Don't Be a Tease, Mr. Blackwood

Alaric Blackwood slept until five-thirty, when Sophie woke him.

She pulled him to his feet, led the groggy man into the tearoom’s bathroom, and had him splash water on his face.

She used a clean towel to gently wipe the water from his face. "Mr. Blackwood, are you awake now?"

"’Darling’ sounds so much nicer."

Sophie laughed. "Did you not sleep well last night, darling? Why’d you sleep for so long this afternoon?"

"Couldn’t sleep."

"Because of what happened with Garland?"

"Yeah."

Sophie was just about to comfort him when a phone started ringing. It was Alaric’s, sitting on the tea table.

Alaric put his arm around her waist as they walked out of the bathroom, and he went straight to the tea table.

As he picked up the phone, she caught a glimpse of the caller ID.

It was Vianne Kane.

Her heart sank.

Alaric didn’t answer Vianne’s call, rejecting it outright.

Sophie’s eyes narrowed, her gaze becoming accusatory. "Why didn’t you answer?"

"There’s no need to."

Vianne quickly sent a text message, reminding Alaric not to forget their "date" tonight.

Sophie caught sight of the word "date," and her tone immediately soured. "You made a date with Vianne?"

"She’s the one who scheduled it. Said she wanted to talk about Conor Sullivan."

"Couldn’t you meet during the day? Did it have to be at night?"

"Are you jealous?"

Sophie froze. When she came to her senses, she stammered, "Why would I be jealous? I’m not jealous!"

Alaric looked at her face, puffed up like a little pufferfish. The amusement in his eyes was deep as he reached out and pinched her pouty cheeks. "I love it when you get jealous, honey."

"..."

"If you’re that worried, honey, why don’t you just come with me tonight? How about it?"

Sophie slapped his hand away. "I’m not going. I want to stay with Grandma."

"Then will you wait here for me to come pick you up?"

"No need. I’ll get a cab myself."

Hearing that stubborn streak in her voice, Alaric didn’t hesitate to pull out the keys to the Cullinan and place them in her hand. "Take the car."

"I don’t need it."

In a huff, she shoved the keys back at him. "If I can’t get a cab, Grandma can have her driver take me. You don’t have to worry about it."

"You don’t look very happy, honey."

Sophie turned away, insisting, "I’m not."

"In that case, you’re coming with me to the meeting tonight, honey."

"Like I’d want to go with you."

"You must."

Alaric forcefully grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the tearoom. She tried to pull her wrist free, but he only gripped it tighter.

He led her to the living room to find her grandmother.

"Grandma, unfortunately, a dinner meeting came up, so we won’t be able to stay and eat tonight."

Grandma’s head was spinning. "What dinner meeting? Dinner’s almost ready, and it’s all your favorite dishes."

"I’ll stay. I’ll keep you company, Grandma," Sophie said.

The moment the words left her mouth, the grip on her wrist suddenly tightened.

She winced. It felt like he was about to shatter her wrist.

She knew he was strong, but she didn’t know that Alaric had only used thirty percent of his strength.

"Then let Sophie stay."

Grandma tried to pull Sophie over, but Alaric yanked her behind him. "She’s coming with me."

"Alaric, what do you think you’re doing?"

"I’m sorry, Grandma, but she has to come with me to this meeting tonight."

Grandma glared at him. "Alaric, that’s not right of you. You know I’ve been looking forward to Sunday since Friday night."

"I promise I’ll make it up to you next time, okay, Grandma?"

"You’re so annoying."

Alaric gave a faint smile. "Then we’ll be going. Goodbye, Grandma."

He pulled Sophie toward the foyer, took her coat from the rack, and helped her put it on.

Sophie kept insisting, "I don’t want to go," but her actions betrayed her as she started putting on her own shoes.

Alaric was amused by her contradictory behavior and couldn’t suppress a smile. After putting on his own coat, he wrapped an arm around her waist and led her out the door.

He tucked her into the passenger seat of the Cullinan, got in himself, and started the car, heading for their destination.

It was an upscale Chinese restaurant with elegant, traditional decor.

Vianne had booked a very private room. Located at the end of a hallway on the second floor, it was discreet and ideal for a secret rendezvous.

She arrived early and, seeing that Alaric wasn’t there yet, she settled back on the room’s chaise lounge. Taking a compact mirror and makeup from her purse, she began to leisurely touch up her face.

After her last meeting with Alaric, she had gone home to watch the video on the USB drive—proof of Damian Morgan cheating with Yara Valentine. That same night, she went to the hospital and told Damian in his room that she wanted a divorce.

When Bianca Kane heard that Damian’s affair was real, she naturally sided with her daughter.

Damian’s things had since been packed up and thrown out of the Kane family home. He couldn’t even keep his job at the Kane Group, as Bianca had mercilessly fired him.

Without a job, a luxury car, or the Kane family’s mansion to live in, Damian was a complete wreck. His only option was to drag his luggage to Yara Valentine’s place to stay for the time being.

However, the moment he knocked on Yara’s door, a group of men in black burst out of the stairwell. They forced both him and Yara into the apartment and beat them to a pulp.

Having vented her anger so thoroughly, Vianne was in a marvelous mood.

She had proof of Damian’s affair, so she didn’t bother with any mandatory cooling-off period and filed a divorce lawsuit directly. Once it was finalized, the large house he had bought for his parents using her credit card would be transferred to her name.

Damian wouldn’t get a thing.

She thought about how she had taken him in when he was poor and destitute. She’d given him money to squander and had Bianca find a place for him at the company. And how did he repay her? Not with gratitude, but by cheating. Vianne felt that just sending people to beat him and Yara up was letting him off far too lightly.

Once her makeup was perfect, she put her things back in her purse and experimented with different reclining positions on the chaise lounge. She finally settled on lying on her side in a pose that was both elegant and tantalizingly seductive, ready for Alaric’s arrival.

’He won’t know what hit him.’

As she gloated to herself, she heard approaching footsteps, followed by a knock on the door. Her heart leaped into her throat with excitement.

"Miss, your guest has arrived." The waiter’s voice came from behind the door.

"Show him in, quickly."

She called back.

The carved wooden door was pushed open.

She expected the waiter to be escorting Alaric, but to her surprise, Sophie was there with him.

Their hands were tightly clasped together.

She was sprawled on the chaise lounge in an incredibly provocative pose—back arched, hips thrust out, her body twisted like a snake. It was such a blatant attempt at seduction that even the waiter was hit with a wave of secondhand embarrassment so intense he could have dug a hole in the floor with his toes.

Sophie pursed her lips. ’Thank goodness I came with him,’ she thought.

She knew Vianne was up to no good.

Alaric, however, was completely unfazed. After sweeping a brief, indifferent glance over the woman on the chaise lounge, he led Sophie into the private room. "We’re all here," he said to the waiter. "Let’s order."

Vianne’s face flushed crimson at being so thoroughly ignored.

She slowly rose from the chaise lounge and, hoping to break the awkward tension, stretched theatrically. "Oh my," she murmured. "Work has been so exhausting. You took so long to get here, Alaric, so I just had to rest for a moment."

Her words hung in the air, completely ignored.

Alaric and Sophie were focused on the menu, while the waiter was diligently explaining the dishes.