JT was running late.

Alec tapped his foot restlessly, peering around the armchair’s gold-sprayed molding to peer across the foyer to the front entrance.

More of a hotel than an inn, the L’Oiseau Inn was a luxury hotel in an old, restored six-floored apartment building. Alec had spent many an afternoon dropping in to check on his mother when she took one of her staycations there, holed up with some European friend from her former supermodel career. Always a male friend.

Alec had once thought he’d be glad to put those days to rest. It was tiresome watching out for his flighty, extravert mother. It was more wearying to force her to becoming something she wasn’t: a homebody.

Now, in her condition, Alec wished he was here at the L’Oiseau for another reason… Not that he was complaining once JT pushed through the glass doors, in his head-to-toe black, his leather jacket, heavy boots, and staff appearing to catch the alarmed notice from the front desk.

Before they called in SWAT, Alec zipped out of his seat in the opulent waiting area behind the front desk to cut them off.

“You made it,” Alec said, smiling at the front desk agent who stopped her timid approach. Nodding at her, he hooked his arm around JT and pressed in closer, tilting his head up and gritting out, “Kiss me on the cheek.”

“What?” JT snapped his narrowing gaze to the front desk staff lingering nearby, their distrust of him plain. When he looked back at him though, the alpha merely grunted in acquiescence. He leaned down, closing the space between their faces, and brushed his cool lips over Alec’s cheek.

Alec’s eyes hovered close for a moment, basking in the brief caressing contact with the man he’d been dreaming about for too long, and then he flung his eyelids wide and he said, a bit weakly, “Walk naturally now.”

JT became a pillar of hard-muscled support, carrying Alec over to the bay of elevators. At the big biker’s confused look, Alec explained, “I got us a room…to talk.” He clung to JT until the elevator chimed its arrival and the doors swung open, then he transferred the need for support to the rail inside the lift.

They were alone for the ride up to the third floor. Alec led with the room key in hand. Vintage, it hung on a thread, and it fit the lock perfectly as he twisted the handle and entered the room, aware of JT close behind.

He waited for JT to take in the splendor inside the suite. The management at L’Oiseau Inn prided itself on modern comfort, but with that old, forties touch of glamor, hearkening to the history of the former apartment building.

A biker probably didn’t get to see the inside of the L’Oiseau every day, so Alec used the time to settle himself in. At the wet bar, he opted for rum to warm the cold shakes gripping his body. He needed his anxiety under control by the time he faced JT…literally.

“Drink?” he held up the bottle of rum.

JT gave him a short, jerky headshake. No alcohol for him.

“A soda then?” Alec grabbed a Coke from the fridge, holding up the can.

Pouring himself a glass, he left the bottle by the sink and moved to take the chintz armchair by the floor-to-ceiling window. JT joined him, taking the matching armchair opposite. He accepted the Coke, popping the tab and indulging in a small sip before setting it by his feet.

“Fancy digs.”

Alec smiled. “First time I actually asked for a room here.”

“You seem to know your way around though…and the staff.” JT scoffed softly. “They seemed quick to kick me out.”

Alec’s smile grew larger, a laugh trembling his lips. He could have sworn the alpha was pouting.

“I wouldn’t have showed if I thought the hospitality was shit.”

“It’s not their fault,” Alec said, beaming in the face of JT’s glower. “More like they’re used to caring for a certain clientele base.”

“And I don’t fit the bill.” JT bobbed his head. “I get it.”

“Their loss.” Alec meant the statement as comfort, but JT’s frown deepened.

“It doesn’t affect you,” he said, his hands coming down hard over his knees. “So, this job of yours—why do you need the mate? And don’t tell me it’s none of my business. I’d like to know what I’ll be getting myself into.”

Alec took a generous sip of the rum, the warm, spiced concoction doing wonders to chase away his chilly anxiety. No wonder they called it liquid courage; he wasn’t babbling drunk, but he felt more in control of his words. Because this time he didn’t want to chase JT away. The alpha had to have struggled to call him—he had to have been as desperate as Alec was to actually be even thinking about agreeing to this.

