A is for Alpha

by Kate Aster

  “Don’t do it. Being unemployed is pretty scary.”

  “Yeah. I guess.” She doesn’t sound convinced as she stands.

  “Let’s grab coffee again sometime,” I feel compelled to say. It’s been hard warming up to people with such a secret held tight in my grasp. But now that I’m slowly letting go of it, the ache for friendship is almost crippling.

  “Great.” She starts to walk away, then halts. I watch her just stand there for a beat or two until she finally turns around. “You know, I’ve had this idea for a while. It’s—it’s kind of similar to what you’re doing.”

  “Oh?” I ask, curious about her evasive tone.

  “Look, I’m not going to kid you. Anyone could do it, and I’m scared that someone will come along and steal the idea, you know? Because it’s—well, I think it might be the only way a girl like me might actually make a good living on this island.”

  My eyebrows rise. “A girl like you? You mean smart, pretty, talented, nice?”

  “No, I mean a girl who doesn’t have a college degree and has no experience off this island.”

  “Well, if you want to run it by me, feel free. I won’t steal it. You’ve got enough dish on me to blackmail me for the next fifty years.”

  “Oh, I wouldn’t do that.” She tilts her head. “Well, maybe if you won the lottery and I was on the streets, I might resort to a little blackmail,” she says as though being anything but completely honest is foreign to her.

  “I wouldn’t blame you.”

  Cautiously, she sits back down in the sand, a little further from me than before, sparing a quick glance at the resort behind us. “Well, you know how you’ve been trying to get a babysitting business going here? And it’s a great idea. I’ve always thought all these people who rent condos need the same kind of keiki care that we give at the resort.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But that’s not what you’re giving them.”

  My brow furrows.

  “I mean, you’re babysitting,” she continues. “But think of all we do at keiki care. We make leis. We teach them hula and Hawaiian songs. We play ukulele.”

  “Correction. You teach them hula and ukulele.”

  “Right. And you speak Japanese, which is really a draw on this island. So between the two of us, we could provide a hell of a service, right? We bag up some Hawaiian crafts and load up our iPhones with music and take everything that the Queen K offers in keiki care to them, wherever they happen to be. Condos, bed and breakfasts, small hotels. I mean, parents feel guilty as hell leaving their kids with a babysitter while they go off and scuba dive or parasail. But they’d feel a lot better—and pay a lot more—if they thought the kids were getting a cool Hawaiian experience out of it.”

  I feel my features settle on my face. “Wow,” I breathe out. “That’s a good idea.”

  She nods. “It is, isn’t it? I even found a place that will sell me cheap plastic ukuleles for wholesale. They sound like crap, but kids won’t care. And maybe for an added fee, we can let them keep their own ukulele after I teach them a song or two on it. So, what do you think?”

  “I think you’ll make a killing.”

  She shakes her head. “But that’s just it. I want to do it with you. Fifty-fifty. I need a partner in this. I’m just not the type to start it on my own. I mean, I know you’ve already got a few clients—like Cam, for instance. And I wouldn’t step on your toes there. What you’ve already got stays yours. But maybe between the two of us, we could put a little money in to buy some materials for the kids and some advertising and a website.”

  I open my mouth to argue, but she cuts me off with, “I know, I know. We won’t put your last name in there, and any photo of you will be from far away. We’ll just put a little bio about us that sort of lumps all of our experience together. No one will know it’s you.”

  “Are you sure you’d want to go into business with someone who’s got my kind of baggage?”

  She shrugs. “I’m not picky.”

  I shake my head. “I love the idea. But I’m not planning on sticking around here. When things blow over, I need to get back to the mainland.” As I say it, I can’t help looking back on the life I left behind and wondering why I’m so eager to return.

  “When you leave, I’ll keep doing it on my own,” she says with an air of measured confidence. “I just need someone to sort of light a fire under my ass while we start it up. If I don’t have a partner… well, I’ll just keep thinking about doing it without really doing it. You know? I’ve got some money saved up. We can use that for any start-up costs.”

