Page 31 of The Alpha's Triplets

Blake rubbed his forehead and pointed. “It’s bad manners to intrude on people’s conversations, you know? Can you just… go away?”

She snorted and walked away, attending to another couple that had just entered the coffee shop. They waved to Blake and Eleanor, who returned the greeting before facing the feast before them.

“This is a lot of food forbreakfast,” Eleanor said, looking at the plate with concern.

Blake chuckled. There were sandwiches, pancakes, slices of pie, a burrito, and an apple on each plate. “This right here is a proper Rhinestone breakfast. Dig in.”

They spent the next forty-five minutes eating and making small talk, keeping things casual as the crowd in the coffee shop swelled by the minute. It felt nice to not be plotting for a change. It felt nice to just talk and eat, without an agenda, and Blake enjoyed every moment of it.

“I’ve never been this full in my life,” Eleanor said as they made the long walk back to the house. “But that was amazing, really. Thank you.”

There was a group of children throwing a football in a park as Blake and Eleanor walked past. One of them spotted Blake and shouted, “Alpha Blake!”

Other boys took up the cry and soon, they had abandoned their game and surrounded the pair. Blake grinned wildly at Eleanor, who was smiling with a look of subtle panic and confusion.

He peeled off with the group and called over his shoulder, “It would only be a moment!” He turned and ran off with the boys and joined them to create an imaginary line of scrimmage.

“Blue 80, hut!” he called and boys took off. “Shane! Go long!” Shane laughed and ran, the most beautiful thing Blake had seen all morning. He checked the force of his throw, and floated an easy ball in the air for the blond cub whose parents ran the motel in the middle of town.

Shrill cheers erupted from the boys as Shane made the catch and then run towards the swing. “And touchdown!” Blake exploded, raising his two arms above his head.

The children went ballistic and surrounded him. Blake lifted Shane onto his neck and the boy glowered. “Now, that’s how you win a state championship, Shane.”

By the time he returned to Eleanor, he was bone weary and dripping with sweat. He was expecting her to be upset, but she was smiling wildly.

“That was amazing!” she said. “I never knew you were that great with kids!”

Blake shrugged and wore a massive grin. “I guess a little guidance, a little time doesn’t hurt. They are the future of the pack, you see, and I try to spend as much time with them as I can. Plus, they are really great kids with amazing parents, all of them.”

“Say what you want,” Eleanor said. “That was amazing.” Her smile was more beautiful than Shane’s laugh. Almost. And it melted Blake’s heart like a smoldering forge.

Blake spent the rest of the day in his office, working on a supply that had encountered some problems at the port. He threw himself into the work, and for more than six hours, didn’t think once about Eleanor.

And then a notification flashed on his screen. He’d set reminders for all the events he was to attend with Eleanor, as he was prone to forgetting social activities.

He looked at the notification at the bottom of his screen thoughtfully, wondering whether or not to go. In retrospect, he had no idea why he’d agreed to go in the first place. The spiritualists didn’t have much sway in the pack, and they rarely voted on serious issues.

There was no merit he could see to agreeing to join them for an entire evening. He could just cancel, like he’d been doing for years. But then, it would give him an excuse to be close to Eleanor without any guilty feelings.

They were supposed to pose as a loving couple in public, and it was the only time he could show how much he liked her, while still pretending to be playing their game. It was a torturous thing to do, but he’d long learned to accept his victories where he saw them.

He shut off his computer and went down to his room where he had a quick shower. He thought about lingering and getting one off but ultimately decided against it.

He dressed simply, a plain white t-shirt and faded jeans, with black sneakers. He didn’t style his hair too dramatically either. He wasn’t putting any effort into the evening, he decided.

He was flipping through his phone at the bottom of the stairs when he heard footsteps coming down. He looked up and almost dropped his phone in surprise. Eleanor had decided on a simple summer dress with a floral design, but her curves were visible through the thin material.

She’d let her hair down, running over her left shoulder and covering her cleavage, otherwise visible behind the low neck of her dress. She looked stunning.

“Wow,” Blake said when she got down. “You just can’t help yourself, can you?”

Eleanor laughed a small laugh and hit Blake lightly on the arm as she walked past him. He felt electricity crackle from the point of her touch, and then spread rapidly through his whole body.

He sucked in air through his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut as the lightning coursed through him.Get a hold of yourself, man.

He recovered himself before she realized what had happened to him, and held the door open for her. For the whole ride toward the spiritualists’ headquarters deep in the woods he kept his eyes on the road, still feeling the shock from when she had touched him.

There were at least a dozen trucks scattered in the clearing outside the brightly lit house when they arrived, and Blake was shocked by the turnout. “Huh. That’s unusual,” he said as they walked up the front steps.

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