TAMING THE BEAST: An Alpha Male Read Online Free

focused on her coloring, seeming uninterested in her mother's potential love life.
    Though Chanise had to wonder, assuming the coffee date went anywhere, how it might affect Deena. Chanise hadn't dated since Deena's father died. She wasn't sure if she was ready for it, or whether her daughter was ready for it.
    Though it was just coffee, she told herself. There was no harm in that.
     
    * * *
     

Chanise dropped Deena off at her father's house about an hour before her coffee date with Jake. After they got Deena settled in the living room with a Disney video, Chanise's father asked, “So, where did you meet this young man you're going out with?”
    Chanise felt her face heating up. She hadn't told her father who she was seeing, only that she had a date. For one thing, she didn't want to see what her father would say about her dating a patient. For another, there was the potential conflict of interest. She wasn't sure if it would technically be against the rules for her to date one of her father's patients, but at the very least, her father would probably insist on sending Jake to see another counselor. She didn't want to let that happen. Not when Jake seemed to be making so much progress. Starting over with a new counselor could be like setting him back to square one, especially if the new counselor had a very different technique and view of the human mind.
    “He's just someone I ran into,” Chanise said. “We started talking, and he asked me out.”
    “Someone you ran into?” Her father frowned, folding his arms across his chest. “Do you know anything about this man? I don't know how I feel about you going out for coffee with a complete stranger.”
    “He's not a stranger, Dad. Besides, I'm not a teenager anymore. I can make my own decisions about who I'm going to date, thank you very much.”
    Her father huffed and shook his head, but he didn't protest any further. “Well, I suppose you are all grown up now. Though I don't think I'll ever approve of anyone as much as I did Tyrone.”
    Chanise sighed, her thoughts drifting to her deceased husband. He had been a good man. And he would have been a great father, she was sure if he had lived to see his daughter grow up. “I'll be fine, Dad. It's just coffee.”
    “All right. Well, you give me a call if you're going to be out late.”
    “Dad!”
    “I'm not trying to check up on you,” he said. He gestured to Deena in the living room. “But I need to know how long I'll be watching the little one. You know how she gets sometimes when you're running late.”
    “I know.”
    Chanise gave her father a hug, then said goodbye to Deena, before heading out the door. She drove down to the coffee shop she had chosen. It was a small place, not far from home, and the owner baked some of the best biscuits and scones that Chanise had ever eaten.
    She arrived a bit before Jake got there. She sat at a table in the corner, checking her phone while she waited for him to arrive. She was busy scrolling through her Twitter feed when a looming shadow passed over the table. She looked up and saw Jake standing there, holding a single red rose out to her.
    “Oh my…,” she said. She rose from her seat, touching a hand to her chest. “Well, this is unexpected.”
    “My father always told me,” he said, “if you don't show up for a first date with flowers, don't bother showing up at all.”
    She took the rose and inhaled its sweet scent. No one had ever given her a rose before. Her husband had given her lilies since they were her favorite flower. But there was something sweet, romantic, and traditional about a rose, and it set her heart aflutter.
    “You ready to order?” Jake asked, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.
    “Sure.”
    Chanise got into line alongside Jake, twirling the long stem of the rose between her fingertips. She glanced up at Jake out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't used to standing right beside him like this. It really made the difference in their heights