Page 42 of The Alpha's Fated Bond

I look around and see a few women gathered at one of the cafés, watching us. The women are considerably older than us, and they’re beaming at Alex. When they catch my eye, they wink at me before heading off.

They don’t seem annoyed that Alex is kissing an outsider. If anything, they seem happy about it.

Or maybe I’m reading too much into this.

Either way, I’m going to have to encourage my mate to kiss me more often.

And if he is adamant on being a tease, I can be the same to him.

Chapter 9

Sophia

Of all the things I expected, moving in with Alex wasn’t one of them.

“Are you sure about this?” I ask, looking around the modest, four-bedroom house. The decorations are sparse, and it’s put together quite simply. It’s more than obvious that he barely lives in it.

When Alex doesn’t answer, I look over my shoulder at him. He’s trying to hide it, but I can see the nervousness on his face.

“Is something wrong?” I ask him.

He tries to brush it off, sticking his hands in his pockets. “It might not be what you expected, but you can do whatever you like with the house. I’ve never had a reason to put too much effort into it. In fact, I was going to build a one-bedroom place, but the others got involved, and they ended up adding rooms during construction. I know it’s not much—”

“I think it’s lovely,” I interrupt him with a small smile. “I don’t like mansions anyway.”

He visibly relaxes.

“I—”

Whatever he was going to say is cut off when Lily shouts from the railing on the second floor, “Can I have the bedroom at the end of the hallway?”

“No,” Alex growls irritably. “That’s Sophia’s and my room!”

When he refers to his bedroom as belonging to both of us, I feel my chest tighten with emotion. There was no hesitation in his voice. I don’t know why it’s important to me, but it matters. As I look around his living room, it occurs to me that when he put me up in the guest house, it felt like a sort of rejection.

“Why didn’t you want me to stay here when we first arrived?” I can’t stop myself from asking him the question that has started eating at me.

Alex presses his lips together into a thin line and takes his time to answer. Finally, when he does, his answer surprises me. “I was hoping I would have time to redo this place before I brought you here. I mean, it’s not exactly—I just wanted you to have something nicer.”

It’s my first time seeing him so flustered and embarrassed.

“That’s it? You thought I wouldn’t like your house?”

“It’s not that. I just thought you deserved better,” he admits.

I shrug. “We could be living in a tent, and I would still like it.”

He turns a bit red in the face. “I can do much better than a tent for you.”

I give him an amused look. “I know. I just wish you wouldn’t overthink things so much. I love your home.”

Alex puts his arm around my shoulders. “It wasn’t much of a home; just a place to sleep at night. But the minute you walked in, even without doing anything, you made it home.”

“Smooth talker,” I laugh.

He chuckles. “Why would I bother smooth-talking you? You’re already mine. But I will always tell you the truth. This house—no, our home is now yours to do with as you wish. You can decorate it any way you like.”

I swallow hard and lean into him. After a moment, I say. “I don’t know much about decorating, but that chair has to go.”

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