She’s wearing her blonde hair in a high ponytail, anchored with a bow, and a beautiful blue dress.
Radiant.My wolf focuses on her.
He’s not wrong.
“It’s more impressive if you see the stack of manuals from every appliance ever owned in this kitchen.”
Leticia can’t possibly know I’m watching her, but she pulls open a cupboard door down by her thighs. I can’t see into the cupboard, but I assume it’s full of every manual known to kitchenkind.
“Well, if you’re not calling for the aforementioned nonexistent highly classified project, may I ask, what gives me the honor of talking to our very own Mafia princess today?”
“Oh, ew, no. Don’t call me that.” Leticia wrinkles her nose. She’s shaking her head, and the movement sends her hair flicking back and forth.
“No, not princess?” I repeat it, and she shudders.
“Not a princess.” She sighs, and her voice goes quieter. She brings her hand up to muffle her words. “But I was calling to try and get a hold of Valor.”
I lean forward, looking at the screen more intently.Why would she need to hide that?
“Well, I can pass on a message for you, but he’s preoccupied today.” The honest truth is, I don’t know where Valor is, and I’m too enamored with her to take the time to look up his coordinates.
“Can I trust you to really do that, or are you trying to get me off the phone?” Leticia drops her hand away from her face and picks up the toaster manual. She looks defeated.
“You can trust me.” I assure her. “I’ll get him the message today. I won’t promise before the end of business, but I will promise before midnight.”
“I’m big on promises.” She warns me as she stands up from the stool and squats to put the manual away in the bottom cupboard. “I want to see Antonella. An invite to dinner would be a really good place to start.”
“All you had to do was ask nicely. I’d be glad to take you to dinner.”Please don’t take that as creepy. Did I say that creepy-ish?
She lets out a gasp and snaps up into a standing position. Her fist clenches at her side. “Well, I would never.”
“Never go to dinner with me?” I wince.
My wolf takes a cowering position, and the secondhand shame is a lot to bear.
“Would never invite myself out to a meal with someone.” She lets her fist go, and I relax a bit.
“But you would invite yourself to dinner with Valor and Antonella?” I clarify.
“Yes.” Leticia sounds annoyed. She goes to another cupboard and begins to pull out something from inside. “Because it’s different when Antonella would be the one cooking the meal.”
“So, not at a public restaurant.” I note the specificity of this demand.
“That would be too weird.” Leticia sets a large mixing bowl on the counter before spinning to another counter space, this time opening up a drawer.
“Too weird, got it.” I watch as she moves about the kitchen.
We could be eating with her too,my wolf demands. We’re both enthralled with her dance as she gathers things and sets them on the counter.You could pretend to cook more than one meal. Make her come visit.
My cheeks heat at the thought. Mom made sure Valor and I could cook at least one meal enough to impress a girl. It’s not that she hasn’t tried to make me learn how to cook more, but I’m much more inclined to snacking and easily made foods than a whole meal.
“So...” Leticia grabs something from a cupboard, and I instantly recognize it as earbuds. She slips one in and then the other before speaking. “What should I bring to dinner at Valor and Antonella’s?”
The quality of the earbuds is fantastic. Her voice floods into my brain at a new wavelength and sends shivers down my spine.
“Nothing,” I answer out of reflex.
You’re never supposed to show up at an alpha’s house with a gift unless you’re a visiting alpha, and Leticia definitely doesn’t qualify. Valor isn’texactlythe pack alpha. That’s my dad, but everyone treats my older brother as alpha too.
