Bringing the plates out with the condiments, she set them down and went to refill his cup of coffee, as well as bring him his milk. She told him to enjoy and went into the back. As much as she wanted to be around him, there was a stronger need not to hover.
“Definitely hot, Ashlea. You should give him your number for sure.”
Ashlea looked over at the blonde, who was smoking a cigarette, hanging out of the door. She knew she wasn’t supposed to, but at night, pretty much anything went. It was especially true for Callie because she had a questionable relationship with the owner. Everyone knew about the two of them, but neither would admit it. In the meantime, Callie did whatever the hell she wanted and Norman would not say a word about it.
“I’m not sure I’m his type. He probably dates models or something.”
“Did you see his car out front?”
“No, what about it?”
“He has a driver sitting out there waiting for him.”
Ashlea looked through the diamond shaped window in the door and saw the older man sitting in the front seat reading a paper. She hadn’t noticed the tinted car in front, as her eyes had been on the gentlemen at the counter. As if he felt her gaze, Conrad turned his head, and their eyes met again. A shiver went through Ashlea, and she moved away from the door and the window.
“So?”
“So? Hello, look at his shoes. That man is loaded.”
“So?”
Ashlea was not getting the importance of his shoes, but Callie just rolled her eyes, like she had to teach the redhead everything.
“You need you a sugar daddy, and that hot guy out there is loaded and looking at you like you could be his lunch. Hello!” she said, shaking her head.
“Shh, you are such a loudmouth sometimes. I don’t need a sugar daddy, Callie, besides, he’s not old enough to be a sugar daddy yet. Isn’t that usually old guys?”
The blonde giggled and snuck a look through the door.
“The hell you don’t,” she said, avoiding the age question. “Didn’t you tell me that you had an eviction notice taped to your door this morning when you got home?”
“Yeah, but it will work itself out. It always does.”
Callie made an undignified snorting sound, making it clear that she did not agree. Ashlea wasn’t even sure that she agreed with her words, but she had to believe them nonetheless.
“Do you want me to talk to Norman? See if I can have him give you a loan?”
“Why would you do that?”
“Come on, everyone knows I’m banging him. I don’t care. There’s no shame in having a sugar daddy, Ashlea. What’s a girl to do with rent as high as it is around here?”
She tried to look innocent, but they both knew that she was not.
“I know that it works for you, but once I get off at five, I will go down and get a paper. There has to be something that I can do. Besides, I have to find a new place anyways.”
Going back through the doors, Ashlea approached the man, and he looked up almost immediately. The food was gone, and he was sitting back on the stool.
“Was everything okay?”
“Perfect, like always.”
“Anything else I can get for you?”
“No, I am perfect. You don’t mind if I sit here and drink coffee for a while, do you?”
“No, of course not,” she replied, licking her lips. “Stay as long as you like.”
Chapter 5
She grabbed the plates up and after taking them to the back, she refilled his coffee. She felt his eyes on her the whole time, but she resisted the urge to look back. The two women sat in the back and talked for a while, while the man at the counter did something on his phone. He made several calls, and his voice was whispered.
Ashlea waited until he was off the phone to start doing her side work. It was getting close to the time that she was going to be getting off, so she wanted to hurry up and get it done before the next shift came in. Starting at the tables furthest away, Ashlea soon found herself filling up the napkins and salt shakers on the counter. His eyes were on her most of the time she was doing her work, but she refused to look over at him.
“So how long have you worked here, Ashlea?”
“A year.”
“I come in here a lot, and I have never seen you before.”
“Well, I have always worked the night shift,” she said, “so unless you come in at this time, you wouldn’t have.”
“Do you get off soon?” he asked.
“In about twenty minutes or so.”
Conrad checked his watch. Ashlea had turned away and continued to fill the bottles. Even sitting down, he was shaking inside, and he was not sure why she did not feel the same way. While there was an attraction, he was used to having more of an effect on women than he was having on her. She was gone and back out of the room as more people walked in. Callie went out and smiled at the handsome man before getting the drinks and orders of the loud table that was seated.
“Would you like some more coffee, Sir?”
“No, but I was wondering if you would like to go out with me when you get off, we can go for…”
“Coffee?” she asked, smirking.
He chuckled, looking down at the cup that had been refilled more times than he could count. He did not want any more coffee, but he could not think of a better reason to be with her. Her eyes softened, but she shook her head. She had to find a job, or some way to make some cash, and though she wanted to, she could not forget what had to be done. A man like Conrad could easily sidetrack her from her goals.
Conrad was deflated, and even though he tried not to show it, it was apparent.
“Give me a minute and I will write down my number, and you can call me sometime.”
He perked up a little with the small bone he was thrown. It was not what he wanted, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was something. He put down his credit card and watched her ring him up a few feet away. His eyes followed her hands, and then her fingers, to her lips for a brief second, as she rustled through the receipts. Handing him back his card with the signature slip, she gave him one more heart-stopping smile.
Ashlea wrote down her name and number on one of the empty tickets on her book. She couldn’t believe she was going to do it, but she slid it onto the table next to him. She clocked out and asked Callie to do the tips. There had been issues with waitresses adding too much money to a customer’s credit card, so now the shift leads had to manually input them at the end of the night.