  “You told me that money was to get you off this island.”

  She waves a hand. “Oh, I’ve been fantasizing about that since I was sixteen and three generations of my family followed me on my first date with a boy.”

  I wince. “Good lord.”

  “Yeah. Sucks to be me.” Glancing at her watch again, she takes a step backward. “Think about it, and let me know. Just please don’t tell anyone. We’re on an island. I don’t need competition.”

  She turns her back to me and starts to walk back to the resort.

  “Hey, Kaila!” A smile passes over my face as I call out quickly. “I don’t need to think about it. Let’s do it.”

  Chapter 19

  - CAMDEN -

  With the windows open, the salty breeze blows over my skin, cooling me as I stretch out next to Annie. I’m not really sure how we ended up here—how a picnic of take-out on the beach in front of my condo evolved into me carrying her back here to my bed.

  But I’m cool with it. I’m completely cool with it.

  “Remind me to get you coconut shrimp again, if this is what it does to you,” I say, tracing my hand along the side of her and remembering that first time she ate it with me, and we wound up in each other’s arms on the beach.

  “For the record, I don’t think it’s the shrimp.” She smiles as she pushes me onto my back. “It’s you.”

  My cock should be in a deep slumber considering what we’ve managed to do this afternoon, but it’s immediately awakened by the pressure of her against me again.

  What she does to me.

  Stretched out on top of me, her head lolls to the side and she looks out my sliding glass door. With an attached lanai, I easily have the best view of the three bedrooms in our condo. Dodger took the room with the lesser view in exchange for the office. Fen’s got the biggest room to hold all the aircraft memorabilia because pilots love to collect crap, apparently. But I got the best room. From the second floor of our condo, no one outside can see me lying in my bed, but I can still see the ocean, even the occasional humpback breaching in the distance.

  Like right now.

  “Oh my God!” Annie shrieks, rising up from my body as she spots one breaching into the air. “How do you ever leave your bed with a view like this?”

  I chuckle. “You remind me of my cousin’s wife. She’s crazy about humpbacks.”

  “Yeah?”

  “Yeah. Cassidy Sheridan. She’s a model and—”

  Her eyes widen. “I know her. I mean, I’ve seen her. Well, everyone’s seen her. That’s right, she married some billionaire guy…”

  “…with the name Sheridan. Yep. That’s one of my cousins.”

  She shakes her head. “I keep forgetting about who your family is.”

  “Good. I’d rather you judge me for who I am.”

  “And who you are is pretty spectacular, Cam Sheridan.”

  “Right back atcha, baby,” I say, daring to threaten her view of the whales by nudging her onto her back. I can’t resist. I like the feel of her beneath me. “And I might end up with a billionaire girl in my life, too, once you get this babysitting business started.”

  She giggles. “Babysitters generally don’t become billionaires.”

  “I disagree,” I say, kissing her neck, her breast, her belly, and yep, my cock is already primed and ready for action again. I can’t help looking at the clock on my nightstand.
This is record-breaking.

  “Why do you disagree?” She sucks in her words when I dip my tongue into her perfect navel.

  “Oh, I can see you making it a success here on the island and then franchising. Think about it. Polynesian-themed babysitting wherever you want. Let the kids think they’re on vacation for a fraction of the cost. You could take the business with you when things settle down on the mainland and you leave.” I feel a void in my chest when I say it, even though I shouldn’t.

  “Okay. Maybe I’ll be a millionaire off of it,” she concedes, laughing, with disbelief still in her tone. “Not a billionaire though. Right now, I’d settle for being a thousand-aire.”

  As much as I want to taste her again, I lift my lips from her. “I’m going to make you the best website you’ve ever seen.”

  “You really think it won’t look weird without my last name?”

  “It will be great. Take my word for it. I’m pretty good at this, you know. I can develop a mobile app for you, too, so it’ll be easy to book hours. That might be good since most of your clients will be on the road, away from their desktops.”

