Being the Alpha's Mate

Chapter Six

I grab my purse off my desk and sling the strap over my shoulder, the brown of my purse looking oddly neutral against the lime green and banana yellow of my uniform.

I reach to close the door behind me and from inside my room Derek yells at the top of his lungs;

“Have a good day at work, honey!” I glare at the door as if I can see him through it. I know he’s proud of himself, grinning at his own joke. I jerk the door shut, a loud slam echoing throughout the hallway pleases me.

****

Work is boring to say the least. I spent the first hour cleaning and restocking shelves because there weren’t any customers. The grocery store that I work at isn’t the most popular place to shop at. It’s hard to have customers when a big grocery store chain opened just down the road. Twenty or thirty customers are still loyal but everyone else has betrayed us for the chain store.

I watch the clock, the little hand moving slow, the big hand even slower. As I mop the last part of the floor I start to wish that I’d taken Derek’s “advice” to skip work today.

When the clock hits three I feel like it’s been twice as long. I happily hang up my apron and head to the car. I’m digging in my purse for my keys when I hear,

“Hey, Babe, how was work?” I glance up, smiling when I see Derek leaning against the driver’s door of my car. His arms are crossed over his chest, a black tank top stretching across his chest, tanned arms on display. A pair of dark sunglasses are perched on his nose, one side of his mouth tipped up.

“It was good. How long have you been waiting?” I pull the hair tie out of my hair and run my fingers through my hair. My scalp aches from having my hair up in a ponytail for hours.

“Not long.” Derek says, grabbing the car keys out of my hand. He clicks the unlock button and nods towards the car. “Get in.” He says, climbing into the car. On the drivers side.

“You are not driving my car!” I frown, planting my hands on my hips.

“Yes I am. Now come on, I have a surprise.” I give him one last glare but grudgingly climb in the passenger seat. I want to know what sort of surprise he has planned that made him stand outside and wait for me.

It should be good.

****

“Open your eyes.” I feel Derek lift his hand away from my face, which he’d placed over my eyes as a “precautionary measure”.

I slowly blink against the bright light, my eyes unfamiliar to the light after having to have my eyes closed for half the drive here. I complained the entire time wanting him to relent and tell me where we’re going. He stayed strong and told me to sush then turned the radio up.

I gasp when the view comes into my focus as my eyes adjust to the blinding light. We’re in the middle of nowhere with green grass and tall trees all that you can see for miles. To my right is lake nearly the size of my house with an enormous cascading waterfall above it. The waterfall descends into the lake, the water splattering against the surface.

I feel my stomach turn- in a good way -when I turn bad to Derek. He’s looking at me, judging my reaction and I give him a huge smile, jumping on him, wrapping my legs around his waist and throwing my arms around him.

“This is beautiful!” I whisper into his ear. His skin is hot against mine and I want to change into a suit. I hope he brought some.

“You brought swim suits, right?” I ask, pulling back to look at him. He winks at me through his dark shades.