“Come on, you can walk me to my car and tell me your name.”
Ashlea was surprised she was being so bold, but there was something about the way he looked at her, like she was truly the most beautiful woman in his eyes. She liked the feeling, and couldn’t deny that she wanted him close to her for just a few more minutes, too.
“My name is Conrad. Where are you parked?”
“Way in the back by the trees over there. Apparently we have to leave room for all of the customers.”
Her hand waved to the desolate parking lot that had only a handful of cars in it. While the diner was small, the parking lot was quite big. They were already half way to her small red car when there was a rustle in the bushes near the forest line. The man next to her stopped and his eyes squinted as she paused mid-step with his reaction.
“What’s wr…”
“Shh.”
The noise was a quick quiet burst, and then Ashlea’s heart dropped. Something large and dark, and full of fur, came barreling out of the woods towards her. There were only twenty feet between her and the animal-like creature. In that instance, she knew that it was the end. She stepped back, but she couldn’t bring herself to put her back to the fast-approaching beast. Ashlea’s foot caught on an exposed stretch of thick tree root, and she fell to the concrete lot on her ass.
She, but the sound never left her throat, swallowed up in fear. She closed her eyes, waiting for the painful death that she was sure she was about to experience. Covering her
head with her arms and bending down, Ashlea waited. It wasn’t until she heard snarls and then loud whimpers, did she open her eyes. There were now two beasts, but they seemed to be more interested in each other than her.
Ashlea should have run, but she could not take her eyes off of the death fight in front of her. The darker bear beast was winning, and the lighter one ran off, back into the woods where he had come from. The winner seemed torn, as if it couldn’t decide whether to stay or go, and when it turned towards her the breath hitched in her throat. Before she could hug her body tight and close her eyes again, the bear changed into the man that she had been serving coffee to all morning. Ashlea was in shock, and that time, she couldn’t stop the darkness behind her eyes. Her body went limp, and Conrad sighed. His clothes were ripped to shreds, and lifted her into his arms. Her head hung down, as well as her arms. Andre was there in front of him with the car and opening the door for him. Conrad had nothing to say about the courtesy that time.
“Where to boss?”
“Home, take us home.”
Andre had a questioning look on his face, though he knew better than to verbalize his concerns to the Alpha. He was more than just his employer; he really was the boss. The man had hardly ever seen Conrad do that in such a public place, and he had certainly never seen him bother himself with a human female before. Thoughts raced through the older man’s mind, and when he looked back in the rearview mirror and watched Conrad push the stray strands of hair out of her face, he knew trouble was on its way.
Chapter 6
Ashlea’s eyes fluttered open, and the surroundings coming into view around her were strange. The ceiling was the first thing to come into focus, and her eyes steadied on the moving fan blade fifteen feet up in the air. Everything around her shone and glistened, and she had to close her eyes to the bright lights. Trying to sit up after she reopened her eyes brought a grimace, and she slowly finished her ascent.
“I am glad to see you are awake. Are you okay?”
Ashlea turned towards the familiar voice, and the man sitting on the edge of the large bed. She looked down and realized that she was in only her undergarments, and she pulled the plush comforter up to her chin.
“Where am I?”
“At my house. I didn’t know where you lived, and you could not tell me, so here we are.”
“Can I go home please?”
“Of course, but I think you should be checked out first, make sure you will be okay.”
He moved closer, and her breath quickened, even in her fear. His body pushed hers back onto her back, as he straddled her warm body. He hissed with the contact and his eyes held hers captive. Conrad could feel the quickening of her breath and the way her smaller body moved underneath him drove him wild.
“Do you really want to go? You just got here.”
There was no pause for her to answer before his lips pushed down on hers, insistently opening her mouth up to his tongue. Ashlea’s mind was getting fuzzy, and she suddenly couldn’t think of one reason why she would want to leave in the first place. Her arms moved on their own volition, wrapping around his neck, pulling his face closer to hers. A soft moan escaped her lips as his hips pushed down on her scantily-clad body.
“No, don’t want to go.”
Ashlea still had a trace of fear of the unknown. She didn’t understand what he was, or where she was, or even really, why she was there. But none of it mattered in that moment. The only thing that mattered was the hot flesh against her own. His lips left her mouth and traveled down her chin and then to the sensitive skin of her neck. The touch made her shiver with anticipation, her head falling back to expose more of her to his greedy mouth. What had started as soft kisses, quickly turned into hard sucking and a stirring at her very center. Her hips rose to grind herself against him and she was delighted to find a hardness.
Conrad groaned, pushing her body into the mattress. He moved lower, his mouth nipping at her covered breasts. The sheer fabric did little to stop the heat and wetness from penetrating. It left both unsatisfied with the contact. The man pulled back and pulled his shirt off. Ashlea sat up to caress the hard ridges of his chest under her fingertips. Short dark hairs sprinkled over his chest, her hands unable to stop touching him. His hardness was in sharp contrast to her curves, and while she would usually want to hide herself, she was the one who unhooked the clasp on her back. Holding the bra in place with her hands, Ashlea slowly released her large globes to the air and his greedy gaze. The intake of breath from Conrad and the darkening of his eyes was all the reward she could have ever needed.
