Page 51 of Knot Mine

He wraps his hand around my wrist, and twists me gently so I’m facing him. I feel enclosed, the space too intimate with his one arm around and the other guiding me.

“Look, you’re cute, Shiloh.” Blake looks away for a moment, before turning back. “But you really don’t let anyone get near you, so I might have asked Millie to give me an opening.”

“What?” My body goes tense. Why would he do that?

“Who’s cute?” A deep voice cuts in and we both turn, to see Zale standing beside the hot tub, beer in hand. He’s staring between us like it’s a ping pong match.

Blake grins, “I was just having aprivateconversation with Shiloh.”

“I can see that.” Zale glares at me and instead of shrinking back, like I know I should under the glare of an alpha, I stare right back at him with my eyes narrowed.

Who the hell does he think he is? Is he looking for another fight? Another bite? Because I will if his face stays like that.

“So, uh…” Blake waves his fingers a little as if trying to subtly tell Zale to go away, but there isn’t anything discreet about it.

“You know what, I was just saying to Millie how we should all get to know this little Hedgehog better.” He winks at me and my hand curls into a fist.Fucker.

Handing me his beer, he reaches down and strips off his T-shirt before climbing into the hot tub with us. Between us.

Blake’s mouth drops open, “Dude…”

Zale acts like he hasn’t heard him as he wiggles a little as if we’re the ones squashing him, pushing Blake and I even further apart. “Hm, you okay mate? Did Shiloh tell you about his love of octopi yet?”

Love of…he’s talking about my dildo. That prick. After I’d managed to avoid that same topic with Evans, not giving anything away, here was Zale—smashing my walls down and making me blush.

Blake takes a sip of his beer and shakes his head, “Does every conversation go back to tentacles tonight? Was there a documentary I missed somewhere?”

“It was definitely one of those ‘you had to be there’ moments.” He nudges me with a smirk, as if we’re sharing some sort of secret. We’re not sharing a secret, he walked in on mefucking myself on the toy he might have also seen me purchase.Verydifferent.

“Huh?”

Before Zale can say anything else, we’re interrupted.

“Blake, Shiloh, you guys want something to eat?” Caz calls, waving over to us a burger in his hand.

“I’m starving,” Blake gets out but not before giving me another boyish smirk. “But I’ll be back. We haven’t finished this conversation, Shiloh.”

“I think you fucking have,” Zale grumbles under his breath taking another sip from his bottle.

Zale and I sit in silence as the minutes tick by and I slump deeper into the tub, closing my eyes and tilting my head back to enjoy the heat and bubbles.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” His voice is low, and closer to my ear than I was expecting. Why is he still so close? There’s a whole hot tub big enough for at least 10 people, why is he practically in my lap?

I barely crack an eyelid open as I grunt, “About what?”

His words dance across the wet skin on my neck, sending a shiver through me despite the heated water. “The fact that you’re an omega.”

Grinding my teeth, I place my hand on his chest and push him away. “Because I’m a beta.”

I need to get to my room.

I need my pills.

“I know what I felt,” he murmurs. “You were slick for me.”

Finally, I open my eyes, and he’s not as close as I expected. His blue eyes are like a swirling storm, a hypnotizing clash of swirling greys and blues as he looks hungrily at me.

We can’t do this. He can’t look at me like that, like he wants me and I can’t enjoy it. Not even a little bit. Not even if I wanted to.

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