Page 27 of Rejected Bullied Mate

"Is that right?"

"Yup. Your Omega here has an interesting habit of walking into other Alphas' stores. Aren't you keeping her occupied enough at home?"

The innuendo made me wrinkle my nose, but Samson didn't give me time to speak.

"That's debatable," Samson copied Joe from earlier, and my confusion only deepened until Joe laughed and strode forward.

The two Alphas shook hands like they knew each other, and everything suddenly made sense.

"You son of a bitch," Joe said with a grin, pulling Samson in for a brotherly hug. "I was gonna tell you that your lady here applied, but I wanted to see for myself the woman that had Samson Jones all tied up in knots first."

Samson huffed, but there was no animosity between them. I stared at the two men, trying to process the information, before I finally found my words. "You...you're allies?"

Joe grinned. "Sure am. My pack moved here when Zeke was still the boss with the understanding that we’d help hold the territory. We're buddies. Right, Samson?"

"Right," Samson agreed, though there was some hesitation in his voice. "So I would appreciate it if you didn't flirt with my wife, Joe."

"Oh, come on," Joe said, "it's not like I'm actually going to steal your Omega away. I know better than to fuck up a functional alliance."

Satisfied, at least for the moment, Samson turned back to me. "So, do you want to tell me why you quit Scott's place?"

I could tell he was going to be a smug asshole about it, but I just wished it wasn't in front of my potential new boss and coworker. "It didn't have anything to do with you, so don't start."

Samson was trying to keep his serious expression in place, but there was a grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "You sure about that?"

He was driving me wild, and he wasn't doing a single thing except for standing there. I didn't know how much longer I could keep my heat in check. I was hyper-aware of how close he was, of the way his fingers tapped lazily on the counter next to us, of the steady rise and fall of his chest. The smile playing at his lips was what nearly pushed me over. The Alpha swagger had never done it for me before, but Samson was seriously getting under my skin.

"Kiera?" he asked again. "Why'd you quit the coffee shop?"

"I didn't like the uniform."

His laugh was quiet but genuine. "Try again."

I shrugged, feigning indifference, "I just didn't want to get caught up in pack politics. There. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

Samson made a noise, half irritation, and half amusement. "So you...took a job with another Alpha instead?"

"It's not my fault this town is crawling with them."

"I'm just saying," Samson had come even closer, reaching up to tuck a strand of my hair behind my ear before I could stop him. "If you want to avoid Alphas, maybe you should have picked a shop not run by one."

I swallowed once and then again when it didn't relieve the dryness of my mouth. "Not everything is about you, Samson."

"I never said it was," he was so close now that I swore I could feel the heat rolling off his body. Any awareness of the two people in the room had faded. "But something makes me think thatthisreally is about me."

My eyes shot up to his, wondering how he had figured me out so easily, but the heat in them threatened to burn me alive. He hadn't raised his hand, but I was positive he was about to touch me, and I was so hungry for him to do so...

"I knew it," Joe scoffed loudly enough to ruin the moment. "You two are about to get handsy in my shop. Knock it off."

I nearly fell backward, my face heating. Crap. How am I supposed to hate Samson when the need I felt for him eclipsed everything else, including social awareness?

Samson exhaled sharply, his jaw tightening before he turned to glare at Joe. “We were not.”

Joe smirked. “Sure, sure. And I’m a celibate monk.” Debbie giggled from behind the counter while Joe waved a hand at me. “You’re hired, by the way.”

I blinked. “Just like that?”

He grinned. “Unless you’d rather go back to working for Scott. I'm sure he misses you terribly."

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