Kate rolled over on the mattress, taking the sheets with her. She let out a long sigh as she opened her eyes. Should have had more tequila. It took a lot to get her drunk, though. She wondered how much it would take to make her forget about Petros. Maybe she should call up a tequila factory in Mexico and see if they delivered by the truckload.

“Argh!” Even in sleep, she couldn’t get rid of him. Her dreams were filled with that infuriating wolf. His lips, those eyes, that hot bod. More specifically, being under that body. And she could listen to his voice over and over again. Low and growly, and God, that accent. She’d heard people with accents before, but Petros’ was the only one that threatened to melt her panties off.

If she wasn’t a shifter, she was pretty sure she’d have carpal tunnel syndrome by now from all the times she’d diddled herself since she met him. Even now, she could feel the ache and pulsing between her legs.

Mine.

She sat up so quickly, the blood rushing to her brain made her dizzy. “Uh, shut up!” She meant what she said to Petros last night. She was not girlfriend material; she made sure of that.

Growing up under the protective shadow of not only her older brother, but his friends, made life difficult for Kate. Her only friends growing up were Amelia and Sybil, who could relate to what she was going through. She, of course, rebelled against them, doing the opposite of what they wanted. Sneaking out at night, smoking under the bleachers, and yes, even dating the school’s resident bad boy. She thought he was so cool, but little did she know that he wasn’t just bad, but really bad.

No, don’t think about that.

She’d taken care of that jerk. No need to dwell on the past.

Kate knew she was not someone Petros could bring home to his parents. And definitely not mate material. In any case, he didn’t belong here anyway. Maybe he was sticking around while they were wrapping things up with last week’s incident, but soon he’d be on his way back to his island paradise in the Mediterranean.

She ignored that tightening knot in her stomach. This was for the best.

The strong vibrations from the bedside table knocked her out of her thoughts. She frowned. Who would call her this early on a Saturday? It was—oh shit, it was nearly noon. She grabbed her phone before it danced off the table.

“Hello?”

“Kate? It’s Christina.”

“Hey, Chrissy,” she said. She heard the soft, annoyed snort from the other woman, but she didn’t care. She loved giving people nicknames, or in this case, using one that annoyed them. She remembered how stuck up Christina was when she first arrived in Blackstone. At least she had loosened up since then. “What’s up?”

“Are you free for lunch?”

Lunch? Strange. Christina never sought her out before. “I guess.”

“Well, I feel terrible about ignoring your texts about girls’ night.”

“And my emails? And my voice messages?” She really needed her girls, but she knew Christina was probably busy cleaning up after The Organization, so she wasn’t too upset about her not showing up last night.

“Uh, yeah, those too.” She paused. “So, how about lunch at Giorgio’s? My treat.”

Her stomach growled with hunger. A free lunch at the best Italian restaurant in town? What could go wrong? “Sure! I’ll hop in the shower and meet you there in about thirty minutes.”

Kate walked into Giorgio’s at twelve-thirty on the dot, feeling famished. The smell of fresh bread and tomato sauce wafted in her nose. Amazing. When was the last time she’d eaten at Giorgio’s? Probably during her parents’ anniversary, since she didn’t exactly have the budget to eat here all the time.

She scanned the room and quickly found Christina, sitting at a table by the window. She waved to Giorgio Allementari, the owner of the restaurant and pointed to her companion. The handsome and flamboyant restaurateur smiled and nodded at her as he continued to give instructions to his wait staff.

“Hello, Kate,” Christina greeted and motioned to the chair in front of her. Even on a Saturday morning she looked all business-like in a crisp white shirt and khaki pants, her blonde hair up in an elegant French twist.

“Hey, Chrissy.” She plopped herself down. “What’s up?”

“How was girl’s night?” There was a twinkle in her eyes, something that told Kate she had something to do with Petros showing up.

“Oh you know, same old, same old.” She grabbed the menu and opened it up. If Christina was buying, she should choose the most expensive things. That would show her. Not that she could ever bankrupt the heiress. “Things at The Agency keeping you busy?” Hmm, the filet mignon? And maybe some white truffle pizza too.

Christina’s face turned serious. “Just because we got rid of The Chief doesn’t mean our work is done. Which is why I called you today.”

Now this was interesting. Kate put the menu down. “All right. Spill.”

“Kate, we need your help.”

“Me?” she asked, puzzled. “What can I do to help?”

“We need your skills, of course. We’re so short staffed right now.” She let out an exasperated sigh. “Why do you think I’m working overtime? Even on weekends?”

“I don’t exactly have any super spy experience,” she pointed out. “I took some self-defense classes, and I can fight as a wolf, but other than that, I don’t know what I can offer.”

“Well, you’re a software engineer. You can help us put our systems together,” Christina said. “That’s what you do for Lennox, right? And at the mines?”

“Yeah, but ….” Why were her instincts suddenly on red alert? She should be jumping for joy instead. After all, she just lost a client yesterday, after Douchenozzle McDickbag fired her for not delivering the changes to their app on time as she was helping save a whole town. Besides, it was technically The Agency’s fault (or rather, The Organization’s) that she lost her other biggest client. “I don’t come cheap, you know.”

“Don’t I get the friends and family discount?” Christina asked.

Had she been drinking, the joke would have made Kate spit take her water.

“I’m kidding. We’ll pay your usual rates,” Christina said without missing a beat. “We really need all the help we can get, especially now that we have Dr. Mendle’s diaries to sift through.”

Dr. Mendle. The name made Kate’s blood boil. He was the sick bastard who had experimented on all those shifters over the last two decades and kept Grayson Mills locked up in a cage.

“All right.” How could she say no? Besides, that Chevelle on eBay she’d had her eye on had about another thirty days left on auction. If she wanted the car, she’d have to come up with the cash soon. “I’ll do it.”

“Great!” Christina signaled a waiter, who came by with a bottle of champagne.

Kate raised a brow. “Champagne? For lunch?”

“It is the weekend.” Christina flashed her a sweet smile as the waiter handed her a flute. “Let’s make a toast? To your—er, our union?”

She grabbed the other flute from the waiter. “Right.” As she looked at Christina over the rim of her glass, she couldn’t help but hear those alarm bells ringing in her head again. Still, she couldn’t complain. Fate may have been a bitch to her the last week, but now it seemed she was being rewarded with another lucrative job dropping in her lap.