Alphas Prefer Curves

by Unknown

  Zoe held him tight, riding a wave of sensation herself and just barely holding on.

  “Only a minute more.” Bastian shoved his hand between them, his fingers quickly finding her and pushing her right over the edge. He soon followed, bellowing as she moaned.

  A minute or two later, he rolled to his side, pulling her with him so they lay face to face next to each other. “Amazing.”

  She touched his cheek with her fingertips. “Amazing.”

  Chapter 7

  The next morning dawned early–earlier than usual because Bastian needed to get Zoe back before her shift started. They quickly pulled themselves together but left the showering until later. Zoe grabbed some breakfast from the continental spread in the hotel lobby while he settled the bill and they ate while the town car took them back to Diamond Hearts.

  Bastian hadn’t found a good time to talk to Zoe about the collection agencies the night before but he didn’t want to wait any longer. So once he’d finished off his cheese Danish, he said, “Those calls should stop soon.”

  Zoe had just popped the last of her donut into her mouth. “Hmm?”

  “I had my assistant look into the collection agencies that have been calling you. You and your mother did everything right. You don’t have any legal obligation to pay off the rest of her bills, and they don’t have the right to call you and talk to you the way they have been. My lawyer sent them letters yesterday to get them to stop. So it’ll stop soon or we’ll take it to the next level.”

  When she didn’t say anything right away, he felt his palms getting warm. She wasn’t going to be mad, was she? He’d done it for her.

  “I’m not sure what to say.” Her voice sounded soft.

  “Just say thank you and then give me a kiss.”

  “Thank you. But–I told you I could handle it.” She bit the inside of her lip.

  He couldn’t read her. She didn’t look angry. She didn’t look grateful, either. “I couldn’t let them keep hounding you like that. I knew it would be an easy thing for me to look into it. I wanted to help.” He watched her face but still couldn’t tell what she was feeling. “Are you mad? Is that what this is?”

  “I can’t decide if I should be angry that you didn’t do what I asked or grateful that it’s almost over. Or relieved. I’m sure I’ll feel relieved. It just hasn’t quite hit me yet.”

  He’d forgotten how in touch with their feelings women could be. His mind was aching from just trying to follow all of that. He slipped his arm around her and drew her closer to him. “It must be exhausting to feel so many things at once.”

  She nestled into his arms. “It just is. It’s how I’ve always been.”

  Her and every other woman he’d ever met. “So are we okay?”

  “I haven’t decided. I’ll decide later when I figure out what I’m feeling.”

  Great. Do a good deed and get sent to limbo. “Can I see you tonight?”

  “Of course.” She didn’t even hesitate.

  At least she wasn’t very mad. He pulled her closer and they snuggled for the remainder of the ride.

  ***

  The rest of the week sped by and before she knew it, it was Bastian’s last night. By the time she’d gotten over her reticence to dating him, they’d had barely three nights together.

  It wasn’t enough.

  And what she’d feared had come true–she was falling for him, hard. But it didn’t matter. He was leaving in the morning and she’d have to get on with her life. In the meantime, they had one last night together and she had to make it a night to remember.

  She met the car in what she was coming to think of as their “usual” spot behind the ski lodge. She’d never be able to walk by here again without thinking about Bastian. Hell, the whole place was imbued with him. She could never look at the treehouses or the frozen waterfall without remembering her time with him.

  But she wouldn’t think about that now.

  He pulled her into his arms as soon as the driver shut the car door. “I missed you today.”

  “Me too.”

  Bastian kissed her.

  The ride into the next town over took an hour, as always, but it seemed to fly by. They kissed and held each other and talked but neither of them mentioned his departure.

  They reached the restaurant–a different one this time; they’d gone to a new restaurant every night. This time, the host took them to a private room in the back, away from prying eyes.

  After they sat down, Bastian took her hand in his. “I wanted it to be just us tonight.”

  “I want that too.” She lowered her eyes to the menu so he wouldn’t see them misting over.

  “I’ve had an amazing time the last few days,” he said.

  “Me, too.”

  “I don’t want it to end.”

  Before she could answer, the waiter arrived with bread and water and took their order. It broke the mood, and after he left, their conversation turned to other topics. Zoe felt glad; if they talked about Bastian’s leaving, she knew she’d cry. And she didn’t want to cry–she didn’t want him to know how much she’d come to care for him. He’d think she was crazy for falling so fast.

  Their conversation became increasingly strained as they both tried to avoid talking about anything past that night. Zoe studied him as she ate her dinner, trying to imprint his image on her brain.

  Bastian put down his fork. “This is ridiculous. Zoe, I don’t want this to end and it doesn’t have to. Say you’ll come with me. I can get you an apartment and we can date.”

  Her mind spun. “An apartment? But I won’t have a job. How will I pay for it?”

  “I’ll pay for it.”

  She sucked in air, wishing she hadn’t heard that. “Like a kept woman.”

  His eyes widened. “It’s not like that. I’d just be paying for your apartment and some spending money–”

  She stood up. “What do you think a kept woman is? It’s a woman who will sleep with you because you pay for her apartment and give her some spending money.” The emotions spinning inside her were so intense she wasn’t even sure what she was feeling. Anger, hurt, sadness. Was this all she meant to him? How could she be falling for a man who looked at her this way?

