The Alpha’s Hidden Mate

Chapter 3: Mae

A date?

I knew that I wanted it to be a date, he was the most attractive person I had ever laid eyes on. But I had just talked to this man for less than 5 minutes, was it even possible for it to be a date? I knew what I needed to do. I immediately called Lilly.

“Hey Mae, what up?”

I took a deep breath. Where do I start? I decided to lay it all out, sequentially. How Liam appeared at the farm, wanted to talk about housing and food production, and ending it off with calling it a date right before he disappeared.

Lilly was silent for a minute. “Holy s**t. Holy s**t! Mae, this is incredible! That man has more money than God. If you can woo him, you can have a sugar daddy!”

I scrunched my nose. “Ew, Lilly, no! I want him to take me seriously. To see how much I have to offer and how hard I can work.

“Ok, which is fair. But you’re going to tell me that you wouldn’t sleep with him?” Lilly said.

I chewed my bottom lip. Of course I would, he was a God among men.

“That’s what I thought,” said Lilly. I could hear the smugness in her voice.

“Look, I need some help. What do I wear to a maybe job interview s***h maybe business meeting s***h maybe date?” My head was already starting to spin trying to sort it out.

“I’ll be over at 5, when I get done with my last class. I’ll bring over some clothing options and we’ll find something that makes you look like a strong, capable adult. But also incredibly hot.” She laughed at herself.

“Thank you, Lilly,” I sighed. “See you at 5.”

I hung up the phone and sat for a moment. Was this what my intuition had been trying to tell me? Was this going to be my big break?

I shook my head a little and tried to finish up collecting data for my project. It probably took twice as long as it normally would, I couldn’t help but let my thoughts wander around what was going to happen tonight.

I finished entering the new information on my spread sheet, saved it, and sent it to my agriculture professor. Done. The final project was done. I had already written up the conclusion from my data this semester and including my final architecture project, I was done with everything else as well.

The last 5 years had been brutal. Architecture undergrad was a 5 year program. Add another bachelor degree into that, and I had very little time for anything else in life. Now I was going to spend the next 2 -3 years doing apprentice work before I could take the Architect Registration Examination. I hadn’t figured out where though. Nothing seemed like the right fit.

But I felt incredibly hopeful that this meeting - or date - or whatever it was, was going to be just the thing I was looking for.

I jumped in the car and got home. I forced myself to eat some yogurt even though I was a bundle of nerves and didn’t have much appetite. I took a quick shower and stood in front of my closet in a towel, trying to see what I could make work in my closet. I pulled out a few things and then dressed myself in some lounge clothes as I waited for Lilly. I opened up my laptop and did what any sensible woman would do - Googled the man I was about to have dinner with.

I saw his company’s website. It was well maintained and easy to navigate. Lilly was right, the portfolio he had was massive. The next thing I noticed was there were hardly any news articles or information about Liam himself. Most men who had that kind of money and power would have done at least one spread with Forbes, but nothing popped up.

“A man like that has to be married. There’s no way he could be single,” I thought to myself. Maybe he kept that private so it was easier to seduce young grads like me. I chewed nervously on my thumbnail when I heard a knock.

“Mae, you have to start locking your door! How many times do I have to remind you?” Lilly scolded me from the living room and I heard her throw a large pile of clothes down.

“If I locked it, you’d break the damn thing down,” I said as I walked into the living room. It looked like she had moved her whole closet into my apartment. “Good lord, Lilly. You said options, not an entire new wardrobe!”

“We have a lot to consider and I didn’t want to leave any choice out,” Lilly said as she started spreading clothes and shoes across my couch. “We need something that says ‘I’m a smart and sophisticated woman, who knows what she’s doing in the sack.”

“Lilly! I do not want Liam to think about me in the sack,” I said and I slumped into the love seat across from the couch. I could feel my face burning at just the thought of it.

“Well the fact that you’re on a first name basis already and your face looks like a tomato says differently, my friend,” Lilly said as she pulled up a dress. The dress was a dusty rose color with large black flowers printed across. It was form fitting and structured with cap sleeves, a boat neck, and a pencil skirt shape. “Let’s start here. It will show off your curves but won’t show too much skin. Just enough to be interesting.”

I wanted to protest at what she was saying, but I knew she was right and it was exactly what I was going for. I took it from her hand and went into my bedroom to change. Lilly was right, it did show off my curves, but didn’t reveal too much for a potential work meeting. You could see my collar bone and it hit just above the knee. It complimented my mother’s pendant as well. I stepped out of the bedroom to show Lilly. She stood up and clapped her hands with a little squeal.

“Yes! I knew this would be perfect. Now we need to do shoes,” she said as she was turning to her selection of shoes.

“We said we’d meet at the campus entrance and then walk some where to eat. So they can’t be too painful or I’ll be hobbling down the street,” I said as I joined to look at the shoes.

We decided on a pair of closed toe kitten heals that matched the black of the flowers on the dress. Lilly helped me put my hair into a low bun with a few curls that framed my face. We kept my makeup simple, nothing flashy but just a bit of sparkle on my eyelids to make my eyes stand out, some blush to my cheeks and a lip gloss to make my lips a bit more pouty. I had to admit, the final product was impactful. I looked like a woman who was together, with an edge of s*x appeal.

Lilly decided to stay at my apartment since it was close by and she was going to want to hear everything at the end anyways. I drove back to campus and parked my car just a short distance away. I didn’t want him to see what car I drove, a girl can never be too safe. I did one last mirror check, texted Lilly that I had made it, and gathered my purse. I stepped out of my car and started walking to the meet up spot. I was a couple minutes early so I had assumed I had beat him, but as I rounded the corner there he was, all 6 foot 5 of him, looking insanely sexy in a pair of black slacks and perfectly tailored gray button down shirt. Good Lord, did he get more attractive while we were apart?

After a few steps he looked up from his phone and saw me. I saw him looking at me, was he checking me out? Then his face broke out into a dazzling smile. Of course his smile is dazzling, some people have all the luck.

“Mae! I’m so glad you could meet up with me on such short notice.” He extended a hand and I accepted it with what I hoped was a firm handshake. The moment we touched I felt something, like tiny tingles where our skin connected. Butterflies erupted in the pit of my stomach.

Keep it together, Mae.

“Of course Liam, I’m really excited to hear about this project you have coming up.” I tried to keep my voice even and confident, like I knew exactly what I was doing.

I was by no means short, standing at 5’8”, but I felt totally eclipsed by Liam. Normally I would have been completely intimated by a man of his size, but my instincts told me I was completely safe with him.

“I hope you don’t mind - I know we said we would find some where to eat, but I took the liberty of making us a reservation at Angelina’s. They make out of this world Italian food and I happen to know Angelina, so I think the service will be decent too,” he said with a small wink.

“Oh, sure, I love Italian. Lead the way,” I said. Of course I knew Angelina’s, it was one of the most popular, and expensive, restaurants in town.

Mae, what have you gotten yourself into?