Alphas for the Holidays Read online

  “You look great.”

  “So do you.” His voice was deep and dark and mesmerizing.

  She broke eye contact to glance down at herself and winced. So caught up, she’d totally forgotten she was half naked. She quickly scooped up her note cards, hoping to cut the tension.

  Break down some barriers. This will likely be the hardest part, so start now. Draw him out of his shell. Nothing is sexier to a woman than a man with confidence, so give him some. A good starting point is to make sure your charge knows how to ki—

  Holly squeezed her eyes shut and forced the words out in a rush. “Okay, Champ. Time for lesson number two.”

  She put the cards down and stepped up to the ottoman where Alex sat, motionless. Her heart knocked almost painfully against her ribs and she wondered, yet again, if she could pull this off.

  Holly gave herself a mental shake. The contract was signed and she’d made a commitment. She’d just have to suck it up and do the best she could for her charge. Tomorrow, when it was all over, she’d ask for her old job and everything would go back to normal.

  Hopefully.

  “Stand up, would you? And take off the glasses. You don’t need to see for this.”

  Alex shot to his feet and took off his glasses, setting them on the table.

  “Now you’re supposed to kiss me. Or I’m supposed to kiss you. The bottom line is that I have to teach you how to kiss, okay?” Her cheeks were on fire and her hands shook as she stopped to stand just a few inches from him.

  What was the big deal, anyway? It was just a stupid kiss.

  She laid a hand on his chest to steady herself and lifted her chin. Up close, he seemed very tall. And broad. His eyes were a dark, golden-flecked hazel and they regarded her intently.

  The thick, black-framed glasses hadn’t done him justice.

  She zeroed in on his lips. Full, firm, kissable. His mouth parted as he wet his lips with the tip of his tongue. A warm, minty scent washed over her.

  Holly realized with a start that she had his shirt clutched tightly in her fist and was leaning in to him.

  She thought of Mila, who oozed sexuality, and tried to channel her at that moment, remembering the lessons of the Russian seductress.

  Fairies are passionate, sensual. Focus.

  Her nerves drained away as she committed to the role like she did to everything—wholeheartedly.

  “A kiss,” she murmured in a fair imitation of Mila’s silky tone, “should be thought of as an audition. For sex, for a relationship, for whatever it is you desire. Bad kiss? ‘Thanks but no thanks, Mr. Nelson. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.’”

  She inched closer to him, noting the hitch in his breath.

  “Good kiss? ‘We really like your work so far, Alex. We’d love to see more of you.’” She brushed her lips against his jaw then blazed a trail upward.

  “You do want the call-back, don’t you, Alex?” she whispered against his mouth.

  The tension rolled off him in waves, his muscles coiled, but he remained still. Holly pressed her lips to his but they were locked tight. Undeterred, she slid her tongue along the seam until he opened them. Digging a hand into his hair, she pulled him flush against her. Her nipples pebbled as her chest came into contact with his.

  He felt good.

  Way too good.

  Chapter 4

  Alex’s cock jerked in response as her warm, soft lips closed on his.

  She’d warned him.

  He’d had time to steel himself for this, but it was just supposed to be one harmless kiss. He would thank her for her time, give her a message for Saunders and Leeland and send her packing.

  But damn.

  In a hot minute, everything had changed. Gone was the clumsy, cute girl from his balcony. Any sign of awkwardness drained away as she leaned into him, her full, round breasts branding his chest.

  Coherent thought fled as her bewitching scent enveloped him. He clenched his hands into fists to keep from grabbing her and taking over. The need to dominate, to take control, rode him hard but he stood strong.

  Until she whispered, “You can kiss me back, Alex.”

  And then her tongue touched his.

  Powerless, he responded, reveling in the warmth of her mouth. Wrapping a hand in her hair, he anchored her to him and nipped her full bottom lip, groaning at the feel of her. His other hand slipped to her hip and squeezed the silky skin, kneading the pliant flesh.

  Perfect.

  He arched toward her, almost delirious with the need to feel the softness of her pussy against his aching cock.

