9. Luca
Chapter 9
Luca
D espite the crappy start to my morning, the afternoon was looking up.
“Hi.” Sunshine beamed, standing in front of the Welcome Center, looking ravishing in a yellow sundress and sandals. Her honey blonde hair was pulled back into a simple ponytail, and her soft linen-and-air scent teased me.
“Good afternoon, beautiful.” I pulled her into a quick hug, unable to resist getting some of my scent on her.
I was a masochist for doing this. I should know better than to be alone around the alluring beta. It was going to be nearly impossible to hide my need to drag her back to the house and scent mark her until every alpha in the Tri-county area knew she was mine.
But if I scared her off, I would never forgive myself for breaking Julian and Logan’s hearts.
“Thanks for letting me crash your lunch break.” I stepped back reluctantly, leaving my hand on the small of her back.
“It’s not problem.” Sunshine grinned. Her plush mouth looked so warm and inviting, I almost leaned down to taste her.
I stepped back with a smile and forced myself to focus. I’d had a bad morning filled with shouting clients, missing briefs, and tight deadlines. I craved her scent. Julian was her buddy, and Logan worked with her, so I’d realized I had to make my own excuses to be around her or invite myself when they were with her.
Today it would be just the two of us.
“Do you want to walk around?” Sunshine gestured behind the Welcome Center. “Are you hungry?”
“A walk would be lovely.” It was a beautiful spring day, with a nice breeze and plenty of sun. “I haven’t seen much outside of the lodge. How about you give me a tour?”
She perked up. “Sure. I can show you around.”
“Lead the way.” I gestured ahead of us and followed as she walked me past the Welcome Center. I’d been inside, but it was mostly offices and waiting rooms.
The buildings were all constructed from warm brown timber with arched rooflines. Surrounding the buildings were fields with beautiful flower beds and walking trails. Sunshine brought me to the next biggest building to the left.
“This is the spa.” I followed her inside, slyly checking out how her legs looked under the swish of her dress. Inside it was dimly lit, with a check-in desk and a long hallway of treatment rooms. It smelled vaguely of lavender, reminding me of Logan’s herbal scent.
“We have massage rooms, places for Reiki balance, a sauna, and a tub for soaking in salts.”
“Looks wonderful.” I’d been to spas before, during corporate retreats, and hated most of them. But here it was homey and warm, with the soft yellow light and natural wood making it feel like we were in the middle of nowhere, not twenty minutes from downtown Half Moon Bay.
Sunshine beamed as she showed me empty treatment rooms and the sauna. “You guys can come whenever you wish.”
“I’ll be sure to tell the guys that.” I leaned against the wall. “Do you come with the tour as well?”
Sunshine’s cheeks turned pink. “Of course not.”
“Right, right, we’d have to ask for a personal tour.” I winked at her. “What’s next?”
“The lodge, which you’ve seen.”
“I can see it again. I like listening to you talk about your business. It’s impressive, to have done all this at a young age.”
Sunshine led us out of the spa. “It wasn’t me, it was my grandparents. And parents.”
“Right, but your family took it over at a young age? And you started the event business with Holly?”
Sunshine nodded. “It was a hard couple of years, but we’re making it work.”
I brushed my hand over her shoulder. Her skin was smooth and soft, and I wondered how soft the rest of her would be. “You should be proud of yourself. You’ve accomplished a lot.”
“Thanks.” She swallowed hard and tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear. “So, this is the lodge.”
She changed the subject, licking her lips nervously. Interesting. She loved talking about her family but didn’t seem comfortable talking about her own success.
I’d have to fix that. She was brilliant, helping her cousin Raina take over the family business after the tragedy of losing her parents, aunt, and uncles. When I was sixteen, I was moping around in my room.
The lodge was built from the same wood, with a high roofline, and sat partly inside the trees, giving it a more rustic look than the other buildings. I’d been here frequently, because Logan prepped his catering for Cosmic Bonds here.
Inside there was a large, open space. The stone floor had different toned inlays. A large deep brown couch dominated the sitting area, with a sage, blue, and brown area rug covering the space in front of it. It was a nice place to watch Logan cook.
