Stone (Obsessed Alpha 1)

His stiff grimace twitches slightly into a smile for me. I’m so enthralled by the sensual stare that it takes me a moment to notice that the queen bitch is rushing over to him with nasty glare thrown my way. His body stiffens as he sees her.

“Ms. Riley, you’ve never met me down in the lobby. Is there something wrong?” Fuck, his voice is rich and thicker than he is.

“Nothing’s wrong, Mr. Harding.” My eyes widen at the sound of his name. Sexy beast with wicked intentions in his eyes is my boss. Holy hell. I’ve entered the seven circles of hell. Four weeks.

I drop the mail in my hands, which makes them both turn around. Damn, this lobby echoes like crazy. Mr. Harding approaches as I bend down to pick it up. He leans down and helps me like he’s not the boss. “You don’t have to. I’ve got this,” I mumble out.

“I know that.” I don’t miss the way his eyes stare at the open buttons on my blouse. My top’s not overtly sexy, but my breasts are plentiful, and he’s taken notice.

“You need to be more careful, Ms. Sweet,” the shrew scolds me.

“Your name is Sweet?” he asks, smiling at me. I nod with a nervous grin. “It works.” I can’t stop focusing on his strong hands that grazed twice across mine as we picked up the mail. I stand up or at least try to, but my brain has gone haywire. He takes my hand and helps me to my feet, clutching it longer than necessary. If I didn’t know better, I could swear it was intentional. Maybe it was. The way he’s looking at me says longing that matches my own.

Get a grip. He’s your boss! “Thank you, Mr. Harding.”

“You’re welcome. Be careful, Ms. Sweet,” he warns, but I have this feeling that it has nothing to do with work.

“I will.” My body and mind are all begging to ask him why I should be careful, but I restrain myself.

“Somehow, I doubt that,” he whispers as he walks away. All I have to do is avoid the shrew and the wicked boss, and I graduate.

****

I come back upstairs with the mail and slip each piece into the proper mail slots in the mailroom. “Shit. I forgot to make coffee.” Heading into the kitchen, I see that someone’s already brewed a fresh pot, but it looks funny to me. I pick up the decanter, and I can see that there are coffee grounds floating in it.

I have to dump this and make a fresh one as soon as it finishes dripping. If someone drinks this, they’ll be looking for my head.

Just then, in walks the shrew. She jabs my shoulder with her pointy well-manicured nail and with a sneering glare says, “Ms. Sweet, you need to learn quickly that flirting with the boss is not going to get you into the company. Women like you are a disgrace to true professional women.”

“Ms. Riley…” I hold back my tongue, biting on it before I say something I’ll regret.

“Yes? Do you have a problem?” Her brows practically smack her hairline she has them arched up so high like somehow I should be intimidated. I am, but not because of her, but she holds my degree in her hands. I’m so ready to be finished with school. One more semester might break me.

Sucking up my attitude, I get it in check and respond kindly, “No. I completely understand.” She seems more pissed that I didn’t bite and storms by me, grabbing the old pot of coffee and pours a mug full. I should tell her that it’s full of coffee grounds, but she’s a fucking bitch, so I let her take it.

“You’re already on thin ice,” she grits out through clenched teeth before she turns to leave.

As soon as she’s gone, I dump the rest of the pot of coffee into the sink and start making a new one.

“Hey, man, I just made that,” David, my fellow intern screeches. David is a nice guy, but he’s gotten the benefit of not being a chick and in the path of the shrewish beast.

“Well, it’s full of coffee grounds.”

“And you let her take it?”

“Yep. Oh well, but next time you put the filter in before you pour the grounds.” I roll my eyes and shake my head. That shrew is going to write me up for this.

“Sorry, I was just trying to help you out.”

He smiles at me and leans his hip on the counter to bullshit with me, but my emotions are all over the place because of my encounter with the sexiest man alive and then dealing with the bitch from hell.

Chapter Two

Stone

My flight landed an hour ago, and here I am going into the office because I don’t have a life. I should be taking the rest of the week off to refresh myself for the five meetings I have on Monday. Maybe my buddy’s right, I need to find a woman and have a family. If only a woman inspired that in me. At thirty-three, I’ve dated, but nothing serious.