“Well, if you’re paying,” I said, “you can get me a gin and tonic.”
He gave me a slight nod, then placed his order with the waiter - including my drink. The most confusingly infuriating part of it was that he wasn’t looking at me at all now. He turned to watch whatever was on the TV.
I narrowed my eyes and put on my best uninterested-but-not-bitchy voice. “So. What’s your name, stranger?”
“Griffin.” He glanced at me for a moment, a slight smile on his lips. “Griffin Hughes.”
Last name, too, huh?I thought.Is that supposed to mean something to me?What kind of game is he playing?
The waiter arrived and dished out our orders. I wrapped my fingers around my gin and tonic as Griffin took a sip of caramel-colored brandy.
I leaned forward on the table, resting my chin on my hand. “Griffin,” I said, trying the name out. “Thanks for paying for my drink.”
“You’re welcome.” He pressed his lips to the glass, which drew attention to the handsome scruff on his face. “If you like, you can pay me back by telling meyourname.”
I raised a brow. “Pays for drinks, and he’s got a smart mouth.”
To my surprise, Griffin laughed. “It’s just common courtesy, isn’t it? I tell you my name, you tell me yours.” He downed a bit of his brandy. “But you don’t have to tell me. I get it.”
“Get what?”
He shrugged. “I’m an alpha buying an omega a drink, then asking his name. It’s teetering on the edge of skeezy.”
I crossed my arms. He was getting a little too self-aware for my taste. What kind of game was Griffin Hughes playing with me?
“Not necessarily,” I replied. “It’s just common courtesy, like you said. Skeezy would have been sitting down without asking, then trying to mack on me. Which you didn’t do.”
“I did not,” Griffin agreed. “Would you have preferred that instead?”
The hairs on the back of my neck prickled like a wolf’s hackles. How could a man be so simultaneously charmingandannoying? I forced myself to calm down. Rule number one: never let an alpha get beneath my skin.
“No,” I said. “In fact, I prefer that you donotdo that.”
“Then we agree on something.” He sipped more brandy. “Nobody likes that.”
My brain rifled through the possibilities of where this situation was heading. Most of them ended inhe wants to fuck you.A few implied he would leave without chasing me down, that he was content just to tease me with no follow-through.
The most dangerous option wasmewanting to fuckhim.
“Jake.”
Griffin blinked. “Hm?”
“My name is Jake. No last name, because I don’t know what you want from me yet.”
Griffin looked surprised. “I don’t want anything from you.” A slight grin. “I thought we just established that.”
There’s no way he’s telling the truth. There’s only one thing an alpha ever wants, and that’s an omega beneath him.
But Griffin and his antics, surprisingly, were not my biggest problem right now. The issue was a stirring in my crotch that had nothing to do with the alcohol.
I recognized that feeling anywhere. While it wasn’t the same as a full-blown heat, it was the same base sensation. Lust. Arousal.
It wasn’t supposed to go this way.Imade the move on alphas, not the other way around.
My logical brain asked, was Griffin really making a move on me? All he’d done was ask to sit at my table, then ordered me a drink - all of which I’d saidyesto. If anything, this situation was totally my fault.
“So, Jake no-last-name,” Griffin said. “What brings you here tonight? Seeing as you barely touched your gin and tonic, I’m assuming it’s not because you wanted to drink.”
