Killian glanced at the bunch of designs that Inez had placed in front of him and flicked through them one by one.
"Boring, boring…super boring… super-duper boring," he muttered as the waitress returned and placed the dishes that Killian had ordered for the two of them. Given how the woman ducked her head when Inez looked at her, the woman must be laughing at her for even trying.
If she was being honest with herself, Inez too wanted to laugh at her own stupidity.
Did she really think that she could win this man over with her skills? Yes, yes, she did think that maybe her skills would be able to meet the standards of the great Lycan alpha Killian Sokolov.
Now that she was jolted out of her dreams, Inez felt quite self-defeated.
Killian threw the last design on the table but Inez felt the hit on her face. Though she had never claimed that she could meet every request of her client, she had never been rejected in such a manner. It made her question her own skills for a second.
"Is this the best the genius designer could do?" Inez heard Killian ask as the man lounged back in his seat with an arm thrown back. "I thought and expected from someone like her, given how Alpha Dominic claimed that the woman had fantastic skills when it came to designing and redecorating. But it seems like it was no more than a gimmick. What do you think?"
Honestly? The only thing she could think of at the moment was to gouge out those piercing eyes, which were taking in every move and expression of hers. It was the stare of a predator and Inez very much felt like a prey with Killian focusing all of his attention on her.
"I believe if you had cleared up what you wanted better, then maybe the designs would have suited your taste more, Alpha Sokolov." Inez would have loved to say a few nicely chosen words to the man but when she thought about the contract in her bag, she swallowed her pride back and gave the man a clipped smile.
He arched a brow at her and fired back, "If I wanted to go into detail, why do you think I would even bother to contact your company and hire you for the work? That too at the exorbitant price."
"You haven't signed the contract yet, Alpha Sokolov," Inez reminded the man. She was having a really hard time keeping her smile on her lips. At that moment, it wouldn't be wrong to say that she was keeping her smile bright with nothing but sheer will.
The man scoffed as he pulled his hand back from behind the chair and remarked, "A good thing, too. Imagine paying millions for this bullshit."
If she could, Inez would have loved to pay millions as compensation for redesigning that gorgeous face, but when she thought about the balance in her account, she could only purse her lips and count to three.
She exhaled heavily before taking out a pen and paper before saying, "You can let me know the things that you need or want to be changed. I will try my best—"
He flashed her that infamous smile of his, which was rumoured to make any woman blush and trip over herself to fall into his arms. "Change? No, darling. These designs don't even come close to what I want."
"But you said that you wanted something homely and modern." Inez felt her brows furrow even further.
"I didn't say that," the man shook his head and took the pen from her. As soon as he touched her fingers, Inez felt her nerve endings spark to life. What the hell?
Inez didn't know if the man felt the spark or not, but if he did, he simply ignored it and started writing down on the notepad before turning it around and pushing it in front of Inez, who lowered her head and started reading the things that he had written on the paper.
"You want beach house decor?" Inez skimmed through the lines that read "oceanfront, fireplace and whatnot.
"That's right. Did I not mention that I was going to move my territory to the oceanside?"
Inez closed her eyes and then opened them again. She wanted to hurl a bunch of curses at the man in front of her but she held herself back from groaning at the face of the man. She said, "No, Alpha Sokolov. You did not."
She hated rude and forgetful bastards like him. They always wore this authority and arrogance like a second skin, which made it impossible for them to apologise to anyone.
"I didn't?" the man had the audacity to frown at her.
"No, you did not." What was that awful grinding noise? Oh, it was her. She was the one who was grinding her teeth.
Her wolf peeled her upper lip as well. Even though she was weaker than the man in front of her, her wolf, just like her, despised it when someone wasted their time.
For a second, Inez thought that her wolf would rush to her surface and growl at Killian for doing what she hated the mos,t but she didn't. She stayed inside of her, annoyed but refusing to make an appearance. Much to Inez's annoyance and disappointment.
"Are you sure?" Killian asked as he scratched his cheek. "Because I am sure that I did tell you that I wanted a clear, dual jacuzzi in front of my beach house. I like to take a dip at midnight."
"For the love of Moon Goddess, Alpha Sokolov… I haven't turned fifty yet," Inez stated, clearly frustrated with him, her wolf and herself. "I can remember things better than that, especially when it concerns my job. If you had told me that you wanted a beach house, I would have given you a beach house."
Killian did a double-take when he saw the woman lose her temper with him. Though he was used to women losing their shit with him, it was usually when he didn't give them what they wanted.
A mark.
But before that, every woman he had met had flattered him with a smile. It was his first time getting a whiplash from a woman whom he hadn't even seduced in his bed yet.
And it only made his smile wider.