Page 17 of Alpha Theo

I decide to poke a little, see if she’s actively ignoring me or just engrossed in her work.

“Whatcha workin’ on?” I ask, craning my neck to see her monitor.

I’m met with no response other than the clicking of her keyboard.

I sigh, leaning back in my chair while an uncomfortable silence settles over us again. I take another bite of my snack. Chew, swallow. Still nothing.

I clear my throat to speak again. “You’re not still mad about the whole virgin thing, are you?” I ask, biting down on my protein bar.

That elicits a response. Brooke’s eyes fly wide behind her glasses as she looks around in a panic. “Will you keep it down?!” she hisses, finally turning to look at me.

“Wha?” I ask around the protein bar that’s still stuffed in my mouth. I bite down, chewing while she stares daggers through me.

Brooke shakes her head, a faint blush of embarrassment forming on her cheeks. “Could younottalk about thathere?” she whispers.

I smirk. As if it’s some big fucking secret that she’s a virgin.

Her eyes darken. I don’t want to blow it now that she’s actually talking, so I change course, throwing up my hands and feigning innocence. “My bad. I’m just trying to figure out why you seem like you’re mad at me after I already said I was sorry.”

Brooke swivels her chair to face me, folding her hands in her lap. She’s wearing anAerosmitht-shirt today with her ripped up jeans and sneakers. “You didn’t apologize for what you said, you apologized that I got upset over it.”

I arch a brow. “What’s the difference?”

“There’s a big difference,” she sighs, spinning to face her computer again.

What the fuck?I don’t know why this chick is picking apart my words rather than just accepting my apology and moving on. Doesn’t she realize it was a big deal that I even apologized in the first place?

She’s really making me work for it.

Brooke starts typing again and I finish the last bite of my protein bar, wadding up the wrapper.

“Listen, kid, I’m not good with words,” I say, tossing the wrapper toward the trash can. “I said I was sorry, isn’t that enough?”

She freezes, fingers hovering above the keyboard. Then she turns back to me, slowly, and from her expression I can see she’s considering. “Fine,” she breathes, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “I accept your apology.”

I grin. “See, now that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Brooke’s eyes narrow and she shakes her head, turning away.

I watch her work for a moment, those long thin fingers gliding across the keyboard. She got rid of the chipped purple nail polish- her nails are painted blue now, instead.

My eyes travel to the swatches of smooth tan skin made visible by the rips in her jeans, and I find my mind wandering back to how those long legs of hers looked the other night in a mini-skirt and heels, wandering to how they’d feel wrapped around my waist…

Fuck. Now I’m sporting a semi. I shift in my chair, reaching down to adjust my dick in my jeans to hide it.

“I started to listen to that playlist,” I say in an attempt to talk about something, anything to make this boner go away. “Your taste in music is all over the place. Classic rock, alternative, indie, folk, punk rock…”

“What can I say,” Brooke interrupts, shrugging her shoulders. “I like a little bit of everything.”

She stops typing, swiveling halfway toward me again. My eyes involuntarily flicker to her legs, then back up to meet hers.Damnit.

“For me it’s more about the song than the genre, y’know?” she asks, tucking her long hair behind her ears. “The music, the lyrics. I don’t care who sings it if the song’s great.”

I smile, shrugging out of my jacket. “Yeah… I get that.”

I swear I see the hint of a smile forming on her lips, so I sling my jacket over the back of my chair and go on. I’ve totally got her on the hook now- the ol’ Theo charm works every time.

“I listened to someGreen Day. I liked one of their songs…” I trail off, pinching the bridge of my nose between my thumb and my forefinger, squeezing my eyes shut and searching my mind for the title. “Something like,I walk alone?”

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