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Chapter 1 – Jake
Chapter 2 – Zoe
Chapter 3 – Jake
Chapter 4 – Zoe
Chapter 5 – Jake
Chapter 6 - Zoe
Chapter 7 - Jake
Chapter 8 - Zoe
Chapter 9 – Jake
Chapter 10 – Zoe
Chapter 11 – Jake
Chapter 12 – Zoe
Chapter 13 – Jake
Chapter 14 – Zoe
About the Author
Books by Ruby Knoxx
Contents
story ... but no, if Jake was going to be working for him, he deserved at least a couple of pieces of the unusual picture forming in his head to be properly filled out by the master painter.
Instead of being specific, he decided to keep the question more general and let Mark tell him what he wanted to tell.
"What has been keeping you here?" Jake said. "It's an awesome pad, yeah, but it has to be lonely."
"It is, at times, but once, long ago, I chose the loner life. It is my duty to stick to it now, at least until the time is right."
Personally, Jake didn't think he could go more than a day or two without the comfort of a gorgeous woman in his bed, and he was already running through the options in his head. The charmer that he was, someone was always willing to go home with him for a bit of fun.
"And is that time now?" Jake asked. "You're coming out for the first time in ... how long?"
Mark grinned. "A decade. I look forward to seeing the outside world for the first time in so long."
"Wow."
That actually left Jake speechless for a second.
"A whole decade in this place?" He looked around again. It was well-stocked, airy, cozy, but there was no way he could be here all the time alone. "You're made of tougher stuff than me."
And it made him reallycurious as to why Mark was changing his mind now. That had to be related to why he planned on hiring Jake as security.
"It wasn't entirely alone. People from my old life came and went for a time, but it has been a while since I've seen another face beyond food delivery."
Based on his first impression, Mark seemed like a cool guy that Jake wanted to get to know better. Maybe he would while working with him, but one thing that tripped him up was how wolves
usually operated in packs. Jake had always been a bit of a loner, but he was a tiger shifter, so that was expected.
But he had been a part of a clan for a while—one that sought to unify all sorts of magical folk together. He'd gotten himself kicked out for sleeping around too much and the resulting drama, even though it hadn't really been his fault. There were times that he regretted not handling the situation better, but in a roundabout kind of way, he sort of understood the loneliness Mark had to feel—at least, probably a similar vein, if to a much smaller degree.
"I'd offer to take you out for celebratory drinks, or maybe show you the town—Marhan is a great city—" Jake said, and then grinned, "but then you would need a third person to actually guard your place, huh?"
Mark laughed. "Thanks for the offer, but I don't plan on going into the city just yet. Just ..." He hesitated, and something crossed his face, as if he were deciding whether to trust Jake with his secrets. "I'll be going deeper into the forest, in truth. It won't be some time still until I go to the city, if at all."
Jake opened his mouth to ask more questions, but Mark clapped his hands together. "Regardless, let's give you the grand tour, the security route, and set you up for work? We'll have more time to get to know each other later. Unfortunately, I'm on a bit of a time crunch today."
"Sure. Show me what you've got."
Over the next hour or so, Mark showed Jake the grounds and security route. From outside, it really was hard to tell that a mansion was built out of the side of the hill even with Jake now knowing to look for it. Not only that, but it was protected by several layers of trees built around the hilly area around the house that acted like barriers and safeguards should anyone actually find this place.
If Jake was going to be expected to walk this route several times during Mark's absence, he wasn't sure how effective a security guard he would be. The route was too big—it would take at least
bring out here, and I have high hopes for you." He placed a hand firmly on the book. "Read it, and prove me right."
The book had to be a thousand pages thick! All of it would be, no doubt, technical and boring, too. But it was part of Jake's job now ... and chances were, he'd be spending a lot of time out in the woods like this, monitoring cameras with no activity on them. What else was he going to have to do?
He thought back to his plans for later this evening—the same ones he had every night. A woman in his bed, maybe even a nice meal to celebrate the new job. He would have to decide on which lucky lady would come with him tonight.
Jake dusted off the cover of the book. There was no text, just cracked and faded black. "I'll prove you right, Mr. Callahan."
"Good. Now I'll leave you to it. I've got a lot of work to do, and now so do you."
Jake watched Mark leave, and when the metal door clicked behind him, Jake turned to appreciate the array of screens and buttons again. Damn, there were so many it made him cross-eyed just looking at them.
Most of the screens monitored the exterior of the mansion, the spots between the trees, any place that someone from outside could use to approach the fortress-like house. Those cameras remained steady, while most pointed indoors rotated around periodically.
