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I grabbed the glass of water on the bedside table and finished it off, hoping I wasn’t boring Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome to death with my life story.
“When I was away at school, my parents got a call from a group of snow leopard shifters. The person on the phone said as one of the few snow leopard shifters left, it was my duty to mate with one of our own and continue the line. They’d matched me with someone already!” I snorted. “As if I’d do that after they basically told me I was useless.”
“What did your parents say?”
“Dad laughed in his face. He told them I was my own person now and didn’t live with them anymore. Nothing happened after that for a while. I was already here in Darlington getting my degree. I’d looked for years for another snow leopard shifter.”
“Did you ever find one?”
“Nope. I’ve met tons of big cat shifters, but no snow leopards. I guess wearepretty rare. Anyway, about two weeks ago my parents got a surprise visit from some guy and his scary-looking thugs. With his expensive suit he straight-up looked like a Triad gangster from a movie. And he was looking for me.
“Mom told him I didn’t live there anymore. She lied and said we didn’t really keep in touch so she didn’t know where I was. Then she called me to warn me.”
I could feel Gunnar’s body stiffen beside mine.
“I started getting calls the next day. I don’t know how they got my number, and I ignored the calls at first, but then they left a message saying they knew where I lived and were coming to pick me up and to have all my affairs in order. The next time they called, I picked up. That was on Wednesday.”
Fuck. Only two days ago. It felt like a lifetime ago that I’d had a normal life.
“I politely reminded the man on the phone that I couldn’t even shift and that I doubted they wanted me. But he was adamant that any unmarried female with snow leopard genes was required to be part of the breeding program to save the line. So I lied and said I was already engaged.”
Gunnar nodded. “And what did he say then?”
“He said he didn’t care! And that if I was still unmarried by the time he got here, then I had to go with him. This is why I must miraculously get hitched this weekend.”
“And why you were rip-roaring drunk on a Thursday night and asking me to marry you.”
“Yeah.” I fidgeted. “Plus, my job let me go yesterday,andmy landlord suddenly wants to sell the place. When it rains, it pours, you know? Like, where am I supposed to find someone willing to be my pretend husband at such short notice? I thought of paying someone to do it, but even then, I’d only have four…no, three now…days to get it done. I’m screwed.”
“I’ll do it.”
“What?” I must still be dreaming.
“I’ll do it. You don’t even need to pay me. “
I shook my head, sure I was going to wake up at any moment. “Really?”
“Why not? It’s Friday. We still have the rest of today and the whole weekend. I know a guy who can get the license to us in an hour, as long as we have all the documentation we need.”
“You’re serious?” I searched his face. He looked completely sincere. “What’s the catch?”
He cocked his head, and something flashed hungrily in his eyes. “You’ll stay here with me, and we’ll continue what we started last night.”
“So, you’re saying you’re willing to be my fake fiancé with benefits?”
He shrugged. “It would make it more believable. Unless you’re not—”
“Sold! I’ll do it!” I wasn’t going to give him the chance to second-guess himself on this. I was about to jump his bones last night anyway; might as well get a solution to my problems out of it.
He stood, grinning, and opened a drawer in his bedside table. He fished out an enormous gold ring with a rectangular ruby on it and knelt between my knees.
“Lillian, will you marry me?” He held up the large ring in front of me.
Man, I wished he was saying it for real. “Yes. Gunnar. I will.”
As he slipped the giant ring on my thumb—because there was no way that thing was going to fit on my ring finger—I giggled at how ridiculous this all was. What a strange couple of days this was turning out to be.
My stomach took this moment to complain about how empty it was. One reason the alcohol had hit me so hard last night was because I’d skipped dinner, having had no appetite after my fucked up day.
