A Is for Alpha Male

by Laurel Curtis

  I knew her next life in the sky would have a lot of sand and ocean. And probably a boat.

  Leaving enough to cover our tab on the table, we gathered our stuff, headed out to the car, and back to the hotel.

  Tomorrow was going to be filled with driving. And several days after that would be the same. We needed to relax, prepare all of our junk, and enjoy each other’s company.

  Life gets away from you, and before you know it, you run out of time to spend with the people you really love. Especially your mom.

  Not prone to naivety, I knew that when I met the guy of my dreams, and we started to build those dreams together, namely a family of our own, other people would take a backseat.

  I wasn’t saying it was right or that at the appearance of your new family, your old one disappears. I was, however, being realistic. One, solitary person only has so much time. As you add more pieces to the pie, each member gets a smaller share.

  Allison and I laid on our sides, one hand tucked under our heads and the other stretched out into the center of the bed to clasp with each other.

  Our kindles were in front of us, but for once, we weren’t even attempting to read.

  Instead, we were already reminiscing, memories of years past and those from the trip alike.

  Stroking the back of her hand with my thumb, I told her, “Sorry we didn’t find our KA inspired dream men, Mamalicious.”

  “I haven’t given up hope, Haley. I already had one dream man. Unfortunately, I didn’t have him nearly long enough, but I did get two dream kids out of it. One day, I hope I’ll find another one.”

  I smiled, giving her hand a squeeze, trying to bleed my encouragement into her skin through touch. If anyone deserved a second dream man, it was her.

  She squeezed my hand back, searched my eyes with the entire depth of hers, and stated firmly, “And as for you, I’m not so certain you haven’t found him.”

  I didn’t know whether to agree with her or not. In a lot of ways, I thought Danny was the guy with every physical fiber of my being. But other factors muddled it, left my emotions scattered and unsure.

  Allison could obviously see the disquiet of my mind and heart on my face, continuing, “I think you need to be ready. I think Danny is going to take you on one hell of a bumpy ride before you get to the other side, to the safety and happiness of indisputable true love. But I think it’s worth it. And another thing I not only think, but know, is that no matter what, you’ll regret it if you don’t give it everything you’ve got. Don’t hide from love. Don’t try to protect yourself from the loss, and in doing so, end up robbing yourself of the experience.”

  Taking her hand out from underneath her pillow, she reached out and wiped away the one, warm, salty tear that was leaving a track down the side of my face.

  “Alfred Tennyson got this one right. And you know, I know. ‘Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.”

  WEARY, WORN DOWN, and looking like effing road kill, Allison and I rolled into Gulf View, Alabama after two thousand miles, thirty or so hours, or what amounted to five days of driving.

  We could have done it in three days of ten hour shifts, but I also could have put a gun to my head and blown my brains out.

  I wasn’t exactly keen on either activity.

  And we weren’t really on a particular schedule. So we took our time, stopped to see the NASA control center, and took pictures in Ciudad Juarez in front of the Mexican border.

  I wanted to see the World’s Largest Ball of Yarn, but alas, it wasn’t on our route.

  Talk about a major letdown.

  Desperate to wash the feel of road grime off of my skin, I planned on taking a shower and going to bed with wet hair. Chewbacca consequences be damned.

  We rolled up to the same hotel, figuring there was no reason to change when we already knew the lay of the land with this one. After the first time, I had learned how to sweet talk the sickly ice machine, and I hadn’t knocked on anymore wrong doors. Plus, they had let me get away with my illegal towel activity, earning them one miniature, gold star in my book.

  Allison’s flight was all scheduled for in the morning, and Danny had agreed to drive her to the Pensacola Airport.

  She was excited to get home, and Hunter had assented to pick her up from our perfectly small, cute, impeccably easy to travel in and out of airport in Knoxville.

  I wasn’t sure what Hunt thought about me staying behind while I sent our girl home on a plane because I took the chicken shit way out again and let my mom call him.

