“We’re not a thing.I kissed her last night,” I confessed.It felt good to get it off my chest and talk to someone who understood.“She was into it, but she’s been a little standoffish since.”
Barrett nodded.“Understandable.She’s got a lot going on.Be patient with her.If it works out, this will be good.There’s a difference in you.”
“I feel different.And I’m glad I was able to tell you about it and not lose my job.”
“Speaking of which, this plan, if we go through with it, needs some serious work.”Barrett was back to all business.“I can’t approve it until I see what she can do, and we have a full backstory.The tricky thing is if this kiss leads somewhere, she’ll be sticking around.Just something to keep in mind.And if she’s good at creating a new persona, which I suspect she will be, we might want to use her to go deeper in this case.”
My blood ran cold.“You mean, you want her to do undercover work with the people who tried to abduct her?”
“Not sure what it looks like yet,” Barrett said matter-of-factly.“But we’d be foolish not to use every valuable asset available to us in this case.”
The cookout was dangerous—we could blow our cover, but we’d be among friends and allies.What Barrett was talking about would put Kayla in much more dangerous situations.
“What if Kayla doesn’t want to do that?”I asked, becausewhat ifIdon’t want Kayla to do thatwasn’t a valid question.
“We’ll talk to her, and see what her comfort level is.”Barrett rose from the rock he’d been seated on, signaling the end of the meeting.“But if she goes to the cookout, people will expect to see her again.The two of you won’t be able to disappear so easily.So she’s got to be prepared to keep the act up long term.”
“Makes sense.”I gave him a tight-lipped smile and followed him up the hill, back to the truck.
I always knew this plan could backfire, but I never thought it could get her hurt, or worse, killed.
ChapterThirteen
Kayla
I’d done screen tests for some of the most famous directors in the world, but I’d never been more nervous about an audition than I was strutting my stuff in front of Barrett.
The plan was risky.It required me to stay in character and then somehow get Amelia alone so I could talk to her without blowing my cover.And that was before Barrett had added the caveat that this wasn’t a one-and-done job.If I was outing myself as Beau’s fake girlfriend, it was much more than a cute date.
We were in a full-blown fake relationship.
Which might have been more daunting than his proposal that I should go undercover on the inside of the investigation, against the people who stole from my friends and me and threatened to do much worse if we didn’t bend to their demands.I was confident in my acting skills, but there was one thing I couldn’t change.
The scent of my wolf.Every animal had their own signature scent.It was unclear if any shifters masterminded the crypto scheme.But they’d targeted us, and there had to be a reason.
Goose bumps blossomed over my skin at the thought of it as I tucked the ends of my hair into my wig cap.I’d watched the hair team do this more times than I could count inThe Wolf’s Moontrailer, but the execution was much harder than those professionals made it look.I’d smoothed my hair down but getting the tight cap on proved to be a challenge.Hopefully, no one but Beau would get close enough to me to realize my head was lumpy.
Beau and I would be a couple today.We’d talked about so many things—how we supposedly met, my backstory, what made us interested in each other—but we’d forgotten one vital aspect of the charade.Perhaps the most important one.
How would we act when we were together?Not the script—we had that down—but our body language?Were we one of those couples who separated at gatherings, or did we stay together?What about PDA?Did we touch each other a little too much or not at all?
What if we started kissing and couldn’t stop?
Okay, maybe all this anxiety was simply distracting me from the seriousness of the situation.Chances were good that those men who had hunted me down like a literal dog were closer than any of us expected.
I took in a deep, shaky breath as I checked over my work in the mirror.The sleek black bob definitely changed my look.I was known for my heavy bangs and my dirty blonde hair.I fought the urge to cover my forehead—the bangs saved me a lot of money in Botox.Not that I was afraid of aging, but Hollywood liked to remind women my age that we had an expiration date.I blinked, getting used to the blue contacts.They were a pretty drastic change, along with my pale lip.I was known for my love of all things red.
I’d done my best reverse contour job to try to hide my cheekbones.Usually, I was proud of them because they gave me a distinctive look—but also, they screamed Kayla Mitchell.Tonight, and for the foreseeable future, I was Gina—a play on my stage name.At least I’d remember to answer to it.
The backstory was I met Beau on an online dating site—ironic, since that was exactly the mistake that had landed me here—and I’d just come to visit him for the holiday.It gave me a chance to disappear again, if things got dangerous, or Barrett sent me on a special mission.
My wolf was on point inside of me at the thought.I didn’t know what I’d do if I came face-to-face with those assholes.If I’d be able to stay in character and keep myself from wringing their fucking necks.Not only did they steal from me and financially ruin some good, hardworking people, but if those rumors about trafficking were true…
It was the reason why I couldn’t say no to Barrett, even though the prospect of going undercover terrified me.I had to wonder if he’d hoped his request would make me back away from my cookout proposal.But I couldn’t.These people had to be caught and punished.So many others needed justice.
Truck wheels crunched on the gravel in the driveway, and Gigi barked in warning as Barrett arrived.I headed out of my bedroom before I had a chance to overthink everything, passed a gaping Beau, and opened the door just as Barrett was about to knock.
“Hey, y’all.”It had been a minute since I had a chance to use my southern accent.My accent coach would probably cringe at my drawl, but it was good enough for my current role.“Beau’s told me so much about you.My name is Gina.”
