Read Online The Care and Feeding of an Alpha Male by Jessica Clare - Free Book Online Page A

be too high to cross, then?”
    “’Fraid so,” he said, except she could have sworn he’d sounded pleased about it.
    “You’re having fun with all this, aren’t you?”
    “’Fraid so,” he repeated with a grin. “This sort of thing’s a challenge, but it’s nice to push yourself against the elements, see who comes out on top.”
    “Right now it’s the elements one, Beth Ann zero,” she pointed out.
    He simply smiled, one corner of his mouth tugging up. Through the day’s growth of stubble, she saw a dimple. Heaven help her.
    She stood up and stretched, then tugged the shirt down over her panties, remembering that her thong didn’t cover much. He’d stood and began to put on his pants again, and she didn’t watch, but she did notice what he was wearing. Tighty whities. She could see that. He was all business to the core.
    Beth Ann reached out and grasped the hem of her dress and grimaced. “Still wet.” Wet and cold to boot. The cloak was like one big soggy towel. She sighed and turned back to him. “So what’s the plan?”
    He put his hands on his hips and she noticed the marines symbol tattooed over one hard, flat pectoral. His stomach was flat and lean and his shoulders were hard with muscle. Had she really rested up against that all night? Mercy. She felt weak in the knees.
    “You lead. I’m just here to make sure you don’t get into trouble.” His lean, predatory gaze stroked over her.
    She was staring at him. She flushed and dropped her gaze, pretending to look at a fleck of mud on her big toe. “Well, seeing as how I have no clue of what I’m doing, I think it’s your call.”
    “There’s a supply shack the survival business keeps stocked in case of school emergency not too far from here,” he admitted. “We could skirt the river and head toward it. Might not be drier than here, but there’s some emergency supplies. And enough open area to build a fire.”
    “That sounds like as good a plan as any,” Beth Ann said. Fire sounded awesome.
    She leaned over and picked up her bag, and fished out one totally destroyed Louboutin. “I’m not going to be able to walk far in these.” She stared at it, and then peered over at him. “I don’t suppose you could snap the heels off?”
    “Snap the heels?”
    “Like in that movie.” Beth Ann didn’t remember which one. “So I can walk better.” She held the shoe out to him.
    He took it in hand and gave her an odd look. “Might not be a bad idea. Hope they aren’t expensive.”
    “Twelve hundred dollars,” she admitted, just as he snapped the first heel off and handed it to her.
    He looked a little sick at the thought. “Twelve hundred?”
    “Yup,” she said cheerfully, and handed him the other shoe to destroy. “If it makes you feel any better, it wasn’t my money.”
    “Allan?” he guessed, and snapped the other heel off and handed it back to her.
    “He always thought I had a weakness for shoes,” she admitted.
    “And do you?” His keen gaze rested on her legs as she slid the shoes on. They were tilted at an odd angle to support the heel that was now missing, but she wouldn’t sink in the mud anymore. That was a plus.
    “Not really,” Beth Ann said. “All I ever asked from him was faithfulness. Instead, I got expensive shoes, Coach handbags, and Tiffany jewelry.”
    “I don’t know what any of that is,” Colt drawled. “Expensive?”
    She nodded. “Useless, too.”
    That dimple reappeared, and she felt like she’d suddenly said the right thing. “Keep the heels. Maybe you can get part of your money back.”
    She snorted, and then touched the hem of her damp dress. “I’ll change back into this if you don’t mind turning around.”
    He turned away from her, and she slipped his shirt off and her dress back on. She shivered as the damp, cold fabric slithered down her body, and then held his shirt out to him reluctantly. “Here you go.”
    He took it and turned, then frowned at her. “Cold already?”
    “I