  Thinking about warm, soapy, comforting water and the following plush, comfortable mattress, I pulled in at the hotel almost on autopilot and most definitely not paying attention.

  So when Danny approached my door, he surprised me. But more importantly, he scared the ever loving shit out of me, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin, shriek out in terror, and flail carelessly into the passenger side and right into Allison’s lap.

  She jumped back at the contact coupled with my screams of horror, clawing for the door handle and whaling a scream so intense, it was a wonder my eardrum didn’t rupture.

  In order to get our attention, as our terror had taken on a life of its own, Danny leaned into the now vacant driver’s side of my car and honked the horn three consecutive times.

  The noise thankfully cut through, stopping our screams and calming our flailing.

  When Danny’s beautiful face registered, the light of the Hotel pull-through driveway glinting off of his scruff as he slowly shook his head back and forth and a smirk tugging at the corners of his lush lips, a greeting that would have been warm turned into an outburst of outrage.

  “What is wrong with you?! Didn’t you learn your effing lesson when you snuck up on us at the beach?! We don’t handle sneaking well!”

  “Christ, Hales, quiet. You’re gonna wake up everyone within a twenty mile radius of Gulf View,” Danny shouty whispered.

  “And whose fault is that?” I shrieked in return.

  Losing the hold on his patience, Danny shouted back, “I thought you saw me! I wasn’t trying to scare you!”

  Allison, finally managing to maneuver herself out from underneath me, lost her battle with her hilarity, muttering vaguely, “Bumpy ride.”

  But the meaning was all too clear.

  Turning to her, I snapped amiably and with no real malice, “Well, aren’t you just a know it all!”

  Danny’s delicious, deep chuckle sounded behind me, and just like that, all was forgotten.

  Scrambling my way out of the car, I somehow ended up in his strong arms, his fresh scent enveloping my senses and calming my outburst.

  There in his arms, a place in which I had spent remarkably little time, felt amazingly like home.

  Like it was right.

  Like it fit, and it was meant to be.

  Like it was made just for me.

  The next morning I rode along with Danny to take Allison to the airport.

  Even though I had recently decided cars were evil inventions created to make us all lose our minds, I couldn’t stomach the thought of sending my mom off to the airport with nothing more than a pat on the back and a smile.

  I had to at least drop her off.

  Mind you I let Danny do the driving. And the bag lifting. And I only got out of the car to give her a real hug.

  But I did go with her to the airport.

  That had to earn me at least a few daughter points.

  Truthfully, I had tried to go in with her, but she had insisted we just drop her off.

  I protested, but Allison was in no mood to be trifled with, snapping her fingers with attitude, waving me off with a hand, and finishing with the flourish of putting her hands on her hips.

  I let it go, waving to her sadly as she gave me one last smile and then headed in through the automatic doors.

  Danny pointed his 2012 SRT8 392 Dodge Challenger in the direction of his house as we pulled away from the curb of the drop off area and headed fo
r activities unknown.

  The car was earning him some major points. Points he didn’t fucking need, mind you, but points all the same.

  I had no idea exactly how long I was staying, what we were doing while I was here, and when he planned to broach what seemed to be the never-to-be-talked-of-again topic.

  Yet, the tingle of excitement was still well and alive, singing through my veins and feeding my body with all sorts of feel good endorphins.

  “What are we doing?” I asked, trying to pry information out of the man who had been completely tight lipped for the last half an hour and trying not to fidget in my seat while I did it.

  “I figured you would want to say hello to someone,” he answered ambiguously.

  The only other person I knew in Gulf View was Wade.

  “Wade?”

  A startled bark of laughter jumped out of his throat and landed straight on my chest, radiating out and enveloping me from the outside in.

  “Um, no. Sorry to disappoint you, but Wade’s gone for the next few days,” he said, glancing over at me as he spoke, his half-smirk just barely changing the lines of his face.

