003: THE PERFECT ESCORT

♡☆CANDACE♡☆

The next morning was pretty sunny, yet nothing about my mood appeared sunny.

My nerves were still jittery from last night, from the weight of Luca's intense gaze. From the plaguing memory of his glistening length  in the red aesthetic lights. And from the mortifying realization that he'd caught me touching myself indiscreetly.

Yes, my heart still bled from Damien's rejection. 

I showed up at Alpha Luca's mansion to work at 6:30 am, as usual. 

First, his coffee. 

Sloshing to the kitchen to make the Alpha's first coffee of the day, Damien's scent wafted up my nostrils. That sweet musk that made my nipples tighten into hard, aching peaks. 

My legs stopped moving. 

My trembling fingers quickly hitched my skirt a lot higher, so my thighs were exposed. Then I flipped my brown hair free from the bun. 

I loosened the straps of my bra from inside my shirt enough to make my chest appear larger and bouncier. And attention seeking. 

Desperate? Absolutely.

Ashamed? Not enough to stop.

I was desperate to make Damien mine. It didn't matter how far I took things. Last night made that clear.

I'd had enough. About time I headed in for that big kill. 

I inhaled deeply, ignoring my racing pulse as I sashayed into the pristine kitchen.

And oh boy.

There he was. The golden boy.

Damien slanted by the island, hot as hell in a grey tank shirt that clung to every line of his well-defined chest, and his caramel blond head buried between his girlfriend's breasts.

Cathy sat on the countertop, legs spread wide, straddling my mate like he belonged between her thighs.

They were together last night. That was supposed to be me. Not her. I mean she had everything, the fancy little things, our father's love and devotion. Why steal my mate?

Envy gnawed at my inside but not as hard as the sudden wet ache that seized my inner thighs from seeing his hand underneath her shirt, touching her so casually, as though they had nothing else to do but pleasure each other. 

Like this was his kitchen.

Cathy had no idea how lucky she was. 

Judging from that smirk tugging her lips when her gaze fell on me, yeah she knew just how lucky.

Damien's sudden frown nicked my heart. The way he didn't attempt to break their proximity, to hide what his hand was doing to her under her shirt made it even hotter to be here.

"Desperate enough to stalk me down to my kitchen?" He smirked.

I lifted my chin. 

"You mean Alpha Luca's kitchen?" 

My challenging tone made him pull free from her, his hand finally dropping off her chest. Good. 

"I'm here to get his coffee." I scanned my brain and added, "Habitual." 

The phone by the two coffee mugs rang, Cathy pulled him in again, planting a quick, deep, possessive kiss on his eager lips. Marking a silent territory.

"I'll take this, babe." She purred. 

He assisted her down like she was some fragile creature weighing nothing. Then he smacked her rear as she waltzed away from the kitchen. 

Oh, that hunger in his eyes as he watched her walk away. 

I could never be that. 

Then his gaze dropped on me when every trace of Cathy disappeared from the kitchen. Whatever softness he'd shown her vanished, replaced by a cold, ugly frown.

"You never let your hair down. Are you trying to please me?" 

"You called me a mutt." I pouted, giving him that puppy dog look. Trying so hard to be attractive by batting my thick lashes. Loving this little bit of his attention I was getting, "Best friends don't call each other mutts." 

"Best friends sure write smuts about each other." He sassed, scorn clear in his beautiful dark eyes. 

"That's the point," I edged closer with my chest out. Let him see me. Let him be fully aware of what I was offering. "We're mates now. I'm willing to forgive you for last night."

"The entire pack is going to think I have terrible taste. Candy I don't want to hurt you because we used to be friends but things change. We can't be mates. We can't even be friends anymore and you know it."

Ouch. That stabbed deeper than he would ever know. 

"I love you, Damien. I do. And I choose not to care if I'm being desperate. None of those fantasies in my diary is false, I've loved you all my life."

"I'm not going to be with an unattractive runt."

Unattractive? 

My heart stuttered.

Here I was with my skirt hitched high, hair loose and my boobs practically falling out of my bra and he dared call me unattractive?

And he still didn't want me?

