Once Upon A Beast

by KB Winters

  Well, I wanted something as well. The next week off to break the news to my family I was getting married, and attend my father’s retirement party. I wasn’t taking no for an answer, either.

  I didn’t wait for Jenny to announce me. If Hudson was going to be my husband, fake or not, I figured I had the right to speak to him when I needed to. Especially if people were going to buy into this ridiculous charade.

  To my surprise, he didn’t raise a brow when I stepped into his office. Instead, his expression softened and a slow, relieved grin spread on his lips.

  Holy mother of pearl. He really was a stunner. And he was about to be all mine. For a little while, anyway.

  He held up a finger to indicate he would be another minute and gestured for me to take a seat. That wasn’t his usual behavior at all.

  “Let’s wrap this up, Paul,” he barked into the phone. “My fiancée just walked in.”

  What? I hadn’t agreed to anything yet. I shook my head at him, but his grin just spread wider.

  Hudson finished up his phone call and leaned forward, placing his elbows on the polished surface of his desk, and laced his fingers together. I was fascinated by the way he moved for a second. Even the miniscule movements seemed so effortlessly graceful.

  He cleared his throat, an amused glint in his eyes as he caught me staring. My cheeks flushed, but I met his gaze stubbornly.

  “I haven’t agreed to anything yet,” I protested. “You can’t just go around telling people I’m your fiancée.” I knew full well it was way too late for objections, but he didn’t have to know that.

  “It’s written all over your face, Mia. You’re here to agree, and to ask for something more in return.” He leaned back, his cocky smirk firmly in place.

  Damnit, why was he so good at reading people?

  I sighed. “I need to take next week off.”

  “No,” he answered without hesitation.

  “No?” I tilted my head at him, trying to get a read on what he was thinking. His expression was still softer than normal, but his face remained impassive.

  “This isn’t a good time, Mia,” he replied firmly. “And it’s very short notice.”

  “I know it’s short notice, but you know I’ve never let you down. I’ll take my laptop with me, be available on my cell, and arrange for someone to fill in for me. It’s just a week, Hudson. The ship isn’t going to go down without me here for one week.”

  “That may be so, but you also have a wedding to plan, since you don’t want to simply get married in front of a justice of the peace. We also need to establish a public relationship and kick start the office rumor mill.” He crossed his arms over his chest.

  “You do realize I haven’t said yes, right?”

  “Are you honestly going to tell me you weren’t coming in here to say yes?”

  “No, I mean yes.” I sucked in a deep breath. I needed to compose myself. I couldn’t get intimidated by him anymore. Not now. Especially since he needed me more than I needed him. “I was coming in here to say yes, but I have a few terms of my own. One of which is being off next week.”

  “You’re making your leave next week a formal term of your acceptance of our agreement?”

  “Yes, I am. Among a few other things.”

  “Such as?”

  “While we’re in a relationship, however fake it may be, I will not tolerate being cheated on. I will not be that girl.” I was proud of the fact I’d managed to sound calm, confident even.

  “You expect me to be faithful to you?” he asked, his voice turning incredulous.

  “Yes, in public. I don’t care what you do in private, obviously. Just be discreet about it. I will not be the poor wife who has no idea her husband is screwing around on her.” That was a no-go for me.

  “So, public faithfulness and next week off. Is that it?” He lifted a brow and leaned back in his chair.

  “The big things, aside from what we spoke about yesterday, of course,” I reminded him.

  He nodded. “Of course. Okay, I can agree to that. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m very private about my personal life in any event. So that stipulation really doesn’t change much for me. As for the week off, what’s so important you have to skip town at the last minute?”

  “It’s hardly the last minute, Hudson. I have the whole day to do what needs to be done and get things in order before I leave.” He waited for me to continue. “Fine, if you must know, my father is retiring next week, and my mother is having a surprise party for him. I have to be there.”

  His eyes turned contemplative as he mulled over my explanation. “Okay, you can have the week off.”

  “Yeah?” It felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

  “Yeah. It would be a great opportunity for your family to get to know me.”

  My eyes widened. “What?”

  “I thought it would be obvious. I’m coming with you. It’s inevitable I’d have to meet your family, if you’re that close to them you’re flying home for a week for a retirement party.”

  “But—” I protested.

  “The authorities would never believe our marriage is real if they interviewed your family, and they hadn’t so much as met me.” He wasn’t wrong.

  The blood rushed from my face. Logically, I knew he was right, but it didn’t lessen the shock any. Hudson meeting my parents, my brother? My heart sank as reality set in.

  “You can meet them some other time. I need some time to prepare them for this—to prepare myself.

  “There’s no time like the present, wouldn’t you agree?” He arched an eyebrow at me again. It was infuriating how arrogant the man was.

  “No,” I insisted stubbornly.

  “I’m not asking, Mia. This is part of the deal. Take it or leave it.” His tone booked no argument. My shoulders sagged in defeat.

  Hudson read me like an open book, as he did most people, because his next words cemented my fate. “So, it’s settled then. Have Jenny take care of the flight.”