“We finished hosting a corporate retreat last week,” Sunshine said. “And a few of our regulars have it booked out for their summer camps.”
“Sounds busy.” The sundress hugged her frame before flaring out around her knees. For a moment I indulged, watching the swell of her breasts as she breathed.
She saw where I was looking and her cheeks turned pink. Her breathing kicked up a bit, and I took a step closer. Her linen scent teased me, getting stronger.
I kept my gaze on her, dragging out the moment. She had a mole just below her collarbone, and my fingers itched to touch it. The straps of her sundress were thin, and it would be so easy to slide them off her shoulders. I wondered if her breasts would feel as soft as the skin on her shoulders, if she would gasp when I touched her, or cry out.
Blood pounded in my veins, and I told myself to calm down or I would embarrass myself.
I looked up, and her face was flushed. Her mouth was slightly parted, and she watched me like she was hanging on my every move.
It was a heady feeling, to have someone’s attention so completely that everything else just fell away. I’d never felt that until I met Logan and Julian, and I hadn’t expected to feel it again with anyone else.
I clenched my jaw, the urge to bite her, claim her so strong. Her worthless last pack had hurt her, made her doubt herself. I’d spend every second of the rest of our lives proving that they were idiots, if she let me.
One of the doors opened, and a worker walked through.
Sunshine sucked in a breath and stepped back with a guilty look, like we’d been caught doing something more exciting than standing in the living room.
I sent Sunshine a scorching grin, trying to tell her I wasn’t finished with her yet. “Do you ever host your events here?”
“Sometimes.” She sounded a little breathy and the sound went straight to my cock. I had to pull myself back or I was going to grab her and kiss her, consequences be damned.
“Usually they’re hosted in bigger venues, but sometimes for small events we host here.” Sunshine swallowed hard and gestured toward the industrial-sized kitchen. “You’ve seen the kitchens, of course.”
“Of course.” I trailed my hand down her shoulder once more, fascinated with how soft her skin was. “You could always show me again.”
Sunshine let out a little laugh and led me through. We’d spent hours here as Logan cooked and prepped. “We have some sandwiches and snacks, if you’re hungry?”
“I’m okay right now.” I didn’t want to sit and eat and stop the flow of the tour.
“You’re probably used to having gourmet food all the time anyway,” she said.
“Logan doesn’t cook all the time,” I said. “We have a lot of leftovers too.”
“Of course.” She turned around and headed back into the living room. “He’s probably tired of it.”
“He loves it.” I followed her, wondering how soon was going to be too soon. Julian had a better feel on Sunshine’s emotional state than me, but seeing her old pack at the event couldn’t have helped her feel good about herself.
It had almost been a year since her terrible pack had broken her heart.
Maybe Julian could ask some questions about when she was going to start dating again. I didn’t trust myself to ask her without making it sound like a demand.
Sunshine led me back out into the grounds. “We have some hiking paths but…” She looked at my feet, and my impractical dress shoes.
“I could change…” I paused, realizing I couldn’t finish the idiotic statement. Of course I couldn’t change my shoes. I’d driven here from work. My suit jacket and tie were in the car, but I was still wearing my dress shirt, slacks, and loafers.
“It’s okay.” She laughed, and the sound was light and filled with brightness. I watched her, utterly entranced. I would commit many, many crimes to make her laugh like that again. “We have some easier tracks to walk.”
“Lead the way then.”
She took me along a scenic path, filled with shady trees and dappled patches of wildflowers.
“How’s work going?” I asked, and then immediately regretted it. I was supposed to be trying to get to know her better, and asking about work wouldn’t help that.
“Great.” Her face lit up. “I’ve got some events in the works, and some meetings later this week.”
“Excellent. I’m sure you’ll smash them.”
“What about you?” She cocked her head. “You’re off early.”
I huffed. I wanted this to be a tale of my awesomeness, but I didn’t want to lie either. “It sucked. We’re behind on some filings, I missed two briefs somehow, and some clients were yelling. I finished the important stuff and took a half day.”
“Awww.” Sunshine touched my shoulder. “That sucks. We all have bad days.”
