Malia’s POV
Ryder just kept on staring at me with those icy green eyes. I realized that if I didn’t give him an answer, it’d make me look guilty.
I cleared my throat. “I wanted to go sightseeing and Ronan offered to give me a tour,” I said.
I didn’t know why I lied. Perhaps a part of me felt Ryder wouldn’t like to hear exactly what happened.
To my relief, he nodded satisfactorily and changed the subject.
“You’ll have dinner with me this evening in my room,” he said.
It wasn’t a request.
I didn’t bother refusing. I was quite relieved we were talking about something else. Besides, I loved food.
A small part of me felt guilty about not heeding Ronan’s warnings to avoid the alpha. But then I suddenly realized that his warnings may have come from a place of jealousy since he had feelings for me.
He arched his eyebrows when I nodded and didn’t argue or protest.
“Wow, this has to be a first. Malia agreed to have dinner with me with a smile on her face.”
I rolled my eyes. “Your company is not so terrible and I don’t refuse food,” I said.
“Whatever. I’ve got to attend to something now. See you in an hour.”
He walked out of the room and didn’t bother to shut the door behind him.
With a sigh I got up and walked to the door.
“Lia please wait,” I heard a voice call out.
I turned towards the voice and saw Derek down the opposite side of the hall. He was jogging towards me.
“Derek,” I said in surprise. “Fancy seeing you in this hallway.”
He grinned. “Just passing through.”
I raised an brow at the way he held his hands behind him and wondered if he was hiding something.
“Ronan asked me to give this to you,” he said, revealing a small bouquet of roses.
“He says he’s going to make me train for twenty-four hours every day if you don’t accept it,” he added when he saw my hesitation.
“He’s just bluffing,” I said, but took the flowers anyway.
“Thank you. My job here is done,” he said and walked down the hallway.
I shut the door behind me and set the roses on the table.
I went to my window and watched with interest as Derek flirted with a petite brunette. I was going to tease him mercilessly about it later.
I was still watching the members of the pack go about their daily activities when the maid came with an exquisite dress and a lovely pair of shoes.
“The Alpha wants you to wear this,” she said. “Would you like me to help you get dressed?”
I shook my head and thanked her.
She gave me a small smile and left.
I rolled my eyes. His room was just opposite mine so what was the essence of getting all dressed up.
I decided to humour him this time. I put on the dress and even applied a little bit of makeup.
I had just finished dolling up when I heard a knock on the door.
“Come in,” I called out.
One of Ryder’s guards appeared. “The Alpha’s waiting for you at the table,” he said.
“Tell him I’ll be with him shortly,” I said.
He nodded and left.
I smiled as I thought about annoying Ryder a little.
I knew I was being immature but I couldn’t help it. I undressed and took a bath again. Then I took my time in getting all dolled up again.
I opened Ryder’s door and smiled as I sashayed to the dining table.
“Oh please, do not make haste on my account,” he said with sarcasm.
I grinned and stood beside a chair.
He arched a brow. “Aren’t you going to sit?”
“Aren’t you going to be a gentleman?” I asked with a coy smile.
He gasped in surprise at my guts and then smiled a slow seductive smile.
My heart skipped a beat.
He pushed back his chair and got up.
“Please sit, my lady,” he said, pulling out the chair for me.
“Why thank you, kind sir,” I said, pitching my tone slightly as I settled on my seat.
He walked to his chair and settled down. As if on cue, two maids came in with a tray of food.
Ryder still had that mysterious smile and he was staring at me.
“It’s rude to stare you know,” I chided.
“Who are you to tell an Alpha what’s rude?” he asked, still smiling.
“Basic manners should apply to Alphas as well, shouldn’t they? You’re a role model.”
He nodded. “Now can we eat? I’m starving.”
He dug into his meal and I did the same. I nearly moaned out loud in pleasure. The cook really outdid herself tonight.
Halfway through the meal, a maid came in to ask what we’d like for dessert.
Ryder declined. I didn’t. I mean, who am I to reject food?
He furrowed his eyebrows as I requested for something decadent.
“So you have a sweet tooth,” he commented.
“Am I supposed to have a bitter one?” I retorted with a straight face.
He chuckled and without another word, continued with his meal.
My dessert arrived at the same time as Lila. Talk about bad timing. Her presence was surely going to ruin the happy mood.
“She’s not supposed to be having dinner with you. She’s supposed to be halfway back to wherever she came from,” she ground out.
Ryder ignored her, beckoned on the maid and told her he had changed his mind about not having dessert.
He eyed my dessert with a look that should be seen only in the bedroom and I gently pulled my salted chocolate and caramel tarts closer.
“Are you just going to ignore me?” She fumed and walked to stand beside his chair.
“Lila please, not now. You can see I’m having a meal,” he said.
“You should be having a meal with me, not her,” she half-screamed.
“We’ll have breakfast together tomorrow,” he said.
She gasped. “You’re so unbelievable.”
She shrieked and smashed his plate to the floor. I quickly guarded my dessert just in case she had any plan of destroying it too.
With one last dirty look at the both of us, she stomped out of the room.