Desperately Seeking Shapeshifter (9 page)

How ironic. The fake relationship with Ramsey was to
prevent
me from being coerced into a relationship. I glanced down the hall, then back at my sister. I spoke low enough that Connor couldn’t hear it. “There’s a slight problem here. How am I supposed to date him when we have Connor crawling up our asses?”

She gave me a wry shrug. “We’ll hook him up through the agency. It’ll be like double-dating.”

I groaned. This was worse than bad. “Do I even have a choice?”

“Not really.”

I sighed. “Okay. I’ll talk to Ramsey.”

She toyed with the end of her long ponytail. “That’s what Beau’s doing right now. I’m guessing he’ll be back any minute.”

Ramsey
was
back a few moments later, and he looked ready to kill something. He stormed back into the office, sat in one of the chairs in the waiting area, and began to text feverishly. I watched him for a minute, fascinated at how fast his big hands moved on that tiny phone.

Bath returned to her desk and gave me a meaningful look.

I glanced over at Ramsey. “I hate to keep you here all day. If you want to head off to work, I’ll be just fine.”

His angry glare softened as he looked over at
me. “Not leaving while the wolf is sniffing around you.”

Ah. “Got it. Well, we might be spending a lot of time together in the next few weeks,” I said in a cheerful voice. “Hope one of you likes to play video games.”

He just went back to texting furiously.

My sister looked appalled at Ramsey’s unfriendliness. I almost smiled. I didn’t mind his silence, and when Ramsey did speak, he was honest. I’d take that over the wolves’ playful antagonism any day. I’d figured out that his silence was simply him processing his thoughts, thinking through his words. He knew he intimidated people, so he chose his words carefully.

I had to admire that. When I got nervous, I had verbal diarrhea.

Ryder and Connor came out of the back office a short time later. Ryder immediately went to her desk and began to upload the pictures she’d taken, while Connor resumed his spot on the opposite side of my desk, ignoring Ramsey’s glare. He finished his breakfast without a word, then dusted off his hands. “So, tonight Uncle Levi’s having a barbeque so you can spend time with the pack.”

The back of my neck shivered in anxiety. Just what I needed—a night full of more wolves. “Can’t,” I said. “I have a date.”

“Cancel it,” Connor said. “It’s important that you spend time with the wolves. Your alpha—”

A large shadow loomed over my desk, and Ramsey
glared down at Connor. The younger shifter froze.

“You telling my mate she can’t go out with me?” Ramsey’s voice was barely audible, it was such a low growl.

“Nope,” Connor drawled. “Maybe tomorrow night on the barbeque, then. I’ll tell my uncle that there’s been a change in plans.”

“Maybe,” Ramsey said in a dangerous voice, then cracked his knuckles. “If she’s up to it.”

“Got it,” Connor said hoarsely and got up. “Gonna make a phone call.”

I beamed at Ramsey, adopting my happily-mated-woman persona. “I know just the place, too, Huggy Bear. I’ll make the reservation.”

He moved to the side of my desk, touched my hair, and leaned in to kiss my forehead. As his lips brushed my skin, he murmured, “Quit calling me that stupid name.”

“I’m not so sure this is a good idea,” I told my sister for the tenth time as she shoved another dress through the file room door at me.

“Nonsense. I’m sure you’ve worn a dress once or twice in your life. Just let me know which one you like and I’ll return the others to the store.”

“I don’t mean that the
dress
is a bad idea,” I retorted, shimmying into the next dress she tossed over and adjusting the straps. It was cute, I had to admit. Spaghetti straps and a vivid orangey red,
with a decorative seam just under the bust to emphasize my lack of said bust.

“Hurry up,” called Bathsheba. “You and Ramsey have to go across town, and you can’t be late for your reservation, or you’ll lose it. And I need to get there and set up as well.”

I groaned at her bossy tone and turned, checking my reflection in the mirror. Cute, but I saw a panty line. I stripped my panties off. No time to do more shopping—I’d just go commando. It’s not like it was a real date, after all. “I’m hurrying,” I called out, gave the dress one last glimpse, then slipped into the strappy black heels she’d bought for me. I was sure to break an ankle in these.