Only last week, Jake had moved into a new place—a nice townhouse, a bit out of the way from downtown Marhan, but he liked the location. It was a huge upgrade from his previous little apartment in the sketchier part of town. He was super happy with the new place, but it was hard to come into some rich guy's mansion like this and not feel like he'd surely been doing something wrong with his life if he was happy with a little townhouse when Mark, who had lived here in isolation for a decade, had enough money to build this place in his early twenties.
Maybe he would learn Mark's secrets at some point. In the meantime ... he planted himself in the monitor's chair and scanned the screens with newfound concentration. If anyone was going to make a move against Mark, Jake was going to stop them.
After about ten minutes of concentrated looking, Jake realized that it was going to be a lot harder to keep his eyes peeled than he expected. He wiped a twinge of exhaustion from his eyes, and as he did so, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
His hand hovered. He was supposed to be working, but nothing was happening. He glanced over at the book, a thousand pages thick, waiting for him to open the cover. If that was the only other option, his phone definitely seemed like the more entertaining choice.
For the first day, the world wouldn't explode if he didn't start reading right away, right?
Jake tapped his phone screen, bringing up his latest text message. It was from Laurie, one of the women he got together with often, and it seemed she was thinking the same thing as him:
Heyhandsome,busytonight?
He grinned cheekily and responded: Suream.Maybeyou'llbe theoneI'mbusywith.
A second later, Laurie said, What'sitgoingtotaketogetme onthewinningdocket?
Jake's grin broadened while he considered his response. Laurie hadn't actually been one of his main choices for the night— she was fun to hang out with, and they were like-minded. He always had a few women at the ready, just like she always had a couple of guys of her own. That was their style.
For Jake, everyone he slept with knew his rules: he was all about casual fun. Never, ever anything serious. The second he got a whiff of any real emotions, he cut ties and ran. It wasn't that he wanted to hurt anyone; in fact, that was exactly what he wanted to avoid.
sex. She'd lied to him about her relationship status, and that was a no-go for him.
While he was debating what to say in response, she texted again: Youlyingpieceofshit.
That irked Jake. Ineverliedtoyou,it'snotmystyle.I'm sorryIhurtyou,thatwasnevermyintention,buttherewasclearly amiscommunicationbetweenusthatcan'tbeundone,he typed back to her.
That was him being incredibly polite. As with all the women he fooled around with, he was always clear about the expectations when he got involved with someone. He never lied about what he did, and for those who asked, he was always open about how many women he was seeing at a time.
In this instance, Ruth was the liar. She wasn't just in a relationship, she was married.
His phone buzzed again. You'rejustoneofthoseguys.Tap thatandfuckingrunbecauseyoucan'thandleanyresponsibility.
In part, maybe she was right. Jake wasn't the kind of guy to want kids, and Ruth had two. But he wasn't opposed to some MILF action every now and again, and he had still slept with her under the impression that she understood that he wasn't interested in a relationship.
He started typing a response, but deleted it when she responded again:
ThesecondIthoughtweweregettingseriousyoucutand runlikeeveryotherdickwadontheplanet.Youcheatingpieceof trash.
Jake sighed; he clearly wasn't getting anywhere with her. Look,IthoughtImadeitclearatthestart.Idon'tdorelationships oremotions,andIdefinitelydon'tdomarriedwomen.Iexplicitly toldyouthatwhenyousaidyouhadkids.I'mnotanadvocatefor cheating.
youbetter.Pleasedon'ttakethispersonally,I'mjustnotlookingfor romanceofanykindrightnow.
Even if he was, Ruth wouldn't be the first on his list to call up for a real date. He wasn't lying when he said he enjoyed her as a person, but kids were a deal-breaker for him; he didn't think he was dad material. Either way, she was married, and he wasn't interested in dating, so it was a moot point.
He glanced at that massive tome again, debating whether to just turn off his phone and try and swamp through as much work as possible as an excuse to ignore Ruth for the time being. However ... before he was brave enough to open the cover again, his phone buzzed one more time.
Please,toallofthemagicintheworld,letitnotbeRuth, he thought. Or if it was her, let her understand what he was trying to get across.
He peeked at the notification, and was relieved to find it not from Ruth, but Alexa. She said, Icanmaketimeforyouanynight. Whatdoyouhaveinmind?
With a breath of relief, Jake typed another text: TonightI'm celebrating.Newjob,newplace.Wannahelpmebreakitinaftera nicedinner?
Careful,she responded, oryou'llmakeitsoundlikeyouwant tospoilagirl.What'sgottenintoyou?
Strangeday,butI'dliketoenditonahighnote.I'llpickyou upat6?