  She whimpered against his mouth and melted into him, her body instinctively responding to the pressure. Her pelvic bone ground hard against his dick, igniting a desperate need to get closer, to be inside her.

  Releasing her hair, he traced a path down her back, brushing along her spine until he reached her ass. He spread his fingers wide and palmed the firm globes then angled her toward him until his cock pressed directly against her sweet spot. She made a low sound deep in her throat and he bit back an answering growl of satisfaction. He began to rock against her in slow, deliberate circles, rubbing, grinding.

  As the heat of her pussy seeped through his jeans, he realized he was one straining zipper away from fucking her. He was like a hormone-saturated teenager, and if a stiff breeze hit him right, he’d come. To his relief, Holly appeared to be in the same condition. Her breathing had grown erratic, her whole body tense against his as she rode his jeans-clad cock.

  He guided her away from his erection and nudged her legs apart with his knee, settling his leg into the vee between hers. Cupping her ass in his hands, he worked her over his thigh again and again as he fucked her mouth with his tongue. Soon, she needed no encouragement and was writhing against him of her own volition.

  Alex released her luscious ass, letting his hand roam over her hip, skim across her lean stomach and stop just beneath her breast. Her heart skittered wildly beneath his palm. He stroked the bare skin, trailing along the underside of one breast, and then the valley between.

  She curled her upper body toward his hand, trembling. Unable to deny her, he slid the narrow bra strap off one shoulder and brushed a thumb over her stiffened nipple. She froze and let out a long groan. He pinched it lightly between his fingers, rolling it, tugging until the movement on his thigh becoming frenzied. She tore her mouth from his, panting.

  He made the mistake of looking down and got an eyeful of his big, hard hand on her pale, delicate skin. Her breasts were spectacular. All he could think about was his cock between that cleft, sliding faster and faster until he exploded onto her, topping those tight strawberry nipples with his come.

  “God, you’re so sexy,” he breathed, unable to contain himself.

  She murmured an incoherent response and moved her hand around to the front of his jeans, popping the button then forcing his zipper down. Her soft fingers closed unerringly around his cock and he froze. She moaned her approval and gripped him just right before dragging her hand up and down in the most sublime of strokes.

  There was a moment of sheer panic as his balls tightened and he realized that his body was going to betray him. He tried to speak, to stop her, but his mouth hung open in a silent scream. Stop.

  But again she pulled at him, this time squeezing the swollen head of his shaft on the upstroke.

  And it was all over.

  Months of drought, and that sweet pussy bouncing on his thigh, the scent of this woman drowning him, the hot grip on his dick; it was too much. The orgasm nearly floored him and he bellowed, the waves crashing over and over, her magic hand working his cock as he came.

  “Ahhh, damn, Holly,” he groaned.

  She stayed with him through the storm and until the tremors ceased. Shaken, he pulled her hand away.

  Holly extricated herself from his grasp and took a step backward. They stared at one another, chests heaving.

  “What the heck was that about? Where did you learn all that stuff?
” she demanded.

  He was blank, her words and their accusing tone taking a long moment to register through the fog in his brain. Reality came crashing back and he was rendered speechless.

  Not only had he just humiliated himself with the early launch, he’d fucked up royally.

  Yes, Alex Nichols, nerdy lab assistant, do tell us “what the heck” that was about?

  He tried to form an answer, to focus on anything but those almost-bare tits just a couple feet away. Her nipples still stood out in tight little buds, one peeking out over the top of the white lace, and his mouth actually watered.

  It had been world class, but the hand action had barely taken the edge off. He had four months to make up for and this woman was boggling his brain.

  Maybe it was that, or maybe it was the novelty of her method of seduction, but he couldn’t remember ever wanting another woman so much. It was clouding his judgment.

  Where did she put that damn trench coat?

  “Well?”

  Alex Nichols, inexperienced geek. He cleared the gravel from his throat and pasted an apologetic smile on his face hoping it didn’t look quite as pained as it felt.