  She looks at me with disbelief. “You can really do that?”

  “I know it’s hard to believe I’m capable of doing anything but mixing a mai tai. But yes, and I’m good at it.” I reach for my phone to show her the app for my company.

  A grin slides upward on her cheeks as she explores it with a few more taps. “You did this? It’s so professional.”

  “It better be. My advertisers are paying top dollar to be on it. I used to sell the app, you know? But then about one year in, I realized I’d make more money by giving it away for free and selling advertising on it.”

  “How did you learn all this in the military?”

  I chuckle. “I took classes online. It was kind of my hobby. This woman on TV—Vi Owens-Shey—one of my cousins knows her really well. She’s an investment guru—a pundit on most of the financial networks.”

  “I think I’ve heard of her,” she says.

  “I met her at my cousin’s wedding a while back. She told me, if you want to make it in this world, pick a hobby that makes you an income. I really took it to heart. Then, when the idea for a rental site for the military came to me, I was ready. Now it pulls in a good six figures on advertising.”

  Her head lurches upward, the same way it did for the whale a few moments ago.

  “You make six figures on advertising?”

  “I saw a hole in a market and I filled it. Just the same as you’re going to be doing. This thing could really take off, Annie.”

  She nibbles her lip again, and I envy her because I’d love to do the same to that lip right now.

  “How is it that a day ago I felt like my life was falling apart?” she ponders. “Yet today, I feel like there might be hope for me yet.” Her head lops to the side again, looking out to the ocean, and I know instinctively what she’s hoping to see.

  “You know…” I roll her onto her side so that she’s facing the water with me behind her, “I know a way to make watching for whales even more enticing.” My cock twitches against her backside as I reach my hand around her to toy with the narrow strip of curls I love.

  “You do?” Her purr is a tease.

  “I do.” I dip my eager fingers into her moisture and bring it back up to her clit.

  “You feel so good,” she whispers.

  I’d tell her the same, but my mouth is already busy, kissing her neck, her shoulders, her back. I need her again. Now.

  My fingers explore the moist skin beneath the curls that shield that sweet bud I love to play with. Her clit is amazing to me, the power of it, the way it’s like a button I press and get to go on a ride. I get harder just thinking about it, about how her eyes glaze over when I rub her like this. My fingers slide down to her moisture, and I slip a finger inside her. Her channel tightens around me, so ready for me already. I slip another inside her, stretching her. But my cock wants to stretch her more.

  It pains me to roll away from her, to grab one of the condoms on my nightstand. I want to slide into her with nothing between us. I want to spill into her, claim her completely. I know I’m safe and I’m pretty sure she is. But I also don’t imagine she’s on the pill and as much as the idea of planting a kid inside of her is a strange turn-on to me right now, it doesn’t quite mesh with my no-strings-attached policy. So I sheath myself.

  “Enjoying the view, baby?” My voice is thick with need as I fold a pillow and put it between her bended legs, giving me a hell of a view.

  She only whimpers her response, shuddering when I massage the wet slit that beckons me. My hand slides further between her legs and I feel that nub again, then back to her entry. I steal some of her juices on my fingertip and bring it to my mouth. “You taste so fucking good.”

  A gasp escapes her. And I haven’t even slid inside her yet.

  I love watching her body from this angle, watching her ass cheeks tighten up with raw desire, then relax, then tighten again.

  A breeze flutters in from the sea, caressing our skin.

  “I like it like this,” she murmurs.

  “Windows open. Broad daylight. Is that how you like it?”

  I slide inside of her and she rewards my cock with an immediate squeeze from her core.

  “Maybe I do. No one can see us from this angle, though.”

  No kidding. My condo does have some restrictions. “Might be some guy on a boat out there with binoculars who’s rubbing one out while he watches us.”

  She sputters a laugh. “You just killed the mood.”

