Page 103 of Follow Your Instincts

I couldn’t stop replaying what had happened during Maggie’s heat. It would have seemed like a dream if I wasn’t deliciously sore from his very large cock.

But what if it was just a product of pheromones? Before Maggie, I’d been an expert in casual sex. Was that what it was to Lachlan? Something fun to do during Maggie’s heats? He hadn’t given me any indication otherwise. If so, I needed some time to come to terms with it and box up those feelings yet again.

So I was avoiding him in my favorite way: working out way too hard.

After my early client appointments, I ran six miles around the neighborhood, trying to work off some of the nervous energy that was coursing through me. It didn’t work.

I crept back into the house as quietly as possible, intending to sneak upstairs for a shower before Lachlan knew I was home. His office door was closed, so I figured he was catchingup on work after Maggie’s heat.

I wasnotexpecting to literally run into him on the stairs.

“Shit,” I yelped, windmilling my arms to find my balance. Lachlan caught my shoulders and steadied me.

“Why are you sneaking around?” he said. He didn’t let go of my arms.

“I’m notsneaking around,” I said disdainfully.

“You were tiptoeing,” he said. His grin faded. “Wow. You are avoiding me.”

I shook off his hands and started climbing the stairs. “I’m not, I just… didn’t want to disturb you.”

Lachlan followed me up the stairs. “Well, you are,” he said when we reached the landing.

“I am what?” I said, annoyed. Couldn’t he just go back to being broody Lachlan and leave me alone to overthink things in peace?

“Disturbing me,” he said simply and blocked the way into my room.

I scoffed. “I’m disturbingyou?”

“Yes. You have been for weeks now,” he said.

I goggled at him. “Well, I’m sorry for whatever I did to bother you, but I’d like to take a shower-”

“It’s not your fault. You’ve been disturbing my dreams, keeping me awake, keeping me from working because I can’t stop thinking about you,” he said, still blocking my way.

My stomach leapt, and I went very still.

“Do you regret what happened between us?” he asked. He reached out as if to touch my face, but dropped his hand.

“No,” I breathed.

“Then why are you avoiding me?” He stepped in closer, and I stepped back.

“Because… because that wasn’t just some heat-induced thing for me, okay?” I snapped, stepping back further. “It meant something to me.”

“Why do you think it didn’t mean something to me?” Lachlan asked, still maddeningly calm. He took another stepforward, and I retreated until my back hit the opposite wall.

“You’re straight! Or mostly straight, I guess. And that’s fine, I came to terms with that a long time ago. But introducing this new dynamic is kind of a lot when I don’t want it to just be something I get during Maggie’s heats.” My throat started to block up, and I felt tears welling.Fuck, now I’m crying.“I want you all the time, and this isn’t fair.”

He stepped in closer again and brushed his hand across my cheekbone to wipe away my tears. “Sweet boy,” he said. “I want you all the time, too.”

He leaned down to kiss me, soft and tentative at first. He caged me in with his body until I was flush against the wall. He licked at my lips, and I opened my mouth for his tongue to sweep in, and I was still crying, but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that he kept kissing me so I could pretend for a few more moments that this was real.

He broke the kiss to look down at me. “Love, why are you crying?”

I shook my head. “Because this can’t be real,” I said.

Lachlan laughed softly and ran his hand through my hair. “It feels very real to me.”

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