  “I-I don’t know what came over me. You’re so pretty, I just…gut instinct, I guess. And I’m really sorry about the mess. The bathroom is through there.” He pointed down the narrow hall, his face burning with genuine embarrassment as she walked away.

  What a loser.

  Alex closed his eyes, cruelly denying himself the pleasure of seeing her backside in motion as she left the room.

  He hadn’t made her come, so he certainly didn’t deserve to watch her go.

  Shit. As a man of unparalleled focus and concentration, he took pride in the fact a woman hadn’t left his bed unsatisfied since he was a teenager. Not because he was vain, but because he loved it. Loved to watch their eyes go wild, feel the delicate play of muscle under soft skin, taste the musky flavor of a plump, wet clit on his tongue.

  His traitorous cock twitched at the thought. He would have given up his Glock forever for a taste of Holly Tucket right then.

  Fuck. Glock.

  It was a tense few seconds, but panic subsided as he remembered putting it in the drawer when he went in to change. So much for unparalleled focus. In the scorching heat of the moment, he hadn’t given his gun a second thought.

  With a sigh of regret he headed into his bedroom, washed up in the tiny bathroom there and changed into a pair of track pants, stripping off the button-down shirt and just leaving on the t-shirt.

  When he got back to the living room, she still hadn’t returned. He slipped his glasses on and waited, at a loss as to what to do next. She’d probably leave now, and he’d have to hope she didn’t share the details of their little…interaction with Saunders and Leeland.

  Odd how the thought of the former bothered him a lot more than the latter.

  Holly’s voice was strained as she reentered the room, her progress slow and unwieldy in her stilettos.

  “I’m sorry I freaked out, Alex. It’s fine. You did good. You actually seem to be a natural as far as the kissing thing. I got a little carried away and I’m sorry for that. It won’t happen again.”

  She gave him a tight smile then continued. “I should reiterate some of the finer points of the contract, though, in case I gave you the wrong idea. I’m here to teach you. Part of your lesson is how to attract and please a woman. I’ll do what I deem necessary to make sure you understand your lessons, but there will be no actual intercourse. Do you understand? I’ll talk you through those parts.”

  His brain stalled halfway through. He’d gotten hung up somewhere around “teach you” and “please a woman”.

  He tried to get his scrambled thoughts in order and realized she had basically just said she was still willing to fool around with him. Even with straight fucking off the table, his mind reeled with the possibilities.

  Right in the midst of his fantasies, his conscience sent up a warning flare. In a moment of clarity more sobering than a junk-punch, he realized he couldn’t take her up on her offer. In fact, he’d let things go way too far already.

  “Alex?” Holly stared at him like he was slow-witted.

  “Listen, you don’t have to teach me anything, I’m okay. In fact, I’m great. I’ll be fine on my own. No worries. You should probably go.” The words came out in halting spurts, like he was reading them off his own stash of note cards. Which made sense. He didn’t want to say them at all. They were being dragged out of him by his useless killjoy of a conscience.

  “Yeah…um, I beg to differ. That,” she said, with a cluck of her tongue as she gestured in the vague direction of his genitals, “isn’t supposed to happen. Don’t feel bad though. It’s okay to be nervous at first. And it happens to a lot of guys before they know what they’re doing. I know you must be embarrassed, but you shouldn’t be. We’ve just got to get you comfortable with your own body, and then we’ll work on getting you comfortable with a woman’s. Once you get past the novelty of it all, I’m sure your little issue will be a thing of the past.”

  She gave him an encouraging smile.

  “How’s that sound?”

  Little issue? Oh no fucking way.

  There was just no way he was going to let her walk away thinking that.

  Pride reared its sinful head and he made a silent promise to himself. He was going to rock Holly Tucket’s world if it was the last thing he ever did. His cock pulsed in agreement as the last of his conscience shriveled up and died a quiet death.

  No point in fighting a losing battle when he knew without a doubt he would do absolutely anything this captivating woman would let him get away with.

