A Is for Alpha Male

by Laurel Curtis

  Lacing my fingers behind his neck, my head fell back, and my eyes closed, but Danny wasn’t having it. He put pressure on my hips and stopped my descent until I opened my eyes, tilted my head forward, and met his gaze head on again.

  His words were simple, but his tone was rough, giving away how deeply he was feeling this.

  “Eyes, baby. You and me, we’re going to live this together. We’re going to be present in each other the whole damn time.”

  His slow glide finally came to an end, his large, hard shaft fully seated inside of me in a way I hadn’t thought was possible. It was a good thing I wasn’t a virgin, or this never would have worked.

  We were in a Motorcycle Modified Lotus Position, which didn’t allow for much movement, and it certainly didn’t aid in moving fast.

  But to me, it was perfect. I had never had sex in this position before, and I was unbelievably glad I hadn’t. It seemed far more intimate, and Danny’s eye contact mandate made it even more so.

  I felt tethered to him in every way possible, and I could feel it in the depths of my soul that it was a sensation I never wanted to end.

  We moved together, breaths mingling and alternating moans creating a melody. His eyes had never been more magnificent, and that was really saying something. The wheat colored center seemed even more golden, and the rich forest green surrounding it seemed to take on an emerald sparkle.

  This must have been close to how it felt to make love to a vampire, or werewolf, or shifter or something. Anything that had eyes that changed color with their desire.

  Needing to feel his skin on mine, I slid my hands down and then up again under his shirt. He picked up my hint and ran with it, wrapping one arm around me to keep me from falling, but reaching between his shoulder blades and pulling it off with the other.

  Once his was off, mine followed, along with my bra, and then Danny reached behind me, pulling the ponytail holder out of my hair and letting the length of it fall loosely down my back.

  His lips immediately returned to their place, lightly resting on mine, and he murmured, “You’re perfect, Haley. Never met a woman more perfect than you.”

  I knew we were in a moment, I knew this was serious, and sweet, and one of those moments I shouldn’t let myself ruin. But I couldn’t help it, my scoff bursting forth and vibrating directly against his lips.

  His answering chuckle was rough, and I felt it cover every inch of my skin and even inside. It was the very best laugh I had ever heard.

  “Exactly the way you are, Haley. You’re perfect for me.”

  Realizing all that Danny gave me, all that he accepted as normal and garnered amusement from rather than annoyance, it became beyond obvious that he was right. Except he had it backward.

  He was the one who fit. The one who gave the word “perfect” new meaning.

  He was perfect for me. And this was the perfect way for us to experience our first time.

  Intimate, present, aware.

  Perfect.

  AS I CAME down from my star demolishing, Earth and Mars shattering, fire breathing, sword swallowing orgasm, lying cradled sweetly against the heat of Danny’s comfortable chest, it hit me.

  What? It was a really good orgasm. That description seemed appropriate. Breathing fire and swallowing swords required talent, as did producing a truly mind blowing orgasm for your female partner.

  Danny could swallow my sword anytime.

  Wait.

  That didn’t sound right.

  Right. Getting back on track.

  All of the flirty touches, the lingering looks, and the sudden changes in the direction of a conversation.

  Oh my God.

  Didn’t know when my resolve and self-control were going to crumble, but I knew it would happen at some point.

  Oh. My. God. Pulling back so that I could look him directly in the eye and slapping him on his previously cozy chest with the weakness of a little girl, I snapped, “You liked me the whole time, didn’t you?! You were messing with me on purpose!”

  “I most definitely wasn’t messing with you, Hales,” Danny said on a vexed exhale. “I have had feelings for you from the very beginning, but there’s a lot more to this than you think,” he explained softly, his fingertips gliding over my sexually sensitized skin lazily, his eyes pensive.

  Only half listening to him, I continued on my diatribe. “You jedi-mind-tricked me!...No, it’s worse than that. You jedi-alpha-mind-tricked me!”

  And he had. He’d been controlling the situation the whole time, planting negative views about all the guys I came across inside of my head. Meanwhile, he made sure to keep in contact with me constantly, working his way into my heart and head secretly, planting himself in there nice and deep while I didn’t even realize it.

  I mean I realized he was getting to me, but not that it was all part of some invisible jedi-mind-trick plan.

  And to think I had waffled about his Alpha-ness. He was so Alpha that he did it in secret. I was following his effing orders without even knowing it!

  At first he seemed surprised by my outburst, though for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why. This was me.

  Crazy.

  Finally, he settled in, a huge smile taking over his rugged face. I figured part of the reason for his amusement was my rant, and the other part centered around the fact that I was doing it while we were both still naked, entwined, and straddling his motorcycle.

  “You’re like a Secret Alpha. Controlling the situation by using ass backward Jedi mind tricks,” I continued.

  “Is that anything like Secret Santa? Because I didn’t get you a present,” Danny interjected, his tone light and joking.

  “Danny!” I shouted, wanting more of an explanation than I had gotten.

  In fact, so far, he had been extremely vague.

  There was only one word for that.

  Unacceptable.

  “There’s more to this than you understand, Hales,” he said cautiously.

