curse of the alpha - episode 03 & 04 by Tasha Black

looked like he was considering it.
    Clive glanced up and eyed her plate hungrily.
    “Are you going to finish?”
    Ainsley vaguely wondered if what she had done to the steak even constituted starting.
    “No, it’s all…”
    He had grabbed her plate.
    “…yours,” she finished weakly.
    “Thanks,” he said. “These steaks aren’t half-bad. I usually don’t go for all that grass-fed, organic stuff, but they might be on to something.”
    He gave her a warm and grateful smile, then dispatched with the steak in record time.
    Crap.
    There was no more food. Ainsley sipped her wine and prayed for an idea of what to do
    next.
    Clive wiped his mouth politely. Then he took her hand across the table.
    “Ainsley, thank you for bringing me to your home for a delicious meal.”
    “Oh, you’re welcome, Clive. Want to go for a walk? I’d love to hear about you –what
    you’ve been up to since high school? It’s such a pretty night.”
    If you considered thousands of mosquitos and air that was so warm and heavy it was
    hard to breathe pretty.
    Clive looked into her eyes with sympathy. Then he smiled a slow, sexy smile.
    “Ainsley. You don’t need to play games. I’m honored to be here. We have the rest of
    our lives to get to know each other. Let’s just cut to the chase.”
    Ainsley struggled for something to say. For whatever reason, she just didn’t feel
    ready.
    “Wait, there is a bed in your room, right?” he asked worriedly.
    “Yes, there’s a bed,” she assured him.
    He smiled broadly and then began to look over what he undoubtedly assumed to be
    his new mate. He glossed over her face and eyes but he lingered on her breasts. She
    became aware of her own breathing. Each breath pushed her breasts tight against the
    fabric of the dress.
    His jaw tightened and she could hear his heart began to thunder and smell his
    arousal.
    Well, she didn’t have anything else to feed him.
    And he was smoking hot.
    If she could concentrate on all those bulging muscles, she shouldn’t have any problem.
    She might just have some fun.
    C H A P T E R
    1 2
    Erik paced the floor.
    The porch was twenty five steps across. He knew because when books and TV weren’t
    enough to distract him, he’d begun pacing. And when pacing wasn’t enough he counted
    his steps. It made him feel like the whole thing was a bad dream and he was a kid again, counting sheep.
    But then the images would sneak in anyway. Ainsley, her small softness crushed by
    Clive’s gigantic form. Clive wrenching the pleasure from her that should be Erik’s. That special spark she had inside growing dimmer every day she spent by his side.
    A sharp scent in the air caught pulled him out of his thoughts. He didn’t know whether to be relieved or frustrated.
    “Cressida?”
    Instead of answering she thundered up the front steps. He winced in anticipation of
    the bang of the screen door.
    True to form she let it slam, then looked at him hard.
    “What’s the matter with you?” she asked.
    Christ.
    He didn’t want to talk about it. Or maybe he did - but definitely not with Cressida.
    All he could think of was Ainsley.
    Was it done yet? Would it be easier when it was done?
    “Nothing, why are you here?”
    “Um, why am I usually here?” she asked with maybe a third of her usual sultriness.
    He stopped short and looked at her again. Something was different about Cressida
    tonight.
    As he left off pacing to circle her, she shrunk back a little.
    What had she done this time?
    The breeze changed and Erik froze.
    “What the hell? Were you? Did you?...” he couldn’t even find the words to accuse her
    with. She smelled like Ainsley.
    Suddenly he realized what was different about Cressida. She was here to talk.
    The problem was, she was covered in Ainsley’s scent.
    “I went to see Ainsley today,” Cressida said, like she had just remembered to tell him she’d borrowed a shirt or something.
    He was silent, so she continued.
    “I went over there to tell her to stop