004: YOUR HOW-TO-GET-F COACH

♡☆ ALPHA LUCA ♡☆

"I'll hate to stick out tonight like a sore thumb. I'm not sure if I can be the perfect escort for this dinner." Candace pouted at lunch. Taking a large bite of her beignet with powdered sugar all over her flustered face.

"Why can't you?" I asked, my interest partly on my black coffee. The warmth of her cotton panties in my jacket pocket was an unwelcome distraction.

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat in the private corner of the cafe where we'd had lunch together every other day for the past month now, only that today's lunch seemed to be different. Undeniably tense.

We both couldn't deny that the air was charged, sexually charged. After last night, everything shifted. After seeing her touch herself and ogle me with that need and curiosity in her brown eyes, there was no way we could go back to being professional.

"I'll need to play the part. Perfect hairdo, makeup, fancy dress. I've never been that girl." She rolled cliche eyes, "Plus, I lack that confidence."

"Isn't that why I'm here? As your how-to-get-f*cked coach."

"I'm not going to call it that." Her beautiful face turned crimson. A smile crept up her lips, "So that means you agree to coach me?"

"Your lessons began the second you took your panties off. And trust me, it gets dirtier from here."

She took her milkshake to her lips, to hide her smile.

But I saw it all. My Alpha senses heightened it all. The way her luscious lips twitched around the paper straw. I didn't miss the way her pupils dilated at the word "dirtier"

Damn me for thinking of the way her thighs clamped together under the bistro table like she was trying to soothe an ache she didn't want me to know of.

I noticed it all. And that was the problem.

"So, for your friend's mating anniversary tonight, what should I wear?"

I gave it less thought and shrugged, "I'll have a glam team get you in a fit to look the part."

"And if Damien doesn't notice me tonight?"

"He will." I took a slow sip of my dark coffee and snagged her gaze, "The question actually is, what will you do when he finally does?"

Her brows furrowed. So I clarified my words.

"It doesn't stop at being noticed. It goes deeper. Muckier. You think one glance would be it?"

"I know. I do. And you're going to teach me everything?"

"Yeah. I already agreed to. The scope of this course broadens beyond outfits into earning that confidence when you're ogled like a buttered steak on a platter. How to carry yourself, and move like a 'whöré'. And how to spread those legs like you've been doing it all your life."

"Will the latter be a practical class?" She slurred. Seemingly flirting with me. Her cheeks a distinct shade of red.

The softness on my face clenched abruptly, she clearly was flirting with me and that was a dangerous game neither of us could afford to play.

There was a line I wouldn't dare cross even as a single father and Alpha with a line up of women, and that was stooping so low. Low enough to sleep with my son's girl. Her age didn't make it any easier.

"You don't get to flirt with me. I am your teacher."

The barista appeared with a radiant smile on her face oblivious to the tension pulling the air right out of the private corner of the cafe. I welcomed the interruption.

The auburn-haired barista asked if we needed anything else, Candace shook her head so I dismissed her.

"So Luca..." Candace grinned and abruptly trailed off.

My brow must've revealed how stunned I was to have her boldly address me by my first name. I haven't had anyone ditch the Alpha title in years.

"We're on a first name basis now?"

She bridged that professional gap, so why keep pretending?

Her eyes bounced on everything on the table but refused to snag my gaze. Her fingers picked at the napkin before her. Where did all that confidence suddenly go?

"Eye contact, Candace."

She hesitated, then slowly those doe eyes fluttered up to spear mine in an uneasy fuse. Then she instantly averted them.

Then that sharp inhale and quickened pulse gave her away.

"Eye contact is an unavoidable part of this," I waited, patiently like I had all afternoon to spare until those lovely glassy eyes swept back to snag mine, "Hold it, boldly don't look away."

Her fingers shook uncontrollably next to her milkshake. Her tongue peeked out to moisten her lower lips.

"When that punk looks your way tonight you're going to feel exactly how you're feeling right now. Like a prey. A fawn spotted by a fox. Every instinct will tell you to look away. Your wolf will purr and cower." I squinted my gaze and made my voice drop, "You won't. You'll look him dead in the eyes, like you could devour him alive. You're the predator, not him. Not any man."

"What if I can't?"

"Then you fail. I don't tolerate failures."

She bit down on her lower lip and looked away. Growing silent. Way too silent to be considered natural.

She remained that way all through the day. Stealing glances whenever she thought I wasn't looking. 'Accidentally' brushing her chest against my arm once or twice.

Classic naive girl's move.

At least, it wasn't hard to get that ice around her to melt. She was starting to listen to her body. And confident enough to show it.

"What time will a chauffeur pick me up tonight?"

She cornered me before I left for my last meeting of the day.

"We'll leave together from my lakehouse. I'll have Tak drive you there after work," then tactfully, I added, "I'll be a little late to return, I have to stop to shop gifts for Gerald on his mating anniversary."

Her eyes snapped at mine, interest gleaming in those honey brown orbs.

"Can I come shopping too? I could help you pick out something."

And the trap caught her right in the neck.

The smirk on my lips should've scared her off, but it didn't.

Not until the car parked outside the store later that evening and her eyes landed on the neon pink signage lighting the tinted window of the adult store.

FLY TONIGHT

Her hand played with the hem of her skirt. A failed attempt to distract herself. She stiffened beside me in the backseat.

"Alpha, this isn't the gift store." She breathily whispered. cheeks rosy.

"Excellent observation. Back to Alpha now?" I unbuckled my seatbelt, "Let's just say my friend Gerald is into specific things." I glanced at her flushed cheeks, "C'mon you wanted to help."

"I've never shopped in an adult store. I wouldn't know what to pick."

"You're cringing. Whróes don't cringe." Then I allowed my tone to dip, "To know the play, you must learn the toys. C'mon, nothing in there bites."

She met my gaze and knew I lied.