Fated An Alpha Male Romance - K. Alex Walker Page 0,90

his skin.

“This situation that you’re in doesn’t just happen to women, you know,” he barked, although his face reflected that of a sad puppy. “You think you’re the only one who has expectations that they want to shuck? That women are the only ones who have to conform to something that they don’t want?”

He groaned and flung up his hands while the room fell silent. Even the Justice had tucked his Bible beneath his arm and was watching the Miller family drama unfold like a midday soap opera.

“My parents were in love,” he began, gesturing to Grandma Evelyn. “The whole world knows it. It’s not as though I wasn’t exposed to it because it was evident to everyone around them. But from the minute that I was born, as the only son of one of the nation’s most beloved men, I had an image to retain as well. Part of that involved marrying someone with status, not for love.”

I gently touched his shoulder. “What was her name?”

“Who’s name?” He knew exactly what I was asking, but wanted to be difficult anyhow. It was the first time I’d ever seen any of Gia’s traits in him.

“It doesn’t matter what her name was,” he snapped. “All you have to know is, when you open yourself up to the possibility of love, you also open yourself up to the possibility of heartache. I know I might seem like an insensitive boar, but I didn’t want that for you…or you, Gia.”

He turned and I could tell that his acknowledgment caught Gia off-guard. It was one of the first times, in a very long time, that her name had ever left his mouth in a positive light.

“You say I’m hard on you, but I was just trying to protect you from,” he looked at Ethan, “lowlifes.”

I put a restraining hand on Ethan’s chest.

“Ethan’s not a lowlife, Daddy,” I said.

“It would have been easier to see you two in relationships that couldn’t hurt you,” he went on. “I know your mother has her story; I have my own. Without love, we were still able to make a good life for you both.”

“But, it could’ve been better,” Roderick spoke up. He’d still been at the altar the entire time watching the scene unfold. “It could have been a better life for all of you.” Then, he shook his head. “Alexandra, I might be a lot of things, but I am not the type of man to try to ruin another man’s career for my own gain. Especially when ruining his career puts the livelihood of children at risk.”

My father, embarrassed, shielded his face from our audience.

“So, you don’t have to worry about those images becoming public,” Roderick assured. “I had them destroyed.”

Ethan’s brows went up as though asking what pictures Roderick had been referring to, but they settled when realization hit him that they were compromising pictures of us.

“Sir,” Ethan spoke directly to my father, “have faith in the job you did raising your daughters. Even though you tried to shove them in different directions, they still ended up making choices in their best interests. One needed some coaxing,” he squeezed my waist gently, “but, man-to-man, I promise you that I will never do anything to send your daughter crying to your doorstep. I will give her such a good life that even after I’m gone from this Earth, she’ll still walk around like the happiest woman that ever lived. I’m going to start today by not leaving this building until she agrees to be Mrs. Alexandra Stewart.”

I was nodding along with everything that he was saying right up until the last part, and with a gasp, turned to him.

“W-what?”

“Did I mention that I had two flight delays, a nine-hour drive, and a stop at the jewelry store?” He pulled a box from behind his back and dropped to his knee. “Alexandra—”

I was screaming “yes” before he even had a chance to say anything else. I literally couldn’t even stay still as he tried to maneuver the ring onto my finger, and once it was snug, I pulled his lips down to mine and allowed all of my eagerness to travel through me and into the kiss.

Five well-dressed figures came through the open doors, one of them I instantly recognized as Ethan’s grandfather due to his wheelchair. As they drew nearer, I made out Tayler, a woman who looked so much like Ethan that it was eerie, a man holding hands with her, and Kellen pushing the