Page 6 of The Alpha's Promise
“Hi, Ben,” she said breathlessly.
“Melissa. Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay. Just… scared.”
“Who were those guys, do you know?”
“No. Jeremy and I weren’t really talking since we broke up. We just sort of cohabitated out of necessity.”
“Dammit, Melissa, I said I would help you buy a house.”
“I know, I know. I’ve been looking. I was already half packed to move out.”
“Listen, Ashley and I will fly back early and?—”
“No,” she interrupted. “Do not cut your honeymoon short for this. I’m fine. Cody got me out of there.” She flicked a glance at her hot rescuer. “You don’t need to come.”
She already hated herself for needing—once again—to be rescued by her sister, whose life was always together, who always did the right thing. If Ashley and Ben came home early on account of her, she would be the asshole who ruined their honeymoon for the rest of their lives.
Cody peeked through the closed blinds again. He looked so damn alert and capable, like a bad-ass Navy SEAL, or Special Ops agent. If he was truly on her side, she’d be safe.
Ben cursed. “You need to stick with Cody. Do everything he tells you. He’s alpha there, do you know what that means?”
“Not exactly.”
Ben blew out his breath. She heard her sister say something in the background and then her voice came on.
“Am I on speaker?” she asked in a low voice.
“No.” Melissa walked to the far side of the room, facing away from Cody, as if that would prevent him from hearing her conversation.
“Hey, wolves are all about the pack order, you know. So he’s going to be overbearing and dominant. He’s the boss, if you know what I mean. Just try not to let it get to you.”
She snorted, looking over at Cody, who had crossed his arms over his massive chest, watching her with those assessing gray eyes.
Yep. Overbearing and dominant.
Her pussy clenched again. But that wasn’t right. It was Ashley who was into the authority figure type, not her. She just did bad boys. Or used to. Now she was doing suits and ties. Business owners or CPAs. Or maybe a nice lawyer. A dentist, even.
She couldn’t stop herself from looking over at Cody again. Her pussy felt hot and wet under her skirt. An image of that well-built, tattooed man pushing her over the seat of his motorcycle and spanking her ass flashed before her mind and she flushed and turned away.
His nostrils flared and he shot her a surprised look. The edges of his lips curled.
Holy hell. Did he read minds?
Ben returned to the line. “Melissa? Give the phone back to Cody.” He was a man of few words, her brother-in-law. No please or take care.
But he did take care of her, she had to admit. His offer to buy her a house had thrilled her. She wasn’t going to let him buy the house outright. Just help her with a down payment. She’d get a house she could afford once he got her started. She knew just what she wanted—a CJ Steele house. One of the lovingly restored houses in Colorado Springs’ oldest neighborhoods. She adored the CJ Steele company’s work and admired the hell out of Steele, the up and coming real estate mogul who had made a small fortune buying and flipping houses over the past eight years. Her dream was to be his agent.
She handed the phone back to Cody and listened to another terse exchange before he hung up.
He sent a speculative gaze in her direction. “You’ll stay here until it all blows over.”
Only because he already had her off-balance and she didn’t want him to have the upper hand, she curled her lip and looked around as if the place wasn’t up to her standards. As if she hadn’t already been living with Jeremy, the slob of the year. The place wasn’t bad, but it could use a good cleaning. And it was a typical man cave. Small, basic, everything in dark colors like hunter green and navy blue.
His brows slammed down and he stalked past her. “I’m sorry it doesn’t suit you, princess. Next time I’ll make sure to rent a mansion for your sleepover.”
The word sleepover sparked a nervous flutter in her belly as it became real that she’d actually be sleeping here with this meathead. She glanced toward the bedroom. There was only one, as far as she could see. His place had used all the square footage on the workshop/garage—at least fifteen hundred square feet. The inside was just a combination kitchen/living room, and a small bedroom and bathroom, as far as she could tell. Another eight hundred square feet. And yes, the realtor in her had assessed the property and its approximate market value—about one hundred and fifty grand—the moment she’d walked in.