  Who the hell else was left?

  “Butch?” I asked insanely, and at that, his laughter waxed, climbing to a chuckle so free that I questioned if I had ever really heard him laugh before that moment.

  “No, baby doll. But you are right on topic,” he said, giving my knee a squeeze of encouragement.

  Like a light switch, my brain flipped on.

  “My baby!” I shouted, throwing my hands into the air and tilting my head back and into the headrest. “You’re taking me to ride! I knew there was a reason I loved you!”

  Immediately, I realized what I said, but there was no going back. The best course of action was to ignore the color staining my cheeks, pretend I couldn’t feel the overwhelming power coming at me from the driver’s seat, and ride the wave I had created by altogether pretending I hadn’t said it, and that even if I did, it was no big deal.

  Also, by not acknowledging it, I didn’t have to lie.

  We both sat silently for the rest of the drive, no doubt each lost in our own thoughts.

  It was slightly awkward, but Danny reached over and touched his hand to my knee again, giving me an extended version of the same small, lingering pat of reassurance. It was amazing how much comfort I felt from such a tiny touch.

  And how different it felt from Jason of Denver’s touches.

  Jason’s touches caused anxiety. Danny’s quieted it.

  Before I knew it, we were pulling into Danny’s property, parking, and he was shutting his badass car off.

  All of a sudden, it hit me.

  Crap!

  I didn’t have any clean clothes with me to shower and change into when we finished riding.

  Rounding the metallic black hood of the car after climbing out quickly, I started talking as I went. “Danny, I just realized I don’t have any—”

  “You do,” he cut in mysteriously.

  “Um, I don’t. And how do you even know what I’m talking about?” I questioned.

  “Because I had Allison pack you a bag with clean clothes and any other girly shit you use to get ready,” he stated dryly.

  How in the hell did he do these things? And know what I was talking about before I even said it?

  Man, was that annoying. He was a clever bastard, and I knew that that would come back to bite me if we ended up in a real relationship down the line.

  “Danny—” I started, never able to just shut up.

  “Hales,” he interrupted. “I think I can hear your baby crying for its mommy all the way from here,” he continued, going for a distraction tactic.

  And quite frankly, it worked.

  I took his outstretched hand in mine, half walking half skipping my way into the house to put on yet another one of his long sleeve shirts.

  We didn’t dawdle at all, heading straight to his bedroom, through it, and into his closet.

  I had to get yet another long sleeve shirt of his, as I had never returned his other one. And never planned on it. I might even ask to be buried in it.

  Though, I was hoping I had time to decide.

  Shutting myself in the bathroom, based more on routine than modesty, I changed into his shirt, letting it hang down long against my thighs.

  Realizing I had forgotten about pants, I put my hand on the knob, intending to open the door and ask Danny to get my bag for me.

  However, Danny beat me to it, ripping the doorknob, and thus the door, out of my hand, opening it regardless of his lack of knowledge as to my state of dress, and handed me my pink tote, placing a sweet kiss on my cheek as he backed out.

  Christ on a cracker, that was nice.

  His lips felt so at home against my skin.

  I shook myself out of my stupor, changed pants speedily, and then made my way out of the bathroom, into the bedroom, down the plain, white hall, and into the living room where I found Danny lounging back on the couch, his knee cocked with his opposite ankle resting sideways against it, splaying his thighs wide and making him look altogether delicious.

  “Ready?” he asked unnecessarily as I entered the room, very obviously ready.

  “Uh, yeah,” I responded, eager to feel the wind whip through my hair at the slightly muted speed of my baby four-wheeler. “Let’s go!”

  His answer was nothing but a rough chuckle, followed by the action of him lifting his manly weight effortlessly off of the couch.

  Reaching out to span the distance between us, he grabbed my hand, laced his long fingers between mine, squeezing when they reached their fully curled position, and led me to the back porch, through it, and out into the field, setting a brisk pace on our way to the shed.

