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Bibi poked her head into the kitchen. “Ready?”
I was just in sweats, not expecting to go anywhere, certainly not expecting to see Bjorn, but if this was forever, he’d see me in my sweats eventually. “Ready as I’ll ever be.”
“Can I come too?” Hannah asked.
Hugo rubbed his forehead. “It’s not safe for her to know about this.”
“Why not?”
“Because you don’t want the wrong person asking too many questions. And use you as part of their mission to get the Hudaknocker in their hands.”
Hannah gasped. “I would never.”
“It’s not you we’re worried about,” Bibi said. “It’s anyone who sees this missing artifact as an opportunity.”
“I can’t say the right thing unless I know what it is,” Hannah countered.
“She should come.” I wouldn’t be credited as a producer on this episode, but it didn’t mean I stopped thinking like one. “Whatever the alphas have to say could affect production and her episode. She needs to know that.”
“That’s a good point,” Bibi said as she pulled on her fuzzy leopard print coat. “Although, I hope this is done and forgotten by the time Hannah goes in front of the camera.”
It was poetry in motion that our meeting was at the mercantile. Really bad poetry. Bjorn stayed back, and Hugo, Bibi, and Hannah walked ahead of us. Stephanie had the camera, and Tina was watching over everything.
I’d never wanted to trade places with anyone more than her right now.
“Hey,” Bjorn said, offering me his hand.
“Hi.” He was a sight for sore eyes this morning. He’d pulled his blond hair into a man bun, and his navy T-shirt skimmed his chest, making it easy to remember what was underneath. Those jeans were worn to perfection, and I remembered what was under those, too. “I’m scared.”
“Don’t be. We can fix this.”
“You know?”
He nodded. “I had a suspicion since no one but employees had been inside HQ when it disappeared. Then Bibi told me everything.”
And he still delivered on that amazing date. “You’re already dealing with the lawsuit. I don’t expect you to bail me out of this.”
He raised a brow as we walked. “Have you talked to your mother yet?”
Right. I said I’d try to get her to drop the suit. “She’s been texting me all morning. I’m afraid to look.”
“You better check it. You know what will happen if she’s left to her own devices.” He scoffed.
I sighed and pulled the phone out of my bag. “I was so relieved to leaveThe Scoopbehind. When it first ended, I thought it was the end of the world. But then the stress was gone.”
“WasThe Mating Gamethe only job offer you got?” Tina asked. She’d dropped back to walk with us.
“No. I had quite a few. Some of them were for more traditional news outlets. Others were for lifestyle shows. Home makeovers and that sort of thing. But I loved watchingThe Real Werewives. EverythingThe Scoopcovered seemed so temporary. If we blinked, we’d miss the story. And here were these shifters, offering forever. It was my comfort watch.” I turned to Bjorn. “Did you get any other offers?”
He nodded. “Some sports stuff, nature stuff, but I’d never had the chance to work for shifters before, which madeThe Mating Gameattractive to me. Then I came to Sunset Springs and met Beebs, and every other offer was off the table.”
Tina nodded. “My next question is for both of you. How did you feel when you found out that you’d be working with each other again?”
I looked at Bjorn. “Wanna go first?”
He shook his head. There was my infuriating bear. “After you.”
“I was furious. I felt like I’d been set up because that was what I was used to atThe Scoop. Making things as uncomfortable as possible. This ridiculous sense of competition when we should’ve been working together as a team. But I didn’t want to get a reputation as a problem in the industry, so I did my best to grin and bear it.”
