by Jessica Sims
Right after my shower.
When I got out, Hugh was sprawled on my bed, completely and utterly naked and flipping through a magazine with wonder. He stopped on a picture of a half-naked model, his hand tracing the photo. His cock was semierect, too.
“Find something you like?” I asked.
“Women are very beautiful,” he said. “It gives me pleasure to look upon them. Also, your bed is far more comfortable than where I slept. I think we should trade.”
“I don’t think so,” I said. “If you want to be in my bed, you have to take me with it.”
He stiffened and sat up, a frown on his face. “You know that cannot be.”
I shrugged. “You’re the one with the vow, not me.” I just have a monster inside me. I sighed. “I’m going to get dressed, and then we’re taking you to a salon.”
“Salon?”
“Yep,” I said, wrapping my towel tighter around me and heading to my closet. “It’s a place where they fix your hair and nails.”
He snorted in derision. “Why is this important?”
“Because,” I said. “You’re going to be with me for the next month, and it’s imperative you blend in. I don’t want people wondering why we’re hanging out together. You have to look like one of my clients in order for this to work.”
“And my appearance is an issue?”
“Only to humans,” I flirted. For some reason, his seeing me in my changeling form had broken the ice. The worst had happened, so I had nothing else to worry about. He’d seen me at my ugliest, and he’d looked away. He hadn’t vomited at the sight of me, or screamed in horror. He’d simply looked away. It hurt my feelings, but I could handle it. It was oddly relieving to have someone to share my secret with. It made Hugh safe. Throw in the fact that he was tall, muscular, and more than a little wild? He was hitting all my buttons.
Hugh grunted. “If I must change my appearance, I shall.”
“You must,” I said sweetly. “And now you must get out, because I need to get dressed.”
He didn’t move. His heavy-lidded eyes ran over my towel-clad form. “I’ve already seen you naked, Ryder. And I find I like looking at women.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I said, though I did feel a flush of pleasure to hear that he liked looking at me. “I’m naked and you need to leave.”
“I am naked. You are not asking me to leave.” He raised an eyebrow at me.
“Okay then, leave.”
“I told Finian I’d remain at your side.”
Oh, was he going to play this game? “Suit yourself,” I said in my sweetest voice and dropped my towel. If he wanted to torture himself, he could. I didn’t care, and I never backed down from a flirty challenge, that was for sure.
I smiled in satisfaction as I heard him give a soft groan, audible enough that even my poor senses could pick it up.
I studied Hugh, tilting my head as I considered his frame. “This might not have been a good idea.”
He jerked at the tight collar of the T-shirt. “I agree. These clothes are very uncomfortable.”
“It’s not that,” I murmured, pressing a hand to my hot cheeks. He would find most modern clothing uncomfortable, I suspected. Most men weren’t built like Hugh. The black tee that fit Ramsey comfortably was skintight on Hugh, outlining his large, firm pectorals in an almost indecent way. His big arms bulged against the bands of the short sleeves, and I could even see the outline of his eight-pack abdomen. The boxer briefs he wore cupped him in rather magnificent ways, which made me blush.
I held out the shorts. “You need to put these on, too.”
They were a must. I didn’t want to think about his junk bouncing around all loose while I took him around town. It made me feel a little . . . flushed. Distracted. And I couldn’t afford either.
I had to come up with a plan. First, disguise Hugh into normalcy. Then, work. Then, figure out how to lose my virginity.
It was going to be a busy day.
Once Hugh had (protestingly) donned the rest of the clothing, we set out. I knew just the place to take him where they wouldn’t ask too many questions. After grabbing breakfast—and giving Hugh a quick lesson on debit cards and how they worked as money in exchange for goods—we drove out to Little Paradise. I lived in Fort Worth proper; my condo was close to downtown so I could be closer to work, but most of the shifters lived out in the country, northwest of the city and out in the sticks. Little Paradise was the current settlement of choice, and most of the businesses in the small town were owned and operated by shifters. Thanks to my line of work, I ended up there on a fairly regular basis.
