Xesha's POV:
"No," I said, rubbing at my numb wrist. "Mostly your skin's just too thick. Not a lot of payoff there."
He lifted my hand and kissed the inside of my palm.
"Did it hurt? I'll ice it for you when we're home. Don't let someone who doesn't matter damage what we have."
I raised an eyebrow.
"Someone who doesn't matter - you mean Helena?"
"Yes." That's the fatal flaw in men, I think - short of catching them mid-act, they'll never admit to being wrong.
He answered without a beat of hesitation, and every trace of color drained clean out of Helena's face - nothing left of the challenge she'd been throwing my way when she first walked in.
Leaving the shop, I headed straight for my car. Jasper caught my hand and hauled me toward his passenger seat instead.
"Ride with me. I'll take you home."
"I have my own car."
He ignored the refusal, gripping hard enough that shaking him off wasn't an option - I got dragged the whole way to his car.
He pulled the passenger door open himself. A pink-and-white hair clip lay quiet on the dark gray seat, a faint thread of gardenia still clinging to it.
Jasper picked it up, unhurried, like he was clearing a parking receipt off the seat.
I leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, and watched him.
"Want to check again? Underwear, stockings, a used pheromone patch, maybe a copy of A Cheating Man's Guide to Detailing His Own Car. You'd better sweep it all in one pass - I'd hate to sit down and find something else not fit for public viewing."
His expression darkened fast.
"Xesha, do you have to make everything sound this filthy?"
"I'm not making anything up. I'm drawing reasonable conclusions from the physical evidence."
"I love you. That doesn't mean I'll indulge you without limits." He looked down at me, Alpha pressure settling over the words like a hand on the back of my neck. "JD Group is in an expansion phase. Not every partner I deal with is going to be male. You're my fated mate - you should be learning to trust me, not losing it every time you catch an unfamiliar scent."
I listened without interrupting.
"Today it was Helena, so I can let it slide. But what happens next time it's some clan leader's daughter, or a woman with real standing? Are you going to throw a tantrum like this every time? If you keep ignoring the bigger picture, how is JD Group supposed to grow?"
When he finished, I nodded, thoughtful.
"I think I understand. Let me summarize: you cheat for the sake of the company's long-term future. I catch you cheating because my mind's in the gutter. And when I expose you cheating, that's me being selfish and ignoring the bigger picture."
"That's not what I meant."
"Then maybe the problem's how you're saying it." I offered, sincerely, "Mr. Dawn, you should really get out of running a company and into manufacturing detergent instead. That kind of bleach-white spin is a rare gift."
His expression was something worth framing.
I didn't take his car. I turned and went back to my own. Winning the argument on paper didn't mean I walked away unscathed - the bond kept throwing off dull, aching pulses that pulled my focus while I drove.
By the time I noticed, my front bumper had already met the black luxury car ahead of me.
Custom plate: FX1SLR.
Great. Week one of heartbreak, and I'd already lost a fiancé, a wedding dress, and my insurance company's good-customer discount.
I got out and owned it immediately.
"I'm sorry - that's entirely on me."
The driver of the other car didn't answer right away. He walked around to the back door instead, respectful, and opened it for whoever sat inside.
A tall man stepped out. Black shirt buttoned all the way to the collar, features cut sharp and cold, no pheromone released at all - and the air around us went still anyway.
Something in me - the wolf - opened its eyes.
It didn't pace, didn't shrink back in fear. It just fixed on this Alpha with something close to pure instinct, wary and locked in.
His rank sat far above Jasper's. If Jasper was a destructive blizzard, this man belonged to whatever decides how the whole climate system runs.
He glanced at me, briefly, eyes catching for half a second at the side of my neck - as if he'd clocked the cracked, half-broken mate-scent still clinging there.
I straightened my spine on reflex. I'd just dented his car, and my love life had turned into a full-scale waste-sorting disaster, but I still wanted to look like a functioning adult.
"Mr. Le Roux, the meeting's in ten minutes," the driver murmured.
The man gave a slight nod and stepped away to take a call. The driver handed me a card, polite as ever.
"Ms. Foxx, once the car's repaired, call this number. We'll send someone to collect it."
"Mr. Le Roux doesn't want to discuss compensation himself?"
"Mr. Le Roux is a busy man."
I glanced at my own dented bumper, then down at the card in my hand.
"I can tell. His license plate probably cost more than my whole car."
The corner of the driver's mouth twitched - years of professionalism the only thing keeping him from laughing outright.
The card held one name, Le Roux, and a private number.
By the time I looked up again, a black SUV had already pulled to the curb. Before getting in, the man glanced back at me once more. Maybe I imagined it, but I thought I caught the faintest trace of amusement in his eyes.
Normal people, seeing the state of my life right now, would only feel sorry for me. So that was probably just my love life crashing and dragging my eyesight down with it.
Over the next three days, Jasper didn't come home once, though the private investigator kept the photos coming to my phone.
Jasper and Helena, in and out of the same apartment. One shot especially clear: Helena on the balcony in his white shirt, him wrapped around her from behind - cozy enough to print straight onto a contraceptive ad.
The third afternoon, I was out trimming the purple roses in the yard when a pair of hands landed on my waist.
"Miss me, babe?"
Cedar rolled in from behind. Whatever scent remover he'd used worked well - but gardenia still clung, faint, deep in the bond.
"I did," I said.
He seemed almost surprised, a note of something pleased slipping into his voice.
"Really?"
"I've been wondering - did every hotel in New York collectively go out of business this week? What kind of business trip needs two people working out of the same apartment for three straight days?"
His body went rigid for a beat.
"What are you implying?"
"Nothing. Just curious about JD Group's new work-from-home policy."
I twisted out of his hold. He caught me back in, leaned in close to my ear.
"I only love you. Can we stop this?"
"Every time you say 'only,' I want to ask you something."
"What?"
"When you say 'only' - is that a number, or just filler for emphasis?"
His expression finally went dark.
"Xesha."
"Don't call me that." I pushed his hand away. "You're going to give me a permanent aversion to my own name."
I yanked a rose stem hard and the thorn caught my fingertip. The second blood welled up, Jasper's whole demeanor shifted - he grabbed my hand, some deep Alpha instinct to protect his mate kicking in, and bent to lick the blood from my fingertip.
Just before his mouth touched me, the balcony photo flashed back through my head.
That mouth had probably kissed Helena not long before this.
Nausea rose fast in my throat. I yanked my hand back and slapped him again.
Dead silence.
He stared at me, the cold in his eyes deepening by the second.
"What is wrong with you?"