He bent down and took one of the dark pink tips into his mouth, biting softly as she mewled above him. Her hands delved into his silken strands, tugging them at the roots as her hand gripped harder with increased stimulation. His face mashed against her softness as he allowed her to take over. From the sounds coming out of her mouth from just his suckling, he was compelled down quicker. Conrad wanted to taste more than just her perfect tits.
His need to go lower was pressed further by her urging hands. “Please, Conrad.”
Neither knew what she was begging for, but when his hands started to pull her panties down and the face so close was breathing hot air on her exposed quim, it didn’t really matter. Ashlea’s body jumped and her thighs quivered as he spread her wider. The breath she was holding was released, and her eyes closed at the first lick of his tongue.
“So wet, Ashlea,” He murmured, voice strained, gruff.
“Please,” She whispered.
Her hips rose up to his mouth and his tongue slid into her quivering depths. Ashlea tried to cover the whimper and squeal, but she was unable to. Each sound drove the tongue inside of her deeper than she had ever experienced before. When he moved away and slid his finger in replacement, the extra depth and thickness pushed her over her first edge. When he added his mouth to her clit, Ashlea cried out louder than before. Her essence flowed around his pumping fingers, making her go weak in pleasure. His name was a mantra on her lips, begging for more and none, all at the same time.
Conrad was becoming more and more turned on, ready to explode, ready to claim her once and for all as his own. He slurped at her core until her legs clamped around his neck while her whole body shook.
He pulled back from her, rocking back on his knees as he stared down at her thick body. Ashlea’s curves were sweat-slickened and he could see her chest rise and fall quickly as she sucked in breath, trying to catch it.
“Fuck, Conrad.”
There was nothing else to say, and her words caused a chuckle from him as he got off the bed. Her naked body was wide open for him and his eyes devoured every curve that she displayed. His hands fumbled with his pants, pulling them down as fast as he possibly could. His own ardor was unmistakable as he went back to the bed, sliding in between her splayed thighs.
Conrad heard the knocking as if it were far away from him. He struggled as his eyes took in his throbbing member mere inches from her weeping core. The knocking was louder, more insistent. The spell was broken when Ashlea looked in the direction of the door and her hand went to his chest, unsure.
“Conrad…?”
The man growled as the incessant knocking continued. He heard his name bellowed from the other side of the door, and he pulled back in a huff. It had better be good, he thought to himself. He did not bother to cover up, wanting whoever it was to see what they were getting in the way of. Opening the door in a rush, his eyes narrowed at his brother.
“What do you want, brother? I am in the middle of something right now.” Conrad spit the words out. His expression was violent as he stared at him, waiting.
“We all know. You are not very discreet. The council wants to see you. Now.”
Conrad looked back at the bed and down at his erection. He caught a faint look of perverse pleasure in his discomfort from Drake.
“Fine. I will be down in a minute.”
“Now, Conrad.”
Conrad’s head snapped up and their eyes
flashed at each other. Both were aware of his lack of respect, and Conrad was on an edge that was quickly turning darker.
“In a minute.”
Conrad slammed the door in the rude man’s face and looked back at Ashlea. It physically pained him to have to get dressed, leaving her as she was.
“Don’t move. I will be back.”
She nodded her head, the eyelids already starting to sink from her intense pleasure. Ashlea suspected that she would wait there as long as she needed.
Chapter 7
“You cannot bring a human here!”
“I am the leader. I can do as I damn well please.”
“You speak to us as though we are nothing. We were the leaders before you and you should remember that.”
Conrad’s jaw tightened as he tried to hold his anger in. His brother stepped forward, and though he was older, he had not been chosen to lead. That fact had always bothered him, so instead of moving on, he made anything harder on Conrad that he could. He was constantly speaking ill of Conrad’s leadership and decisions. By the look in his dark eyes, it was clear to him then that another battle was brewing.
“You have dishonored the family by lying with a human and then bringing her back here amongst us.”
Conrad snorted, forgetting the elder audience.
“Dear brother, you marked her when you met her. I could smell your stench from the day before all over that place and her. And you know very well I have not gotten to lay with her. Yet.”
There was a titter through the occupants of the room. It was not uncommon to have unmated males join with humans, but the rules were to never reveal their true nature. Conrad had broken the old rule that kept them all safe, and while he thought it was best to keep her close, besides his need to have her close, it did not seem to be a consensus with the rest of the tribe.
“This is unacceptable Conrad, no matter what status you currently have.”
Currently have. The words rolled around in his head, but even with the consequences in front of him, he would change nothing. One way or another he was going to be back in his room shortly to take Ashlea for his permanent mate, and no one was going to stand in his way. The threats were meaningless. Even if Conrad lost his title and was disgraced and kicked out, he would be happy with Ashlea by his side. That was a very freeing revelation, and it made him stand a little taller, facing them all with the fearlessness that he was known for.
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