  “Well, effing make me understand, Jerkface,” I snapped and then watched as his eyes flickered minutely with some unknown emotion.

  He seemed to take a minute to think before he gave me his answer. “I knew you were right for me, Hales. Knew I was right for you, too. From almost the minute you opened that dirty, little, perfect mouth of yours.”

  As he continued with his explanation, it felt decidedly less genuine, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. Or maybe it was genuine, but not in its totality.

  Whatever. I didn’t know. But something wasn’t right about it.

  “But you’re too much of a stubborn mule not to have to find that out on your own. You had that list and a picture in your mind of what you were looking for. But I know you, I know that list was only half of the reason for the trip.”

  He knew me. Yeah, he did. Scary how well he did after so little time.

  “I knew you wanted to have an awesome time with your mom and that finding a guy that was right for you would be a bonus. You needed to go on the rest of your trip, but I knew you wouldn’t go if you thought something was really starting with me.”

  He swept a thumb across my cheek, his eyes sliding from one feature of my face to another until he memorized all of them. “However, I didn’t want you to meet someone else in the process. You’re a catch, Hales.”

  Being true to myself I said, “I know. I’m awesome.”

  Thankfully, he just ignored me, though his voice did hold a tremor of a chuckle when he said, “So yeah, I jedi-alpha-mind-whatever-ed you. I twisted the qualities of the list in order to keep the guys away. You had your fun, but I kept you to myself all the same.”

  He reached forward, separated a small section of my hair from the rest, wrapped it around his finger, and gave it a gentle tug.

  “And come on, none of those guys were good enough for you anyway. Think about your books. Really think about them. I know what you like. It’s not some specific quality the guy has. It’s that he wants to be all of those things for that specific
woman. He wants to be whatever she needs him to be, and he’ll challenge, take on, and defeat any obstacle that gets in his way in order to do it.”

  Despite the weird feeling that some piece of the explanation was missing, everything he said made sense. I knew he was right about me and my mom, and I knew he was right about me and my books.

  I didn’t bother to tell him that those were all things I already knew.

  I mean, come on, I wasn’t an idiot.

  “You drove me crazy,” I told him instead, dropping my face into his chest and snuggling it, the barely there smattering of hair tickling my face faintly.

  “Baby doll, it must have been a really short trip,” he responded, his lips moving my hair on the top of my head.

  “Ha fucking Ha,” I said mockingly into his chest, my face scrunching up with the sarcasm.

  His rich laughter was the only segue I got into his next question.

  “Do you remember that first conversation we had on the phone?” he asked into the top of my head.

  “I know you do,” I responded dryly.

  He took the time to chuckle briefly at my humor and then said, “You told me one of your deepest darkest secrets. That you’re afraid one day your family is going to realize—”

  “I know what I told you,” I snapped, cutting him off. I wasn’t really sure where he was going with this, but I thought one of the rules of sharing secrets with someone was that they were never allowed to bring them up again.

  “Well, do you know what I was going to say to you after that, when you wouldn’t let me say anything because you were so scared you wouldn’t like what I had to say?” he semi-teased.

  “No, Danny. I have many skills, but mind reading is not one of them,” I snapped softly.

  “Hales, the way you feel is normal. It shouldn’t be some deep dark secret. You love your mom and Hunter, and that’s what love is.”

  “What do you mean, ‘that’s what love is’?” I asked in a tone ridden with attitude.

  Danny didn’t let my phony surliness bother him. He never did. “If love were a location, it would be a paradoxical mixture of the safest place on earth and the most vulnerable. Like an airplane. It’s not quite the safest place on earth, but it’s pretty damn safe. But people are seriously scared of it. And when you fall, it’s a hell of a long way and the landing is really, really shitty. Same as love.”

  “That’s got to be one of the stupidest things I’ve ever heard. And yet, it also sounds true.”

  “Stick with me, babe. I’m an absolute fucking geyser of knowledge,” he joked, his fingers running carelessly through my hair while his old hand continued drawing mindless patterns on my hip.

  “You know, Danny, I think I will,” I agreed easily. “At least long enough to have you breathe fire one more time.”

  He cocked his head in confusion, but smiled at the same time. He knew it made sense in my head.

  “Though, I have to request a bed this time.”

  He moved before I even had the entire sentence out of my mouth, swinging me around to his back like the spider monkey I was, and taking off for the house, both of us seriously lacking in the clothing department.

  Carrying me swiftly into the house, down the hall, and tossing me gently onto the bed, he stripped the rest of the way out of his pants and set about showing me the true meaning of E, K, V, and X, using his mouth, both hands, and a deluxe model police baton to do it.

  And when he did it, he did it slow.

  “Lean forward, Hales. Tilt that beautiful ass for me,” Danny instructed.

  It was a good thing we had spent all that time getting to know each other on the phone because we certainly weren’t using our time for gabbing now.

  The rest of last night, a night that I spent with Danny in its entirety thanks to Allison packing not just some of my stuff, but all of it, centered around two very important body parts. But the activities weren’t singular in nature.

  No, we sucked on lollipops and ate out too.