  Bastian stood up too. “Please, sit down. Let’s talk. I didn’t mean to insult you.”

  “I can’t.” She grabbed her coat and pulled in on in little jerks. “Take me home.” If they weren’t so far from the resort, she’d find her own way home. But taking a taxi for an hour’s drive was more than she could afford and if she waited for the next bus she’d no doubt be late for work the next day. The buses only ran a couple of times a day.

  Bastian stepped out of the room and returned a minute later, shoving his wallet into his pocket. He grabbed his coat. “We’ll talk about this in the car.”

  “There’s nothing to talk about. You’re leaving tomorrow. I thought–it doesn’t matter what I thought. You’ve made your opinion of me very clear and it’s not something I want any part of.”

  He grabbed her upper arms and forced her to face him. “You’re misunderstanding me. I just want you near me so we can date.”

  “And you think the way to do that is to keep me like a mistress? Like your dirty little secret?”

  “I can see how you might think that, but it’s not what I’d intended–”

  “It doesn’t matter. This is over. I just want to go home.”

  She stalked out of the room and through the restaurant. He followed her, not saying anything until the driver had put them into the car and closed the door.

  “Let’s talk about this,” he said.

  She looked out the window as the town sped by. “There’s nothing to talk about.” If she could make it to the resort without breaking down, she’d count it a victory. What had she been thinking? How could she have been so blind? She should have stuck to her guns and never dated him in the first place. What a colossal mess.

  He tried to take her hand but she pulled away. “Obvious
ly I made the wrong move tonight. Listen–maybe instead of my getting you an apartment, I could get you a job at my company instead. And then you could afford your own apartment.”

  He really thought he could fix everything, didn’t he? “I don’t want to be the woman who only got her job because she’s sleeping with the boss. And I don’t want to be in a relationship where I’m dependent on you. I need to know that if things don’t work out and we break up, my whole life won’t be upended.”

  “It won’t.” He tried again to take her hand.

  She folded her arms over her chest, tucking her hands underneath her arms. The last thing she wanted to do right now was hold hands with him like they were some kind of couple.

  He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “Zoe. Give me a chance.”

  “I don’t see how we can make this work.”

  After a moment, he sat back. “Fine.”

  They didn’t speak the rest of the way to the resort. Zoe got out of the car behind the ski lodge and forced herself not to look back.

  She usually saw her guests through start to finish, saying goodbye to them as they checked out, but there was no way she could see him again. Even now, part of her wanted to run to him, in spite of everything. She hugged her anger to her chest and hoped it would keep her strong.

  ***

  When Zoe got out of the car, all Bastian felt was livid. Why did she cut him off like that? Why couldn’t she see what he was trying to do?

  Why didn’t she like him as much as he liked her?

  As the days wore on and he returned to his regular routine, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. He wavered between yearning for her and feeling angry that she couldn’t have tried a little harder. If she’d really wanted to be with him, shouldn’t she have put a little more effort into it? Would it have killed her to let him cover her rent for a while?

  In spite of it all, he moved forward with fixing her collection agency problem. He got Steve to contact her to find out if the agencies had stopped calling her, and then had him track down the one guy who hadn’t stopped. He had half a mind to find the guy himself. He’d grind him into the dust.

  He went through all the stages of grief–refusing to believe the relationship was over, feeling angry at Zoe for rejecting his offer, thinking about calling her to make a new offer, drinking himself into a stupor feeling maudlin and finally accepting that he’d been a total jerk.

  She was right. He’d been insensitive in the extreme when he’d offered to get her an apartment. Even his follow-up of getting her a job at his company suggested she was a pawn he could move around to suit himself rather than an equal.

  And then he knew what he needed to do. He just didn’t know whether it was too late or not.

  It was Friday morning by the time he got it all figured out. He had Steve get him on a plane and wrangle a reservation at Diamond Hearts for that weekend. Then he canceled all his appointments for the day and went home to pack.

  ***

  Zoe was eating lunch in one of the resort’s small cafés when Ellie dropped down into the empty chair beside her. “I’ve been looking for you. We just got a last-minute reservation from Bastian Marks. You took care of him last time he was here; I’d like you to add him to your list for this weekend. Here are the details.” Ellie held a piece of paper out to her.

  Zoe’s stomach clenched. No way could she handle taking care of him ever again. She had to think up a good excuse fast. “I’ve already got a pretty heavy load for this weekend.” She didn’t reach for the paper.

  “He’s a single guy. Just set him up with a weekend lift ticket and you’ll be good.” Ellie let the hand with the piece of paper in it drop to the table.

  “No, he–he wanted tours and things last week. He’s not as easy a guest as you might think.” She couldn’t take him, she just couldn’t. She also couldn’t tell Ellie why.

  “Well, you’ll have to do the tours even if someone else does take him on as their guest.”

  Zoe took a deep breath. “Ellie, please. I can’t work with him again.”

  Ellie leaned closer and put her hand on Zoe’s shoulder. “What’s wrong? You didn’t mention anything last week.”