“Or I can walk away,” JT shifted forward, and one look at him confirmed to Alec that the alpha wouldn’t be assailed by guilt if he walked out right now. Guess he needed this more than JT did.

The facial reconstruction surgery clinic in St. Gallen, Switzerland turned out to be pricier than Alec had anticipated, and the clinic director—though welcoming—cooled his friendly tone when Alec inquired about financing options. In his words, “they couldn’t rely on anything but full payments following a series of consultations. In which the patient had plenty of time to save up, ideally.”

As much money as Alec had in his savings, what his mother hadn’t been able to get to and squander on frivolous items of luxury, it wasn’t nearly enough now that his lawyer had called this morning to confirm what he feared most: the hush money his father had been providing first as child care support and then out of courtesy to Alec’s mother, Isolde, had been cut off.

Alec’s lawyer had been explicit about having his hands tied in this situation. The payments to Alec’s mother had clashed with another article in the will wherein all accounts of the deceased Edwards patriarch were to be suspended. That included the ten-thousand-dollar monthly allowance to Isolde.

Which only made it harder to ignore the two hundred million waiting on Alec if he chose to do this, actually mate with an alpha, get pregnant, and—fingers crossed—bear a male heir.

Gulping as discreetly as possible under JT’s hard, curious gaze, he stammered, “I-It’s complicated.”

“I bet,” the alpha said dryly. “Good thing I love stories.”

“It has to do with a family inheritance.” Alec forced his eyes to remain on JT.

“Weird family tradition, forcing you to mate.”

Alec shrugged. “There’s more to it.” He took a steadying breath, plunging on. “I won’t be able to access the money unless I’m mated legally…and I have an heir.” He mumbled the last part, ducking his head now, his cheeks flaming with a mix of embarrassment and desire. It felt all more real with JT here, discussing the job offer, seriously considering on playing the role of Alec’s fake mate…but his very real partner in parenting if Alec were to get pregnant.

Waiting for JT to back out of the room in disgust, when he simply stirred in his seat, Alec peeked up.

“You want me to give you a child,” he said.

“If you agree, then yes, that would be a part of it.” Alec rushed on to add, “You’re not obliged to accept right now. But my offer does have a timeline. I’d need someone soon.”

JT leaned back in his armchair, his arms falling over the armrests. “Why me then?”

“Like I said,” Alec hoped his voice didn’t belie the jittery nerves working overtime inside of him, “I overheard you needing a job, and I need someone to fill the role.”

“Fair enough. So, we’d be mating in every sense of the word really. That’s a taller order than I anticipated.”

There it was. The bite of rejection. For a twenty-one-year-old virgin who’d never been in a serious relationship, Alec admitted it still hurt. His heart throbbing harder, the anxiety replaced by ice-cold pricks of mortification, he muttered, “You can leave.”

“I didn’t say I was uninterested.” JT massaged his short beard, his nostrils flaring, the rings of his nose piercings dragging Alec’s gaze to them. They were black like the dragons on his neck and arms.

Drumming his fingers on the armrests, the alpha said, “It’s a lot that you’re asking.”

“You’d be compensated, of course.”

“And generously, I’m sure,” JT said. “Still a lot that I’d be doing.”

Alec sat straighter, fired up by JT’s comment. He wasn’t alone in giving up tons. After all, it was Alec’s virginity on the line. And if he got pregnant, he’d be carrying the baby. Annoyed, he snapped, “It’s not the most ideal situation. Believe me, if there was a loophole somewhere that would preclude me from having to do this, I would.” Sniffing, he continued, “Besides, I said you could leave. I’ll find someone else.”

He wasn’t sure what set off JT. But one second the alpha was studiously pinning him with his dark brown eyes and then the next he jerked forward, his foot knocking the soda over, the Coke staining the plush rug underfoot, yet neither of them hurrying to clean up besides JT setting the can upright and off to the side.

“No,” was what he said next. “Nobody else.”