I called him. It was actually his number and not a rejection hotline. He even remembered me, so it probably wasn’t a trick. Whatever his motivations might be, Alex seemed serious about this endeavor. We decided to meet at a café across the street from campus. It was a trendy place, with avocado green walls and bright red seats. I arrived early and ordered a glass of Roscato right away, mostly so I’d have something to fidget with while I waited. I chose a table directly across from the front door.

Was this a joke? I still wasn’t sure. Cascade seemed to think Alex had been sincere, although she insisted I wear a silver necklace. Just in case. The silver didn’t seem necessary, especially since it was only a half-moon tonight, but Cascade knew more about the supernatural world than me, so I didn’t argue.

To my complete relief, Alex arrived soon after I’d sat down. Beneath a gray tweed coat, he wore a burgundy thermal shirt that was so tight, it revealed the impressive contours of his muscles. He dropped his backpack on the ground beside his chair; it thudded dully with the weight of back-breaking textbooks. My throat was dry, and every single greeting I’d practiced in my head faded away like stars in the face of the rising sun. I thought of being on a mattress beneath him and of seeing those muscles, bare and exposed. God, this wasn’t the time for thoughts like that. Heat rushed to my face.

I straightened and waved to him from the table. We were really doing this, then. I rolled back my shoulders and tilted my chin up, trying to quell the uncertainty rolling in my stomach. Fake it ’til you make it, I told myself. Maybe if I pretended to be cool and confident, I’d actually manage to pull it off.

Alex smiled as he came over, which made things worse. It was a devilish grin that promised all sorts of mischief. Even though I wished my thoughts would wander elsewhere, I couldn’t help but dwell on the man in front of me. What would he be like as a lover? My ex had been very dominant in the bedroom, and I’d craved that. I craved many things, and perhaps I was judging Alex too quickly. It was probably a bad idea to jump to conclusions about anyone’s favored sexual activities based on appearance alone, but he certainly looked like he’d enjoy pinning someone to a bed.

“Alex,” I managed to say. “Hello.”

“Hey.”

“Just come from class?”

“Yeah. Business management,” he said. “I’ve had classes back-to-back since eight this morning. Did you order food already?”

“No, I waited for you.”

“Cool.”

He walked away, hands in his back pockets. With a frown, I stood up and followed, wine in hand. When we arrived at the counter, the cashier gave Alex an appreciative once-over. I didn’t blame her. We ordered, Alex paid, and we returned to our table.

“I don’t know how you can stand to drink that cheap wine,” Alex said.

“How do you know it’s cheap?” I asked.

Alex shrugged. “I don’t imagine this café has anything that’s more than ten dollars a bottle.”

I cupped a hand around my wineglass, shielding it from Alex’s harsh words. “I didn’t take you for a wine snob,” I said.

Alex crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. “I know what I like,” he replied. “It’d be nice if you could develop more…expensive taste.”

“I will have you know that I am a man of culture and elegance,” I said. “I’m vice-president of the opera club.”

“You know what? Come to think of it, some of my friends might be charmed by your frugality.”

Wow.

“Do you always use lines like that to pick up men?” I asked. “That’s obnoxious.”

Alex blinked a few times, looking taken aback. “I didn’t expect you to be mouthy, too,” he said.

Mouthy?

“You insulted me,” I countered, taking a sip of wine just to spite him. “I didn’t expect you to be so pretentious on our first outing.”

“Is that one of your conditions?” Alex asked dryly. “I have to tune down my, as you say, pretentious behavior?”

“Yes.”

“Then no more cheap wine for you,” Alex said.

“You’re being very demanding for someone I’m supposed to be helping out,” I replied.

Alex shrugged. “I’m merely telling you what this arrangement would entail. I have a reputation to uphold and I expect my companions to have some level of refinement. I can buy you expensive wine when we go out.”

“Fine,” I said. “What other demands do you have?”

Alex snorted. “Because we’re supposed to be involved, we’ll need to occasionally be physically affectionate. Everyone knows I’m not a very affectionate person, but I may want to hug you or call you ridiculous pet names. Is that okay?”

“Sure, honeybun.”

“Glad to hear it, blondie.”

“It’s copper,” I said, feigning a flip of my bangs. I didn’t have bangs, but I figured the gesture looked sufficiently snarky.

“You just have to be special, huh?” Alex asked.

“You should know that I am one of a kind. We’re going to be boyfriends, after all.”

“We’ll also need to establish a history of how long we’ve known one another. I have lots of exciting ideas for how we met!” Alex leaned forward, appearing sincerely excited about this part.

“No necromancers,” I said.

“Fair enough. Okay, so, what about this—your ex-boyfriend turned out to be a cannibalistic serial killer and I saved you just in time!”

“What’s wrong with the university?” I asked.

“It’s so boring! That’s what! Come on. How often do you get to be someone’s fake boyfriend? We can make the story of how we met anything we want, so we ought to at least have some fun with it! You could be something really cool—a reformed jewel thief or a stunt driver or—” Alex paused. “Maybe you gave up your life of crime to pursue an education because you realized you loved me, and you wanted to follow me to college!”

The idea of creating a fake past for us actually did sound like it could be fun, but it was also quite clear that Alex’s ideas would only complicate the whole thing.

“And how did I, the reformed master jewel thief, meet you?” I asked.

“During a heist,” Alex said with the utmost sincerity. “I was the only person to ever thwart you, and you were immediately smitten.”

“Uh-huh. And your friends aren’t going to question the fact that you’ve been dating me for going on three years without ever mentioning me?”

“You asked that I not mention you!” Alex declared, waving to emphasize his point. “Because you wanted to start afresh and didn’t want people to judge you before you decided what you really wanted to do.”