  When I started to have trouble keeping up, my short legs forced into a jog by the span of his stride, he stopped, swung me up on his back like a sack of potatoes, wrapped my arms around his neck, and started to walk, forcing me to wrap my legs around him of my own accord.

  I was confused and still waiting on an explanation for our state of play, but I was also greedy.

  And being such a deadly sin, the greed won out.

  I accepted every touch, kiss, and caress I could get my grubby, little hands on. And I wasn’t about to ruin it with questions.

  Not yet. I hadn’t gotten my fill of all of those sensory rewards.

  With my new mode of travel, I barely even noticed the distance, but I did notice the man between my thighs. Every step he took seemed like it flexed a different muscle, and I put all my concentration into studying their exact movements.

  Danny reached back behind our joined bodies, splayed his palms on my ass, and used their placement as an opportunity to aid my decent off of his back.

  Or maybe he was using the excuse of aiding my decent to cop a feel.

  It could go either way.

  I jogged over to my miniature ride like a woman possessed, grabbed my hair tie off of my wrist, secured my hair at the nape of my neck, and pulled my helmet on. Instead of even attempting to fasten it this time, I turned straight to Danny, tilted my chin up and back, and whined pathetically, “Help me.”

  Danny just smiled, set his helmet back down on the seat of his four-wheeler, turned back to me, grabbed the straps at my chin, fastened them efficiently, and then swiped his finger along the line of my chin as he was moving away.

  God, I loved that sweet touch. It was almost insignificant, but only almost. I noticed.

  I noticed big time.

  Danny climbed on his full size four-wheeler, and then gestured for me to do the same. I swung my leg over easily, mirroring his movements almost exactly.

  He fired his up, and I followed suit, giving it a little gas to keep it running until it warmed up.

  After one last look over his shoulder and my answering nod, Danny took off towards the trails and I followed in his wake, loving the feel of the power between my legs and the thrill of the speed at which we traveled.

  Danny m
ay not have discussed anything of importance yet, but he had certainly hit the activity schedule out of the park.

  “Is there a reason you’re climbing me like a fucking spider monkey?” Danny turned and asked as we came to a stop at the red light. “You’re the one who put having a motorcycle on your list. Call me crazy, but I thought that implied that you like riding on one.”

  After finishing our ride on the four-wheelers, we had showered up, this time uneventfully. Danny had used Wade’s shower in his absence, gentlemanly allowing me to rinse my stank off immediately this time.

  We hadn’t had any heavy conversation whatsoever, but our camaraderie and flirty touches had come easily and often.

  After feeding me a delicious chicken and lettuce wrap for a late lunch, Danny had silently grabbed my hand, led me outside, taken me out back to a garage I hadn’t noticed existed until that moment, and opened it up to reveal a 1999 Harley Softail Custom, black with a red pinstripe.

  Holy shitballs, it was a hot bike. And I couldn’t believe he had an effing bike. In fact, I had had no clue.

  Blinded my my excitement, we hopped on right then and headed out for a ride, but while I liked it, reading about in books had never done justice to exactly what I was feeling.

  It was a heady mixture of sheer ecstasy and mildly deer-in-headlights-syndrome fear.

  “I’ve never been on one before, thank you very much, and it’s scary.”

  “You put it on the list, and you’ve never been on one before?” he asked, his words not at all short on exasperation.

  “Well, yeah. It sounds really hot in books. And I do like it, but that doesn’t mean I don’t feel like I could die at any minute,” I tried to explain, my hands digging into their grip on the belt at his waist.

  Yeah, there were definite perks to this.

  His one-dimpled smirk was downright swoon worthy as he told me over his shoulder, “If it makes you feel any better, you don’t have to be on a motorcycle to be in danger of dying any minute. Freak accidents and all that.”

  Despite his hot as hell grin, I still snapped, “You know, Dan-o. Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel better at all. Can’t imagine why.”