  She really didn’t want to tell Ellie any details. That would defeat the whole purpose of their being discreet. But she didn’t want to lie, either. “Please.”

  Ellie squeezed her shoulder. “All right. Jose has a light load this weekend. He can take Mr. Marks. And whatever happened last week–well, you can talk to me. If you need to.”

  “Thanks. Thank you.” She’d sooner start up an anonymous blog and tell the whole world her troubles than talk to Ellie but she appreciated the support all the same.

  Now she just needed to lie low and try to make sure she had reasonable conflicts for the entire weekend so Bastian couldn’t rope her into doing a tour. She didn’t want to see him. At all.

  She was fine the rest of the day, though she kept tabs on when he was scheduled to come in so she could make sure she was nowhere to be found. The next morning she had a shift at the concierge desk but he didn’t know that. She hadn’t quite figured out how she’d hide if he appeared in the lobby while she was at the desk, but she’d figure it out if the time came.

  She spent the evening in her little cabin, reminding herself how happy she was to be on her own. But every time she spotted the answering machine–which was not blinking, for once–she faltered. He’d done exactly what he’d promised. The calls had stopped. Too bad the rest of their relationship hadn’t been as easy to fix.

  ***

  The whole drive from the airport to the resort Bastian thought about seeing Zoe waiting for him at the check-in desk and what he’d say to her. He pictured the look on her face when she realized what he’d figured out and that they could be together.

  But when he walked into the lobby of the hotel, Zoe was nowhere to be seen. The man at the check-in desk didn’t look familiar to him, nor did the woman at the concierge desk. As he handed over his credit card, he said to the man, “I thought my guest personal assistant would be here to greet me.”

  The man continued typing on his computer. “They don’t usually do that, sir. You should have a packet waiting for you in your room with information about all our amenities and how to contact your assistant should you need him.”

  Wait. “Him?”

  “Yes, sir. Your guest personal assistant is Jose Ramos. He’s very good. He can help you with anything you need.”

  “No. I want Zoe Mariani. She was my assistant the last time I was here.”

  The man finally made eye contact with him. “I’m pleased to hear you found Zoe’s service satisfactory. Unfortunately, she’s booked up this weekend. Jose is very good, as I said. I’m sure you’ll have no complaints.”

  No, no, no. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go. “How can I reach Zoe?”

  The man’s brow furrowed. “Is there something you need? I’d be happy to help you–”

  “I need Zoe.” Bastian tried to keep his voice level, but was aware that he’d failed miserably.

  The man handed Bastian his credit card. “I’m afraid we can’t give out contact information for our staff, sir, but any one of us can help you with anything you need.”

  The hell with this. Bastian stuffed his card back into his wallet while the man gave him his keycard and told him his room number. But before he made his way to his room, Bastian headed for the woman at the concierge desk.

  He pasted on a smile that felt very forced. “Do you have access to the schedule for the concierge desk?”

  The woman thumbed through some papers. “Yes. Is there something you need?”

  “I’d like to know when Zoe Mariani’s next shift is.”

  “Of course, sir.” The woman looked down at her papers. “She’s working here tomorrow morning at ten.”

  “Thank you.” He left.

  This wasn’t what he’d wanted, but it was better than nothing. It had never occurred to him that he would
n’t have Zoe as his assistant again. And now he had to wait more than twelve more hours before he could see her. He’d have to find some way to take his mind off the whole situation or he’d go crazy.

  Chapter 8

  The next morning, Zoe did her hair differently from usual, pinned up, hoping that if Bastian did happen to show up in the lobby he wouldn’t recognize her from afar. Once her shift started, guests visited the concierge desk in a steady stream–some of them her guests, some of them just passing by. She helped each one in turn, as quickly as she could so she could move to the next.

  Then she smelled Bastian’s cologne and cringed. She turned her head just a little and from the corner of her eye she could see him waiting behind the guests she was helping. A glance at her watch showed twenty minutes left in her shift. Dammit.

  She slowed down, taking as long as possible with the guests in front of her, but it wasn’t long enough to fill the whole twenty minutes. Before she knew it, Bastian stood before her, looking even more scrumptious and forbidden than usual.

  “Can I help you, sir?” she said.

  “I need to talk to you.”

  No one stood behind him. She had no excuses at all–except maybe one. “I’m on duty.”

  “You’re off in ten minutes. I’ll wait.”

  Inside her head, she swore up a storm. “Bastian, I can’t.”

  “What I have to say would be best said in private. I can wait ten minutes.” He turned away from her and leaned back against the counter, hooking his elbows on it.

  She couldn’t have come up with a worse scenario if she’d planned it. “People will see you.”

  “True. But this seems to be the only way I can get ahold of you. If I let you walk away from this desk, I won’t see you the rest of the weekend. Am I wrong?” His eyebrows rose as he looked over his shoulder at her.

  She leaned forward so she could talk more softly. “Yes, I’ve been avoiding you. Can you blame me?”

  “I can’t blame you at all. You have every reason to never want to see me again. But I want a second chance, and I can be a stubborn bastard when I want to be.”