He really had an answer for everything, didn’t he? I smiled despite myself.

“And they won’t find that suspicious at all?” I asked.

Alex frowned. “Okay, maybe a little,” he conceded, “but we can do way better than meeting at university. Oh—are you religious?”

“Not in a while.”

Alex nodded and shifted in his chair. “That works. We’ll say that you were a Jehovah’s Witness, and you came to my house—”

“No.”

“Well, maybe—um…a vacuum salesman? Paperboy? No, mailman, and you came to deliver a package, and you were impressed with my package—”

I nearly choked on my wine. “That sounds like a bad porno,” I said. “Absolutely not.”

Alex scoffed and leaned back in his chair. “You’re no fun. We’re not saying we met at the university. There’s got to be something better than that. I just know it.”

“Why are you so against that?” I asked.

“I don’t like to be boring,” Alex replied. “That’s all. Well, that, and the university just sounds so…so nerdy.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Okay, yeah. It hasn’t escaped my notice that you’re super smart. That’s part of the reason I wanted you for the role. I need someone smart.”

“Why?”

“I told you. I don’t want to look lonely,” he replied, “but I also don’t want someone who’s going to be a wet blanket. You’re smart, so at least you can impress people with your knowledge. Some wit would be nice, too.”

“I have that in abundance,” I said, “but I hope you realize I’m the most boring person who ever lived. There’s nothing interesting about my life and never has been.”

“Which is why I am nobly offering to teach you the art of lying in addition to going on dates with you and buying you food,” Alex said sagely.

The waitress brought our food—two paninis and a massive bowl of homemade tortilla chips. I took a bite of the panini, savoring the spicy-sweet chili sauce and generous amount of cheese. Alex dove straight into the chips.

“Okay, we met last fall,” Alex said. “That sounds reasonable.”

My mouth was full, so I nodded my assent.

“We met on the fencing team.”

I swallowed. “Fencing? Really?”

I hadn’t even known our university had a fencing team.

“Why not? They meet every other Friday. They’re great people.”

“Fencing.”

“Hey, it’s a good sport! Very proper-sounding, too. I mean, no offense, but I can’t really say I met you playing football. Even the smallest guy on the team could break you in half.”

What a charmer. Still, my face warmed in embarrassment. He wasn’t wrong.

“And what if someone asks me to fence?” I asked.

“Do people usually do that?”

“You never know. Someone might challenge me to a duel,” I replied.

“Archery, then,” Alex said, snapping his fingers. “That’s something I actually could teach you.”

Admittedly, archery sounded like it had potential.

“Now I’m a master archer?” I asked.

Alex nodded. “And you’re studying astrophysics because you want to be an advocate for scientific growth.”

“Sure.”

“And I’m studying business because I want to be better equipped to potentially lead my pack someday.”

“What does business have to do with that?” I asked.

“Each pack has an alpha, and each alpha gets a share of stock in Selena Corp. They focus on magical pharmaceuticals. My father is the alpha now, his father before him and so on. My family has held the alpha position for over a century,” Alex said.

My interest was piqued at the mention of magical pharmaceuticals. I’d never been interested in chemistry or biomedical sciences, but I’d read the odd academic journal or newspaper that talked about how magic and modern medicine could be combined to create all sorts of new remedies. “So, do all the werewolves have stock in this company?” I asked, trying to get an idea of how massive this corporation must be.

I’d actually heard of Selena Corp, but I hadn’t paid much attention to it. I knew it was big, but I hadn’t the faintest idea how big.

“No,” Alex replied. “That’s just the Southern packs. The company is divided loosely by region.”

“Well, what are they? I’ll admit I’ve never been very invested in giant corporations.”

“There are many divisions, but primarily we’re studying how to isolate magical genes and observe their effect on modern medicine. For example, your siren friend Cascade has seductive magical powers. She can, to a degree, manipulate your emotions and actions. We’re trying to see how such magic might be used to affect—say—artificial neurotransmitters.”

“That’s fascinating,” I muttered.

“I guess it is. You’ll probably get along well with Zara. She’s working on a bachelor’s in biomedical sciences, so I’m sure she knows all about it,” Alex said, a hint of bitterness in his voice.

“Zara?”

“She’s…” Alex trailed off. “She’s okay. I guess. We’re sort of both being considered for the next alpha position, and I know I’d be a better alpha than her. I just need to prove it! And it’s not fair. She’s strong and smart, and I’m—well, strong and average.”

“And you’re trying to look smarter by dating me?” I asked. “That’s cheating.”

“Cheating? No, it’s like playing chess. It’s being smart,” Alex said. “Besides, I’ve got this in the bag. The alpha has come from my family for generations. I just want a little assurance, an edge, to make sure it’s me. She’s too soft to lead.”

I wasn’t sure about that, and I wasn’t sure about this after hearing Alex’s real reasons. But then, I’d already guessed there would be some element of dishonesty. I was, after all, pretending to be his boyfriend.

Did I want that, though? It wasn’t too late to back out. But this wasn’t a casual hookup being proposed. I’d get all the romance and attention without having to put my heart on the line. It would be baby steps to help me get over my ex. Besides, Alex couldn’t possibly break my heart if we weren’t really together.

Sure, it was a bit dishonest, but would dating me honestly make a difference to a council of werewolf elders? If they preferred Zara, they’d choose her. Whether or not Alex had a smart boyfriend would be irrelevant. Alex was overestimating my importance, but maybe there was something clever about his plan.

And maybe there was something a little bit endearing about his outlandish schemes. Whether I’d reasoned it all out properly or the wine had helped, I didn’t care, so I offered my hand.

“Deal,” I said. “Let’s have some fun.”