Filed to story: The Alpha’s Pen Pal Book
“Oh my god, stop it!” I groaned, shoving him away from me so I could hop out of the truck bed. “You’re ridiculous,” I added, laughing and shaking my head.
He slammed the tailgate back into place, took my hand, and led me towards a small path between the trees. Once out the other side and around a few corners, we were on a street lined with restaurants and shops and bustling with people in the afternoon sunlight.
“Are hamburgers all right for lunch?” Wesley asked. “There’s a great little hamburger stand over there,” he said, gesturing down one end of the street. “Then I figured we could do fish and chips or clam chowder at my favorite restaurant on the pier for dinner?”
“That sounds perfect,” I smiled, and he led the way towards the stand he had mentioned.
We ordered and ate quickly, sitting on a bench, chatting and people-watching as we finished our meal. Then we made our way into the closest shop to purchase what we needed for the rest of the day.
Wes pulled me to his side and kissed my temple. “Get whatever you want or need. Don’t worry about the cost.”
I rolled my eyes but didn’t respond, and he let me go so I could peruse the racks of swimsuits.
I took my time, searching through the assortment of swimsuits, searching for the few options that fit my parameters—a strapless swimsuit, either a one-piece or two-piece, to reduce potential tan lines showing in costumes, and no super skimpy bottoms held together by two strings or with no fabric covering my butt. I didn’t even know thong swimsuits were “on trend” again, as Maya would say.
I gathered up my meager choices and went into the dressing room to try them on.
With each suit I tried, I felt my frustration growing. One was too big. One made me look like a little kid. One had bottoms that cut into my legs too tight.
Tears pricked my eyes as I tried on the last one: a yellow floral bandeau top that tied between the boobs, with a small triangle cutout between the knot and the band, and regular bikini bottoms with a matching tie on each hip.
I bit back my groan as I looked in the mirror. And then I put my hands on my hips and shook my head, looking at the floor.
What the fuck was wrong with me? Why was I so worried about how I looked in a bikini? Why was I comparing myself to those tall, leggy, busty women in Wesley’s hometown when I was the one who was here with him? The one he had been giving all his attention to the last few weeks?
“You all right, Twinkle Toes?” Wes murmured through the fitting room curtain.
“Yeah,” I breathed, wiping the frustrated tears away. “I just can’t find a swimsuit that looks good,” I muttered.
“Can I see?” he asked with a teensy bit of hesitation.
“I—” I turned, and his hand was already on the curtain, ready to pull it aside but still waiting for my permission. “Sure,” I whispered.
He pulled the curtain aside, just enough to peek in, and within a second, he was in the fitting room with me and shut the curtain tight as if he hadn’t just opened it.
Before I could react to him, my back was against the wall, a gasp escaping me from the shock of the cold on my bare lower back. Wes had me caged between his arms, his body pressing up against mine, his eyes dark and his breathing heavy as he looked down at my swimsuit-clad chest.
“Fucking hell, Haven,” he growled, his hand moving to my neck, his thumb lifting my chin. “Are you trying to kill me?”
“No?” I squeaked.
“Are you sure? Because I swear to the—” He inhaled a long, slow, deep intake of breath, and then started again. “I swear, if you go outside in that, I’m going to have to rip out the eyes of every other man on the beach.”
His thumb rubbed along my jawline the entire time he spoke, and the possessiveness in his voice and actions sent me back down inside that dizzying vortex of lust-filled imaginings. It didn’t even faze me he’d threatened something so bloody and violent. My traitorous body didn’t care, and my hips moved on their own, pressing forward and up so my body rubbed against his front.
The hardening bulge I felt there told me his thoughts were just as dirty and lusty as mine, and the returning press of his hips did nothing to temper the wild inferno racing through my veins. I let out a needy whine, and my cheeks heated at the pathetic sound.
This wasn’t me. I wasn’t the type to be so wanton, so bold. Even with Lennox, it had always been him to initiate any intimacy. I had never been this forward, this confident in my sexual desires.
Then again, Lennox never made me feel the way Wesley did. Like I was beautiful, treasured, and special. Like I was someone who mattered.
“You can’t wear this one,” Wesley stated as if he had the last word.
“But it’s the only one that fits.” I pouted, bringing my hands up to his chest.
He lifted his eyes back to meet mine, and they were as black as coal, and filled with the heat of a thousand suns. I swallowed against the intensity of it all, trying to form coherent thoughts and words but finding myself still lost within the sensory flood caused by his body, his touch, and the scent of his cologne.
“And it’s going to drive me crazy knowing other men are seeing you in it.”
I inhaled, rubbing my hands on his solid chest. “I don’t care if they look at me. I’m not wearing it for them. I’m wearing it for you. The only one I want looking at me is you.”
He clenched his teeth and lowered his forehead to mine, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. He seemed to have an internal battle with himself, a muscle in his jaw ticking as I waited for him to speak again.
“Fine,” he said through his teeth. “Fine, but if anyone even looks at you the wrong way—“
“You’ll rip their eyes out, I know,” I teased.
His dark chuckle sent a thrill all the way down to my toes, and then he pressed his lips to mine in a fierce, soul-claiming kiss, his thumb pressing almost too hard into my throat. His other hand moved to my hip and slid up my exposed stomach, and my breath caught in my throat as his touch drew nearer to my breasts before the snap of the tag being ripped from the suit made me jump and break away from his lips.
“Cover up and grab whatever else you need,” he grumbled, stepping back from me and giving my entire body one more long, lingering look. “I’ll meet you at the register,” he added before turning and cracking his neck and walking out of the fitting room.
HAVEN
Once we had everything we needed, Wesley paid for it all—including the swimsuit I had on under my clothes from earlier—and we made our way to the sand. He had a giant bag filled with all kinds of supplies, including sunscreen and several very large beach towels, and I had my purse and a straw sun hat I had found right as he was paying for everything.
I waffled on it, trying it on in front of the mirror it had been hanging near, and when Wes saw me in it, he pointed at me and said, “Also, ring me up for her hat.”
Between the time he had left me in my fitting room and I’d met him at the register, he’d changed into his own new swimsuit and a pair of flip-flops, which he kicked off of his feet when we reached the sand.
I paused at the spot where the cement ended and the sand began and took a deep breath to prepare myself for this momentous occasion. Wesley paused his steps to turn and look at me, heaving the bag further up onto his shoulder. I kicked off my sandals and bent to pick them up, but Wesley already had them in his hands, having crossed back over to me to grab them.
He took my hand, and I stepped over the line, then stopped again, savoring the feel of the warm, coarse sand beneath my feet and between my toes. But before I could fully absorb the moment, I had to hop between one foot and the other.
New Book: Veiled Desires of the Alpha King Novel
Dayson was the alpha of the largest pack in North America. Powerful figures from other packs sought to offer gorgeous girls as potential mates for Dayson. He steadfastly rejected these advances, he was not a pawn to be manipulated. But eventually there came a mysterious girl he could hardly say No. Who was she?