Alpha Nocturne’s Contracted Mate by A E Randell
Chapter 173 Full of Surprises
Lexi had wandered with Greyson for a little while, making small talk as she allowed him to take the lead with the direction that they were headed.
She found herself pleasantly surprised by his ability to hold a conversation and he didn’t seem to fawn over her, nor reject her which intrigued her greatly.
Men usually reacted in one of those two ways, and to find one who didn’t was indeed a rarity.
It did cross her mind briefly that he may indeed be hiding his true feelings about her, but there was no discernible cause to do so in her mind unless it was to try to get information out of her about Ann of course. But, he hadn’t brought her up in the conversation until now, so she was hesitant to condemn him so quickly.
“Is everything okay?” Greyson asked, stopping suddenly as he noticed her frown and his expression seemed to mirror her own as he frowned back at her in concern.
“Er, yeah? Why?” Lexi stammered defensively, a little shocked that he had even noticed.
“You’re frowning. I didn’t really think that discussing the topic of your favorite drinks, and whether or not girly c*oc*ktails were your style was anything to frown over.” He chuckled lightly.
Lexi snorted.
“See, that all depends. It’s a tricky question. It’s kinda difficult to make up my mind on which is my favorite honestly. I’m more of a whisky on the rocks kinda girl, or at a push, I’ll settle for a full-bodied red from the Bellevue’s Vinyard. c*oc*ktails don’t really do much for me other than serve as a liquid subst*itute for cake.” She winked. Greyson snorted in disbelief.
“Cake? Are you seriously equating c*oc*ktails to cake?”
“Obviously! Not that I don’t love cake, because trust me, I do, but if you think about it, c*oc*ktails are for the most part sweet. So all you’re really doing is just wasting valuable volume in your stomach by filling it up with flavored sugar water that contains the teensiest bit of alcohol and has probably been watered down anyway. If you’re going to commit to getting drunk, then that volume you’ve lost on the liquid cake could have been devoted entirely to getting yourself wasted on the good stuff.” Lexi continued seriously, “I mean, think about it rationally, if you’re going to start adding cream liqueurs to the mix, like… I don’t know… baileys or even Dooley’s, then you may as well just drink ice cream.”
Greyson stared at her with a perturbed look on his face, and opened and closed his mouth a couple of times in an effort to reply but gave up. How could he even reply to that?
He shook his slowly and chuckled quietly.
“Well, I never expected that I’d be rescuing the new resident expert in daemons from an argument with a complete a*s*shat, only to end up discussing how drinking c*oc*ktails is a waste of stomach space when you could be filling that space with hard liqueur instead.”
Lexi blinked up at him and smiled sweetly.
“Well, I’m just full of surprises. It’s part of my unique charm. You either love it or hate it. Allen most definitely hates it if you couldn’t tell.” She winked.
A flicker of emotion crossed Greyson’s face briefly as they continued walking and he cleared his throat, glancing sideways at her.
“Yeah it was pretty obvious, to be honest,” He winced as they made their way into a common room that offered food and drinks to the guests of the Enclave, “What’s the deal with that anyway? Do you two have a history?”
“Pffft! He wishes!” She snorted as she perused the drink options.
She could feel his intense gaze on her as she avoided his eyes and placed her order. When she was done she turned to him with a sigh and rolled her eyes.
“Look, Allen is… a little bit prejudiced against my kind and clearly my sense of humor is wasted on him. He’s a bitter little puppy with a stick lodged so far up his a*s*s he could pass for a ventriloquist’s dummy if you squinted hard enough.”
“\Now, there’s no love lost between you two then.” Greyson snorted as he turned to his menu. “Nah, we’re the best of friends, can’t you tell?” Lexi grinned as the Omega who attended the bar area passed her the drink she had ordered. “Honestly, though, I enjoy getting a reaction out of him. It’s probably more emotion than he’s used to dealing with in his boring, regimented life.”
She sipped on her drink slowly as she studied him closely. Greyson was clearly a good-looking guy with his broad shoulders, and strong jawline and the way his hair flopped lazily over his brow was making her want to do things to him that she knew even the succubi would raise an eyebrow at.
But for some reason, as soon as they had left Ann, Adam, and Allen in the corridor and she was alone with him, she felt her bravado slowly slipping away.
For the first time in her life, she was actually a little nervous around a man and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. She watched him order his drink and she was so utterly transfixed by the raw handsomeness of this man and imagining herself running her lips down his muscled neck that she wasn’t ready for it when he turned and caught her staring.
A slow smile spread across his face as he recognized that lustful heat in her eyes.
“Everything okay?” He asked, a slight husk to his already magnetic voice as Lexi swallowed nervously and kicked herself silently.
“I… erm…” She stuttered as she tried to think of an adequate response. Ordinarily, she would have been brutally honest and just tell him that she was imagining riding him like a jockey, but something stopped her.
As the seconds ticked by and she could feel her cheeks heating up with embarra*s*sment as her mind became an empty space and she failed to come up with a suitable response, she was saved from doing so by an ear-splitting growl that rippled through the room suddenly from the direction of the doorway behind her.
Greyson’s eyes tore away from her with a twitch of irritation and as he glanced over her shoulder his face darkened as a scowl settled deeply over his brow.
The sound of heavy footsteps advancing could be heard from behind her and she put her drink down as she turned to silently thank the person who had interrupted them.
Lexi was grateful for the diversion at first but when she turned and saw the look of fury on the face of the man who she enjoyed tormenting on a daily basis, her heart sank.
Allen had seen them together and for some reason, he was pissed.