Page 41 of Ember

“Sure.” He walked over to the couch, barely using his cane. He had a good memory to know where everything was from before. I could barely remember what I ate yesterday, but he moved around the coffee table like he’d been here more than once.

He sat down with a gust of scent, and I took a deep breath in. Spicy woods and deep berry. A cranberry? I didn’t know. I’d have to ask Alejandro about berry scents. I leaned forward, the urge to rub my chin all over his shoulder nearly unbearable.

Having amazing sex all week didn’t take the edge off the desire for this alpha.

It made it worse.

My omega instincts wanted to know why we weren’t getting with the program. The sexy, knotty program.

“Did your other date go okay?” I looked around like Rian was hiding behind the trash can. “Rian’s not here?”

“I was up here on business and…” He frowned, leaned forward, and growled.

It was a possessive growl and made all the hairs on my arm stand up. I barely suppressed a whimper, slick heat soaking my core.

“Who’s that?” He reached over, his hand landing on my forearm. He lifted my arm and scented me. “He’s new.”

“Alejandro,” I said, my voice breathy. “The alpha West and I are dating.”

He let go and cleared his throat. “Sorry. That was rude.”

It wasn’t rude; it was hot. I swallowed hard. “It’s okay. Surprising. He’d been flirting for months, and, uhhh…”

“Good,” he grumbled. “Better treat you two right or I’ll kick his ass.”

“Noted,” I said, and shifted my weight. I pressed my knees together, sure if I opened my legs too much my perfume would smoke out the room.

He smelled so good, the spicy woodsy scent heady. “The date with Daisy went okay?”

“Daisy? Who’s—oh, yeah.” He shrugged. “It was fine.”

“You need another match?” I almost didn’t want to offer. The thought of them dating yet another woman made me want to snarl.

“Not right now. Rian’s still looking through profiles.”

“Okay.”

“I had a business meeting up here. I wanted to stop by and see you. If you’re not busy.”

“It can wait,” I said quickly. “Are you hungry?” I gestured at the food on the coffee table. Food he couldn’t see, I was an idiot.

“Are you asking me to lunch?” He grinned, his blue eyes twinkling.

“Yes,” I said before I could think about if it was a good idea. “I mean, I have some snacks here. But if you’re in the area—wait, how are you getting back to San Francisco?”

He laughed. “A car service, unless you want to drive me?”

I suddenly wanted nothing more than to do just that. I considered my schedule. I didn’t have intakes today since I was working on the buggy software. But I could take a few hours to get lunch with Ben. The chance to do this wouldn’t come again.

He was a client. I was just being nice. Cosmic Bonds liked to go the extra mile for their clients.

“I’ll drive you,” I replied. “What do you want for lunch?”

“Lady picks. I’ll pick up the tab.” His joy was almost tangible, and his scent got a little bit lighter, like a wind was blowing in my imaginary dark woods.

The real challenge was going to be having lunch with him without getting him to knot me in the back seat of my car. Or not having dirty thoughts. I didn’t want to perfume all afternoon, not when Rian was a big question mark.

It was going to be a long drive back to San Francisco.

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