The Alpha's Saviour

Chapter 10

Cooper POV

As I push through the door of Greg's accountancy office, all heads turned to look at me, and you can hear a pin drop. Even though I pride myself on being approachable and friendly to all pack members, wolves operate in hierarchal structures and most pack members are naturally submissive to the pack leaders. For those who rarely have reason to interact with me, this instinct to submit is hard to overcome and they feel on edge as soon as I enter the building. I smile politely and nod at everyone I pass, greeting anyone I recognize by name to try and put them at ease as I make my way through the open plan area to Hayley's office.

I knock gently on the door, and then as the door is already ajar, push it open slowly without waiting for a response. Hayley is sitting behind her desk, which is covered in a sea of papers piled haphazardly, with brightly coloured pens and post-it notes strewn everywhere. Her shoes are kicked off under the desk and her bare feet are tucked up underneath her on her office chair. Her gorgeous caramel-coloured hair is pulled up in a messy bun, with a pen jammed through it to keep it in place, and she is chewing absently on a highlighter as she stares intently down at the pages in her hand. Her expensive-looking cream silk blouse is open at the top couple of buttons, and from my standing position, I can see the top of her lacy white bra peeking out, looking unbelievably sexy against her tanned skin.

Fuck me.

I shake my head and take a deep breath to calm myself down, clearing my throat to catch her attention. She is so deeply engrossed in whatever she is reading that she hasn't sensed my presence.

            "Oh gosh, Cooper, I didn't see you there, come in." She gestures to the seat opposite her and unfolds her legs, slipping her pretty feet back into the nude high heels under her desk, hiding her dainty pale pink painted toes from view.

            "Sorry to interrupt, you're obviously busy. I just wanted to drop these quotes in. I was going to suggest we could grab lunch and run through them, but...." I wave the plans and quotes for the work we had discussed yesterday at her with one hand, and gesture to the chaos in front of her with the other.

            "Oh this, ha, it's always like this, organized chaos. Don't look so horrified!" She laughs as she sits back and studies me for a second, then checks her watch.

"Lunch sounds great actually, my brain needs a break, I've been looking at this for too long." She stands up, rubs her eyes, and arches to stretch out her back, a movement that pulls her blouse tight across her breasts and makes my mouth water. As she turns to grab her cream blazer off the back of her chair, her burgundy fitted pencil skirt shows off her pert ass, and when she bends to pick up her purse, I bite back a groan and turn away to get control of myself before I grab her and kiss her senseless right here in her office. Or worse.

Some guys might be intimidated by a smart professional woman, but not me, I am finding it sexy as hell, and I can't help the thought of her bent over that desk that is flooding through my mind.

            "I couldn't cope with that mess; it's making me anxious just looking at it," I admit as I place my hand lightly on her lower back as she passes by me on the way to the door, any excuse to touch her and feel those sparks. She laughs again, unashamed and amused rather than offended by my comment, as she walks ahead and leads me outside. Again, this is something that a she-wolf would not do, they would never walk ahead of me, waiting instead to follow my lead. It's refreshing to be around someone who doesn't act differently because of who I am.

            "I know it drives some people crazy, but it works for me. I don't think my brain works in straight lines." She shrugs unapologetically and turns to me with a breath-taking smile. "So, do you have anywhere in mind?"

            "Tina's?" I suggest. It's a local café, very casual, not where I had originally planned but I am now realizing that after my impromptu appearance at her office, the local rumour mill would go into meltdown if I took her anywhere fancier. I am supposed to be hiding the fact that she is my mate, not announcing my interest in her to the town. As it is, when we walk in, I already see lots of glances in our direction. Unfortunately, my love life, or lack thereof, is a popular topic of debate around the pack. Any sighting of me with a member of the opposite sex will be pounced on by the local gossips immediately.

            As I pull out her chair for her and she sits, I get a subtle smell that irritates my sensitive nose, and I recognize it immediately.

Marcus.

That damn bear is still bringing her coffee. His scent on my mate is making my wolf furious. I need to find out why these two are such great buddies when he seems to barely tolerate anyone else.

            "I've listed out all of the jobs we went through. Have a look through it all and let me know whether that looks right, and which jobs you want me to go ahead and start for you." I push the papers over to her and she frowns as flicks through the pages, pursing her full lips adorably.

            "Cooper, this is crazy, you're hardly charging me for anything." She looks at me as if I have lost my mind.

            "Well, I'm out of action with time to kill, so I may as well make myself useful. I don't have any work on right now for some of the crew and it will keep them busy rather than temporarily laying them off. I've priced in the materials at cost, but honestly, most of what's required is just labour for the smaller jobs," she gives me a look that says she does not believe a word that is coming out of my mouth, smart girl, but she doesn't contradict me.

"My mother doesn't want me to charge you anything at all. I knew you wouldn't go along with that, so this is a compromise, cost price." I know she isn't buying it, but the mention of my mother seems to have made her soften, as though it's more acceptable to take a gift from a grateful parent rather than from me.

            "It's far too much but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I do appreciate it. I didn't think I'd be able to afford some of this stuff until next year. My sisters will be eternally grateful to you that they don't have to earn their keep with hard labour when they get to visit." She laughs and smiles at me, and my chest swells at how happy she looks like I've just taken a huge weight off her shoulders.

            "Sisters?" I ask, keen to get to know as much about my mate as possible while I have the chance.

            "Yes, two. A twin, Zoe, who's a vet, lives in Dexter, and my younger sister Leah, she's still finishing college. I have a brother too, Chase." She pauses and looks a bit down for a second as she stares into her coffee.

            "Everything ok?" I reach over and put my hand over hers, and she looks back up at me with a sad little smile, and to my delight, doesn't flinch or pull away from the physical contact. I wasn't sure how she'd react after our kiss yesterday.

            "Oh yes, fine. I just miss them, I haven't seen them for a few months, since Christmas, my parents too. It's.... a bit complicated, but hopefully, they'll be able to come and visit soon." I can sense the deception in what she is saying, there is more to it than she is willing to divulge but I don't push, it's none of my business, yet.

            "You've met Leila obviously, and I have two brothers as well," I say, trying to lighten up the conversation again, "Rex is a couple of years older than me: he's been away travelling for the last year, but he'll be back in a few days. Nathan's the baby and acts like it too."

"Are you going to come out for Leila's birthday?" I ask, aiming to sound nonchalant and casual, but as I meet her twinkling eyes again across the table, I don't think I've succeeded. She grins at me mischievously, whispering in a low sultry voice that has my balls tightening in response, "I might be convinced."

She winks, and I chuckle at her playfulness, grinning back at her like an idiot.

And the chase is on.

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