Page 69 of Entangled

“And I guess I don’t have to ask how you’ve been doing.”

Coop’s hand returns to my waist as I hold out my hand. “Della. And you’re Alec, right?”

He takes my hand and lifts it to his lips with a devious grin, eyes intense as he presses a soft kiss. “The one and only.”

I feel a tug on my waist and Coop shoves his friend lightly on the shoulder, making him drop my hand.

“Cut the shit, Romeo.”

Alec’s eyes linger on me for a second longer before he snaps his gaze away, an easy smile on his face. “You know me, Cooper. Never one to let an opportunity pass me by.” He waves his hand toward the booth. “Come on, let’s sit. Eat. Drink. It’s been too long.”

I scoot into the booth first and Coop follows me in, the waitress coming over quickly to take our drink order. Once that’s done the guys start talking about work in what amounts to Chinese to me, which I’m sure is on purpose but doesn’t bother me in the least. It gives me more time to assess the man sitting across from me.

What the hell are they doing at Bainbridge? Growing them in a laboratory and splicing their DNA to perfection?

Discreetly eyeing him as best I can, I notice a thread of similarity running through our features. The only difference is… he’stoo pretty. Painfully beautiful in a way that’s hard to look at.

And he rubs me all sorts of the wrong way.

The waitress arrives with our drinks and I take a sip of my water, trying to figure out why. He sits relaxed, leaning back and totally at ease. A lot like the way Coop did that first night I met him at the bar actually. He smiles and laughs and it seems like him and Coop are as thick as thieves. Hell, they probably have pretended to be thieves together for all I know. But there’s something…

It’s his eyes, I realize when they flick to me again. While Coop’s eyes may hold that thread of darkness, his are alive, I can feel his spirit when I look into them. But Alec’s, nothing but cold indifference radiates out of them when he looks at me. And still there’s something more, something I can’t put my finger on that nags at me.

“I’m sorry if this is rude,” I interject when there’s a lull in the conversation as the food arrives. “But where are you from?”

“New York,” he answers with that easy smile, digging his fork into the food on his plate. “Ever been?”

“Once. I was too young to remember though.”

“Shame.”

“You have an accent though.”

“I do.” He nods as if I just stated the sky is blue and nothing needs to be said beyond that.

I narrow my eyes and have to remind myself that this is Coop’s friend so I should probably be polite in my push for information to some degree. “And, uh, where does your accent come from?”

There you go, polite.

He leans back in his seat, narrowing his eyes in return and tilting his head at me.

“Why so curious?”

“Why so secretive?”

“I don’t make it a habit of sharing personal information.”

“I’m not asking for your social security number.”

“Yet.”

I open my mouth to retort and Coop quickly waves a hand between us. “Alright. Alright, back to your corners.” He shoots his friend a look of reprimand. “Don’t be an ass, man.”

I lean back and smirk smugly, causing Alec’s eyes to narrow on me further until they’re nothing but slits. Coop turns his head to look at what I’m doing and I wipe the expression from my face but he still squeezes my knee in reprimand. “You too, Brat.”

Alec and I continue to sit in narrow-eyed silence for a moment before he speaks. “I spent the first seven years of my life in an orphanage in Slovakia before a couple from New York adopted me.”

“Oh.” I nod, trying to be nice as a piece of his puzzle slots into place. “My mother was from the Czech Republic. I was just curious because, well…” I wave my hand between us in explanation.

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