Max

My heart is still rolling in my chest. Vikki"s lack of deception, her insistence on taking the terrible meal to completion because I asked her to cook for me, is not what I expected at all.

People always take a short cut. Humans are usually the worst for it, although goblins could give them a run for their money.

I send a message to my favorite restaurant and tuck my phone away, holding out my hand to Vikki.

"I have something for you," I say.

She eyes me a little suspiciously but then puts her hand in mine, and I think my heart is going to pound out of my chest. She rises and I take her over to the seating area, sitting her comfortably while I retrieve my briefcase.

"This is for you." I hand her a small rectangular box.

"It's a phone." Her sweet brow furrows. "I have a phone."

"That relic is not a phone. If you're going to work for me, I need to be sure you can be contacted at any time, without the risk of tech failure."

"Max," she says, her voice the most perfect of pitches, and I stare down at her as she turns the white box over and over in her little hands.

"Yes?"

She lifts her head.

"What exactly do you want from me?"

I can't quite fathom her emotions. It seems she's deliberately trying to keep them from showing on her otherwise expressive face.

The intercom chimes and I am literally saved by the bell.

"That'll be the food." I smile. I'm not sure it helps.

I greet the ogre Maitre D' from Gravin's warmly, mostly because I am absolutely starving.

"Monsieur Horenson!" he lisps, beckoning in the rest of the waiting staff, loaded down with bags.

"Thank you for this, Jean," I reply. "It is much appreciated."

"For our favorite customer? Anything." He chuckles, as if he hasn't done this before.

Then he spies Vikki and the green skin at his eyes crinkles farther. "And for such a pretty lady too."

Don't growl, don't growl, don't growl.

"Ms. Graham is my…girlfriend…companion…" I blurt out. "Anything she wants, I expect you to get it for her."

"Of course." Jean does a little bow which looks absolutely ridiculous. He clicks his fingers at his staff who finish setting out the food on the dining table and file past him, out the door.

"Anything at all, Monsieur Horenson." He grins at me. "You only need to call."

The apartment seems incredibly empty when they leave. Empty and frosty.

"Come and eat," I say, not daring to meet Vikki"s gaze. "I ordered some of everything because I wasn't sure what you liked."

I sit down at the table which she has set so beautifully and start to help myself to the steaming, delicious smelling dishes. I add a juicy steak, plenty of potatoes, and, just to be good, a small helping of green beans.

Vikki slides into the seat opposite me. She doesn't eat. Instead she steeples her fingers.

"I've been thinking about our arrangement," I plough on. "Given cooking isn't exactly what you're cut out to do,"

Vikki opens her mouth to protest and I hold up a fork to silence her.

"And it's not actually something I need either." I gesture to the spread in front of us. "What I do need is a companion. I have a number of social engagements coming up in the next few weeks, and it would help me enormously if I had someone with me."

There is a very stony silence.

"You want to pay me half a million pounds to pretend to be your girlfriend for a month," Vikki finally says, her voice dull and her eyes not leaving me for a second.

I swirl the last of my sirloin in the delicious sauce au poivre and put the morsel in my mouth. Like the rest of the steak, it melts in my mouth, and I can't help but make a little grunt of enjoyment.

"I want to pay you for a month of work. I hate social engagements. I'd rather be anywhere else in the entire world than at another idiotic party filled with vacuous socialites and boorish males, or even bearish males." I laugh at my shifter joke, but Vikki doesn't. "Believe me, being my companion is work and you will earn your money."

"If you wanted to buy sex, I'm sure you could have got it cheaper elsewhere."

This time, I do growl. I growl deep in the back of my throat, and the sound reverberates around the apartment, taking on a life of its own.

"This is not about sex. I am not paying you for anything other than your time and company." I glare at her.

Vikki glares right back.

"If being my full time companion really bothers you, I can get you shifts in one of the coffee shop chains I own when you're not with me, and you can consider yourself an employee."

"You don't need to do that." She sits back in her chair as I breathe a silent sigh of relief she hasn't run for the door. "I'll be your fake girlfriend and I'll do it with bells on."

Her choice of words tickles me. I find myself laughing as I fill up my plate again.

"Good, that's settled. Now, let's eat."