I pulled up to Sweet Scissors, a small, bright teal building with pink curtains along a strip of Main Street. “Come on, Hugh. Let’s go get you dolled up.”
“What is this place?” he asked as he followed me in, ducking into the small doorway.
“It’s called a salon,” I told him as we stepped inside. “It’s run by shifters, so they won’t give you any trouble. Just follow my lead.”
As soon as we entered, all heads turned in our direction. An elderly lady sat in one chair at the back of the room, her gray hair in curlers as the stylist fussed over her. Both of them had turned, as had the other woman, who was sweeping up hair from under her chair. Hugh’s hulking form blotted out the light coming from the doorway, and one of the hairdressers blinked at the sight of him.
“Do you, um, have an appointment?” the hairstylist asked.
“Hi, Lisa. I’m Ryder from Midnight Liaisons.” I beamed a smile at her. “I think I met you and your sister Lauren at the dance last month?”
Her wide-eyed gaze turned to me, as if seeing me for the first time. “Oh. Hi.” Her voice was breathless. “Did you have an appointment, too?” Then her gaze flicked back to Hugh and I saw a frank appreciation there. “I’m sure I could squeeze you in.”
The way she said that made my eyes narrow. “He needs a haircut and a mani-pedi. He looks a little too wild at the moment, and I need him to look more human.”
“Why?” Lisa breathed, moving closer to Hugh, her broom still clutched in her hand. The other stylist continued to just stare at Hugh as well.
I was starting to question the wisdom of coming to a salon run by a pair of were-mink sisters. Clearly someone like Hugh was the equivalent of catnip for them. “Because he needs to blend,” I snapped, crossing the room and thumping into one of the waiting chairs. I picked up a magazine.
“All right,” Lisa said, moving closer to Hugh. She reached out to touch his hair—
And Hugh grabbed her arm, looking over at me, frowning.
“It’s okay,” I said, feeling a little better. “She’s just going to look at your hair.”
He released Lisa’s arm. “My apologies.”
“It’s okay, big guy,” Lisa said, reaching out to touch his hair again. She didn’t look discouraged in the slightest. Her fingers brushed through his tangled locks, and she made a noise of appreciation at his streaks. “Are these highlights natural?”
He frowned. “I do not understand this question.”
“Natural,” I chimed in from afar and turned the page in my magazine, even though I hadn’t looked at it once.
“Oh, mercy,” she said, then fanned herself. “You are gonna be fun to work on.”
Damn. I viciously turned another page in Field & Stream, wondering why it bothered me so much to watch Lisa leading Hugh by the hand to the sink, beaming all the while. Once he sat down, she spent a few minutes undoing his small, tangled braids and chattering up a storm to him while he cast helpless looks in my direction.
The other stylist seemed to recover from her trance and turned on her hair dryer.
Immediately, Hugh shot to his feet with a fierce snarl.
I jumped to my feet and crossed the room to put a hand on his chest before he attacked one of the now frighte
ned women. “It’s just a tool to dry hair,” I murmured to him. “Be calm.”
He looked down at the hand I’d placed on his chest, then at my face. “Calm,” he repeated, glancing at the hair dryer again.
Lauren helpfully clicked it off.
“Nothing to worry about,” I assured him. “Nothing to protect from here, either. I promise.” I gave him an encouraging smile. “And I’ll be right here.”
He pulled up one of the salon chairs, dragging it closer to the sink. And he pointed at it. “You will sit right here, Ryder.”
I didn’t miss the annoyed look Lisa cast in my direction. I reveled in it and took a seat next to Hugh. “Right here.”
And I bit back my smirk when his big hand landed on my clothed knee, making sure I was close at all times. It was just because he was sworn to keep me safe, but Lisa didn’t know that.
And I kind of liked it.
