Page 54 of The Alpha's Promise
Then why don’t you mark me?
Dang, did she really want him to mark her? To spend the rest of her life as his mate? That couldn’t be. She just didn’t like the sense of inadequacy produced by his determination not to mark her.
Cody walked over and handed her a glass of pinot noir and a bag of potato chips with salt and vinegar, just the way she liked them.
She snapped it open and dumped a handful on each of their plates while he returned to the kitchen for his beer.
“So did you like the house? What you saw of it?” He smirked, probably remembering how her visit to the house had ended.
“Yes. I’m going to put an offer on it.”
“Are you? How much?”
“Well, it’s a little out of my range, but I’m going to go full price and submit the offer tonight, otherwise I’ll lose it.”
He gave her a curious look and rubbed a smudge of mustard from his lower lip. “Nah. You should lowball it. Offer the price you can afford. You never know, he might take it.”
She shook her head. “I don’t want to lose this house. They don’t come around that often, and I need a place to live right away. The timing is perfect. Besides, his agent is an ass, remember? He would laugh in my face if I submitted a lowball offer.”
Cody stared at her with an odd expression for a moment, then applied himself to eating his brat. “Are you sure it’s the right house?” he asked after a moment. “It’s pretty small.”
She snorted. “Like I could afford any bigger. No, it’s perfect. Just what I’ve always dreamed of.”
Cody looked thoughtful as he inhaled his food but he didn’t mention it again. After they ate, she washed the plates and set them in the drying rack, poured a fresh glass of wine, and sat on the couch with her Chromebook to send Brad Johnson the offer on the house while she watched a movie.
Cody plunked down beside her, tossed an arm around her shoulders. What are you looking to watch? Want me to drive?”
She rolled her eyes, but handed over the remote. She didn’t watch much television and sucked at figuring out what to watch. “Chick flick,” she said, just to test his reaction.
Both his eyebrows raised. “Are you serious?”
“Not really. I don’t care.” She cracked open the Chromebook to prepare the paperwork.
“You don’t care? Come on, give me more to work with than that.”
“I honestly don’t care.”
He frowned at her. “Chick flick it is,” he groaned.
12
Cody picked up Stone’s money from his bank. He’d felt like a bank robber, packing all that cash into a duffel bag that he stowed under the seat of his truck.
Afterward, he drove to Starbucks. He could hardly believe he was doing it, but Melissa had asked about coffee the first morning and he’d blown off her request every day since. She deserved it after putting up with his overbearing crap.
After the way she’d surrendered.
He’d been up the night before, staring at the text from his realtor, Brad Johnson, about her offer on the house. On one hand, he wanted her to have it. He’d loved her perspective about there being a perfect buyer for a house. Someone who would love it as much as he did. Yes, he wanted Melissa living in one of his houses.
The trouble was, he wasn’t sure he wanted her in that house.
He’d been starting to picture her in a different house altogether. One he’d love remodeling just for her. And him.
The thought of keeping Melissa, marking her and making her his made his shifter blood sing. The wolf wanted her. The wolf didn’t seem to care that she was only one quarter shifter. That their children would probably never be able to shift. That he’d lose his position as alpha because his mate was weak.
But beyond his intense physical need for her, there was more. He’d begun to understand her better. His initial assessment of her as a diva may have been off. She worked weekends as a bartender to get by—she was no stranger to hard work. She’d put up with a loser boyfriend out of a fierce sense of loyalty. He may think it was totally misplaced, but he admired the hell out of the sentiment. She bonded like a shifter.
She was sweet as honey when he wasn’t being an asshat and despite her frequent displays of defiance, had an innate response to dominance. Every time he’d won her surrender had been spectacular. Tender. Beautiful. He’d never felt so connected to another being—shifter or human—in his life.
