Page 14 of The Fated Mate Bandit

Damn, he looks good in my clothes.

“Hey,” he says, hugging his body shyly.

I hold out my arms to him, and he steps toward me uncertainly.

“Am I interrupting anything?” he asks.

I shake my head and wrap my arms around his big belly, pulling him onto my lap. He smells of my soap and shampoo, which combined with my clothing, makes this whole trial run thing feel a lot more solid. Lucas is really mine for a whole month.

“I’m just chatting with my brothers.”

He curls up in my lap, resting his head on my shoulder. It’s such a sweet and affectionate gesture, my heart swells with want. Not a sexual want, but an emotional one. When was the last time an omega rested his head on my shoulder? I can’t remember.

“How are they doing?” Lucas asks.

It takes me a second to remember he’s talking about my brothers.

“They’re good. Coin has some mysterious thing he wants to tell all of us in person, and so he invited them all over tonight. I tried to tell them I had a houseguest, and I couldn’t host, but?—”

“It’s okay,” Lucas says.

“I thought you said you didn’t want my family to know you were here.”

He burrows his nose into the crook of my neck. It feels so good, I close my eyes.

“It doesn’t matter now,” he says softly.

“Are you sure?”

He nods against my skin. “Just don’t tell them about the trial run, okay?”

“Okay.”

The idea of Lucas hanging out with my brothers again fills my heart with warmth. I wrap my arms around him, and he lets out a contented little noise that makes my heart race. It’s been far too long since we cuddled like this. I missed it so much in the months after he left that I could barely drag myself to class some days.

Somehow, I have to convince him to be mine forever. I don’t know if I can bear to lose him like that again.

8

LUCAS

Silver lets me sit in his lap as he works. It’s a silly, stupid thing to stay there. I know that. But once I curl up on his lap, all the fear and stress melt away. Maybe it’s the comforting scent of his skin or the slow thump, thump, thump of his heart. I can feel the pulse of it against my cheek, and it makes me feel so goddamn safe, I want to cry.

Silver types on his laptop like I’m not there most of the time, except for the occasional kiss he presses to my head or the hand he runs down my back. The first time I rise to go to the bathroom, he playfully traps me with his arms until I tell him where I’m going.

“Will you come back?” he asks.

“Do you want me to?”

He nods without hesitation. So I do come back. I try to give his legs a break now and again by grabbing a snack in the kitchen and getting a glass of water, but I return each time and allow myself to take comfort in his big, warm body.

At 4:30, he shuts his laptop. “I’m done for the day.”

“Already?” I ask, not quite ready to get up, even though I’ve already cuddled with him for hours.

“Yep. I’ve been at it since 6:30 this morning.” He wraps his big arms around me and buries his nose in my hair. “Fuck, Lucas. You feel so good.”

My heart soars. Somehow, even with my big belly and swollen cheek, I’ve managed to make Silver feel good. I can hear the truth of it in his voice.

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