Jaxson(16)

There just wasn’t any magic in the conversation. Or the company.

“So your MBA must come in handy at the office,” Jaxson tried. Even his small talk was coming out miniscule.

“Northern Peaks is a law firm,” Morrigan said with a smirk. “They tend to think of an MBA as that thing you get when you can’t quite make it into law school.”

“Oh.” He cringed. “Sorry, I—”

“Jaxson, I’m teasing.” Her green eyes widened a little like she couldn’t believe how dense he was.

Great. He was completely off his game tonight. “Right. I completely knew that.” He tried for a sheepish smile, but it just felt empty.

Olivia had spent a full half hour before the date admonishing him to look past his prejudices and prior experience to give the date—and Morrigan—a chance. His delicious office assistant seemed determined to find him a soul mate before the one-year expiration of this ruse, and he had promised her he would try. But trying couldn’t create a magical spark that didn’t exist. And while Morrigan was undeniably beautiful—with the smoldering sexiness of an alpha female shifter—she just didn’t float his boat. Riverwise had worked with Northern Peaks on a few cases when his clients needed some very discreet legal opinions, but the entire pack was… stiff. It was the only word he could come up with, and he supposed it made sense for a pack comprised of lawyers and MBAs, but it didn’t help him pretend to find his date fascinating.

His wolf was off sulking in a corner.

Jaxson sighed and gazed out at the twinkling lights of the bay.

What was Olivia doing right now? Was she at the library, looking for whatever her true dream job was? The gig at Riverwise had to be temporary in her mind. Something to pay the bills. She would tolerate it until she could move on to something better. Would she even last the whole year? Maybe she was waiting by her phone for him to call with an update—

“Jaxson.”

His attention snapped away from the thousand-mile-gaze out across the bay and back to the female shifter who was his date. Her claws were about to come out, with the way her face was flushed and her eyes were boring into him. She must have said something he missed.

Jaxson put on his contrite face. “I’m so sorry, Morrigan. I’m distracted tonight, and that’s really not fair to you.”

Her hiked-up shoulders relaxed. “Is everything all right?”

He breathed out another sigh. It felt like he’d had a hundred sighs already on this date. “Just work. Nothing I can discuss, unfortunately.” That much was true.

She nodded, and her eyes lit up again. “There must be all kinds of exciting things you can’t share in the security business.” A small smile snuck on her face.

“We’re actually in the business of keeping things unexciting—our clients pay us to keep the fireworks far away from their personal lives. Which we usually manage to do. But if something goes down, we debrief it, break it down, discuss it internally. Everything stays within the pack. You know how it is.”

“What about your mate? Will she be privy to all the juicy celebrity secrets?” Morrigan arched her eyebrows and took another sip of her wine.

He forced a smile on to his face. “Of course. Although I can think of more interesting things to talk about in bed.” He tried for a flirtatious lift of his eyebrow, but it all felt off. He hadn’t thought of a mate as a potential security leak, but now…

She leaned forward, lacing her fingers. “What sorts of interesting things?” He didn’t know if she was deliberately thrusting her breasts forward, but they strained against the low-cut, sleeveless black dress that was trying to contain them.

He lingered his gaze there, which she obviously wanted—Olivia should be proud of how hard he was trying here—but there was really no point to it. The last thing he wanted was to actually feel something for Morrigan. It would be just that much harder when the ruse was revealed. And when he left his pack altogether.

Jaxson dragged his gaze up to Morrigan’s face. Her lips were parted, and it wasn’t hard to scent the arousal on her. “Things that wouldn’t be polite to say in a crowded public restaurant.”

“I guess we’ll have to save that for later this evening.”

He wouldn’t be taking her home, so there was no point in letting that hang in the air. And clearly she was angling for some kind of first-date advantage in this Dating Game that Olivia had invented. The idea that Morrigan was actually competing for this chance at being his mate… just chilled the entire thing for him.

“So tell me about your role at Northern Peaks,” he said, deliberately cooling his tone.