Page 1 of Alpha’s Sunflower Smiles (Sweet in Silford #8)

Chapter 1

Pete

I looked 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 frankly Wilfred’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 incredible anywhere .

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 he had rejected 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.

It was difficult to concentrate after that.

I was pathetically excited about going over the road to see Wilfred and the only reason I got anything done was that, if I didn’t finish on time, I’d miss my chance to see him and also I’d be late for dinner.

My papa lived outside of town and it would take me an hour to drive there through rush-hour traffic.

I had to finish early and gathered some papers into a pile, feeling guilty that I hadn’t quite finished.

Ah well, I’d come in early tomorrow and finish them off.

Working for myself meant nobody but me needed to know when the work was done, they only needed to know that it was done.

Locking up behind me, I strolled over to Sunflower Smiles, already feeling happier.

The door chimed as I entered and I inhaled the unique scent of the shop.

It was filled with crafts and gifts and scented candles.

It should have smelled awful, all clashing together, but somehow it didn’t.

Just the scent made me feel more at ease.

Wilfred came out from the back room at the sound of the chime and smiled at me.

He had a megawatt smile that made his whole face light up and he became the most handsome man I’d ever seen in my life.

Annoyingly, my heart gave that familiar little flutter.

It would have been a wonderful feeling if I knew Wilfred was smiling like that because he was pleased to see me.

Unfortunately, he smiled at everyone like that.

I’d seen it.

And I’d chastised myself for days afterwards for thinking I was somehow special enough to get a better smile than everyone else.

I didn’t know how Wilfred smiled so much but it was beautiful and made me jealous of everyone else who got that smile.

No wonder Wilfred hadn’t noticed I was flirting with him.

I’d thought for weeks that he had known and that was why he was smiling at me so much, but then I’d seen him just as happy to see some other random customer and I’d realised just how low down the scale I was.

“Pete! How wonderful to see you.”

Yeah, my poor heart was really feeling it today.

Wilfred’s words somehow managed to touch the very core of me.

He made me feel seen in a way I’d never experienced before and I desperately wanted it to be real.

For him to want me as much as I wanted him.

I managed to smile back at him and say, “Yeah, I, um, came in to buy a gift,” while what I wanted to do was take Wilfred in my arms and kiss his soft-looking lips until we both ran out of air.

“Oh? What kind of gift?”

“Um, something to take as a gift for a host.”

Wilfred nodded and looked around his shop.

“What sort of things does the host like?”

I came up blank.

Papa liked living in a spotless house, entertaining guests and badgering me to get married.

I really couldn’t tell Wilfred that.

“Um, he likes cooking,” I said.

“He’s an omega.”

I don’t know why I added that.

I was aware that I became very tongue-tied around Wilfred and never quite said what I wanted to.

I wished I could be that suave kind of alpha who managed to sweep people off their feet but that was never going to happen.

I was a bit nerdy, a bit socially awkward and I was never going to have the biological children my papa seemed to want from me.

Wilfred began to roam around his shop, studying everything.

I knew he’d choose the perfect item.

He always did.

I followed him round, mostly to be near him.

“Does he appreciate practical gifts or decorative?”

I considered.

“Decorative.”

It was one of the ways Papa and I were totally different.

He always said that I inherited my ‘prosaic taste’ from my alpha father, but I couldn’t remember him well enough to know that for myself.

I was a man who didn’t have much use for pretty, frivolous things whereas Papa loved them.

“Hmm,” said Wilfred and moved away from the shelf he was at.

I noticed that he’d been looking at some beautiful bowls with carvings on them.

They were gorgeous and I knew for a fact that Wilfred had hand-crafted every one of them.

They were the sort of thing I’d have in my house.

Practical and beautiful.

Just like Wilfred.

He was right to leave them, though.

Papa would hate them.

In the end, he found the perfect thing.

It was an elegant candle-holder in an intricate rose design.

It was delicate and chic-looking, and I knew Papa would absolutely love it.

“Yes, that’s the one. Thank you.”

He took it over to the counter and placed it there carefully, checking it over until he was satisfied.

“Do you want it wrapped?”

“Yes, please.”

It probably didn’t matter either way but it would look pretty all wrapped up and it would mean I had an excuse to stay here with Wilfred for a while longer, so I took it.

Wilfred took out some tissue paper and began to wrap it carefully but he stopped.

“This doesn’t look right. You can’t give a candle-holder as a gift without a candle in it. Wait here.”

He disappeared out the back and I was left standing in his shop alone.

A moment later, he was back, holding a small white candle, which he placed into the holder.

The roses seemed to grow up the sides of it and somehow the whole thing looked even better with it in.

“That looks pretty,” I said, already feeling how inadequate the word was.

“Yes, it looks much better now. Hopefully your host for the evening will agree.”

It was only as Wilfred finished wrapping it up that I realised I hadn’t said much.

I’d been content to watch him work but I’d missed my chance to flirt with him.

I cleared my throat.

“Um, thanks. He’ll love it.”

When he told me the price, I frowned.

“I don’t think you’ve added the candle or the gift wrap.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. I love gift-wrapping and it makes everything look so special.”

“What about the candle?”

“Oh, well, um, I can’t really charge you for that, can I? Not when it was my idea to put it in.”

“I don’t mind,” I insisted.

“No, honestly. It’s my gift to you. Just let me write it down. Richard gets very cross with me when I give things away and don’t tell him.”

He reached for a pencil and scrawled something on a sheet of paper.

“Do you give candles away to everyone?”

He smiled as he wrote and when he put the pencil down, he looked up at me.

He was only a couple of inches shorter than me and yet he seemed to look up and dazzle me.

“No, I don’t give candles away to everyone. Only to special people.”

I thought that might be my cue to ask him out or at least say something flirty, but Wilfred drew back and touched a finger gently to the box as he handed it over.

“I hope he appreciates it. Enjoy your evening.”

Damn, my mind went blank.

I couldn’t think of anything to say that didn’t sound cheesy, so I just smiled and said, “I will.”

Why the hell couldn’t I get it together enough to impress my man?