Bath brightened at the sight of me as I stepped out of the file room. “You look adorable.” She reached over and yanked off the tag under my armpit. “I’m going to go return the others, and then I’m heading over to the restaurant. I’ll text you if I need anything.”

“You know you don’t have to come. I’m a big girl. I can date Ramsey on my own.” Heck, I’d cuddled against him in bed last night. A fake date should be easy after that.

Bath squeezed my arm with excitement. “I know, but I want to do this. I’m going to go set up in a dark booth across the room. I’ll be watching you and a few other couples. The harpy has a date, and so does one of the jaguar girls, and I want to make sure neither one loses their temper.”

Sounded like my sister was going to have a full
evening. Neither species was known for its calm manner. “You’re going to hide behind plants and snoop. Got it.”

“That’s my job,” she agreed, sounding way too excited about it. She loved to manage people. “Now, remember to leave your cell phone on. I’ll text you if I think you guys need some help looking legit. There’s going to be a lot of shifters there tonight.”

Chapter Seven

R
amsey was characteristically silent on the drive to the restaurant, which was all right with me—I didn’t feel much like talking.

Connor had left earlier with my sister, anxious and a little bit fidgety. Bath had begged him to fill in on a last-minute cancellation. She had a prickly female jaguar shifter who was one of our more difficult clients. Connor hadn’t been interested, but my sister had cajoled and pleaded with him. He’d be at the restaurant anyhow, right? Why not help her out with this small thing? It’d be the perfect chance to observe me with Ramsey from afar. She’d even pay for the dinner.

Connor had still balked. My sister hadn’t given up, though, and in the end, the werewolf had agreed and had spent a decent amount of time poking around on the database that afternoon. I was pretty sure he’d done it so he could snoop through Savannah’s profile without one of us looming over his shoulder. Either way, he was going on a date with a very different cat shifter, and he wasn’t thrilled.
My sister was, though; she kept casting me satisfied looks. Bath viewed it as a favor to me—keep my wolf bodyguard out of my hair so I could relax.

The problem was that I was going to pretend in public that I adored Ramsey. Not relaxing in the slightest.

When the car stopped, I slid out of the truck and smoothed my dress, feeling out of my element, nervous and jittery, like a cat in a room full of rocking chairs.

Ramsey loomed over me like some sort of irritated god. “Come on,” he growled. His hand cradled my elbow as he began to propel me forward, pulling me close to his side. I had no choice but to follow. His jaw rigid, he gave his last name to the maitre d’ in an almost growl. “Bjorn. Party of two.”

As the maitre d’ led us into the restaurant, I stole a furtive look at my date. Ramsey cleaned up nicely—I’d give him that. His long, windblown blond waves had been tamed with a comb, and his typical three-day growth of scruff was gone, revealing a chiseled jawline. His dark eyes were vivid in his tanned face, and his brows were irritated slashes over them.

Ramsey looked sexy and fierce, perhaps a little
too
fierce. Nothing about his posture or his expression spoke of a man ridiculously in love with the woman at his side. This might be a problem.

We were led to a table right in the middle of the restaurant. I’d been hoping for something secluded, but that wouldn’t fit with my sister’s scheme for us
to be seen. Connor was several tables away, looking awkward as he faced a chatting woman in a too-tight pink dress who waved her hands in the air as she spoke. I felt a momentary twinge of pity for him. Jayde Sommers was nice enough. She was also demanding and bossy and domineering. She was nothing like Savannah. I watched his miserable gaze flick over to my table, as if he’d been desperate to crawl over to it and escape his date.

Ramsey moved to pull out my chair. As I sat down, he pushed my chair in, leaned over, and whispered, “Smile.”

Guess he wasn’t the only one bad at pretending. I flashed him a wide smile as he sat down across from me, unbuttoning the front of his jacket with graceful hands, as if he’d worn a suit every day.

