I eyed the contents of the refrigerator. I wasn’t in the mood to

prepare anything extravagant. My eyesnded on a can of

tomato soup. That would have to do.

I grabbed it, ripped it open and dumped it into a pot. Steam rose

in an instant, and I stirred as the smell of tomatoes and herbs

filled the air. The scent was so overwhelming, that I had to step

out of the kitchen for a bit to get some fresh air.

When I rounded the corner, I saw Alexandering through

the living room, bringing the scent of the ointment with him.

“Oh… you want to eat in here?”

He didn’t even look at me. We walked casually and settled into

one of the chairs at the dining table. “Kitchen, Olivia.”

I turned on my heel and stomped back to the kitchen.

Alexander just proved everything I’d been thinking about

earlier. Why did he always have to talk to me like that? I turned

off the stove,dled the soup into a bowl and grabbed a spoon.

I stomped back into the dining room and dumped the te right

in front of him.

He stared down at it for a long moment inplete silence. I‘

could hear the antique clock ticking as he studied the soup.

I started bracing myself for another negative response from

him, but then he said, “Well done. It smells really good.”

Yve wasn’t buying it though. “Thank you,” I replied, forcing a

fake smile on my lips.

“You want some?”

No way. “I’m not hungry.” I still wasn’t over how he’d spoken to me earlier. I watched as he brought the spoon to his lips.

Everything about Alexander’s behavior tonight had gotten on my nerves intensely. My jaw clenched involuntarily as I reyed how he’d been so sarcastic while I changed his dressing. Or how he just mocked the soup I made for him.

Yes, it wasn’t anything grand, but I made it. That’s what

mattered.

He swallowed the soup and looked up at me instantly. His eyes

widened. “I’m sorry, Olivia.”

My frown deepened. “You don’t have to eat it if you can’t stand

it.”

He shook his head frantically. “No, that’s not what I meant.” He looked up at me with a genuine expression. “I’m talking about the way I acted earlier. I was out of line.” Alexander turned his attention back to the spoon, lifting the spoon to his lips, again

and again and again, until the bowl was empty.

“This is actually really good. Really. The vor is perfect”

I tilted my head. Alexander was saying things I didn’t understand and I didn’t want to try. I shook the thought away and started to move to head back downstairs.

“Olivia, wait.”

I turned to face him slowly. He was looking directly at me now.

“From now on, you don’t have to deliberately avoid me. Wherever I am, whoever I’m with… if you want toe in, just

This wasn’t what I’d expected him to say.

“Even if there’s something between them and me,” he

continued. “I won’t let it be gossip. You have my word on

that!‘

I was frozen in ce. So that’s what he was really apologizing

for. It caught me by surprise. I thought he was referring to the

things he’d said when I first entered his bedroom to change his

dressings. But now that he’d exined I started to understand

him, and the rage slowly began to slip away.

His earlier anger now seemed somewhat justified to me. He’d thought I was backing down from my duties as a secretary. In

his mind, I’d allowed personal difort to get the best of me and didn’te in in time. And now he was making it clear to me that it was going to be okay.

I wouldn’t have to be subjected to any form of rumors. And as the anger finally slipped away, guilt quickly took its ce. “I understand. Goodnight, boss.”

“Goodnight, Olivia.”

We exchanged a look, and then I made my way downstairs.

Alexander wasn’t exactly easy to be around, but at least he was

willing tomunicate and address misunderstandings. It was

more than many Alpha’s would do, and that put me in a much

better mood.

I was back in my apartment, cuddled between my sheets, in and

out of sleep. But sometime in the hours before dawn, my phone

buzzed. My eyes snapped open immediately.

*Olivia*

I was half asleep when I reached for my phone. It took a long moment for my eyes to focus enough so I could recognize the jumbled up letters disyed on my screen.

Alexander: Need you toe in for tomorrow’s shift. Can you

make it?