  Hudson Blake was going to meet my family. He was coming home with me. To tell them we were getting married.

  Fuck.

  Chapter 6

  Hudson

  “Mr. Blake,” the driver said, tipping his hat to me. I slid into the back seat of the town car I’d arranged to take us to the airfield. Usually, I preferred driving myself, but I’d made an exception so I could finish some work on the ride.

  I hadn’t been away from the office for a week since I started the company. I lived for the work, which is why it was necessary to take the week off.

  If Mia and I were going to successfully convince the authorities our marriage was real, her family needed to meet me.

  I’d never been in a serious relationship before. I’d never had the time or the inclination to be in one, but I was pretty sure that future husbands were expected to attend important family events.

  Besides, I fully intended on working the days away, so I was sure I could make my sudden disappearance from the office work.

  I would join her family for meals and whatever else normal families did together, enough to sell the relationship to them and manage the company from afar.

  I gave Mia’s address to the driver and pulled out my phone to text her I was on my way.

  Hudson: I’ll be at your place in ten minutes. Be ready.

  She replied almost instantly.

  Mia: How do you know where I live?

  Hudson: Are you kidding me?

  Mia: That’s not what employee files are for, Hudson!!!

  I pocketed the phone. Employee files were for whatever I needed them to be for. That morning, I’d tasked Jenny with pulling Mia’s address from her personnel file.

  We pulled up to a modern building where Mia was waiting with a bright pink wheelie case and a deep scowl.

  She didn’t wait for the driver to open her door, but she allowed him to take her bag from her. Exasperated eyes bored into mine when she yanked the door open and climbed in. “You c
ould’ve just asked me for my address.”

  “Why would I? I already had it.” I moved over to allow space for her duffel sized handbag to be placed on the middle of the seat, like she wanted to erect a physical barrier between us. The driver eased the car into the light traffic.

  “Hudson Blake, my employer, had access to it. Hudson Blake, my fake fiancé, should’ve asked me to volunteer the information willingly.”

  I shrugged. “That’s ridiculous. You gave it to me willingly when you applied for the job. Since your employer and your fake fiancé are the same person, I didn’t think it would matter.”

  Mia’s scowl deepened. “Next time you need to know something about me, ask me, Hudson.”

  “That sounds time consuming. Let’s compromise—if I need to know something about you I don’t already have access to, I’ll ask you.”

  She pouted, turning to face the window. It amused me she’d effectively ended the argument the way I imagined a real girlfriend would. She was going to be great at this. I gave myself a mental pat on the back for my choice in fake wife.

  “Where are we going anyway? This isn’t the way to the airport.” Her eyes scanned our surroundings anxiously.

  “It’s the way to the airport we’re flying from,” I informed her, barely lifting my eyes from the email I was typing on my phone.

  “What flight are we taking?”

  “We’re taking my private jet.” I waited for her to be impressed. A small part of me wanted to flaunt what I had to her. I knew she would be impressed by the fact I owned a private jet. All women were.

  Except Mia, apparently. Even as we arrived at the exclusive airfield, there was no awe, no delight. No OMG!

  In fact, the nearer we got to my beloved Gulfstream, the more anxious she seemed. She fidgeted with the strap of her handbag and wrung her fingers, lost in thought. I doubted she even noticed where we were.

  “What’s on your mind?” I asked as we pulled to a stop next to the stairs that would carry us inside the well-appointed jet. Damn I loved the thing. The sight of it set my pulse racing. It was hard to believe I’d come as far as owning a fucking plane.

  An attendant rushed to open the door and managed to reach it just as Mia finally turned to face me. “You’re about to meet my parents.”

  “Yes, I am. And?” I placed my palm on the small of her back in a gesture that seemed natural and guided her up the short flight of steps.

  I waited for a sharp intake of breath when she stepped onto the luxurious carpeting of the plane, for her eyes to widen as she took it all in. There was nothing.

  “And? And they’re my parents, Hudson. My brother. My grandfather. My whole family. My friends.” She was nearly hyperventilating by that point.

  “Look at me, Mia, and breathe,” I instructed. Her eyes snapped to mine, a storm of emotion brewing in them.

  Shit. I knew absolutely nothing about emotional women. I avoided them like the plague, but I needed this particular one calm. She had to pretend to be excited to introduce her fiancé to her family for the first time in little under three hours.

  I looked around for someone who would do a better job at calming her down than I could, but there was no one around.

  I sighed. It appeared I was it.

  I did the only thing I could come up with on the spot. I led her to the bar and poured her a shot of the top shelf tequila.

  She accepted it with shaky hands and swallowed it down, sucking in a deep breath and finally meeting my eyes.

  “You okay now?” I asked carefully, staying by her side. I wasn’t convinced she wasn’t about to faint. I didn’t want her hurting herself on the way down.

  That would be a nightmare to explain to her family. Not to mention Henry would be on my ass about possible liability issues.

  “Yeah, I think so. Sorry for freaking out a bit there.” That was her definition of freaking out a bit?

  I didn’t want to live through her freaking out a lot, then. “It’s okay. Is it really such a big thing to you that I’m meeting your family?”

