The Pretend Marriage: A Werewolf Romance Read Online Free Page B

have a photo of your wife?” He gestures to the framed photographs around the office. “As you can see, I’m very proud of my family.”
    That much is obvious.
    “I . . . uh . . . ” Jake begins.
    “The other candidate who was here earlier, Jeff Hirsch, was showing me pictures of his beautiful family. He has a baby on the way.”
    “Uh . . . ” Jake hurriedly takes his cellphone out. “I have a photo of my wife. It’s not a very good one, but we, uh, have a healthy relationship.”
    He presses the camera icon and the first photo which flashes out is Terry’s rump pose.
    Gawd!
    Jake feels like banging his head repeatedly against the glass table.
    How do I get into these things?
    Peter chuckles as he takes Jake’s iPhone. “She is certainly what my father would call a dish in his day.”
    Kind of, Jake thinks. If she’s not throwing dishes at him.
    “She’s, uh, one of a kind,” he allows.
    “ It really does look as if you have a healthy physical relationship,” Peter says admiringly. “It must be great to be young again.”
    “It is. Comes with a lot of energy and verve . . . which is . . . great for the boardroom as well.” Jake smiles his most winning smile.
    Jeff Hirsch. He must Google the name and see if the guy is on LinkedIn. If he a shifter as well? Wolf?
    “So I’ll be expecting you then, Jake.” Peter stands up and offers his hand for Jake to shake again. “ Get the details from Sam. He will give you the GPS coordinates on how to get there, though you probably have your own wolf’s honing instinct. Looking forward to seeing you then.”
    “I won’t miss it for the world.”
    “And your wife too.”
    “Uh, yeah. I won’t forget to bring her along.”
    Jake is beginning to wonder if he can make an excuse for the non-presence of his ‘wife’. Menstrual cramps? Family emergency? Sudden attack of appendicitis? But what if he shows up without someone on his arm and Jeff Hirsch shows up with a pregnant-at-almost-term-so-you-have-to-give-me-the-job wife?
    Decisions . . . decisions . . .
    In a sudden burst of panic, he lets himself out of the door to meet the smiling Sam, who is probably already primed to expect two new guests to the weekend retreat.
    He i s cornered.
    Now how the hell is he going to convince Terry Contralto, who thinks he is lower than kitchen sink scum, to be his pretend wife for the weekend . . . and possibly longer than that if he gets the job?’

6
     
    Terry looks at the array of items laid out painstakingly on the floor. She wonders how much they would fetch at a garage sale. Thank goodness Burt didn’t take any of these, but maybe he didn’t recognize their value.
    There is her mother’s music box – an antique family heirloom passed down the Contralto women for four generations. She supposes it will fetch quite a sum at an antique store. But oh, her heart prickles at the thought of parting with it! She would never hear the end of it from her mother!
    But what if Shep loses his place in college over something as trivial as non-payment of semester fees?
    Then there is her platinum necklace. Burt was obviously more interested in hard cash than to take anything flimsy. Or maybe he didn’t recognize platinum when he saw it. The necklace was given to her by her father on her sixteenth birthday before he was killed in a car crash the very next day, and so it holds a lot of painful memories.
    Tears pool in Terry’s eyes and she blinks them back fiercely.
    I won’t, won’t cry!
    A knock comes on her door. She lets out a click of exasperation and hastily wipes her eyes with the back of her hand.
    She raises her voice as she strides to the door. “I thought I said I’d have the rent for you by tomorrow!”
    Hang on. She has learned her lesson. See who it is first, then open – to avoid those awful door shoving encounters.
    She peers through the peephole, expecting to see the swaggering specter of Dwayne outside. To her surprise, Jake Savage stands out there, looking