Page 49 of Omega's Triplets

“Well, somebody has to be.” He sighed. “That’s why they’re mad at me. They think all I care about is cooking the books and having the last word.”

She raised her eyebrows. “That’s what you think is going on?”

“That’s obviously what’s going on. If you’d been in the conversations—”

Maddy shook her head. “You’re too close to it,” she said. “You’re not seeing it clearly.”

“What am I not seeing?”

“They’re not mad that you’reresponsible,Jamie. Haven’t they always liked that about you? When Harley talks about you, he always mentions how you take care of things he and Mark don’t know how to handle. And Mark thinks you’re a genius.”

“He does not.”

“He does. He told me.” This was a bit of a stretch—Mark had never actually said the wordgenius. He had, however, extolled Jamie’s virtues as they’d lain awake talking into the night, and Maddy had realized he was filled with sadness at the growing distance between his brothers and himself.Jamie’s the smart one, he’d said.I can’t believe he went off at me the way he did. I never would have thought Jamie would be the one to lose his cool. That’s the sort of shit I do, or maybe Harley. But Jamie? Never.

“If that’s not what they’re mad about, then what’s the problem?” Jamie asked her.

“They think you don’t respect them,” Maddy said.

“What?”

“They think you think they’re...well. Nothing but animals.”

“I respect them! They don’t respectme! They think I’m soft!”

Maddy shook her head. “You see? It’s all a misunderstanding. If any of you would justtalkto each other—”

“We’ve talked. We’ve talked plenty.”

“You haven’tlistened. You haven’t really heard anything. You’ve let yourselves get angry because you feel slighted and small, and you’re all projecting your insecurities onto each other. And none of you sees what I see.”

“What do you see?”

“You’re all wonderful,” Maddy said quietly. “You’re all amazing. Each in your own way.”

Jamie smiled slightly and squeezed her hand—

Maddy gasped as sensation swept up her arm and radiated through her body. She recognized it immediately—there was no mistaking that feeling—and her eyes darted to Jamie’s, desperate for his response.

He was clearly feeling the same thing she was—his breath had caught, and he was staring at her as if he’d never seen her before. “Oh,” he whispered.

She nodded, as if he’d asked a question, because she knew what was on his mind as clearly as if he’d articulated it.This is it, isn’t it. This is imprinting.

She would have done anything he’d asked of her in that moment. She would have laid down and let him take her right there on the breakfast table, and never mind the fact that the rest of the pack would be along at any moment. If this had been Mark or Harley, no doubt that’s exactly what would have happened. But this was Jamie, and Jamie was different, amazing in his own way, just as she’d said. And now, Jamie got to his feet, still holding her hand, and strode purposefully from the room, allowing her to trail along behind him.

She figured out where they were going once they reached the top floor of the house. This was where the men slept, each in their own room with a common living space in the middle. She’d never been here, had only heard descriptions of it from Mark and Harley. Now, Jamie led her through the living area and into one of the little bedrooms, sat her on his bed, and locked the door behind them.

Privacy. As much as Maddy had loved the insanity of her intimacy with Harley, the thrill of fear that they might be caught at any moment, there was something delicious, somethingdecadent, about knowing she would be allowed to relax and enjoy this. They could go as slowly as they wanted. They could take their time. Even her interludes with Mark in her bedroom had never afforded her that luxury—there was no lock on her door.

And as Jamie came to her bed, she felt, for the first time since coming to the Hell’s Wolves, as though she could truly surrender to a power greater than herself.

With Mark, she had been enamored by his forcefulness and his ability to take what he wanted. She had allowed it. She had wanted it. But Mark had always been in the driver’s seat.

With Harley, they had been equals, exploring each other like teenagers, giddy and excited, neither of them entirely knowing what they were doing or where their moves would lead them.

But, with Jamie, Maddy knew, intuitively, the reins were in her hands.

It was a strange dichotomy. He was so big. So strong. He could have taken her with as much force as Mark, if he’d wanted to. But he was exceedingly gentle. He was careful, as if he thought he might break her with his touch. She was the one guiding his hands, bringing them to her body, leaning in to show him how much she wanted it.

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