Page 132 of Defiant Beta

As I pull open the refrigerator door, I flinch at the sudden brightness. “Shit! What the hell is the voltage on this thing?”

A male chuckle comes from behind me. Xavier.

“Are you cursing out our refrigerator?”

He switches the light on, and I flinch again. “My eyes are sensitive, okay,” I complain, rubbing them.

When I take in Xavier, in a pair of navy shorts and nothing else, this time it isn’t the bright lights blinding me. It’s a six-foot-two, heavily muscled alpha.

“Couldn’t sleep?” He walks toward me carrying a carton of orange juice.

“Nope. You?”

I shake my head as I eye the carton. “Can I have some of that?”

He hands it to me.

I lift the carton to my mouth to take a sip as he reaches around me to grab a bottle of water from the refrigerator. I know it’s gross to drink from a container, but I’m tired and lazy.

He watches me as he gulps his water.

When my mouth isn’t as dry, I return the container to the refrigerator while he screws the lid back on the water bottle and puts it back on the shelf.

“That kiss…” He studies me closely.

“What about it?”

“You really felt nothing?”

Oh boy. How to answer that?

“Why?” If all else fails, deflect. “Was that the reason you couldn’t sleep?”

He stares at me, then rests his hands on the counter on either side of me and grins. “You felt something, didn’t you?”

“I don’t know what you mean.” I play coy.

One corner of his mouth lifts as his right hand edges down my belly. “If I were to?—”

I slap his hand away. “No touching.”

His smile is smug. “Why? What would I find? Wet panties?”

“Who says I’m wearing panties?”

His smile falls away, and he swallows hard. I track the bobbing of his Adam’s apple, and I know exactly what this means. Aroused alpha.

I back up, my ass bouncing off the counter because this alpha has me pinned. “I’m joking. Quit looking at me like that.”

His mouth lowers. “Like what?”

Like you want to lick me between my legs.

I stare at him. He stares back.

“Okay, so maybe I felt alittlesomething,” I reluctantly concede, my eyes darting to a mouth he knows how to use too damn well.

He leans closer. “How much of something?”

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