A few hours later, Hugh was transformed into normalcy. His big claws had been filed down to regular fingernails, and his toes had been pedicured and buffed, which Hugh had proclaimed “ticklish.” His unkempt hair had been chopped short on the sides and a bit longer on top, just long enough for Lisa to fashion into a lock that flopped onto his forehead in a most rakish fashion. She’d suggested shaving his sideburns (and had run a hand down his jaw, which I’d noticed). I’d declined.
I liked his sideburns. There was something about them that appealed to me a lot, and I didn’t want him to become completely civilized.
We tipped her well for the quick makeover, and I ignored the fact that she slipped Hugh her phone number.
After all, we hadn’t even gone over phones yet.
Next we headed back into Fort Worth proper and hit up the mall, where we dropped into the Big and Tall store. He didn’t want the suit that I kept pressing on him or anything even remotely close-fitting. I had to settle for more loose athletic clothing: plain T-shirts and shorts, and the biggest pair of sneakers I’d ever seen. I didn’t even know there was a size 18. We had a bit of a fight over the shoes; I insisted, but Hugh didn’t like them because he couldn’t “grip anything with his toes” with them on. I won the argument once I pointed out that every other person in the store wore similar shoes, but it didn’t stop Hugh from muttering about how stupid they were.
But now that Hugh was dressed and wouldn’t cause people to stop and stare when we walked down the street, it was time to head to work. I checked my watch. Almost six. We’d make it right on schedule.
I looked over at Hugh to give him one last word of caution. “Just remember to be silent if you don’t want to answer someone, and let me cover it. The important thing is that we have to seem like things are normal, or else everyone’s going to be up in our business.”
“And that is bad?” he asked, his tone thoughtful.
“Very bad,” I agreed. At least, it’d be bad for me. I was going to have to circumvent the rules and try to date a shifter if I wanted to get rid of this curse of mine. Marie had been fired for doing the same thing, and I didn’t want to get fired. I loved my job. But I also loved being human way more than I did being a changeling, so something had to give.
When we entered the office, I was surprised to see Bathsheba still at work, and even more surprising than that, one of the Russell twins sat at Savannah’s desk.
“There you are,” Bath said, rushing over to me. “Where have you been? We’ve been worried sick.”
I glanced at my pink rhinestone-encrusted watch. “I’m five minutes early?”
“For your shift, yes. But what about the last two days?”
Last two days? “What do you mean? I was here with Savannah at work last night.”
Bath shook her head, looking frustrated. “Savannah’s been out sick for the past two nights, and you were a no-show. I had to call Beau to get him to send someone over to help out. Everett volunteered, but he’s still learning the systems. Marie held down the fort last night.”
My eyes widened. Two days? “No way. I swear, I was here. With Savannah. It was just last night . . .”
Hugh leaned closer to me, his breath whispering in my ear. “Do you recall our conversation about time?”
I thought for a moment, distracted by his nearness, which was making my monster flicker under my skin. Time? The only time we’d talked about time was when . . .
Oh, no. When we’d talked about time, he’d said that it passed differently in the fae realm. And I’d unthinkingly demanded that he take me to see the primordials, never realizing that spending an hour there meant losing days here. “Two days?” I asked Bath again. Marie had mentioned that I’d been MIA for two days, but I thought she’d been griping that I was ignoring her. I didn’t realize she’d actually meant two days had completely gone past.
“Two days,” she repeated, the worry in her voice taking the snap of annoyance out. “I was about to call the police.”
“I’m so sorry,” I said lamely. “I guess I just . . . lost track of time.”
“I see,” Bath said primly, her gaze going to Hugh. She took him in, and her head tilted. “Is . . . excuse me, sir. Are you a shifter?”
“I am a primordial—”
“He’s a were-tiger,” I interrupted quickly. “From out of town.”
“One of Vic’s?” She looked over at me, her expression chilly. “Are you dating a client after all the agency’s been through the last few months?”
