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He smiles, but this time it is authentic, and it reaches his eyes. There is something about it that says he doesn’t do that often enough. “You will smell like my pack. I’m sure Dean will nuzzle you.”
“Dean?” My voice cracks.
“Part of my pack. Don’t worry, Dean has the nickname of Saint, and it isn’t because he’s nefarious.”
“So not like you?” I lift a brow, and he scowls. It sends a thrill through me to poke at him, probably not the best reaction since he is an alpha that the omega in me is ready to surrender to, and I’m not even in a heat.
“Baby girl, you don’t know the half of it,” he says, his voice dropping to an almost whisper that makes my tummy flip uncomfortably.
The car comes to a halt outside an expensive-looking office building, and he leans back into his seat, his eyes fixed on me.
“If I’m supposed to act like your omega in public, I should probably know your name.”
My ears ring as I wait for him to confirm his identity.
Surprise filters across his features. “You don’t know who I am?”
I widen my eyes at him. “Should I?” A half laugh follows the question.
“Austin Zade,” he says. He stretches his hand between us as if I’m going to shake it. I look from him to his long fingers.
“Well, Austin Zade, the first thing you should know is I don’t touch people.”
It’s him. A Mafia Prince acting like a high-class suit. Am I in some kind of fever dream?
His fingers curl in, and he withdrawals the offered hand, reaching for a button on the armrest next to him. He lowers the privacy window a crack.
“You can let us out. Audrey has agreed to my terms.” His violet gaze rests on me, daring me to contradict him. But why would I? He is going to pay for my rent and make sure we have a roof over our heads. Sure, I have to steal for him and pretend to date him, but it is honestly a better deal than running the streets every day. And if he just doesn't realize who I am, everything will be perfect.
The door pops open, and Austin climbs out before extending a hand to me that I ignore as I climb from the darkness out into the bright morning light. He easily drops his hand again and slides it into his blazer pocket. Once I’m on my feet, he turns and heads into the building, the doorman addressing him by name as I hurry to keep up.
He really is sure of himself and his plan on having me steal for him. But he is right. It is an offer I can’t refuse. One I don’t want to refuse, even if it means being around his unique pheromones. He’s all business now as we pass people who incline their heads at him, almost in a bow. Do they know who they are dealing with?
As we enter a hall lined with elevators, he punches the call button, leading the way into the tiny box once the doors slide open. Everything in this place looks like they coat it in marble or gold. Except for the mirror at my back. I press against the far wall as he hits the button for the top floor. The silence should be unnerving, but it isn’t. He doesn’t feel threatening or dangerous at the moment, maybe because he is clearly getting what he wants.
After we exit the elevator, every single person we pass greets him, and by the time we reach a conference room with floor-to-ceiling windows facing the park, I am pretty sure I have confused him with the Mafia Prince from my memory. It will be the first search I do as soon as I get back to the apartment. Which, after this, will really be mine. I tamp down on the building excitement as he crosses the room and opens a folder that was sitting on the long table.
He slides a thick packet of paper across the table and gestures at the seat in front of it. “The contract.”
I swear my eyebrows reach for the sky as surprise runs through me. He really had this whole thing planned. It is a little awe-inducing.
“Do you want me to sign it in blood, too?” I ask as I flip through pages and pages of words.
He rolls his eyes and settles at the head of the table. “I want you to read it. Understand it. Ask questions you might have about your duties and responsibilities listed. And then sign it.”
With a sigh, I settle in and start reading the thick packet. This would take me all day, maybe longer, with his eyes boring into me and awareness of him spiking each time I feel the caress of his gaze along the side of my face. Is this what it feels like to scent match someone? An intimate awareness of them even if you aren’t looking directly at them? Or maybe it is my oncoming heat forcing an attraction to an alpha that it knows could ease the symptoms.
Whatever it is, it makes me fidget. “Can you stop?” I brush my hair behind my ear but don’t look directly at him.
“Stop?”
“Yeah, stop watching me.”
I sense it as he averts his attention to the folder in front of him. A sort of relief of pressure eases from my chest and I am able to focus on the words on the paper. It is a lot of legal jargon I will never understand. I flip through the pages looking for myduties and responsibilities.
“You should read the whole thing.”
“We both know I’m doing this, no matter what is inside these pages.” I flip to the last page and scrawl my signature across the bottom. Why waste time?