  I slide in deeper and feel her gasp slightly from the invasion at this new angle. “Doesn’t feel like I killed it,” I reply.

  I move my hand to her breast and give a squeeze as I rock her body. I love the way her nipples respond, tightening up into tiny pebbles that I just want to nip.

  But not at this angle I won’t. So I take the consolation prize, gently nibbling her shoulder.

  “That tickles.”

  I grin. “Which? This?” I nip her again. “Or this?” I thrust and can feel the climax brewing deep inside her as I do.

  A long, lusty sigh escapes her. “I forgot.”

  She’s so tight, so wet, it’s all I can do to not flip her on her belly and take what I need. But instead, I move myself slowly, letting the passion in her build. I want to feel her come around me again. Just as much as I want to satisfy myself.

  My hand eases lower, first to her belly, then, fighting the allure of touching her clit again and bringing her to a quick climax, I decide to prolong it, and grip her hip, moving her right along with me.

  Her neck arches backward, writhing like a vixen. From this angle she’s helpless; she can’t pull me in deeper. I’m in complete control of how much she gets of me.

  My fingers roam from her hip to her breast and back again, massaging the soft skin between my fingertips till she’s pink from friction. She grabs my hand, and moves it down to the center of her need, and I know she can’t wait any longer.

  Ditto for me.

  I stroke her, gently at first, readying her, and then harder as I thrust into her again and again. Her body rocks in front of me as I drive into her, and her folds clamp onto me.

  “Harder,” she begs. And I take the order like any Ranger would, fucking her deep and hard until I can feel her start to quake.

  I could do this forever. I’m almost convinced of it because I’m so unwilling for it to end. But I want to feel it—that synchronicity I feel every time I’m with her. So I plunge one last time into her, as every nerve in my body cries out for satisfaction. Her name escapes my lips as I shatter behind her, cock throbbing, pulse racing, skin slick with sweat.

  Then, when I have to slide out of her, I realize I’m incomplete without her.

  And that terrifies me.

  Chapter 20

  ~ ANNIE ~

  This is completely unfair to my heart.

  There should be some kind of a rule wh
en it comes to hot, single men: No hanging around cute little kids because the sight of it makes a woman’s knees turn to Jell-O.

  Cam has Stella wrapped up in his arms with a new stuffed whale toy in her grasp. It’s only late afternoon, but all the fresh ocean air from a whale sightseeing cruise has sapped the little girl’s energy.

  The way he holds her, as if she is the most precious thing on the face of the earth, absolutely makes my insides melt. And I dare to think: he’s going to be a great dad one day.

  That’s when the hormones start pumping.

  Not those hormones that make me want to tear off his clothes have unbridled sex. (Well, those ones, too.) But the other ones that make me want to build a nest and have kids. It’s not something that should be allowed for a girl like me. Not while I’m hiding out from a life I left behind—so far from the plans I laid out for myself.

  When I’m with him, I have to remind myself that it’s been my goal to return to the mainland one day, to put my application in for a teacher’s assistant somewhere else, and get my master’s at any one of the many schools in the D.C. area.

  But right now, as we walk back to the car, Cam takes my hand with his free one and with that small gesture, he claims my heart. And I don’t want to go back.

  Not that I have a choice right now, anyway.

  He lowers her into the back seat of his car and snaps her into her child seat.

  “I’m going to name her Chloe,” she says mid-yawn, barely opening her eyes as she squeezes her stuffed whale close to her chest. “I love her.”

  “Good. I thought it was time Starlight the Unicorn got a friend,” he says, brushing a kiss to the top of her head just as she appears to drift to sleep.

  He shuts the door as gently as possible and joins me in the front seat of the car. After pulling onto the main road, he takes my hand for a brief squeeze. “I’m not sure who seemed happier to see those whales. You or Stella,” he whispers.

  “I think it was me. As much as I’ve enjoyed watching them from the shore, I’ve never actually seen them from a boat. Thanks for taking me, Cam.”