Fated An Alpha Male Romance - K. Alex Walker Page 0,72

don’t even glance in each other’s direction because of one reason or another. Men are generally more open than women; women often protecting their emotions behind fortified walls. Other times, it’s more trivial. For instance, I overheard a woman complaining about the brand of a man’s jeans once, but the pull between her and that same man was extremely strong. It nearly devastated me to know that if she’d been able to see past something as insignificant as his outfit, she would have experienced a love like none other.”

She caught my confused frown and chuckled. “It sounds like sorcery, doesn’t it?”

“Honestly, yes. A bit,” I replied.

“Well, think about it like this. At some point and time, humans had to communicate without words. We had to make decisions based on instinct and never had the luxury of being able to talk ourselves out of something. What I’m talking about, it has a little bit to do with that.”

I mulled over everything that she’d said up to that point. It wasn’t something that I was likely to believe, but it made for an interesting story.

“So, what you’re saying is, there’s only one match per person?” I asked.

“One true match,” she clarified. “There are couples who are lukewarm and can maintain a pretty basic relationship. Their attraction is more mental. They can find contentment with each other, but they won’t have the yearning passion of a true match.”

As I studied her face, I realized that she believed everything that she was saying. It made me question why I didn’t. People believed in the concept of soulmates every single day, so how was this any different from that?

“Are there any people that are completely unsuited to each other?” I asked.

She covered my wrist with her hand. “Yes.”

“And are those the people who quickly get divorced?”

“Not always. Sometimes these people adapt and change to their surroundings. They end up living in misery, but many times are able to convince themselves that everything is fine.”

I began to nod again. “And this is how you see me and Roderick.”

My mother walked up to the bedroom doorway and smiled proudly at me. She’d been giving me that same smile ever since Roderick’s proposal.

“No,” Grandma Evelyn replied. “Not you and Roderick.”

I looked up at my mother. Her hair was in a neat French bun and her makeup, as usual, was professionally done. The smile on her face stretched and failed to reach her eyes, and the turtleneck sweater that she was wearing, though fashionable, seemed to be choking her.

“Honey, the wedding designer is downstairs,” she announced. “Plus, the camera crew is waiting for you. They need you to start considering different venues. I was thinking either the Mazarin, the Omni, or even the Windsor.”

“She’ll be right down,” Grandma Evelyn answered. Then, when my mother disappeared, she took my hands in hers. “Alle, look at it like this. Gia and Elliott are a true match. You and Roderick are a lukewarm match. Some people might have had to settle for lukewarm because they will never meet their true match, and that they can make work, but you are luckier than those people. You had the opportunity to spend the last two years working alongside yours. If I hadn’t intervened, you would have never had the chance to explore that relationship.”

I hopped off the bed. “Grandma Evelyn, even if I was somehow able to believe in what you’re saying, you’re implying that you gave me and Ethan some sort of concoction that caused us to end up together. That punch. So, in reality, our entire relationship was built on something false.”

“No, it was not,” she asserted, standing. “Look, the punch was nothing but a facilitator. It’s just a drink laced with alcohol that eventually leads to the lowering of inhibitions. There’s nothing mystical or magical about it. Everything that happened between you and Ethan was real. Think about it like this: if it had been the drink, wouldn’t you two no longer have feelings for each other once it was out of your system?”

This time, it was Roderick who showed up in the bedroom entryway.

“Everything okay in here?” he asked, eyeing Grandma Evelyn. “By the way, we’re ready for you downstairs again, Alexandra. We have to pick wedding venues on camera, but first we have to pick them off camera. The one we agree on, we have to pretend to disagree on in order to incite drama.”

Grandma Evelyn pulled me close and leaned near my ear. “Think about what I said,