Page 21 of Alpha Ruined
“Unfortunately, everyone knows who that man is.”
Unable to hold his intense gaze, she stares at her notebook as she clicks her pen nervously.
“Well, thanks,” she says. “But um, I’m okay now.”
She pretends to go back to her notes, but she can still feel him watching her.
She shifts uncomfortably in the booth, her shoulder still tingling from his touch.
“Husband, you said? Where’s he at?” he asks softly.
When she looks up at him, his lips are pulled into a thin line.
She swallows. “He’s back home.”
“Of course. And he let you come to Green Woods all alone? He didn’t insist he accompany you, so people like Eugene don’t torment you?”
“You mean people likeyou?” she snaps, and he raises an eyebrow.
“You’re a terrible liar,” he says. “I’m not sure how you made it this far as a journalist.”
He’s goading her and enjoying every minute of it.
She’s sure he has an Omega somewhere, so why is he giving her so much attention?
“Look, I really appreciate you helping me out,” she says. “I’ve heard some awful rumors about him, and I’m grateful you?—”
“Oh, like he killed his wife?” Cole cocks his head slightly, his mouth curling into an almost smile. “Is that what you heard?”
“Yes,” she mutters, her face flaming.
She doesn’t know what he finds about her that’s so amusing, but she wishes he would stop looking at her.
“He did kill her,” he says nonchalantly, shrugging.
“What? How do you know that?”
“The same reason I justknowyou don’t have a husband. And that you weren’t lost this morning and accidentally ended up in the basement of a prison,” he says. “It’s just common sense, really.”
He looks at her expectantly, but Bree shrugs and goes back to her notes, hoping he’ll leave her alone.
But he stays, and even steals a sip of her tea, earning him a death glare from her.
Thenerve.
“Let me take you out to dinner,” he says, placing the cup back on its saucer.
Her heart skips a beat, certain she didn’t hear him right.
“What did you say?” she asks, placing her pen down.
“Dinner. It’s a meal usually had after lunch, often in the evenings.” He raises a sculpted eyebrow.
“I know what dinner is,Cole,” she snaps, her heart thumping wildly as panic courses through her veins. “But why?”
“Can’t a husband take his wife out to a nice dinner?” he jokes.
The words pierce her heart with a cruel reminder of how lonely she’s been.