He was sweating his balls off in this suit, but the instructions from his winning bidder had been clear. Formal dress for their first meeting. And for the amount that Nate was being offered for his companionship, he figured he could cope with a day’s discomfort.
Nate had found it unreal, the concept of werewolves bidding against each other forhim, but after submitting his acceptable candidates, he’d received an email informing him that after something of a bidding war, someone had paid for the opportunity to spend a week with him—the ‘and fuck him stupid’ was implied. The bidder had also asked for the option to extend the contract for up to a month. If that option was passed on, Nate still got a bonus for making himself available.
Bidder D973—Nate wouldn’t learn his potential partner’s identity until they met—was willing to pay an obscene amount for the week and the renewal option, which was pretty bloody flattering—but also, it was enough for Nate to replace his dying ute and still have a decent chunk left put a deposit on a place of his own in one of the nicer areas. It was unreal, looking at properties in Floreat, knowing that now they weren’t forever out of reach.
As long as he and D973 hit it off at today’s meeting and got the paperwork squared away, Nate could be leaving with his werewolf by the end of the day—and given what he’d seen on the guy’s profile, Nate was certain theywouldhit it off, because his bidder was the stuff of wet dreams.
Thus, the luggage.
He tapped a nervous staccato with his shoe against the floor of the limo before catching himself and stopping. Werewolves had sensitive hearing, and he didn’t think Liz would appreciate his tap-tap-tapping. He managed to keep himself in check for the rest of the ride, and it wasn’t long before they pulled up in front of the Ritz-Carlton. He huffed out a breath and Liz leaned across and put a hand on his knee. “If you’re having second thoughts, now’s the time to say so.”
“No second thoughts. Just nerves.”
She raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “Your heartbeat says otherwise.” Right. Nate had forgotten that to a werewolf, he was an open book. “Will it help if I tell you that most companions regard this as a positive experience? In fact, plenty of them sign up more than once. I had one client who worked five summers and then retired to Bali.”
Nate nodded, grateful for the reassurance. His racing heart slowed down a bit. He was going to do this. He was going to have the time of his life riding werewolf dick, and he was going to getpaidfor it. There was no downside to this arrangement. He took a deep breath and stepped out of the car. Time to meet the guy who would own his arse—literally—for the next week.
He followed Liz inside, his duffle bag slung over one shoulder, out of place in the luxurious surroundings that were all floor-to-ceiling timber and marble and gilt. He craned his neck, taking in what looked like giant glass test tubes suspended from the ceiling as Liz steered them through reception. He guessed it was someone’s idea of art.
They left the enormous foyer behind and came to a meeting room, where Liz deposited Nate at the conference table. Her phone rang and she looked at the screen, her brow creasing. “I have to take this. Please wait here and I’ll be right back.” As she stepped outside, Nate heard her say, “Yes, sir. We’ve just arrived. No, not yet.”
Nate looked around. The room was a cookie-cutter hotel meeting space, albeit aswankycookie-cutter hotel space. There was the expected long timber table and chairs surrounding it, and carpeting with a blue and white pattern. There was a pitcher of iced water, a fancy table runner and an abstract print of what might have been the ocean on the wall.
He poured himself a glass of water and when five minutes became ten, he gave in and checked his phone, just so he wouldn’t freak out. He was busy scrolling when the door opened and Liz came back in. She cleared her throat and looked everywhere except at him. “Nathan…there’s been a slight change of plans.”
He pocketed his phone and sat up straight. “They haven’t bailed, have they?” Despite his earlier nerves, he found he was more disappointed by the thought that he might not get his week as a werewolf fuckbuddy than he’d expected.
Liz swallowed. “The thing is”—she twisted her hands together—“there was a glitch with the original winning bid. The contract will still go ahead as agreed,” she hastened to add. “You’ll just have a…different partner.”
Her body was a line of tension, and Nate felt a stab of pity for her at having to be the bearer of bad news. He decided that he wasn’t going to be the one to make her day worse. “So, I’m just hooking up with a different bidder? No big deal. Shit happens, right?”
Besides, itwasn’ta big deal. D973 had been the favourite of his selections, true, and Nate had been looking forward to spending a week with him, but it wasn’t the end of the world. “Which one of my selections is the lucky guy now?”
Liz took a deep breath. “That’s the thing. The winner isn’ttechnicallyon your list of approved bidders. But his bid is still valid.”
Nate took a second to consider that, and stood and turned so he was facing her. “What do you mean, he’s not technically on my list? I thought your system was meant to be fool-proof?”
“And up until now it has been. And the winnerisID number D973. It’s just…the profile that was listed doesn’t belong to him. Somehow, D973 was assigned to two bidders.”
The way Liz was fidgeting gave Nate the impression this was all kinds of bullshit. He caught her gaze and held it. “Liz? What aren’t you telling me? Is this guy some sort of psycho who’s hacked the system? Am I going to end up at the bottom of a well, rubbing the lotion on its skin?”
That startled a laugh out of her, which was somewhat reassuring. “No, it’s nothing like that.”
“Is he ninety-five, bald and smells like Dencorub? Are there dentures? Because that might be a hard limit.”
Liz shook her head, and Nate was glad to see that her shoulders were no longer pulled up quite so high around her ears. “It’s none of those things, I promise. And this applicantdoesmatch your preferred type, based on who you selected.”
“Oh?” That caught Nate’s interest.
“Oh, yes. In fact, if it hadn’t been for the system hiding his profile, I’m confident you would have selected him.” She bit her lip. “Perhaps you could talk with him, and see what you think? He’s very eager to meet you.”
Nate considered saying no for a split second, but what did he have to lose? “Fine. I’ll meet him.”
Liz gave a relieved smile. “Excellent. Follow me.”
Nate paused where he stood. “Wait, where are we going?”
“Mr Hudson has asked that we meet him in his suite.”
