And this isn’t just your career we’re talking about, it’s the future of our pack.”