Page 1 of Alpha's Sunflower Smiles

Chapter 1

Pete

Ilooked out of the window again, craning my neck to see Wilfred properly. He was outside his shop, wiping the large windows with a cloth. He always liked his shop to look its best and he cared for it with such love and attention. It was incredibly sweet.

And hot.

It was definitely hot.

Wilfred bent down to clean the corner of the window and I nearly fell out of my chair as I leaned closer to get a better look. I had to grasp the edge of my desk to stop myself from landing flat on my face on the carpet. Okay, that was probably a sign that I was ogling the man over the road too much.

I settled back in my chair and cleared my throat, trying to convince myself that I was working and I was professional.

Sometimes I hated that my office was right opposite Sunflower Smiles. It was a constant distraction and quite franklyWilfred’s consistent lack of interest in me was wearing down my self-esteem.

Mostly, though, I loved it. If I could catch glimpses of Wilfred then my whole day was much brighter.

Sometimes I could just about see Wilfred as he moved around the shop. I rarely did, but I didn’t want to miss any chance of seeing him in his element.

Wilfred always looked best when he was in his shop.

I mean, spoiler, Wilfred always looked incredibleanywhere.

But he looked especially handsome in his shop because he got this light inside him that sort of glowed out. Not a literal light, obviously, but a kind of happiness that radiated from him and made him stunning.

Yeah, I had it bad for Wilfred.

And if he didn’t want to go out with me? Well, that was his choice and I could respect that.

I didn’t even know what his preference was. Maybe he wasn’t into men. Maybe he wasn’t attracted to alphas.

If I could convince myself that he really, truly didn’t want me then maybe I could move on but he never really seemed to realise I was flirting with him. I wasn’t sure hehadrejected me. And that meant my stupid heart kept fluttering every time he smiled at me and gave me false hope.

Outside, Wilfred stood back and admired his window display. I actually saw him nod to himself and wanted to sigh like a love-sick teenager. He was so adorable.

When he disappeared back into the shop, I managed to focus on my work for a while. Working for myself was great in many ways and I loved the freedom it gave me, but it also meant that, if I didn’t get everything done, I’d have to work evenings and weekends. There wasn’t anyone I could blame but myself. So I focused and worked hard, only blinking and looking round in a daze when my phone rang and disturbed me.

“Hello?”

“Pete, how are you?”

“I’m okay thanks, Papa. Is something wrong?”

“No, I just wanted to talk to my little boy.”

No matter how old I was – and I was thirty two now – my papa hadn’t got the message that I was an adult. I was always his little boy and that was probably never going to change.

“I’m at work at the moment, Papa. Can I call you back tonight?”

“You can come round after work and have dinner here.”

“Okay, what time?”

“Seven o’clock.”

“See you then.”

I hung up and looked across the road. If I was going to Papa’s for dinner, then I’d need to take a gift, right? It was only polite.

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