Prologue
Ollie
My brother won’t stop grinning at me. I’m sure Luke’s just putting on a brave face to make sure I don’t get upset. But how am I supposed to feel when he’s stuck in a hospital bed with his legs in casts and tied up with strings?
“Come on, this is a total fantasy of mine!” He laughs, though it’s muffled through the bandages wrapped around his head. “You know I’ve been insanely jealous of all those actors who get strung up in these things.”
“Getting hit by a van so you can dramatically lie around is not a fantasy of a sane person,” I say as I try to hold back my smile. I want to act like I’m angry with him, even though this is going to make a great story in the future. My twin is too infectious.
When I can’t hold it back any longer, I roll my eyes, swiping the pen from his bedside table, and I start scrawling on his cast as he turns the page of his magazine and hums happily.
First a black cat for good luck, then some stars for him to wish on, then a rainbow and clouds so we can keep dreaming. Then a freaking dunce’s cap to remind him not to be such an idiot in the future.
Even though it wasn’t his fault the van was doing twice the legal speed, he still stepped out between two parked cars while staring at his phone. Or that’s what he said.
“Okay, but what about this?” he asks, holding up the magazine to show a picture of two very muscled, veryfinehockey players.
“Dear Lord, they are hot, aren’t they?” I purr, instantly drooling at the two-page spread.
Is this the biggest hockey team rivalry in years?Is boldly printed along the top with a picture of the massive Timber Holtz, the man we’re supposed to be working for.
Both men are in their red, white, and black Scented Scorpions uniform, but only one of them looks happy about it.
Timber glares out from the page with a scowl deeper than a canyon, his arms folded so his biceps push his team shirt to the max. His body is huge, with a pillowy chest so curvy that I instantly want to jump on him and nuzzle in.
My heat isn’t even due for another month, and I’m close to fanning my face as my eyes run down his shirt, over thin shorts, and trickle to his thick calves.
Next to him is another alpha who’s a different flavor of handsome. If Timber is hard whiskey, Kane Moretti is fine wine, with curly black hair and tanned skin, which speaks of his Italian heritage. With a huge grin on his face, he stands with one elbow on Timber’s shoulder. He’s one of the many heartthrobs of the Scented Scorpions ice hockey team. And the gleam in his eye says he knows it, as he’s lifted his shirt to show his ribbed stomach underneath.
“Do we need to talk about it now? You’ve only been awake a few days,” I say.
I have to force myself to look away because the two of them are smoking. Maybe they’d used filters and touched them up for the magazine, but there’s only so much Photoshop can do.
“Come on, Ollie, look at those aaaabs. Think of how you’ll get to see that sweet bod every day. Plus, that scowl. Doesn’t it get you going? You can be the one to ease his grumpy heart.”
Ever since he woke up from the crash, Luke had been trying to convince me to go along with his master plan.
Luke and I were hired by the Scented Scorpions to create a new diet regimen for Timber Holtz. Luke was supposed to move into his house and cook for him during home games while I created the meal plans. Luke was the front man for this job, while I worked behind the scenes. Mainly because the nearer my heat grew, the crazier I got. So, it was better I hung back for the whole thing, especially when our very first client washim.
But then Luke just had to go and get hit by a van.
“Look, how else are we going to pay back this loan?” he asks. The hospital bills have already climbed because of all the surgeries they had to do to save Luke’s legs. We’ll only be able to pay our business loan and the bills off by making our business,Knot Those Kind of Bites, successful, or by a miracle. “We need this job to kick-start our careers, and the only way we’re getting there is by servicing Timber Holtz to the best of our ability.”
“Can you not phrase it like that?” It’s giving me too many ideas.
“Hmmm, exactly. All you need to do is cook him food and watch his ass jiggle as he works out. Though, considering how tight he is front and back, the only thing jiggling will be his—”
“Okay!” I shout before he bursts out laughing, and I end up joining him, a hot flush painting my cheeks. Timber is a dream of a man, and there’s no way I can live in his house without perfuming non-stop.
But that’s the thing about Timber Holtz, and the reason Luke is convinced we can get away with this.
Because Timber has no sense of smell, that’s why they’ve specifically hired us. He can’t taste anything, and our specialty is food texture as well as flavor.
Luke waves the picture in front of me, and I groan. Timber is the kind of alpha you’d expect to see barreling down the ice like a machine, barging into people with pure fury. And if he came at me with that strength…
Timber holds a water bottle in one hand, but his grip is so strong that it nearly crushes it. The cut of his jaw and the fierce look in his dark blue eyes send shivers running through me.
“Look, it’s not like we haven’t pretended to be each other before, or cross-dressed,” Luke says. “You know how much I love a soft, flowing skirt. And you won’t have to change that much. You’re flat enough in the front already.”
