Page 41 of Omega's Triplets

“Are you sure it’s okay?” Maddy felt oddly afraid, suddenly, as if she were about to jump out of a plane. “What if you’re wrong?”

“My mom ate cake,” Harley said. “And chips, and she drank tons of soda. And we all turned out fine. Now, hand me those eggs.”

Maddy did. Harley’s hands were so big, and yet, so dexterous that he was able to crack an egg neatly in each. He shook the shells over the bowl and then disposed of them in the garbage can.

“Can I help?” Maddy asked.

He passed her the bowl with the eggs. “You can stir,” he said. “Make sure the eggs and the flour and sugar all blend up evenly.”

She stirred, watching in amazement as the ingredients slowly combined to form a batter. “This smells amazing.”

“We’re not done.” He dropped in a stick of butter, then poured brown powder over the whole mixture.

“What’s that?”

“Cocoa powder. Stir it up again.”

Maddy tried, but it was harder this time. The batter was already thick and resisted her efforts, and having the butter in the way just made things harder. Soon, it was coated in batter and cocoa powder, but it hadn’t blended in with the rest of the ingredients at all. “This isn’t working,” she said, frustrated.

“Let me see.” Harley came up behind here. “You need to mash the butter a little. Here.” He took her wrist in his hand and pressed down with the flat side of the spoon on top of the butter, squashing it into a new shape. “There,” he said when he’d finished. “That’ll make it easier to stir.”

She tried again. The going was a little easier this time—the butter split up into smaller chunks and became evenly distributed throughout the mixture— but she still couldn’t seem to get the texture to even out. “I can’t do this,” she said, unsatisfied.

“Sure, you can. You have to stir ithard, that’s all. Withvigor.” He took her arm again and began to whip the batter so fast that Maddy didn’t feel like she was doing anything at all. Her arm was an extension of the spoon, just another tool for Harley to use.

Good God, he was strong.

He reached around her other side to turn the bowl, bringing his chest flush against her back. Maddy inhaled sharply. As soon as he’d touched her, she’d felt that same pulse of desperate energy she’d felt in the woods with Mark.

It’s because he’s Mark’s brother, she told herself.They’re identical. It feels the same, and I’m getting hung up on it. I’m just remembering. That’s all this is.

Except, was that all this was? Because she was suddenly very aware that he was getting hard. He wanted her.

And she wanted him. Badly.

He cleared his throat and stepped back, his gaze averted. “So,” he said, “you’ve got it from here?”

“Harley,” she whispered.

“I need to go and get the cake pan.” But he didn’t move.

“You felt that, didn’t you?” she pressed. “I know you did.”

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“Yes, you do. That’s what happened between me and Mark. One minute, we were just...just talking, we were normal, and then we touched, and then—”

“I’m not like that,” Harley snapped. “I can control myself.”

“Can you?” she asked. “Because I feel like I’m going insane. You don’t feel the same way? You don’t feel it still, even though we’re not touching anymore?”

He closed his eyes and took a shuddering breath.

“Mark was always the animal,” he said softly. “Jamie...Jamie was the human. And then there was me, somewhere in between.”

Moving slowly, she closed the distance between them and took his hands in hers. “You’re both,” she said. “You’re a man, and you’re a wolf. Like me. We’re shifters. You don’t have to choose one thing. You don’t have to be one thing.”

“I don’t know,” he said.

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