  Um. Cough. Metaphorically.

  I was fairly certain I wanted to have go out to dinner with Danny every night of my life.

  And morning.

  And afternoon.

  Truthfully, I wasn’t sure the man didn’t have magical powers.

  Thankfully, if that was the case, at least he used them for good instead of evil. And when he pulled a rabbit out of his hat I was hoping it had batteries rather than ears.

  Now, Danny was being a sweetheart and showering with me just so that he could get that spot I couldn’t quite reach.

  Spreading my legs with his foot, he grabbed my hips with his callused palms and slid slowly inside, all the way to said delicious spot. Thankfully, using Boy Scout rules, he had come into the shower prepared, remembering to bring the all important sheath for his sword.

  I might not have acted it, but I was a responsible adult. Rule numero uno was “No glove, no love”. And yes, I had more than one rule number one.

  As he moved in and out of me, the hot water ran down and around the peaks and valleys of our bodies, turning our skin red with the heat of its touch.

  When Danny’s hands moved up my sides, around my ribs, and up to palm my heavy breasts, they did it how they always did. Gently, deliberately, and with reverence.

  Dan Smith effing worshiped my body and made no secret of it.

  It was indisputably obvious in every touch, caress, and kiss he blessed me with.

  His thumbs swiped my nipples, hardening them instantly, as his palms supported their weight.

  Some women liked it hard and rough all the time. Especially with all the Dominant/Submissive books floating around out there these days. I got it, I really did.

  I was all about a good fucking every once in a while. But most of the time, I wanted it slow, intimate, and meaningful. Maybe that was boring, but Danny certainly seemed to be in tune with me.

  Danny’s hands started their journey back to my ass and then dug in when they got there.

  He was close.

  Luckily, so was I.

  My awareness was already on hyper alert, memorizing every like, dislike, movement, and motion of Danny during sex, but I still wished that I had the ability to notice more. I wanted to know every nook and cranny, every flex and release.

  I would have paid big money for some of Kristen Ashley’s fictitious Adela tea, for real.

  Danny pulled out of me, causing an immediate void in both my body and my heart. But he didn’t make it last long.

  He spun me around, gently pushed me up against the tiled wall of the shower, and lifted me by the back of my thighs, wrapping my calves around his back and linking them just before sinking into me with his usual deliciously unhurried pace.

  “Haley,” he grunted, pulling out to just the tip and sinking in slowly again, his desperate eyes locked onto mine and his lips just skimming their female counterpart.

  “Danny,” I answered, thinking for the fifth time in less than twenty-four hours that I’d never heard a better name, and then fell over the metaphorical cliff, stretching out straight and executing perfect form on my journey down to the Sea of Orgasms.

  The water temperature was just right, and I planned on taking as many dips, swims, and dives as I could in the next few days.

  BLINDED BY THE haze of my blissful happiness (read: ignorance), I made a cataclysmically stupid decision.

  One I wished I could take back or relive on so many levels.

  Danny had kept my orgasms, stomach, and adrenaline topped up to bursting for three out-of-this-world days. He even brought me Oreos in bed.

  Um, hello. There was only one thing that could describe how I felt about that behavior.

  Soul mates.

  At the end of Day Three, we decided it was time to have a discussion and make some decisions.

  Where was this going, and what were we hoping for?

  What were we willing to compromise, sacrifice, or change around to have it?

  Logistically we lived in t
wo different cities, all in all living completely separate lives.

  I expected to have to make some tough decisions, maybe even choose between staying close to my family and living out the possibility of a happily ever after with Danny.

  But once again, Danny made it easy, fully committing to move his life and give up his ties, moving to Knoxville to try a life with me.

  I knew it was a step that was necessary if we wanted to pursue a relationship, but his selflessness blew me away, as he committed to the move and altogether lifestyle change with no reservations and no resentment.

  Danny knew I needed to get back and at least pretend to work eventually, and resolute with his new plan, he claimed he needed to get on with getting his affairs in order for the move.

  And that while I was there, I was a distraction.

  I was so low key, I had no idea how that was possible.

  We were going to get lost in each other for one more night, making love until our bodies wouldn’t allow it anymore and then cuddling in our sleep, his warm, bare thigh cradled between my legs and my face tucked into his chest. As we had learned the last few days, we slept so close it was like we were practically trying to inhale each other while we did it.

  As for the timing of his move, he would follow as soon as he could, in one or two weeks maximum.

  We had it all planned out.

  And I had followed the plan, getting a perfect, fifteen minute long goodbye kiss from Danny, climbing into my car, and heading for home.

  But fifteen minutes into the drive, I had changed my mind, turning around and heading straight for the beach, thinking that one last day soaking up the sun and one last night with Danny was the way to go.

  I wanted another night of being wrapped around him like a vine. Another night of taking him in through each and every one of my senses.

  It had taken us too long to get here, Danny’s pushing me away costing us time and forcing me to feel needy for his affection.

  Sure, he claimed to have his reasons, but that didn’t stop me from placing the blame squarely on his shoulders and playfully rubbing it in every chance I got.