“No,” I said in a high, fake laugh. “Don’t be silly.” No one had to remind me of the chaos that had disrupted our small office when Marie had been caught dating vampires. It had nearly started World War Three between the shifters and vampires, and Bath was still sensitive that her agency had been used as the vehicle for the illegal dating. “Nothing like that at all. Hugh here is not local and he’s not good at meeting girls, so I said I’d take him under my wing for a few days and show him how to flirt. I hope that’s okay?”
She nodded absently, glancing over at Everett, who had a phone to his ear and was typing. “It’s good that you’re here,” she murmured. “You can handle the Speed Dating meet-up tonight at Konstantine’s. I was worried we’d have to reschedule.”
Oh, rats. I normally ran the speed dating matches, but tonight wasn’t great for me. For one, I had Hugh tagging along at my heels. “I’m not sure . . .”
“You said you want to date the harpy?” Everett was saying into the phone, a look of consternation on his face. “No, no, I don’t know if she’ll do that, sir. What she does in her personal life is up to her.” He shot Bathsheba a “help me” look.
“Oh, dear,” Bath said, hurrying back over to Everett’s desk. “I’d better help out. Glad you’re back, Ryder.”
“Sure,” I echoed, heading over to my desk. I set down my purse and turned on my computer, watching as Hugh took a standing stance next to my desk, since the stool had been moved. Bath was giving him an odd look as she pointed out things over Everett’s shoulder. “Hugh,” I whispered as I logged in to my computer. “We need to set up your profile. Can you write?”
“Write?”
“I’m going to guess that’s a no. Okay, I’ll help you, then.” I pulled out a piece of paper and one of my pink, glittery pens, uncapping it. “What’s your last name?”
“I am Hugh. You know this.”
“You’re not Hugh Hugh, though.”
“No. Just Hugh.”
“No one here has just one name,” I told him. Well, unless you were a pop star. “You need a second one.”
He looked puzzled. “Why?”
“You know what? Never mind,” I told him, writing. “You’re going to be Hugh Merino. The local tigers are all in the Merino clan.” Now I just needed to hope that the tiger alpha didn’t show up for any reason. Not that there was a high chance of that happening—his mate was pregnant with their first child, so it was safe to say that the odds were again
st him showing up at a dating agency.
I continued to fill out the form as Hugh peered over my shoulder. “Sex is male,” I said, checking the box. “Age? You know what? I’m just going to put down thirty before you can give me another one of those ‘time moves differently’ answers.” I marked religion as “other” and status as “networking,” since he wasn’t really seeking a woman. He had one of those waiting for him as soon as he delivered me to the fae. I wrinkled my nose in distaste at the thought.
“What does that say?” Hugh asked, and he leaned in so close that his breath whispered against my ear as he regarded the paper I made notes on. His nearness was making my skin ripple in response to him, and my nipples hardened. Eep. Under my desk, I shook my hands out and flexed them, willing my monster to stay back. I fought with it for a few moments, won the battle, and scowled at Hugh. He knew my problem.
Time for a little revenge. “Favorite sex position?” I asked sweetly. I’d intended to leave that one blank, but since he was being a jerk . . .
He jerked backward. “What?”
Both Bathsheba and Everett turned to stare at us, and I waved at Hugh. “Keep it down,” I hissed. “Now. Favorite sex position.”
He gave me a blank look, then leaned in again to whisper in my ear. “There is more than one?”
“Uh, yeah.”
“What is it?”
I turned and stared at Hugh, who was leaning way too close again. His cheeks were ruddy, as if he was blushing, and he looked uncomfortable. He shifted from one foot to another and gave me an expectant look. “Are you kidding?” I asked.
“No.” He glanced at the others, then leaned in again, giving me a very interested look. “Tell me more. I must know these things if I am to please my mate.”
I tapped my glittery pen on the desk, regarding him. Something told me I wasn’t the only virgin here. “You know what? We’ll come back to that later.”
“But—”
“Later,” I hissed. I gave Bath a sweet smile as she looked over at us and tucked her purse under her arm. “You leaving, Boss?”
