Page 15 of Fierce King (L.A. Ruthless 1)

Alejandro

It was just beforeeight pm when I arrived home - just in time for dinner. I made my way to the dining room and wondered if I was going to regret my decision to eat dinner with my new wife, and whether I would regret even more allowing her to choose the meal.

I imagined some pretentious dish sitting on my plate when I got into the room.

Oh, fuck, what if she was a vegan? I had no clue if she was into that. It seemed a new fashionable lifestyle choice. Not that I had anything against vegans, but I was a carnivore and a meal wasn’t a meal in my opinion, unless it contained meat.

I walked into the dining room and Alana was already seated. She looked different. Her cheeks were glowing and I realized it was because she was smiling. She wasn’t smiling at me, she hadn’t even noticed me walk into the room. She was just sitting there – smiling to herself.

Maybe her lunch had gone well?

Maybe she’d indulged in too many afternoon cocktails?

I certainly hoped it wasn’t due to anything else. The fact that she had chosen Hugo to be her bodyguard out of the five men I’d sent her, hadn’t escaped my attention. I wondered if I’d made a mistake picking him as one of my choices, but he was undeniably one of my best soldiers, and he would take a bullet for her, or me, without question.

‘Buenas noches, princesa,’ I said as I took a seat.

She looked up at me. ‘Evening,’ she said, her smile still firmly in place.

‘Did you have a good day?’ I asked her.

‘Yes,’ she nodded. ‘Yes, I did.’

‘Good,’ I said as Magda walked into the room carrying dinner. She placed my plate in front of me and I wondered if I’d walked into the wrong house. I looked at Alana’s plate and noticed she had the same.

‘Can I get you anything else?’ Magda asked.

I shook my head.

‘No thank you, Magda. This looks delicious,’ Alana replied.

Magda nodded and then disappeared out of the room.

‘Coca Cola?’ Alana asked, as she held up the glass decanter filled with dark brown liquid.

‘You decanted the cola?’ I asked with a flash of my eyebrows.

She shrugged. ‘Seemed classier, somehow?’

I nodded and held out my glass as she poured. ‘So, this is your favorite meal? Cheeseburger and fries?’

‘Baconcheeseburger and fries,’ she said with a smile. ‘And yes, it is. I’m sorry if you were hoping for something a little fancier. But Magda insisted that I choose my favorite, and this is it.’

She placed a napkin on her lap and then she picked up the giant greasy burger with both hands and took a huge bite.

I couldn’t help but smile as I watched the look of satisfaction on her face as she chewed that first mouthful. She wasn’t playing with me – this really was her favorite food.

Suddenly, she stopped chewing and looked at me and I realized I was staring. She self-consciously wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. ‘Sorry,’ she mumbled.

‘What for?’ I replied as I picked up my own burger and took a bite. ‘There’s no other way to eat a burger,’ I grinned at her and she grinned back as she carried on eating.

When we’d eaten our burgers, and finished our decanted Coca Cola, Magda brought me a glass of Scotch before clearing the dishes.

I stared at Alana as she sipped her water and stared into space, and I couldn’t help but wonder what was on her mind.

After a few moments silence, she turned to me. ‘Why did you ask Magda to cook my favorite meal?’

I shrugged. ‘Maybe, I wanted to get to know something about you?’

---