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“Glad you picked me,” I said softly. Not everything had to be for the cameras.
Those red lips turned up into that defiant smile that made my cock twitch. “What would you have done if I hadn’t?”
I would have burned the whole thing down, but there was no way I could tell her that. Instead, I shoved my hands into the pockets of my stuffy dress pants and shrugged. “I might have enjoyed watching you with the massage oil guy.”
She rolled her eyes, and I had a feeling it was more at Shifter Number Two than me. “Who said I’d let you watch?”
“So,” Beebs said a little too loudly before this conversation veered to a place not safe for the stage. “Those of us insideThe Mating Gamecamp know that there is a little…shall we say, animosity between the two of you. Marissa, care to tell the audience why you’re willing to put that aside and let Bjorn prove to you he’s your mate?”
“I’m not, exactly.” Marissa narrowed her eyes at me. I’d seen that look many times, and it made my mouth water. “But ever since…” She looked nervously at the crowd. “The thing happened. I wanted to know if this is for real.”
The crowd ooohed, and they had questions about what that thing could be.
“I’ve been thinking the same thing.” I hated that we were on stage right now. I was a private bear, and I wasn’t sure how being in the public eye would work out. But these cameras, this fanfare, the gossip, was what brought me to my mate. I took another step forward. “Can I kiss you?”
Marissa pressed her lips together, and I braced myself for my first public rejection. It was fine. I would have plenty of opportunities to kiss her. Finally, she smiled. “What are you waiting for?”
I took another step forward, inhaling her sweet vanilla scent. The crowd was going wild. I had no idea how much of our conversation they heard. Probably more of it than I wanted them to. All those production details went out the window when I slipped my hands around her waist and pulled her against me. Lowering my lips to hers made everything else melt away.
“Thank you so much for helping us kick off another episode ofThe Mating Game!” Bibi’s voice startled me out of the kiss. “We’ll be seeing you again in this very spot after three dates that are sure to keep us on our toes. Make sure to stay glued toThe Mating Gameforums. We’ll be introducing some juicy new segments you won’t want to miss.”
Marissa chuckled and ran her thumb under her bottom lip. It was swollen from the kiss. “Can you believe we’re doing this?” she asked.
I put my hand on the small of her back. “I have a feeling you’ll never stop surprising me, Marissa.”
“Likewise, bear.”
We headed downstairs, backstage, where things felt familiar. Almost. Someone named Stephanie was playing the role of me. I knew of her fromThe Real Werewives, so she had chops, but it was still weird having someone else do my job. Tina waved to us.
She looked a little frantic, like she was trying to send us a message. That was when I noticed the group of people I’d never seen before, all dressed in suits, stuffy as hell, standing behind her.
“To what do we owe this visit?” Bibi’s gaze scanned the unfamiliar crowd.
“Bjorn Bernard?” one of the suits said.
“That’s me.” I let go of Marissa’s hand and stepped forward.
The suit cringed at my growl, but he steeled himself. “This is for you.”
He handed me an envelope made of thick paper. My name had been handwritten in neat script. I slid my thumb along the flap, pulling out more expensive paper.
“What is it?” Marissa asked.
I read it over, barely believing my eyes. I growled. “It’s a love letter from Suzanne and Michael Marlowe, or their lawyers, suing me for defamation of character, slander…” I scanned the letter. “And a whole bunch of other shit.”
Beebs gasped. “No.”
I turned to Marissa. “You set me up.”
“No! I didn’t know about this until right now.” She shook her head in frustration. “I can’t believe my mother chose today of all days to do this.”
“Are you sure about that?” I growled. “Because this is exactly the type of thing she would do onThe Scoop. But I was hoping you’d make better choices.”
Marissa pursed her lips, daggers shooting from her eyes like she had so many other times. Usually, it was kind of a turn-on. Today I was too pissed to even think about liking it. How did Bibi—and my bear—convince me this could work between us?
“You need to believe me—”
I scoffed. “That you didn’t mean to humiliate me on live television? I know this playbook all too well. And it sucks.”