I laid my napkin in my lap. “I appreciate your doing this, Ramsey.”

He smiled at me, but it seemed more like a baring of teeth than actual pleasure. “I didn’t have a choice. Beau’s orders.”

Well, that made
two
men totally miserable in their dates tonight. I kept the sweet smile pasted to my face and was glad that the low murmur of the restaurant would muffle our voices from other nosy shifters. “You were quick to volunteer to be my mate, though. If you didn’t want to pretend with me, you should have said something earlier.”

Ramsey gave me an odd look. “This is serious, Sara.”

As if I didn’t know? It was my life at stake. I bit
back my reply when the waiter appeared, introducing himself to us and reciting the day’s specials. Ramsey was watching me, not the waiter, and the look in his eyes was intense. Well, at least one of us was good at all this pretending.

“I’ll order for you,” Ramsey said, turning to the waiter.

Ordering for me? I hadn’t realized that
bear-shifter
was some sort of secret code word for
Neanderthal in public.
Why was Ramsey being such a jerk? If this was how shifters and their mates acted, I didn’t like it. The purse in my lap began to vibrate, and I pulled out my phone. A text from my sister.

Your smile looks more like a snarl,
she had sent.
Dial it back a little. The harpy is here with her date now, and they noticed the two of you. You guys need to look like you’re having a great time and in love.

I forced my mouth to relax and tried to imagine Ramsey as my real “mate.” He was good looking, I’d give him that. Tall and broad and fierce. He’d make any woman’s panties damp.

Not that I was wearing panties.

A movement caught my attention, and I spotted my sister talking to the maitre d’ and pointing out tables. The maitre d’ nodded and made notes on his clipboard. Clearly one of my sister’s minions. She tended to send first dates to the same restaurants over and over again, probably because she could manipulate the situation the way she wanted it.

Typical.

“She’ll have the T-bone steak, with asparagus
and potatoes,” Ramsey told the waiter, drawing my attention back to him. “Extra rare on the steak. Same thing for me.”

When the waiter left, I looked over at Ramsey with concern. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.” A nice bloody steak sounded good—almost too good. The wolf in me was practically salivating at the thought. And that worried me a little.

Ramsey gave me a look of disgust. “You wanted a salad?”

I laughed at that. His expression was a true shifter’s reaction. “No, not a salad. I guess I should just be glad you didn’t order something blatant, like lobster tail.”

He snorted.

I picked up my water glass and took a sip. “Oh, come on. Isn’t that what guys think? They buy the date a lobster tail and she puts out because he tossed a few dollars in her direction?”

Ramsey’s gaze focused on my face, his body stiff. “This isn’t about putting out.”

I hadn’t expected such quick, focused attention, and I blinked rapidly, then laughed, trying to defuse my words. “Aren’t we supposed to put out if we’re a couple? Isn’t that expected?”

He grunted, the intense, searching look leaving his face, and crossed his arms over his chest. “Not everyone thinks like that.”

“I work at a dating agency,” I reminded him. “Trust me, everyone thinks like that.” I thought for a moment, then fiddled with the napkin in my lap.

Silence fell between us, but unlike before, it wasn’t laced with tension—it was a normal, awkward sort of date silence, when two people who don’t know each other try to think of something to say.

My cell phone went off in my lap again.

TALK,
my sister sent.

“I think we need to flirt a little more,” I whispered to Ramsey.

“Right.”

“So, uh, what do you do?” I blurted. Lord, this was starting to be as awkward as a real date.

“I work for Beau.”

I knew that, dummy.
“But what do you do for Beau? Are you a security guard?”

He looked as if he didn’t know how to answer that. “I do what Beau needs done.”

“Is that what’s on your resumé?” I grinned. “Or does it say that you specialize in knocking heads together?” He was cute when he was flustered.

Ramsey leaned in, looking for all the world as if he’d been sharing an intimate secret with me. “I work in Alliance enforcement. I make sure they’re protected.”