  I didn’t even talk to mine on a regular basis. My brother was still pissed at me, and my parents couldn’t be bothered to call unless it was my birthday or Christmas.

  “Kind of. It’s not you meeting them, so much as what we’re about to tell them. It’s a massive lie, Hudson.” She drew in another deep breath and reached for a bottle of water.

  “Don’t think about it like that. Think about it as a business arrangement. That’s all it really is, even if the formal name for it is marriage. It’s not an actual marriage.” There was no way I was ever doing it for real, so I tried calming her down by bringing her around to my way of thinking about it.

  “Maybe.” She sighed, retrieving her e-reader from her bag. The pilot announced we were about to take off, I buckled up and pulled my laptop out.

  Mia clearly wasn’t in the mood to talk, which was a relief because I never was and had a lot of work to get done on the flight.

  Conversation between us was light and slow until the last half hour before landing.

  “My family isn’t like most families,” Mia blurted out, blinking at me, her eyes wide.

  I saved the document I was working on and turned to face her. “What do you mean?”

  “I just mean… I don’t know. They’re different. I feel like I should apologize in advance for whatever is going to happen this week.” Her mouth formed a grim line.

  “I don’t scare easily, Mia. We’ll be okay,” I reassured her. I had no qualms about meeting her family. It was sure to be a walk in the park after everything I’d done. Everything I’d been through.

  “My parents will be curious, but I think they’ll both be so relieved that I finally made time for something other than work that they’ll just want to get to know you. My brother and grandfather, on the other hand, they’re the ones we need to be careful around.” She had a faraway look in her eye, as if she was mentally going through each member of her family.

  “I’m not worried, really. Whatever happens, we’ll deal with it.” I meant every word.

  Mia didn’t look entirely convinced, but she calmed on our descent.

  Her phone rang just as her feet hit Californian soil. I watched from the window as she pulled it from her bag, glanced up at the sky as if shooting off a silent prayer, and pressed it to her ear.

  I fired off the last email I was working on and then packed up my laptop to join her, studiously ignoring the flirtatious smile the flight attendant flashed at me as I exited.

  I’d made a promise to Mia. As far as the outside world was concerned, there were no other women in my life.

  The stipulation had surprised me, but since it suited me perfectly, I agreed to it without hesitation. If the immigration agents caught so much as a whiff of dishonesty in our relationship, my ass would be back in Santo Via Island faster than a hockey puck hit a goal.

  I gritted my teeth. That couldn’t happen.

  It was a rule for me to keep my personal life private anyway. Who I fucked was nobody’s business but mine.

  My ego didn’t need to be stroked by having people ogle a beautiful girl on my arm or being photographed with women other men wanted to fuck. It was plenty big enough without being stroked by arbitrary fucks.

  I slid my sunglasses over my eyes, stepping into the bright Los Angeles sunshine. Mia was finishing up with her phone call by the time I approached her.

  “No, it’s fine. We’ll just meet you at the house. See you soon.” Her slim finger stabbed the button to end the call with more force than was necessary.

  “What was that all about?” I asked, pointing her in the direction of our waiting car.

  She squinted up at me and sighed. “My family came to meet us at the airport, but I told them we’d just meet them at home.”

  “Okay, let’s go home then.” I slid the key into the ignition of the sports car I had waiting for us, and Mia programmed her parents’ address into its navigation system.

  A disem
bodied voice informed me we’d be arriving in less than ten minutes.

  I hadn’t spent much time in California, but I was enjoying the wide streets and the bright greenery lining it as we made our way to Mia’s family home. It was a world away from the neighborhood I’d grown up in, that was for sure.

  Mia didn’t speak much on the ride over, muttering directions to me occasionally when she knew of a better route we could take and fidgeting with her hands.

  She sucked in an audible breath as we came up on an enormous house on the left. An enormous house with a whole group of people gathered in front of heavy looking wooden doors.

  I didn’t know much about property prices in California, but I was quite sure her childhood home cost at least four times as much as mine.

  Well, now you know why she wasn’t impressed by the jet, I mused silently to myself.

  “Just park over there,” she directed, gesturing to one of four garages that faced the street. The house had walls that alternated between stucco and stone and seemed to have multiple levels. There was a large, very green lawn that led to the ornate front doors and the people standing outside of it.

  “Here goes nothing,” she muttered, turning to face me. “Remember, I already apologized in advance for whatever happens.”

  “And I’ve already told you, I’m not worried. Let’s go do this.” My voice didn’t betray the fact that seeing her entire family waiting on the front lawn had managed to shake me a little bit.

  I didn’t understand why they’d all be waiting outside.

  Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.

  Chapter 7

  Mia

  My palms were clammy as we walked up to the house, and my entire family gathered in front it. Even some of my aunts and uncles were there.

  I suddenly wished for a good old earthquake to create a hole that the earth could swallow me into it.

  “Mia! I’m so happy you’re finally home,” my mother exclaimed, breaking away from the group and throwing her arms around me. She smelled like sunshine and cookie dough and home. I nestled my face into her hair.