Page 16 of Savage Alpha

His brow furrows in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“The whole slick playboy thing,” I mutter, gesturing toward him. “I know what you’re doing. It isn’t cute, and I’m not the type of girl that works on.”

He cocks his head, a smirk curling his lips. “Then why are you blushing?”

My mouth drops open as I cover my cheeks with my hands in horror.

His rumbling laugh echoes in the space of the cabin, and I realize too late that he’s just messing with me. Then, I do blush- not from his over-the-top, disingenuous charm, but from embarrassment.

“I knew this was a bad idea,” I grumble, sweeping my phone up from the table and shoving it into my back pocket. I start to hightail it out of there, stepping around the table and striding toward the door, but Javi catches my wrist as I pass him, giving it a tug that sends me spinning into his broad chest. I slap my palm against his rock-hard pec to brace the impact, gaping up at him, my breath catching.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs, those impossibly dark eyes boring into mine. “I’ll behave, just… don’t go.”

He’s still holding my wrist trapped between our bodies, sparks simmering between our skin as I stare into his eyes. And I’m not sure if it’s the raw edge to his tone or the way the energy crackles in the air between us like a livewire, but just like that, I’m sucked back into his vortex.

This bond of ours doesn’t play fair.

My throat bobs with a hard swallow as I nod, peeling myself away from him and taking a step back.

His shoulders sag in relief and he moves over to the table again, gesturing to the nearest chair. “Should we sit?”

With another mute nod, I join him at the table, pulling out a chair. The wooden legs scrape the floorboards with a screech and I drop onto the seat, watching Javi as he drags out the chair beside mine and sits down. He’s so large that he makes the spindly wood chair look like dollhouse furniture, but he’s quick to get comfortable, leaning back and spreading his knees.

“So tell me about yourself, stalker girl,” he urges, sweeping his thumb back and forth against his lower lip.

I frown. “Did you really forget my name again?”

“No,Lo,” he replies pointedly. “Or do you prefer Logan?”

“Lo’s fine,” I sigh, crossing one leg over the other and folding my arms across my chest. “What do you wanna know?”

“Anything,” he shrugs. “Everything. What are you into?”

I chew on the inside of my cheek, mulling it over. “Computers, I guess? I work in IT.”

The corner of his mouth ticks up. “Hence the laptop yesterday.”

“Exactly.”

He nods slowly, his gaze flickering down my body, then back up to meet my own. “So what kinda job were you on that you had to work from the side of the road?”

“I do security stuff, mostly,” I say, unsure how much I should divulge. It’s probably best to keep it vague- at least until I know more about him and decide whether he can be trusted.

“So you were sent out to check up on my pack?” Javi asks, though from the inflection in his voice, it’s not really a question.

I shake my head. “I didn’t say that.”

“Didn’t have to.” He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, his gaze still firmly trained on mine. The intensity of his eye contact is unnerving. “So you’re a nerd, then,” he says with a low chuckle.

“That’s rude,” I grumble.

“Hey, I didn’t mean it as a bad thing. I’m just surprised, I guess. You don’t look like a computer nerd.”

“And what’s a computer nerd supposed to look like?” I challenge.

He sweeps his gaze over me, so slow and assessing that it makes me squirm. “Not like you,” he finally says, as if that’s explanation enough. “I dig it, though. Sexyandsmart.” His tongue darts out to wet his lips, the heat in his eyes unmistakable.

I huff out an annoyed breath.

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