Falling for the Alphas: Part One Read Online Free

knees.
    "Jeb, this is Naomi." Dylan gave the
man a nod as they passed, and the man nodded back, eyes hidden in
the gloom of the porch.
    "Dylan." Was that respect
in the old man's voice? He looked to her. "Welcome."
    "Thanks." Before she could speak
further, Dylan pushed open the front door, and led her
inside.
    Naomi fell in love with
Anna's House right there and then. Softly lit by turned down lamps,
she immediately saw half a dozen nooks where she would love to curl
up. Window seats, old leather armchairs, a beat up old
chaise-longue by the stone fireplace, a thick pile of cushions in a
deep alcove under the stairs. Everything was rich, lustrous wood or
faded old chocolate leather, with hanging copper pots gleaming from
an open kitchen to the left to a round dinner table to the right.
Massive rugs with deep piles were strewn across the floor, and the
walls were adorned with framed photographs of smiling people, with
faded landscape photographs and children's exuberant
drawings.
    The air was still, the
kind of heavy hush that comes when a house is full of sleeping
people, and Naomi followed Dylan over to the stairs. Dylan raised a
hand to wave to a young woman seated at a small table in the
kitchen, a book before her and mug in one hand, and she raised a
hand to wave back.
    Then they were padding up
the broad steps to the second floor, Illixy floating and weaving
behind them, onto the landing, down to the second door to the left,
and inside a large bedroom.
    Dylan closed the door with a soft
click. "You can rest here tonight."
    She looked around. A heavy
wood-framed bed covered with a gorgeous hand-made quilt. An old
fashioned hardwood dresser, a small bookcase, and a writing desk
under the window. Simple, welcoming, and smelling of
home.
    She took a few steps in, and turned
back to him. "Whose room is this?"
    Dylan leaned back against the door and
folded his arms over his chest. "Mine. You're welcome to it. I'll
sleep downstairs on the couch."
    She almost opened her mouth to say
something foolish, to protest and invite him to stay, but blushed
furiously instead and quickly turned to the window. "What's going
to happen to me?"
    She tried to keep the note
of despair from her voice, but Dylan must have heard it. She felt
him walk up behind her. He was giving off such an intense heat that
it felt like standing before an open oven door. A dangerous heat.
An undeniable intensity.
    "I wish I could tell you."
His voice was soft. "I wish I could promise you things will work
out. But I don't know that."
    She turned. He was right
there, only a foot away. She wanted to run her fingers through his
hair. Put her hand on his chest. He was so young, but he wore the
mantle of quiet authority and confidence of a man twice his age. A
leader, she knew. Dominant. She felt like she already knew him:
quiet, gentle, but when roused to anger, as unstoppable as a forest
fire, a flash flood, a raging storm. When roused to anger or
passion...
    She blushed again. What
was wrong with her? Why was she responding to his presence so
physically?
    "Naomi." The way he said her voice was
almost like a caress. His voice low, masculine. She could listen to
him all night long. "Tell me about your parents."
    "My parents?" Confusion.
She pushed her fingers through her hair again - god it was a mess.
She needed a brush, a mirror, time to get herself together. "I -
they were good people. Did their best for me." She always felt
uncomfortable talking about them. A memory slipped before her mind:
her father, lips tight, driving her to the therapist after she'd
repeated what Illixy had told her about his special female friend
at work.
    Dylan licked his lower lip
as he narrowed his eyes, clearly trying to find the right away to
ask the question. "They ever mention your extended
family?"
    She nodded. "Most of them are out in
Ohio. Some cousins down in Tampa. Oh." She realized what he was
getting at, and felt like a fool. "I see. No, I don't know my real
family. I was