Page 29 of Alpha's Baby Girl
That fear crept into her eyes again. Her teeth caught her lower lip, smearing her lipstick. I tried to keep my thoughts straight, resisting the urge to tug her lip free. I’d noticed that contemplative habit she had of biting her lip. Her mouth opened as if she going to talk but she didn’t. It closed again as she pursed her lips in thought. Her hands clasped together on the table before she tucked them out of view.
“Whatever’s on your mind you can tell me,” I said softly. “I’m here for you no matter what. I meant everything I’ve said. I’m here to prove myself to you. Whatever’s worrying you, we can handle it together.”
Anguish scrunched up her features as she shook her head at me. “Do you ever wish you’d made different decisions?”
I let out a short laugh and gestured between us. “Fuck yes.”
Thalia’s eyes were wet with unshed tears that she blinked away, glancing out of the window. “Good point. Sometimes I wish I had never entered the Games.” Her eyes found mine again. “I wish I had done things properly.”
“You tried,” I said quickly. This wasn’t her burden to carry. “Things not happening sooner is entirely my fault and—”
She shook her head again. “It’s not about the past, not about thatday.”
“Then tell me what it is about.” I slid my hands across the table, offering my palms so she might rest her hands in mine.
I saw that war in her eyes, a conflict that I wasn’t allowed to know yet. I watched her build up a wall between us. We were still getting to know each other again, I reminded myself. Just because we were mates didn’t mean she’d suddenly spill every thought and worry to me. When she said nothing else, offered up nothing else that was on her mind, I retreated to give her space.
“Your friend will be thinking I’ve stolen you for the night,” I laughed, giving her an out from the tension. “Is she still at the lounge?”
Thalia checked her phone, typing away. A minute later, she nodded. “Want to come with me?”“And meet your best friend? The one you warned me about?” I raised an eyebrow at her. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”
But Thalia, with her defenses back up, only smiled smugly at me. “Come on. If I have to meet Conall again then you can meet Sasha. Besides, she’s straight-talking. It might humble you.”
“Humble me!” I echoed, laughing. “What is it about me that makes you think I need humbling?”
She gave me a long look that turned into more of a hungry gaze as I gazed at her, my eyes dropping to her mouth. I wanted to convince her to not stay at her friend’s place tonight. I wanted her in my hotel room with me. I wanted her spread out on a bed of silk sheets rather than a rough cave floor. I wanted to spend hours taking her apart, treating her and worshipping her the way she deserved.
My mate, a woman who deserved the world.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked coyly, cocking her head, as if she knew but wanted to hear it.
So I gave her what she wanted. “Because you’re gorgeous,” I told her. “And I want you, and I’m already thinking of the fastest way to get that dress off you the second we’re alone.”
The flush on her cheeks even as she tried to keep her smirk on her face was worth the risk of being overheard in the small diner. “Let’s not keep your friend waiting,” I reminded her, and then led her out of Jack’s Diner. I thought of what her friend, Sasha, had said about Thalia liking to dance. I wanted to watch Thalia come alive beneath the lights of the Inferno Lounge, so I conceded to meet her friend. If she became my Luna, it wouldn’t just be my friends, family, and pack that would need to have gatherings. I needed to meet Thalia’s family and her friends. Most importantly, I wanted to offer her parents high positions in the town once again, a sort of olive branch for what I did to their daughter.
The Inferno Lounge boasted two levels. The lower level was the basement, where a massive dance floor spanned almost the whole level. A bar ran right along the back wall, light up with spotlights and bartenders that kept the drinks flowing. A DJ manned in the far left corner.
The upper level was cozier, a jazz lounge by day, full of booths and private VIP areas that were sectioned away from prying eyes. By night, it was a low-lit affair where cocktails and whiskey abounded. I wanted to take Thalia up there later, but for now, we made our way downstairs to the basement, to the nightclub part. The music thrummed in my veins, pounding through the walls, as bodies packed wall to wall. On a Saturday night, the club was understandably packed, and yet Thalia still found her friend as soon as we entered.
“Let me get us some drinks,” I said.
She hesitated for a minute before she nodded. “Something fruity for me.”
I set up at the bar, ordering myself a glass of whiskey and Thalia a cocktail that was strawberry-flavored. Sat on a stool, listening to the music beats pulse around the club, I watched as Thalia and Sasha sidled up to one another, hands on each other’s hips as they swayed to the music.
Sasha’s mouth was at Thalia’s ear, talking, but Thalia only shook her head and glanced back at me. What I’d thought was meant to be a warning to her friend that I was here turned into a sultry look as we locked eyes.
The lights caught off Thalia’s hair, making her positively glow and come alive. I was stirring again, wanting her. She threw her head back, laughing, as she grinded against her friend, and I wished I was close enough to hear her laughter.
I downed my drink and made my way to her on the dance floor. My hands found her hips, pulling her flush against me as Sasha giggled and found her way into the hands of another dancer. Thalia shivered as she felt my erection against her ass, and tucked her hands behind her back. To anyone else, it would seem innocent, but her fingers groped against the zipper of my shorts, toying with me, as she smiled up at me. Her head tipped back against my chest as she rolled against my body.
“Do you know how sexy you are?” I asked, kissing just beneath her lobe. The perfume she wore was heady and intoxicating. I wanted to drink her in. I needed to have her beneath me, bared for every bite and lick I needed to worship her with. The need to taste and touch overrode me. Thalia swayed her hips, and with every brush of her ass against my erection, I fought the urge to take her upstairs to a VIP lounge. “Thalia, don’t tease me.”
“I forgot you don’t like it,” she giggled, licking the shell of my ear as she twisted in my grip. Her friend, still dancing with her own partner, was watching us with narrowed, suspicious eyes. I avoided her judgemental look, unsure of how much she knew.
“It’s more that I can't control myself for much longer,” I warned her.
“Maybe you shouldn’t control yourself.”
