A Is for Alpha Male (17 page)

My mind reeling, I blurted the first thing that came to mind, and with my filter turned off, it was a doozy. “Wow, Dan-o. I didn’t realize you were so girly.”

“Girly?” he asked with an interesting mixture of surprise and affront.

“Well, yeah. Usually girls are the ones making sweet, slightly long-winded explanations like that,” I tried to explain, using a sweet voice to try to appease him.

See? Sweet explanations. Girly.

“Okay. I also want to read about all the sex scenes that turn you on and lead to you touching yourself to ease the ache,” he deadpanned.

Damn. The way he said that was fucking sexy. All rumbly and manly.

It was also flirty, so I had to readjust when my inner cheerleader started to spell out “Fuck me”.
Give me an F...

I looked down at my crotch and spoke telepathically to my girly parts.
Relax, Haley. He’s just a flirty person. Down, you little slut.

“Okay, that was definitely a more manly answer,” I told him, not only speaking the truth but also stroking his ego a little bit.

“Thanks,” he said through what I knew was a smile.

I turned my head when the movement of a shadow caught my eye and noticed that Allison was walking toward me, on her way out of the bathroom. She looked unbelievably cute in a pair of short, white shorts, a black billowy tank top, her usual jewelry, and a pair of black woven espadrilles on her dainty feet.

Realizing she was fully ready while I still sat on the edge of the bed in little more than my underwear, I figured it was time to put an end to my call with Danny.

“Hey, Danny, I’ve got to go, okay? Allison is totally ready, and I’m still half naked.”

I heard him groan at my remark before muttering, “Jesus,” under his breath.

I let him take the few seconds of grumbling he needed. “Okay, Hales. Have fun, be safe. Watch out for each other, don’t leave your drink unattended, try not to mention nakedness to other guys, and hold strong to the list.”

I couldn’t help but smile at his fathering and knew I had to rib him about it just a little. “You got it, Dad.”

“No way, babe. I am definitely not your daddy.” He paused for a beat, a thought occurring to him. “Unless, of course, you’re into kink,” he finished.

“Danny!”

“You mean Daddy, baby?” he asked sensuously, making use of the similarity of his name.

“I will cut you,” I snapped amicably.

“Right,” he responded, and I could hear the upturn of his lips. “Hales, seriously, be careful. And call me when you get back in tonight,” he said, his voice turning completely serious. It was like he flipped a switch.

“Jesus, Danny!”

“Haley. Do your friend a fucking favor, give him some piece of mind, and fucking call him when you get in tonight. I want to know that both of you are safe. Dial my number, say, “I’m home, Asshole,” if you want, and then hang up. I could care less. As long as I know you make it back in one cute, little piece.”

“God, Dan-o. You make it seriously hard to be a snarky bitch when you act so nice. You are totally cramping my style,” I grumbled and then heard Allison laughing in the background. “Bee tee dubs, why was part of that in the third person?”

Danny laughed too, no doubt noticing that just after I had accused him of taking away my snarkiness, I snarked him about speaking in the third person. “Nothing can keep the snarky bitch caged, baby,” he reassured me. “And I’d miss her if she was gone.”

A smile puffed out my cheeks as I told him, “I don’t know what you’re so worried about. I’m with my
mother
.” Allison frowned at my reference, but I waved her off.

At the same time, Danny scoffed loudly in my ear. “Hales, your mom is almost as crazy as you are. So I have to tell you that your seemingly comforting statement brings me no comfort whatsoever.”

Well, I couldn’t really argue with that.

“Fine. Stop talking to me so I can cover up my nakedness,” I teased him, choosing my words purposefully.

I heard him groan again, but I gave him no time to speak. Instead, in the most seductive purr I could manage I said, “I’ll call you when I get in tonight,
Daddy
.”

I pulled the phone away from my ear and hung up, tossing my phone on the bed and cackling the whole time.

Allison rose one brow, no doubt scared by my fatherly endearment, but I waved her off and told her, “I was just messing with him.”

Actually, that was a perfect example of why it wasn’t good when other people listened in on telephone conversations. No matter what you were saying, the eavesdropper only got half the story, and the half they got was almost always out of context.

“Too fun,” I mumbled to myself as my laughter died down and Allison shook her head.

When I made no moves toward my bag, but instead, stayed there, smiling stupidly at my phone, Allison decided she needed to snap me out of it.

The bright blue pillow didn’t hurt when it hit my head, but it did get my attention.

“Hey!” I shouted, playing the victim with everything I had, my hand clutched to my head like she had hit me with a brick rather than a pillow.

“Seriously?” she questioned, her one scary eyebrow raised. “Get ready, Haley!”

I got up and headed for my bag, but I did it muttering to myself. “Geez, you’re violent tonight. Danny was worried about my safety with men, but he really should have been concerned about my savage mother.”

Allison just sighed and asked, “We better stop somewhere and have a real meal before we go out to do other things, huh?”

Come to think of it, I
was
hungry. No wonder I was so punchy. “Yeah, probably a good idea,” I confirmed.

“Sorry,” I apologized.

My mom smiled, walked over to me, and cupped my cheek. “Haley, one thing I can guarantee is that I’m used to you. No need to apologize. Just get ready.”

Man, people who loved you put up with the most shit. Well, at least, the people who loved me did.

That was the nature of relationships though. Relationships establish, or are sometimes bred from, familiarity. Familiarity leads to comfort. And comfort allows for your most natural, uninhibited behavior. Fortunately, unrestricted interactions make people flourish, and in the right circumstances, that only enhances love.

I was so lucky. For me and my mom, and for me and Hunter, the crazy was like Crazy Glue, bonding our relationships that much further and enhancing our love exponentially.

