Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
“He has a girlfriend?”
“Yes, just listen!” Maya said, smacking my arm lightly. “Before he got with Rachel, there was another girl. Kimberly. It was…”
“A bad breakup?”
“Something like that,” she said, then took another sip of her drink. “So yeah, that makes him Athos. And Reid… well, Reid is definitely Porthos,” she said with a laugh.
“That he is,” Wesley said, walking up to us and putting his arm around my waist, letting his hand rest possessively on my hip. “Woman after woman after woman… But why are we comparing Reid to a musketeer?” he asked, looking between Maya and me.
“No reason,” Maya said, stirring her drink and not meeting Wes’s eyes.
My lips twitched as I remembered how she’d left me to fend for myself when Wes showed up at our apartment a few weeks ago. I mean, it had turned out just fine in the end. But still.
“Maya was just telling me—“”HAVEN!””—about how she calls you, Reid, Seb, and Nolan the ‘wolfketeers,'” I finished, rushing the words out and then reaching for Maya’s martini, taking a sip to hide from her wrath.
Wesley rubbed my hip as he gave Maya a raised brow, and she sputtered. “I-we-you see—“”So, Reid is Porthos. I’m guessing Nolan is Athos, Sebastian is D’Artagnan since he’s the youngest, and that makes me Aramis?” Wesley teased, holding in his laugh.
His chest twitched as he laughed silently, not letting Maya hear him and drawing out her embarrassment.
“Basically,” she squeaked, stealing her drink back from me.
He nodded, rubbing his chin as if deep in thought. “I like it.”
Maya’s shoulders visibly relaxed, and she blew out a breath. “Well, I will leave you two to it,” she said, picking up her drink. “Levi will be here any minute, and I think they will serve dessert soon, so we should probably get to our tables.”
She gave us a little wave and then made her way through the crowd back towards the entrance.
Wesley kept rubbing my hip, watching Maya thoughtfully as she walked away. Then he turned to me and said, “Should we find our seats?”
I nodded, and he gave my hip a little squeeze and then unwrapped his arm from me, taking my hand so we could find the correct table.
It wasn’t hard to find, as Ramón and Imogen were already there. Wes pulled my seat out for me, helping me scoot it in. Then he moved his so it was right next to mine, sitting in it and throwing his arm over the back of my chair, making sure we were as close as possible. His fingertips played with the chiffon fabric of the cape that extended off my right shoulder and brushed against the bare skin of my upper back, sending little tingles across my shoulder blades and down to my fingers.
“Imogen,” I said, smiling at the blonde across from me. “This is Wesley Stone. Wes, this is Imogen. She danced Princess Aurora tonight.”
“Ah, yes, the new lover Ramón mentioned.” She smirked, extending her hand to Wesley.
He leaned forward a bit, taking her hand in his and kissing the back of it.
I clenched my jaw, and my nostrils flared. Seeing his lips touch her skin stoked that little fire inside me, flashing green in front of my eyes.
Which was so unlike me. To be jealous like that. And embarrassing, considering how much crap I’d given Wesley earlier about him being jealous.
Wesley chuckled when he sat back in his chair as if he could sense me stewing next to him. He rubbed my shoulder a bit as his arm settled back on the chair and leaned into me to kiss my temple. “Now who is jealous?”
“I’m not,” I insisted, trying to keep the pout off my face.
“Good, because green isn’t really your color either,” he teased, then gave me another peck on my cheek before turning towards the others at our table.
“So, what did you think of the ballet, Mr. Stone?” Imogen asked, lifting her champagne glass to her bright red lips.
“I enjoyed it thoroughly,” he said, crossing his ankle over his knee. “Although, I will admit, I don’t know much about ballet.”
“Well,” she said, smacking her lips, “it takes extensive training at the best schools from a very young age to truly make it in this world.”
I held in my eye roll. There it was. The subtle dig at my training—or lack of, in her eyes.
Wesley cocked his head to the side, glancing at me from the corner of his eye. “Is that so?”
“It’s mostly accurate,” Ramón said, his eyes also landing on me. “However, sometimes raw talent can be found in unexpected places.”
“Well, of course,” Imogen said, fidgeting with her diamond earrings. “But Miss Wainwright here is the exception, not the rule.”
“Kenway,” Wesley said, a deep frown marring his handsome face, his hand behind me gripping the back of my chair. “Her last name is Kenway,” he repeated.
That petty part of me that had been jealous only minutes before became subdued and peaceful after hearing him defend me and my name. I couldn’t remember telling him I preferred Kenway even though my name had been changed, but somehow he knew. He knew me, sometimes even better than I knew myself.
I reached over and placed my hand on his thigh under the table, rubbing it just a little. “It’s okay,” I whispered.
His eyes moved down to my hand on his leg, and then he slowly blew out a breath, his eyes closing, and I imagined him counting to ten in his mind. Then his hand on the back of my chair moved to the top of my spine and started moving down to the top of my dress and back up.
“Sorry,” he grimaced, looking back at Imogen, his fingers still tracing my spine. “I just know she prefers Kenway. Her birth name.”
“I… did not know that,” Imogen said slowly, looking between Wes and me.
There was a lingering silence at the table after that, but luckily, the servers came around just then, bringing out the petite desserts—various tarts, mousses, and cakes in miniature form—and more champagne, which I declined.
Wes removed his arm from my chair and my back and moved forward to eat his dessert, starting with the lemon tart with whipped cream. I had a flashback to our dinner date, where I had so brazenly licked whipped cream off of his thumb.
I didn’t know what possessed me to be so bold because that was definitely NOT my norm, and I was definitely not that type of girl. But I couldn’t deny the little thrill that ran through me at teasing him like that.
“So, what ballet will you be performing next?” Wesley asked, bringing my attention back to the present.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?