"I convinced my father to hire you," he reached for the two coffee mugs, "keep pushing your boundaries then I swear to get you fired and have you back to scrubbing floors and toilets." 

He took the two coffee mugs and exited the kitchen while I stood in tears with my shoulders slumped forward sobbing freely. Shamelessly.

Rejecting me twice. How could he be so cruel? 

The day suddenly felt dark and gloomy as I heaved into the front seat of the Lamborghini truck that would be driving to the Alpha's executive building. I failed my first task of giving the Alpha coffee because he had already left the mansion. 

It was almost nine when I finally gathered enough courage to enter his executive office. Shame around my neck like a manacle from my wanton behavior last night. 

"You're late," Luca growled behind his desk, looking as intimidating as ever.. 

He was handsome in a way that made Damien look like a younger, unfinished version of him. His eyes were ensnaringly blue as they pinned me in place.

Then his forehead creased as he searched every inch of me, my loosened hair, my adjusted bra beneath my blouse, the way my skirt had been sitting just a little too high.

"You went to him like that?" He casually gestured his chin towards the hitched-up skirt I forgot to readjust.

My inside lurched.

I immediately rode the fabric down my knees, back to its natural and professional length.

“Like what?” I deflected with a shrug.

He got up from his executive desk and moved calmly to the edge of his desk where I stood. His face became passive. His jaw clamped tight.

"You acted desperate this morning. I saw it all." 

He did? Oh yeah, the cameras were a thing.

"You want to be desperate for attention?" His jaw eased, but the disappointment in his eyes was somehow worse than his anger "Fine. So be it, Candace." 

A pause, which stretched into a painful silence. His hand lifted slightly, his palm opened.

Then he muttered, "Take the skirt off."

"What?!" A humorous laugh abruptly left me, "You can't be serious, Alpha."

His frozen expression didn't falter. Not slightly.

My stomach tightened. He was dead serious. I forced myself to meet his gaze, trying to hide my embarrassment behind a defensive tone. "I can't walk around the entire office space in just my panties. That's ridiculous."

"You lost control this morning when you begged for attention so I'm taking something that reminds you what control feels like." He stretched out his palm right in my face, "It's either that or," his eyes dropped to my waist, "Your panties." 

The word sounded so sensuous, too personal on his lips. 

A sigh built and dissolved in my guts. A strange flutter stirred low in my stomach. I suddenly dripped into my panties. 

"I can't." I cringed. Face flushed. 

There was no way I could do that. 

No way at all.

No man had ever seen my inner wear. They weren't fancy at all. My insecurities had me scrambling my brain, trying to remember which one of my many panties I'd put on today. 

"I thought you wanted to be his whore? Whores don't hesitate." He sounded too calm. Way too casual.

"Fine!" I huffed.

After all, I'd seen him naked. Handing over a piece of fabric was nothing compared to seeing that fat, thick flesh of him.

My trembling fingers hovered at the hem of my skirt, my pulse thrashing loudly that Luca could hear.

Stalling as if the seconds I had in between would dry up the visible wetness on my panties right before I pulled them down before his gaze. 

Luca waited. 

Patiently. 

Far too patiently. 

I dared not look into those ocean-blue eyes, afraid of what I might find there. 

Sucking in a deep breath, I finally pulled down the plush pink cotton panties. 

My breath grew ragged at the embarrassing sight of my arousal, a wet splodge on the fabric, one he didn't miss as I handed it over to him. My face fifteen shades of red.  

I pulled the hem of my skirt back to my knees to distract myself. Praying the floor swallowed me whole.

Whatever he was about to say was interrupted by the sudden beep at the door. Shortly, Rex Miller, his executive assistant, marched in.

Even though I still had my skirt on, and Luca slid my panties into the pocket of his jacket, I still felt exposed. And empty down there. 

"There's been a slight hiccup for tonight, Alpha," Rex spoke calmly, "The escort for tonight has unfortunately been admitted into the Pack's clinic, tested positive for flu. But the agency has a substitute..." 

Luca's gaze snagged mine, a devilish smirk crept on his sensuous lips, "Dismiss this substitute. I've got the perfect escort for tonight."