Chapter 121
“Are you going to work on redecorating your apartment?” Wendy asked after I told her how Theo and David had set it up for us.
“I don’t know. I’m honestly so confused by everything that’s gone on that I haven’t thought about it. I think you got the idea before, but no one specifically told us how long Charles and I were going to be here.”
I rubbed my face tiredly. “Initially, we thought our stay was going to be brief, so there didn’t seem to be any need to redecorate. And now that I know that it’s probably not the case, my head is just swimming while I’m trying to keep up with everything.”
She leaned closer and spoke softly, and I understood why the moment the question was out of her mouth because it wasn’t totally appropriate material for eating out in a restaurant. “What’s it like having an alpha in bed? Is he all dominating and sexy? Does he take what he wants, or does he spend time on you, too?”
She fanned herself with her hand. “I just can’t stop imagining it must be like being with one of those super spies in a movie or something.”
I gazed hard at her and then answered her in a soft voice. “I wouldn’t know how to compare,” I admitted. “I’ve never slept with anyone else.”
She gasped and then sighed. “That is so sweet! A virgin lover. You two are just like in a story.”
“Is your love life really this boring?” I hadn’t meant for the question to pop out. And I covered my mouth with my hands, eyes wide. “I’m so sorry. That came out so rude,” I apologized. “It’s just that you’ve been drooling over my bodyguard. And you keep asking things like this when we barely know each other. I kind of get the feeling that…”
“I could use a little attention in the bedroom?” she supplied. She laughed, her eyes twinkling. “Once again, I am so glad you trust me enough to be honest like a real friend would.”
“I suppose I have the right to be called out for my behavior,” Wendy admitted. “We’re done having children, so my husband got a vasectomy. It’s been a few weeks since we’ve…you know…done anything. And I guess I am a little hard up.”
“I’ve always been active in the bedroom,” she continued, adding more information than I wanted. “I guess you could say my husband likes that I have a healthy libido. But in times like this, it’s more of a burden than a benefit.”
I laughed off my discomfort. “Okay. I guess I can see a need there. But when you’re with Theo and me, you’re practically drooling on me over him. Maybe bring a handkerchief?”
She laughed so hard she accidentally slapped the table with one hand when her hand slipped.
The noise drew Theo’s attention, and he turned around and looked at us. Now I blushed, but she laughed even harder.
“I am so glad you moved here,” she gasped. “I am going to love being your friend.”
The rest of the workday went all right, aside from the fact that my head and my feelings felt like they’d been through the spin cycle in the washing machine. I really enjoyed my lunch with Wendy. And if things were like that all the time, and she was really being genuine, then becoming her friend might actually be fun.
But I still just couldn’t bring myself to trust her.
On the way home, Theo tried prying things out of me. “You seemed like you and Wendy were getting along really well at lunch,” he commented.
“We were, for the most part,” I said.
“For the most part?” he asked, glancing over at me from the driver’s seat.
“I don’t know. Maybe I just miss my friend Cathy. Time with Wendy is not quite the same thing. Or maybe I’m still just getting used to being here in Packhaven. Charles and I have been through so much change lately that my feelings are all off.”
He nodded. “I could see that. But I was glad to see you actually relaxed and having fun toward the end there. I think you deserve it.”
Theo grinned at me again, and I blushed. “You’re always sounding like you’re spoiling me,” I said. “It’s a bit flustering. Do you do that on purpose?”
“Fluster you or you or spoil you?” he joked.
“I’m just trying to keep you happy,” he said with a chuckle. “I think my job will be a whole lot easier if you’re in a good mood than if I’m trying to cheer you up. Or worse, if I’m taking the brunt of your anger.” “I wouldn’t take my anger out on you,” I said. “Not unless you deserved it. I’m not in the habit of punishing people just for being around.”
“Ah. So… If you don’t mind me asking, what was so funny at the end of lunch? Wendy had you blushing like a schoolgirl with her first crush.”
A fresh blush crept onto my cheeks. “I’m not telling.” I clamped my mouth shut and refused to answer anything else the rest of the way home. As if I could admit to him what Wendy wanted to do to him. How embarrassing.
When we arrived home, Charles wasn’t there yet. Theo helped me start dinner.
Over the past couple of days he’d been offering me more and more advice on cooking. He might not admit to being good in the kitchen, but he was certainly better than me. Having a parent who is a chef seemed to make a lot of difference.
And I was actually quite glad he was passing his knowledge on to me. I’d never had the opportunity to learn with a parent or anything like that, having grown up in the orphanage.
They took the time to teach us to cook enough to make sure that we would be able to feed ourselves once we left out on our own. But it was the usual stuff, pasta and salads and whatnot. They never taught us anything fancy. However, after cooking with Theo, I was sure that his idea of fancy and mine were entirely different.
Tonight, he was showing me how to broil a salmon steak and make herbed potatoes to go along with it.
Charles came home, took one sniff of dinner, and then scooped me up, burying his nose in my neck and drawing in a deep breath.
Then he kissed the soft skin. “Dinner smells amazing, though not as amazing as you. I would imagine the way the food smells has to do with the fact that you are learning to cook just for me.”
I gently slapped him away from me and went back to making sure the potatoes didn’t burn. “Who said I was learning cooking just for you?” I asked. “I have to eat this too, you know. You’re just benefiting on the side.”
He laughed. “Well, whatever the reason, I’m grateful for the good food. How long until it’s ready?”
“I’d stay in the next 5 to 10 minutes,” Theo guessed.
“Will you be joining us?” Charles asked our guards.
Theo shook his head. “We made enough for all of us. But I was planning on eating in our apartment with David.” He paused. “I hope it’s not too big an inconvenience, but after dinner, my girlfriend is due to come over. She’ll have to knock on the main door. Can you let her in?”
“Of course,” Charles agreed.
Charles matched happy moods with everyone until the moment the door to our guards’ apartment shut. Then he wilted before my eyes. A huge weight settled on his shoulders.
“Is everything all right?” I asked while setting out our salmon.
“You know how I was just acting?”
“Happy?”
“Was I?” he demanded.
“Apparently not.”
He nodded. “Right. Have you noticed everyone we’ve dealt with has acted similarly?”
I paused and thought this over. I certainly had my doubts about the people around us, but they really hadn’t centered on their mood.
“It’s a little like Lupinton, isn’t it?” I said slowly.
“Just what I was thinking. I’m supposed to be uncovering corruption amongst the alphas, yet everyone I work with acts like we’re best friends, and this job is something, not necessarily happy, but easy. It’s like it just doesn’t bother them.”
“I fully agree,” I said. “It’s been just like that with Wendy, and even…” My gaze slid to the door separating us from Theo and David.
Charles pulled me into a hug and whispered in my ear, “Don’t trust any of them. I don’t.”
Dealing with Wendy had been weird enough already. But if I added Charles’ observations to what I was experiencing, the situation went from minorly uncomfortable to downright unsettling.
I pressed my cheek to Charles’ chest and drew in a deep breath of his vetiver scent. As expected, my heart rate slowed, and the world righted itself, at least partly. The comfort I drew from him reassured me that with Charles by my side, we could ride all this out.