Surething.TurnsoutI'vegotalittlesomethingtocelebrate too—I'lltellyouallaboutitatdinner .
With a smile, Jake closed the conversation. Tonight would be a good one; it always was with Alexa. They understood each other, and he was curious what she was in the mood to celebrate.
A second later, he received a text from Laurie, too: You'llhave tomakeituptome,butnextweekwilldo.
She was put in a spot where she had to acknowledge that maybe those cute moments only really happened in stories. She always imagined herself as the sexy heroine who just needed the right opportunity to make the guy of her dreams notice her.
Was Kevin that guy? Who knew? But she sure as heck wouldn't complain about getting a little something-something from him outside of work hours, if you catch her drift.
But he never asked her out. It wasn't like he seemed completely oblivious to her—he waved to her in the mornings, they chatted on breaks every now and then, and she was pretty sure she caught him staring at her boobs once or twice.
The longer Zoe waited for something to happen, the more she worried it might never come to pass. What if he already had a girlfriend? What if he just wasn't interested?
Ugh, and the more she thought about it ... the quicker her nerves started popping up in her head like bad pimples during that time of the month.
She tightened her fist around the next box of cereal, the cardboard flexing beneath her fingers. She wasn't going to let her nerves keep getting to her. Maybe meet-cute moments weren't in the cards for her, but she wasn't going to pass up on a guy she was interested in just because he didn't act first. She was fully capable of recognizing what she wanted and going for it.
Worst he could do was say no, right?
Zoe placed the next box in its rightful place, and while she wheeled the cart further down the aisle, she got another good look at Kevin. He and their shift manager—everyone called him Old Man George—were laughing about something Zoe couldn't quite pick up on—they were too far away.
It'd been too long since she last went out on a date or been in a relationship, and she was sick of living alone in her little apartment—god, it had been too long since she had sex.
Today was going to be the day. Zoe would ask Kevin out.
Zoe's jaw dropped, half in a desperate attempt to make herself believe he didn't just say that. No way. Her mouth opened and closed while she searched for something to say. A witty retort, a dismissal, a sick diss to put him in his place.
She found nothing. She'd opened herself up, made herself vulnerable by admitting she was interested in him, and he grabbed her and cut her straight to the core.
Yeah, maybe Zoe wasn't your typical slim, strawberry blonde beauty, but she was comfortable as her curvy self. She'd lived selfconsciously about herself for long enough, now she wasn’t going to keep acting like there was something wrong with her.
She was usedto being treated like this. That didn't mean it didn't hurt every damn time someone she liked threw it back in her face.
"Yeah, well," Zoe said, her voice cracking, "assholes like you aren't mytype either."
Kevin chuckled. "I'm just saying it like it is. Don't try and tell me you didn't want some of this just a second ago." He gestured to himself like he was supposed to be worth something, but before her very eyes, he became less attractive by the second. "I treat my body like a temple, do you?"
Tears pricked in Zoe's eyes, but she wasn't going to let them fall—not before she got angry. Warmth flushed through her, and she ground her teeth.
"You might be physically attractive, but so what?" she spat. "Take a look at your mind and attitude. Those are what really matter in a person, and now I see just how rotten and ugly you are to the core." Zoe turned away.
"Don't try talking back to me like you had this under control— you were the one mistaken thinking you ever had a chance with me," Kevin said.
Zoe had been intent to just leave it at that, but she whirled back and added, "I completely misjudged what kind of person you
She dug deeper into her ice cream, and then groaned when she heard the scrape of her spoon on cardboard. She was almost out already! A peek into the container showed that there were really only a few scoops left, and she'd barely gotten started on her moping.
Zoe jammed her spoon into the remaining chocolate and brownies, breaking them up into more chunks while she thought. She couldn't mope around forever, and honestly, Kevin wasn't worth burning any more brain cells on.
But he did represent one of the larger obstacles as a curvy woman. Maybe it really was time for her to give up on searching for love and rather let it come to her instead of begrudging the universe for not giving her a meet-cute with the right person.
Maybe she really was meant to be a dog mom. Or ... her heart rate picked up as a more exciting thought came to her: maybe becoming a dog mom would help her encounter the guy she was meant to be with?
She bit her lip in thought, tempted by the idea. That surely made the leap of getting a dog so much more captivating, and less like she was giving up on love and more searching for different ways to approach her situation.
It would be tough to take care of an animal without a job, though. Or pay her bills at all. That was an obstacle she would figure out tomorrow, though. Right now, finding a way to comfort her wounded pride and look toward a brighter life seemed far more important and a dog would accomplish that much quicker than reentering the realities of the minimum wage job market.
