Chapter Thirty-two – Making the most of it

Chapter Thirty-two – Making the most of it
BLAINE

I had anticipated this moment all day. Curious how good her act would be. Curious if she would even come as planned. 

She did. 

When she stopped in her tracks, staring at me, I knew I had chosen the right outfit. She could at least try to hide her attraction to me. After all, she was engaged to another. That’s what she believed, at least. 

I was surprised when she dropped her bag. Started running towards me. But I had no problem playing along. So far, I had loved this game,  she didn’t know we were playing. 

With a grin that visibly surprised her, I opened my arms. She jumped, and I caught her in the air, twirling her around, my arms under that fine ass of hers. 

Her face was red. Flustered. Did she not think I would catch her? 

Her arms rested around my neck, while she looked down on me. Different emotions flushed through her face. Surprise. Anger. Admiration. She was overwhelmed. Not knowing what to feel. 

It was fun to watch.

“I am happy to see you too, sweetheart,” I said loud enough for her friends to hear as I slowly set her down, my hands remaining on her hips. Our eyes locked, neither of us moving away. 

“Naaww,” a shrill voice cut through the air, pulling our attention to it. Lia. I recognized her from the many times I had seen her in the pictures taken of Malia. Seeing her hanging around my future bride, when I had watched her from a distance myself. 

I gave her a sweet smile that dropped a little when my gaze met Mason's. He was glaring daggers at me. That alone was usually a reason for me to kill someone. Sadly, that was not an option. At least not yet. 

Before my mind could drift off to the ways to kill the guy, I looked over to Val. She was watching us with a single eyebrow raised, as if to say, “Is this really necessary?”. 

“Hey guys, nice to meet you. My kitten has told me so much about you. Lia, Val, and Mason, right?”

When I called her my kitten, my face heated up, where her glare burned in my side. Val tried hard to keep from laughing, covering it up with a cough. Mason rolled his eyes, while I could see hearts pop up in Lias. 

“Damn, you’re hot,” Lia blurted out, covering her mouth with her hands, as she realized she had said it out loud. 

“Thanks, I guess,” I chuckled, then smiled down at Malia. My arm was around her shoulder. She was stiff as stone under my touch. Her smile was tortured. But her friends seemed to buy it anyway. 

“Shall we get a coffee?” I nodded in the direction of the establishment behind me. 

Mason’s gaze was focused on my arm around Malia. I pulled her in closer. My fingers gently stroked over her arm. His jaw clenched. My smile grew. When I placed a kiss on her hair, he looked away, clenching his hands. 

“I think I’ll pass”, Mason grumbled. “I have a lot to do. See you in school, Mal.” With that, he turned and stalked away. 

“Mason!” Malia called after him, wanting to step away from me, but I held her close. She looked at me, confused. One look of mine was warning enough for her to give up the attempt to follow him. 

Good. 

She should not test my patience about the other guy in her life. 

“You’re paying, right?”, Val asked. Lighting the mood, while pushing past us into the café.

“You do? Nice! Extra cheesecake for me then!” Lia exclaimed, following Val inside. Was this girl dense? Or did you choose to ignore the tension for Malia’s sake? 

Inside, Val was the first to make a massive order, Malia staring at her wide eyes. “What? This is nothing for him, right? You said he was working in some fancy company after all.” Her voice was cool like ice. She winked at Malia, telling her in silence what she actually meant.

Lia was not so forward. Looking at the menu and then at me shyly. 

“Get whatever you want. It’s my treat,” I confirmed the silent question, and a broad smile spread across her face. Malia is chuckling next to me. She did adore her friends. 

I put my hand on her knee, making her jerk upright in her seat. Her friends gave her a questioning look. Her face was beet red, but she didn’t say anything. 

After a moment, her friends fell into a light chatter, while Malia was staring at me. She grabbed my hand in an attempt to pull it off her. I was stronger. Kept it in place. 

She glared at me. But gave up with a sigh. 

Boring. 

I moved my hand higher up her thigh, causing the color of her face to intensify. She put her hand on mine. This time not pulling it away, but pushing it down, so I could not move it further up. 

It was hard to keep the grin from spreading. This was too much fun.

“What do you want to order, kitten?” I asked her with the sweetest smile, propping my chin on my fist. 

“I am just taking a coffee”, she mumbled, avoiding my gaze.

“Whaaat?!”, Lia asked, surprised. “But you are even more of a sweet tooth than we are.”

My principessa threw her a wide-eyed look. 

“Ohh… I guess you didn’t want your bf to know that side of you just yet, my bad,” she whispered. Malia face-palmed herself. 

“Dude. Even if she wanted to keep it a secret, you just told him everything,” Val sighed. 

Lia looked shocked between Val and Malia. She was definitely dense.  

After this little display, Malia gave up trying to hold back. They ended up ordering the whole menu and sharing the treats. It was weird for me to be in this kind of setting. Girls fussing over sweets. 

And I was acting out of character as much as ever before. Based on Vals’ look, I wouldn’t hear the end of it for a while. 

To prevent any other Mafia members from seeing me like this and seeing Malia close to me, the whole area had been called off-limits. Otherwise, I would have had to kill one or the other of them. Just for seeing Malia and possibly believing her to be a weakness. 

The number to know about her needed to be as small as possible, till she was ready to face the shadows of my world by my side, instead of hiding in the shadows behind me.