Hero help

I love Alpha heroes. They're tough, strong, take-charge and great lovers (at least in romance novels).

When I was working on my vampire paranormal series, an alpha hero was all I would consider. It just fits well with paranormal, or at least the ones I like. But now that I'm working on a contemporary, I'm struggling with the type of hero.

I know his archetype, characteristics and his character arc. But I'm having a hard time imagining how to make him alpha with this book and plot. I have scenes with his alpha tendencies, but throughout the book he doesn't fit what an alpha male is in my mind.

I did a bit of research about the three main hero types: alpha, beta and gamma. Through my googling (that word has to be in Webster's soon) I found some great definitions on Annie Dean's blog:

Alpha - He has to be successful- a man of achievement. Independent. A ruler – a man of power. Strong, handsome, vigorous. A leader. In human societies, the signs of success are wealth and power – and so the Alpha hero has to have the outward trappings – those visible signs of success that the world values – money, houses, cars, businesses...

Beta - These romances have kinder, gentler heroes, the kind of men who will change your flat tire, open doors for you, help your kid with his homework, and bring you soup when you are sick. They are the anti-thesis of the testosterone-filled chest beaters found in the earlier bodice-ripper romances. These are the guys we all want to find in real life.

Gamma - One who doesn't fit the image of the macho Alpha male, or the easygoing Beta either. He's a combination--a mutation?--of both types of man, and makes a hero to die for.

I think my hero is a gamma. I like that definition. My guy isn't pushy or take-charge all the time. He's like that when he needs to be, but also tender when he needs to be. That's what draws the heroine in. She's 100% convinced he's a baboon ass, then he doesn't something so amazingly sweet that she second guesses her conclusion.

So, which would you most like to read about? What are the characteristics of your favorite fiction heroes? What bothers you about heroes you've read?