Chapter 26

Victor’s POV.

Why did I want to kiss her so badly?

My body throbbed with need as my mouth moved closer to her upturned lips. Daisy’s perfect body was pressed against mine, and the urge to ravish her was stronger than I’d felt with any other woman.

Yet, I didn’t dare touch her in that way. It would be a mistake that could cost me my bachelorhood or the leadership role I craved.

How could this shy, innocent, and unsophisticated girl have such a powerful effect on me simply by holding her in my arms?

Daisy wasn’t anywhere close to my type. My ideal woman is beautiful, high-maintenance, and ambitious.

Daisy wasn’t high maintenance, and her ambitions were the opposite of mine.

However, I knew Daisy could easily be considered beautiful on the surface if she tried to improve her looks.

But I didn’t believe laziness kept Daisy from trying to look her best. Other people’s cruelty has eroded her self-confidence to the point that she thought she was ugly.

Words can cause more damage than people realize. Too many years of being told she was ugly, stupid, and worthless had scarred Daisy’s mind and soul.

I admired her for surviving those difficult times, and I wish I could help her overcome her stutter and improve her self-confidence. Still, Daisy is the type of female I avoid at all costs.

The women I allowed myself to be physically intimate with were the ones who could be bought off with an expensive bauble and a hollow promise. These women would leave my bed before dawn and wait for me to call.

I rarely did.

There were too many of these women available to me to allow one woman to take over my life permanently. I am a dog, a player, and a playboy, exactly as Daisy has accused me of being. It’s who I am. I have no desire to change.

Then why did I yearn to kiss her?

I did enjoy Daisy’s company. It’s a shame more people couldn’t see that she is intelligent, caring, and funny. If I were looking for a real fiancé, she would do nicely—if she wasn’t in love with someone else.

But Daisy has made it clear that she has a crush on William. I must be misreading the signs that she feels desire for me. Daisy told me from the beginning that she didn’t want me. I had to use all my powers of persuasion to get her to agree to a fake engagement.

It had to be the dance giving us fake romantic feelings for each other. Like me, Daisy must be swept up in the romance of the Waltz.

I had to leave her home. I possessed too much pride to be something a woman regretted, and Daisy would regret giving me her first kiss. That honor belonged to the man she truly loved, just as she imagined.

Thinking about her interest in William gave me the strength to stop this encounter from going further.

I gently pulled away from her. “I think that’s enough dancing for today.”

“Are you sure?” Daisy asked. The confusion in her eyes told me I was doing the right thing.

“I’ll pick you up after school again tomorrow. “You did very well in your lesson,” I told her. Then I hurried to my car.

I started the Lamborghini’s engine and raced down the driveway. After turning onto a rarely used back road, I let the pleasure of driving this exquisite machine clear my head.

Perhaps I needed a night out on the town. I haven’t been with a woman since Daisy entered my life, and abstinence made my need for a woman greater and her appearance more desirable.

A brief dalliance with a beautiful woman would take my mind off everything—including Daisy.

I attempted to hook up with an old friend at the pool party, but then my Adam, wolf persona, warned me that Daisy was in mortal danger. As I rushed to the pool's edge, I heard her calling for my help in my mind.

I don’t know how she communicated with me in this way.

Alphas can communicate with each other telepathically while in wolf form. But a male Alpha hearing a female’s call for help while in human form was unheard of in modern times.

Even between married couples, that kind of bond no longer existed. The strong affection between Daisy’s parents was rare among our kind these days. Alphas are now married to close a deal or merge two empires. We didn't believe in love or fated mates anymore.

I guided the car through several turns and pressed the accelerator harder. The speed and the wind blowing on my face cleared my mind and made me feel like myself again.

The road wound back to town. I parked the car in my garage and walked up the street to my favorite restaurant. It was quiet and casual, yet it had a fantastic menu.

I planned to eat a good meal, have a few drinks, and call the woman I had been trying to hook up with at the pool party. It had been a long time since I enjoyed her charms.

The hostess greeted me warmly and seated me at my favorite front table, where I could see and be seen.

“I’ll have my usual,” I told her when she asked me what I wanted to drink. She immediately returned with my beverage and gave me a flirty smile.

But she was young and inexperienced, and I needed someone more … well, less like Daisy. I pulled out my phone and pretended to make a call, and she stopped hovering over me.

After I was finished with my drink, I summoned a waiter and ordered another round along with a lightly seared, rare steak. I couldn’t wait to tear into the bloody meat with my teeth.

But I had another appetite that also needed to be appeased. I pulled out my cell and dialed a number, but I hung up before it rang.

I told myself that wanted to eat in peace before making arrangements for the evening. I wasn’t in the mood to take anyone to dinner or talk.

As I waited for my food, I noticed a beautiful brunette sitting alone at the bar. I ordered my third drink and considered sending one to her. Perhaps she would be the diversion I needed.

The brunette saw me staring and gave me side glances, indicating her interest. She was pretty enough and had an air of experience about her. But she gave off the vibe of a Beta.

Not that I’d let that stop me before. I wasn’t looking for a relationship. But I felt I could do better.

My eyes scoured the room for another choice.

The waiter brought my steak, and I dug in. Warm blood ran down my chin, appeasing Adam and one of our more primitive urges.

“You know what you want,” Adam said in my mind. “And you know you can have it. We are the Alpha.”

I ate my steak and toyed with the idea of calling to summon a woman to my apartment. But I was filled with indecision, and my finger froze on my phone’s call button.

The woman I wanted to call was worth a few hours of my time. The night she spent with me two years ago had been pleasant for both of us. But she had her own agenda. And as Daisy has pointed out, I’m not the marrying kind.

I ordered another drink, drank it in one gulp, and walked back to my apartment alone. Adam was right. I knew what I wanted. Therefore, I needed to go further to help Daisy capture William’s heart.

“Remember who you are and what you have been working for all your life,” Adam reminded me. “You will be a great leader.”

I needed to sleep. A good night’s sleep would put everything back in perspective.