Fated: An Alpha Male Romance by K. Alex Walker Read Free Book Online Page A

holding a shovel at the groundbreaking ceremony,” my father added. “From what I understand, they are developing a plot of land over there somewhere to start a fresh foods market for those people.”
    Roderick’s eyes ignited. “What better way to show that I’m truly for the people?”
    “Okay, Roderick,” I gave in, simply to end the conversation between him and my father. “I’ll talk to him and see what I can do.”
    He grinned. “Good girl.”
    Suddenly sick, I rose from my seat and walked over to where Ethan and Grandma Evelyn stood. Ethan’s eyes never left mine even when I was right in front of them, and his irises stood so clear that they almost looked colorless.
    I held out my hand. “Dr. Stewart. Hello.”
    He glanced down at it, shook his head, and snaked his hand around my waist. I initially began to resist him even though I wanted his arm around me more than anything, but relaxed when he leaned down near my cheek and blew along the shell of my ear.
    “Hi Alexandra.”
    “I’ll leave you two,” Grandma Evelyn said, winking before she walked to the table. Roderick was watching us, but his focus was nowhere near the arm Ethan had around my waist.
    “May I have this dance?” Ethan asked, pulling me closer.
    I joined our hands. “Yes.”
    Our gazes connected as we floated around the room and, as cliché as this might sound, I felt like Cinderella. Although my dress wasn’t as cumbersome, and a wrong step in my strappy heels wasn’t going to leave me tweezing glass splinters from the soles of my feet, I was definitely in the arms of someone as dashing as a fairy-tale prince.
    “We haven’t really talked since yesterday,” he said, his gaze moving but somehow remaining still. “Are you afraid of me now?”
    He was searching my eyes, but heaven only knew what he was looking for. My body’s reaction should have told him everything that he needed to know.
    “No,” I immediately answered.
    “Oh. Then, how do you feel about what happened?”
    He turned me around so that my back was facing his midsection, our arms outstretched to the side. The soft music wafting from the orchestra had corralled us into a waltz, which I’d learned when I was only ten years old, and Ethan’s feet moved flawlessly in step with mine. I began to wonder again about his background, and if my parents could have accepted him as easily as they’d accepted Roderick.
    After a few beats, I turned so that we were face to face again, and he pulled me tight into his chest. Its hardness reminded me of how my breasts had pressed against him as he’d held me against the wall of my office, every inch of his length moving skillfully inside me.
    I replied as honestly as I could. “Confused.”
    Suddenly, he stopped.
    “What’s wrong?” I asked, doing a poor job of masking my disappointment.
    He grabbed my hand. “Come with me.”
    I let him whisk me away from the ballroom floor towards the kitchen doors in the back without even tossing a glance at my table. I felt a mixture of guilt and a rush of exhilaration as I pictured a hidden kitchen crevice, our lips joined, and my legs around his waist. Instead, the back room was mostly empty with the exception of a few staffers. He whispered something to one, a dark-haired girl with a pixie-cut and light dusting of freckles across her nose, then she smiled and disappeared. As we waited for her to return, he pulled me backwards into his arms and kissed the top of my head. My stomach quivered at the fact that, at any given moment, Roderick could walk through the doors and see us holding each other like long-time lovers.
    I prepared to step away from him just as the girl returned, and he led me in the direction that she’d come from to a small square table. On top of the table in a slim vase was a single red rose and the lights had been dimmed. A plate sat in the middle of the table with a slice of chocolate cake on top.
    “One of the first things you told me when we first met was