The Alpha’s Runaway Bride

Celeste Challenger Learning Center Tallahassee, Florida “Hey, can I tell you about this crazy dream I had last night?” I asked my best friend as she plopped down next to me. I handed her the not-so-subtle bribe of the chocolate chip cookie bag “Maybe if I just say it out loud, I can purge it or something.” Abigail chuckled, accepting the bag without hesitation. “Go for it, girl,” she said, leaning back against the chair. “I’m all ears.” I took a quick glance around the break room before leaning in closer. This wasn’t the sort of dream I wanted just anyone hearing about. “It was pretty saucy,” I said. Abi giggled at that, and I swatted her. “Stop it!” “Saucy? What are we, sixty?” I rolled my eyes but still smiled. “I’m trying to be professional at our place of employment, Abigail Murphy.” I sighed, waggling a finger at her. She raised one eyebrow even higher, her hazel eyes twinkling at me. “Uh-huh. And what are they going to do to you on your last day, Miss Celeste Soleil? Or should I refer to you as the future Mrs. Haul?” My cheeks flushed and I moved a little closer. “I’m still Celeste,” I said, glancing around again, though no one else had entered the room. “I’m a person, not just somebody’s fiancée.” Abi sat back, her face falling slightly. “Hey, relax. I didn’t mean it like that,” she said, her voice a little softer. “I was just teasing.” She chomped on another cookie and motioned at me with one hand. “So, why don’t you tell me about this saucy dream, yeah?” “Right.” I cleared my throat. “So, we were in the middle of this big empty room. Here, actually, though I don’t think it’s really at the planetarium. You know how dreams can be.” Abigail nodded knowingly. “Mmhmm. Continue.” “I would never actually kiss anyone here, but in the dream… I don’t know. I felt like, even though we were here, we were the only people on Earth. It felt so real, at least in the moment. One minute, I was pointing out stars to him on the overhead, and the next he had me plastered against a wall…” Abi raised her head and gave me a knowing look. “You keep saying we, but I haven’t heard you say Ben’s name yet,” she said. I frowned, feeling heat prickle on the back of my neck. “I don’t know who it was,” I admitted, feeling guilty even saying it out loud. “I felt like I knew him intimately in the dream, you know? But when I was awake…” I sighed, shrugging. “Someone my subconscious made up, I guess.” My best friend snickered, shaking her head. “That’s because Ben wouldn’t know what a libido was if it bit him in the ass,” she said. My frown deepened. “Abi…” “Seriously. He wouldn’t know romance if it kissed him square on the lips, either.” “Abi, seriously. He’s my fiancé. Be nice.” Abi clicked her tongue against her teeth. “Look, girl. You’re a ten,” she said. “And Ben’s nice and all, but…” She sighed, clearly reining herself in. “He doesn’t even visit you at work. Ever. Does he even like the planetarium?” “He thinks it’s fine,” I said shortly. She rolled her eyes. “Meanwhile, it’s basically the love of your life,” she replied. “The least he could do is learn a bit about your passion. You go to basically every show his band plays within a hundred-mile radius, and this is right in his backyard.” “Abi, I’m being serious.” “So am I,” she replied before setting the bag down. “I’m your maid of honor because I love you, Celeste, but being your best friend also means telling you when—” I held up a hand, and she fell silent. “Abi, please.” The closer the impending nuptials got, the more my feet felt like I’d stepped into snow barefoot. At this point, they were so cold I could’ve walked ten miles on the ice. But what could I do? Surely everyone got nervous before they tied the knot. “I don’t want to talk about it right now, okay?” She fell silent, studying my face for a moment. After what felt like entirely too long, she tucked a strand of auburn hair behind one ear and gave a nod. “Okay,” she said, returning to our shared snack. “Tell me about the mysterious stranger in your dreams instead.” “Seriously?” I frowned. “Seriously,” Abi confirmed, shrugging. “This is the most action I’ve gotten in at least two months, so…” She waved a hand at me to continue. I hesitated for a moment, the feelings of guilt still lurking below the surface, but part of me still hoped that if I could just say it out loud to someone, I could stop thinking about the guy. He wasn’t even real. It made no sense for him to be taking up space in my brain, rent-free. I needed the dream out of there so I could focus on everything else going on. “It took a bit for me to see him at first,” I said. “Start from the beginning,” Abi said. So I did. Everything was dimly lit, almost smoky. I was pretty sure the learning center hadn’t invested in a smoke machine lately, but then I wasn’t part of the finance team. I gave tours and lectures to guests. When he’d requested a private tour, I’d been powerless to tell him no. Private viewings weren’t something I gave often, but he’d already known so much about the constellations. He was so handsome, too, and tall. Taller than me. He wasn’t just some string bean, either. He filled up every inch of space with muscle. He was dressed well in slim black pants and a light blue button-down with the sleeves rolled up. Somehow he was also pulling off the contrast of his tattoo beneath what I could only describe as the sexiest version I’d ever seen of business casual. High-powered executives were not my type, not at all, but I couldn’t deny the power this man seemed to radiate, and it was intensely attractive. And those eyes. I had never seen anyone with eyes like his. They could have been made from pieces of Baltic amber; they looked so much like the real thing. I could have been lost in them if I stared too long, and honestly, it was all I could do to keep from staring. “And if you look here,” I said as I cleared my throat, catching myself as I tore my eyes away. I could see him watching me, even as I pointed up at one of my favorite constellations. “This is Gemini. Did you know the ancient Romans saw these twins as Romulus and Re—”