But I was a glutton.

I wanted more.

I wanted another level; that warm and fuzzy bond combined with a big, strong man who was good at touching me in my special places.

HOLY. SHIT.

Allison was smashed. I mean
completely
wasted.

We had made our way out onto the streets of Denver, grabbed a quick bite to eat, and had found ourselves at Brother’s bar, hanging out and enjoying the summer air on the patio.

Allison had started drinking—and hadn’t stopped.

Her southern accent was thicker, her hair flips were more exaggerated, and her smile was lazy and slightly lopsided.

I had my arm around her waist, holding a fairly substantial amount of her weight, and her arm was draped across my shoulders, her hand smashing my face rather ungently in order to pull my head closer to her’s.

She had seemed slightly preoccupied earlier today, but nothing that would have suggested she was going to get this sloppy. Honestly, I had never seen her like this.

The funny thing was, she may have been sloppy drunk, but that was the end of things to which that word applied. She was still gorgeous, friendly (maybe a little
too
friendly, but friendly nonetheless), and she seemed to be having the time of her life.

There was a semi-circle of about eight men around us, half of which were probably there for the amusement they thought would come to pass, the other half seemingly actually interested in one or both of us.

One specific guy had caught my attention, and I was throwing glances in his direction in between monitoring Allison’s interactions and behavior. Her safety was more important than some random guy.

Chicks before dicks.

Hos before Bros.

Moms before Doms.

You get the picture.

As I stood there in my mom’s embrace, Mr. Nice Jeans, fitted t-shirt, and motorcycle boots, sidled his way over to me and spoke in a muted voice. “She gonna be okay?” he asked, gesturing discreetly toward Allison with the glass neck of the beer bottle between his fingers.

“Yeah. I swear she’s never like this. I’m pretty sure she’s consumed more alcohol tonight than she has in her entire life.”

I watched his tan throat work as a rough chuckle accompanied his small smile.

“It’s Haley, right? And this is your mom, Allison?” he queried.

Nodding my affirmation, I asked, “Yep. What’s your name?”

Reaching out, he tucked a strand of loose hair behind my ear and answered, “Jason.”

I wasn’t really sure whether I thought his touchiness was sweet or creepy, but I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt by leaning toward sweet.

I needed to give him at least five minutes of judgment free time. After that time was up, I could pick him apart like the ruthless vulture I was.

He reached out and grabbed my hip in a pretty proprietary way, held my eyes, and declared, “You and I should go out tomorrow, have dinner.”

Geez, okay. He wanted to go on a date. That was really effing fast. I just found out his name for Pete’s sake.

Time to assess.

Well, he was cute for sure. Dark blond hair, bright blue eyes, a nice straight smile, and his apparel screamed, “Man!” He seemed to have all of the qualities of the list that you could gauge on a first meeting basis.

Seemingly Alpha if his quick, no nonsense approach was anything to go by.

Jason was a decent name. Cute. Crisp. Manly.

Definitely had a hard body. Tight, broad chest, and trim abdominals. His t-shirt wasn’t quite tight enough to see if there were defined ridges under there.

Intelligent enough to speak coherently, cohesively, and understand me.

Manly.

He was protective enough that he asked about Allison’s state of being. A good start.

Sexy, definitely. Though I usually went for the dark headed fellas.

No visible tattoos, but that meant next to nothing. There were all kinds of body parts covered by clothing at the moment.

So far he found us amusing, so that was good for U.

And well, he was certainly zealous about getting a date secured right away.

Everything else, I would have to spend more time with him to know.

I had done my assessment rather quickly and efficiently. Danny would be proud of my thoroughness.

This was all good, but judging by Allison’s current state, I wasn’t all fired up to leave her to her own devices tomorrow night. And if I was honest, I was also a little shaky about the prospect of a date because of Danny. I felt an unsubstantiated obligation to him.

Stupid fucking Danny.

Plus, for some reason, Jason’s hand on my hip didn’t heat my skin. I didn’t feel the electricity through the fabric of my shorts. In fact, it didn’t seem comfortable at all, but maybe I just needed the chance to get to know him and get more comfortable.

Feeling the pressure of Allison’s hand on my face again, my thoughts shifted back to her.

My eyes apparently flickered to the subject of my thoughts, either that or Blondy was a mind reader, because he hurried to add on, “My dad is single too. He would no doubt love to take your mom out, that way she’s not on her own, and you never know, they may hit it off.”

Christ. Another familial set up.
My uncle. My dad
. I hoped this one didn’t look like Tim McGraw.

“He doesn’t look like Tim McGraw, does he? If so, we may need to have EMTs standing by.”

His brow furrowed in confusion, as it would, since I sounded like a crazy person if you didn’t know the story. “No worries, it’s just an inside joke.”

Quickly schooling his features back into the shape of a smile, Jason moved on.

Probably a smart move on his part.

“So what do you say? Put me out of my misery and go out with me?” he asked, a charming smile in place on his cute face that I couldn’t deny.

“Okay, sure,” I hesitantly agreed, hastily adding, “As long as your Dad is on board,” as an afterthought.

“Yeah, he’ll definitely be on board.” I watched his eyes devour my mom as he spoke, and I had to do a quick reality check. My mom was hot, so even if he was around my age, it wasn’t abnormal for him to be attracted to Allison. But something about it was weird; I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

God, I had to get a handle on things. My talk with Danny had made me paranoid. It was good to be cautious, but not
every
guy was a sexual predator.

At least not the bad kind.

And Jason seemed nice.

Most importantly, he seemed interested in me. Maybe my ego needed a little stroking after Danny’s rejection. I was confident, but I still loved a good stroking.

Pun one hundred percent abso-fucking-lutely intended.