I knew that. Logically. I didn’t like having bad days, however. It was too much like failure, too much like trying to be good enough, but knowing I couldn’t reach that rung of the ladder.
My parents had preferred my older brother, Justin, in every way and made it clear that I had to work harder, be better, to even come up to average. If he’d gotten a silver medal in soccer, I had to get a gold medal and be named Most Valuable Player.
I’d done a lot of work on myself over the years, initially with a therapist and then with Logan and Julian, but the old wounds were still there.
“Thanks, love.” I gave her a smile. “Hard to remember that, sometimes, you know? I just know I could do so much better. I hate failing.”
“Did you really fail?” Sunshine put her hand on my forearm. “Or did you make a mistake like anyone else would?”
“I should have remembered the filings,” I grumbled. I was supposed to be wooing this beta, showing her we were her perfect pack. Telling her how I screwed up at work was not part of the plan.
“I forgot to fill out three invoices.” She frowned at me, a stubborn little line forming between her eyebrows. It was adorable and I wanted to kiss it. “Are you going to tell me I failed? That I’m a terrible employee?”
“Of course not.” I stifled a growl, some of my protectiveness showing itself. Another failing. I was too much of an alpha. Too demanding and possessive, too much. “You’re allowed to make mistakes.”
“Just not you?” Sunshine laughed.
“Now you’re catching on.” I shook my head. “You’re right. Julian and Logan would tell me the same thing. Just hard to remember, especially when I hold myself to such a high standard.”
“I am right.” She sounded smug. “I want you to be nicer to yourself.”
“Yes, ma’am.” I liked this bossy side of her. She could boss me around any time she wanted.
“You know, speaking of your pack, you guys really are allowed to use the facilities any time you want.” She gestured at the grounds we were taking a slow walk around. “Sauna, spa, you name it. I told Logan, but I wanted to remind you.”
“A spa day sounds nice,” I said, wondering how Julian would handle the strange smells. He didn’t like most spas because he didn’t like the scent of other people when he was trying to unwind.
“Even the matchmaking services.” She looked at me out of the corner of her eye, before continuing cheerfully. “If you guys want to be put into the system and see what kind of matches you have, you can do it any time.”
“Thank you. Logan did say we were welcome to that.” I grinned, trying to soften the blow. “But I’m afraid we’re too set in our ways to be good for matchmaking.”
I didn’t want her to feel like we didn’t appreciate what she was doing for other packs. But when I thought of the endless, tedious matching process, of going on first date after first date only to reject each hopeful person, I wanted to crawl in a hole.
“That’s fine,” she said, her voice sounding strained. “I just wanted to remind you.”
“It’s incredible, what you’re doing,” I said quickly. I hoped I hadn’t offended her. “The algorithm Ember and Terran invented is amazing. You’re all helping people find their forever packs, using crystals and other energy methods to do it. This whole place has me in a better mood just being here.” I gestured at the rolling fields around us.
“Thank you.” She gave me a quick smile, but the teasing smirk was gone. “We’ve worked really hard.”
“And of course, the company can’t be beat.” I touched her shoulder.
“Thanks.” She smiled at me again, but it wasn’t as open as before. I wouldn’t have noticed, if she hadn’t spent the afternoon looking at me like I was something special. “I should get back to work before Raina comes and hunts me down.”
I bit back my instant reply that Raina would have to fight me. “Right. I didn’t mean to bother your workday.”
“You didn’t,” she said quickly. “You’re always welcome to come over.”
I nodded. “I might take you up on that, you know, so I hope you mean it.”
“Of course.” Now she had a soft look on her face.
We reached the Welcome Center too soon. Far too soon for me to figure out if I had offended her, or it was something else.
Logan was right. She wasn’t ready. I’d flirted a lot today, hopefully giving her some idea of my feelings. If I could just be patient and not drag her back to my cave, she would come to trust me and my pack in time.
But I wasn’t a patient person, not with the thought of Sunshine running around in the world without my scent and bite to protect her.
I shoved the alpha caveman back into the box and drove away, pleased and frustrated in equal measure.