She placed the mostly-eaten carton of ice cream on the table, slipped her laptop out from under the couch, and began her search for the perfect dog. She'd always wanted a rottie or black lab, but considering her current living situation in a tiny apartment, that wasn't going to happen any time soon. More realistically, she had to look at smaller breeds ... maybe a chihuahua? Bichon? Pomeranian?
She'd never owned a dog before, and from the research she'd done over the years, she learned that chihuahuas were one of the most low-maintenance breeds, but were just as lovable despite their size. Although she liked the look of the fluffy Pomeranians more, Zoe wasn't going to turn away any little ball of love that caught her eye.
The smartest way to approach the acquisition of a new dog seemed to be going to one of the nearby shelters. There were tons of them in Miami, and probably tons of chihuahuas, too. A quick Google search brought up a dozen different results for shelters, and Zoe was determined to search every single one if that was what it took to find the right match for her.
She went to click on the top search result, but right as she did, a bright pink and red ad flashed on her screen. Sweet spaghetti, was that even legal? It was practically seizure-inducing! She went to close it without even losing, but the ad actually caught her eye.
Right at the top, it said in big bold red letters: LOVE AWAITS!
Okay, she was a sucker for love, who would have guessed?
Despite her borderline-traumatic day, she slowed her clickhappy tendencies for a second long enough to glance over the rest of the ad.
Adogisn'tyouronlyopportunityforloveinappreciation.The loveofyourlifeiswaiting!
Don'tmissoutonyourchancetoregisterandgetmatched. TrueloveGUARANTEED!
Huh, that was one hell of a targeted ad. It must be more common than she thought for someone to give up on love and immediately go buy a dog. But how did anyone but her know what was going through her head? It was not like she announced her intentions on social media, and she even avoided ranting about what happened to her best friend Lucy because she wasn't looking for sympathy.
It had to be a scam, right? Just another one of those dating sites, like those that claimed "hot local women" were waiting ... but
it was actually chat bots and a whole lotta viruses.
Still, even though Zoe's better judgment screamed don'teven thinkaboutfallingforthat! she really was a sucker for love, and at this point, despite her earlier claims, she wasgetting desperate.
Like, to the point where she was on the verge of yelling out her window 'OK, what does it take for a chick to get some decent dick around here!'
Yeah, pretty desperate.
She was willing to risk chat bots and potential viruses for a hot minute. If she went to the site, and her alarm bells kept ringing, she could reverse out of there and go back to looking at dog shelters. Hopefully with her laptop intact.
With a deep breath, Zoe clicked the link.
The ad immediately brought her to a matching website which actually looked classier and more modern than the ad itself, which was more like something transported right out of the 90s where eye mutilation was in fashion.
The website wasn't what she expected at all. It was a mail order bride agency, and the front page talked about a woman named Justine who had found the love of her life and now dedicated a significant portion of her time helping others—like Zoe, presumably —find theirmatches.
That was way more personal than she expected, if she was being completely honest. It almost sounded ... legitimate. She clicked the link fully accepting the risk of accidentally finding herself with a first-class seat on a titty stream or on a page demanding credit card info before she could be "matched" with anyone, but the more she read, the more impressed she became.
Despite the professional and non-predatory feel of the site, she still had one hangup: weren't mail order brides supposed to be a thing where rich old guys ordered young beautiful women from abroad? Or, you know, like one step away from sex trafficking?
This didn't seem like that at all ... in fact, there was a whole page dedicated to MailOrderBrideshaveabadrep,butwhatwedo isdifferent.
Zoe leaned back, polishing off the rest of her ice cream. "So they only send American brides to other locations in America? Interesting ..."
All she had to do was sign up, provide all the information the site asked for, and kick back and wait for her ideal husband to pop up. If she got cold feet at the last second, there was even the option to cancel ... but the site also stated that very few who went through with it were dissatisfied enough to feel the need to do so.
Either this was an extremely elaborate phishing scam, or she'd stumbled onto something real.
Never in a million years had she expected to admit it, but the longer she spent on the website, the more she was convinced this was real. Sitting on this bright pink website, trying to decide whether to take the leap or not began to feel less like a desperate cry for any kind of love and affection and more like she'd stumbled upon one of Willy Wonka's golden tickets.
Was she just that gullible?
She sowanted to believe she wasn't crazy for seriously considering this. But none of her alarm bells were ringing anymore— her whole body was practically screaming YES!! trying to convince her to stop thinking and just actfor once.
And so, finally, she mustered the courage to set up an application. If it all turned out to be a lie and her identity was stolen by someone in India? She'd figure it out.
She always had her backup plan of just adopting a dog in her back pocket, after all.