  He glanced at her then and realized she was waiting for an answer. And despite her confident speech, she was obviously out of sorts and nervous, so he took the reins, keeping his voice light. “Sounds like a plan. How long have you been at this job? You seem so at ease.”

  She gave him an appreciative smile. “Not at all. But I’m glad I had you fooled. You’re actually my first assignment. In fact, you’ll likely be my only assignment. I was just trying this out. I really like my old job.”

  Warmth infused him at the affirmation of his suspicions. This wasn’t her usual profession. Not that he had anything against strippers. Or escorts. Or whatever she was, but for some reason, the thought of her doing what she’d just done with him with a different guy every night made his guts roil. “Really? What did you do before this?”

  “I used to be in teeth.”

  He was silent for a long moment. Shaking his head he finally spoke. “I don’t—what does that even mean?”

  “What do you think it means? I used to be a Tooth Fairy.”

  He gaped at her. “Seriously? That’s what you’re going to try and tell me now? There’s a Tooth Fairy?”

  “Not a Tooth Fairy. Tooth Fairies, plural. How could one fairy be responsible for the whole world’s teeth?” She rolled her eyes at him. “Really, Alex, use your head.”

  “Okay, so how does it work then?” he found himself asking. Maybe he’d breathed in some sort of toxic fumes at the lab and now he was looney tunes.

  Or worse. Maybe she was so earnest because she was the crazy one—not a stripper at all, but an asylum escapee or something. His stomach sank at the thought, but rebounded quickly as he realized that crazy wouldn’t explain how she’d gotten into his apartment or known his name.

  She was as sane as he was. Just one fantastic actress. An actress who’d just let him know that her job description didn’t include sex. But just because sex wasn’t part of the job didn’t mean they couldn’t decide, after some heavy petting, as two consenting adults, to just go for it, did it?

  He didn’t know but he was sure going to try.

  By the time he tuned back in, she was still chattering, but winding down. “And everybody gets a section of town. I used to work the Bozeman area.”

  What was she talking about again? Right, Tooth Fairies.

&nb
sp; “Sounds fascinating.”

  She grinned at him. “It’s a great job. This is too, though,” she added hastily.

  “It’s okay, I’m not offended.”

  “Good. Okay, we don’t have a lot of time and you have a lot to learn. So I think it’s time to continue our lessons. Maybe we should have a quick drink first, you know, to loosen you up a little.”

  The reedy tone of her voice and the way she was shifting from foot to foot made him wonder who, of the two of them, really needed the loosening.

  “Let’s go see what there is in the kitchen,” he said. “This is actually my cousin’s place. I’m just subletting for the year, so I’m not sure what he has stashed.”

  She turned, heading toward the kitchen, then paused.

  “Do you mind?” she asked, motioning to her shoes. “I’m not supposed to, but—”

  “No, go right ahead. I don’t want you breaking your leg.”

  She bent at the waist and began unbuckling the slim strap around her ankle. He froze and tried not to whimper.

  Thong.

  He’d felt her ass, but seeing it was a whole other thing. Firm and round, it called to him, begging to be squeezed and spanked. He visualized walking up behind her, pinning her hips as he slid his cock in deep. He wouldn’t even take the scrap of lace off, just flip it to the side with one finger and line his dick up with the sweet, wet slit.

  Shifting, he tried to position himself in a way that his rapidly-expanding tent didn’t appear quite so pitched and then glanced down at the results.

  Fail. It looked like he’d decided to hide his Glock in his pants.

  Holly chose that moment to toss a questioning glance over at him, her gaze flicking down and back up. Pink-cheeked, she stood, kicking the shoes to the side before stepping into the kitchen.

  He followed her in and they both steadfastly ignored his situation as he went to the liquor cabinet. He didn’t drink often, but when an occasion arose, he went for the good stuff.

  “What’s your pleasure?”

  Chapter 5

  Holly started at the question and then realized he was talking about liquor. Her mind had been wallowing in the gutter since the moment she’d laid her lips to his, and she couldn’t seem to get it back onto dry land again.