Chapter Two

**OLIVIA**

I walked mom down the aisle and every nerve in my body became alive as I stood in front of her soon to be husband.

He certainly doesn't look like a daddy, he looks like a Greek god.

How the hell was my mom able to get such a catch? He doesn't only have a deep pocket but his looks were to die for.

For a moment, I forgot what I was here to do, caught in the intensity of his gaze. His eyes held mine a beat too long, something flickering gold at the edges before settling back to brown. I suddenly felt so exposed, he looked like he could see through my soul.

He was tall, damn tall, and even in his tuxedo I could tell how broad he was. His hair was neatly combed back in Italian style and there's only one word to describe his nose and that is "aristocratic".

His nostrils flared, just slightly, like he was pulling something from the air between us. His upper lip twitched, "Thank you for bringing my bride." He said.

His voice sounded like rich coffee and to my exasperation, I could feel the heat pool in my middle.

"What the hell." I didn't know I said the word out loud until my mom gave me a sharp stare.

"Um....oh well.... congratulations." I said quickly and dashed off before I could embarrass myself further.

The reception activities passed in a blur as I was only fixated on staying away from him for the rest of the day.

"Now, it's time for the new father and daughter to dance." The MC suddenly announced and I almost choked on a drink I had just carried.

I stared around and everyone was smiling and cheering.

No, I certainly will not dance with him. I shook my head and used my hand to signal that I don't want to dance and the small crowd groaned.

"Come on, it's just a dance." The MC said and I almost screamed.

Just a dance? Does he know what it means to dance with someone like him?

I glanced towards my mom and she was staring at me with a pleading expression, to her, she thinks I do not like her new husband since I didn't approve of him in the first place anyways and she desperately wanted me to create a bond with him.

Well, my stance remains, I definitely do not like him and I'm sure as heck won't create any bond with him.

Alpha Xander stood up in his full length and slowly walked towards where I was standing while I stood like a statue gawking at him.

He extended his hand to me and I stared at the hand feeling like he was a shark ready to devour me the moment I took his hand.

"I don't know how to dance." I murmured.

"No problem, just follow my lead." He said in that sensual voice that made my middle hot.

His large hand rested on my waist and he dragged me into the dancefloor before I could even think of protesting any further.

The music started, something slow and deliberate. His hand settled on my waist and my stomach clenched hard.

Every fibre of my being was on high alert and I burned everywhere his hand touched. His nearness was intoxicating, sending liquid heat toward my middle, and I fought the urge to press my hand against it to relieve the pressure.

I stared straight ahead, focusing on nothing, trying to remind myself to breathe normally.

I had been breathing my whole life without thinking about it and somehow in the last thirty seconds it had become the hardest thing in the world.

His hold was firm but not forceful, and that made it worse.

If it were forceful, I could have resisted, complained, pulled away from him. But firm and warm? That just made me feel held, and the comfort of it made me angry because I had no right to find comfort in my mother's husband's arms.

I kept my eyes fixed somewhere around his chest, refusing to look up.

Bad idea.

His chest was broad and solid and I could feel the heat radiating off him even through the layers of his tuxedo. His scent surrounded my senses, dark and rich, cedar and something underneath it I couldn't name, and it was doing things to my head that made no sense.

"Relax." His voice came low, dangerously close to my ear, meant only for me.

"I am relaxed." I snapped at him furiously. I could bet my entire savings that he knew exactly what he was doing to me.

I heard him laugh, a quiet rumble that started deep in his chest and traveled to his lips, and it pissed me off that he was enjoying my suffering.

His hand shifted on my waist. Just slightly, a small adjustment that no one watching would have noticed or thought twice about, but I noticed.

Every nerve ending in my body noticed and my skin felt suddenly too tight, too aware, too awake in a way I deeply resented.

I gasped and finally made the mistake of looking up.

His eyes were already waiting for me. Not the polite kind of looking you give someone during a dance for the sake of an audience. For a second the brown bled to gold, sharp and focused, before he blinked it back to nothing.

My heart leaped in my throat and I couldn't tear my gaze from his.

His expression was dark, intense, possessive.

And I was trembling in his arms. I immediately created a small distance between us. He has no reason to be possessive about me.

The song swelled and he turned me smoothly, one hand firm on my waist, the other holding my hand pressed gently against his chest.

"You've been avoiding me the whole day." He said it like a simple observation and I shrugged.

"I was too busy to even notice your existence let alone to avoid you....you are not even on my list of importance." I retorted and something dark flashed through his eyes and disappeared almost immediately, a low sound rolling under his voice that I felt more than heard.

I shuddered and tried not to think about it.

"You've got a smart mouth huh? Could be more useful for other things rather than waste it on irrelevance."

Something about the way he said "useful for other things" made my face turn red and I didn't dare ask him what other thing.

He looked composed, like he hadn't said something that would make my mother cringe if she knew what he was discussing with her daughter, and I hated his composure. I hated that while I was silently falling apart he stood there unaffected, like my presence cost him absolutely nothing.

I suddenly decided that I do not want this torture anymore.

I pushed away from him, "Well Alpha Xander, this dance is over." I said and didn't even wait for him to get out any word, I dashed off and headed straight towards the restroom.