Page 19 of The Faceless Omega

She frowned and pretended nothing in her chest reacted at the persisting endearment. It wasn’t meant as an endearment. It was just something he said to enhance intimacy with his partners in the moment. She already knew that. “Lennox, wake up.” Her voice might have been a bit snippy.

His arm tensed, just for a moment, and he exhaled heavily before lifting his head. “You feel a little more stable now.” He raked his gaze over her as if he hadn’t seen more of her naked body than any other living soul. “Want that shower yet?”

She did, in fact. But she couldn’t play dumb, either, so she pushed again at his arm and did her best to shimmy an inch or two away from his alluring body heat. “We need to talk.” Maybe he hadn’t meant to. Maybe it had been one of those impulsive things she’d always been so afraid of.Of course it was.Even if she was an omega, he had enough resources to find one who matched him better, surely.

Lennox frowned and finally sat up, thereby freeing her to do the same. But he didn’t allow her to retreat further, instead looping his other arm around her from behind and hauling her closer as he leaned into what remained of the pillow-wall she barely remembered making. “What could already have you so worked up?” He stopped just shy of dropping her into his lap, but kept his hand on her hip.

Brinley tensed. The traitorous part of her—undoubtedly the same part that had magically summoned him to her apartment in the first place—wanted to melt against him and forget her agitation entirely. But she was too aware for that. “You marked me.” The words did not come out as forcefully as she wanted them to.

Lennox hummed low. “I did.” He bent forward andkissedthe still-tender mark at the back curve of her neck, as if he had every right. “Because you’re mine.” His lips lifted to her ear. “And I’m yours—or I will be, as soon as you return the favor.”

Too many things rushed through her at his murmured words and Brinley finally found enough strength to shove away. She stumbled to her feet, tugged free one of the blankets that had nearly been kicked to the floor already, and pulled it up to cover herself before facing him again. “I amnotyours,” she said, her voice shakier than she would have liked. “I’m just a … a nobody, who happens to be omega. You had your fun. Thank you, I guess. Let’s just call it even. This”—she motioned to the mark beginning to pulse with displeasure—“fades after a cycle if the claim isn’t reciprocated, right?”

She hated how much she didn’t know. It was hard to find information on something more than half of the world believed to befiction.

Lennox found his feet in a singular movement. Somehow, being naked and dotted with an embarrassing number of bruises and hickeys from where she’d nibbled on his skin like a lunatic only made him lookmorelike a predator. “No,” he said, gaze dark and steady. “We will not call it even. I didn’t come here hoping for a chance to play with an omega in heat. I came here foryou, Brinley. Formyfucking omega. I came here to take care of you, yes. Because that’s what a decent alpha does. He takes care of his own.”

Brinley didn’t realize he’d backed her into the wall beside the bathroom until her back collided with it and she found she could no longer retreat from his advancing form.

He raised his arms, caging her in, and leaned closer. His comparatively massive form practically swallowed her. “Now that your heat seems to have cleared, I agree we should clean up and talk about certain things. And seeing as your apartment smells like sex, and is devoid of any useful food, we should do the conversing somewhere else.” His eyes narrowed. “But make no mistake. The next time you sit on my knot—and therewillbe a next time—I look forward to feeling your teeth on my neck.”

She blamed their half-established bond and her damned omega biology for the way her apparently inexhaustible body fluttered and pulsed, just a little, at his demanding words.If only the world were so simple.

Brinley raised her chin and spoke as steadily as she could manage. There was no real sense in drawing this awkwardness out. “The only thing compatible about us is our biology,” she said. “You’re one of the wealthiest, most successful businessmen on the freaking planet. You’ve even figured out how to more or less stay out of the spotlight. On the other hand, I’m a broke reporter.” Her voice cracked as another unpleasant realization dawned and she fought not to drop her stare. The reality only buttressed her point, no matter how much it hurt. “A recently unemployed reporter.” They were opposite in every conscious way. There was no way he wouldn’t see that for himself with it spelled out in front of him.

One corner of Lennox’s lips lifted in a slow, confident smirk that did all the wrong things to her insides and utterly confused her brain. “You’re both right and wrong,” he said. “If journalism means that much to you, then once the building is fixed up, you can have it. Run your own publication from it if you want, or use it as one large office for yourself.” He straightened and dropped his hands to her hips, hauling her from the wall and up to his chest effortlessly. “I don’t give a shit what you do for work, as long as it’s what youwantto be doing. I tend to be busy. It’s better if you have something that occupies your time.”

Brinley braced her hands on his chest, not sure if she was trying to push him away or simply hold herself upright. “You’re saying too much.” He wasn’t making any sense at all. “I haven’t agreed to this.” Her heart raced like a thunderstorm in her ears and she wondered if she had, on some subconscious level. She scrambled for something to latch onto. For one straightforward question to focus on, or argument she could make, and something he’d said replayed in her mind. “What building?”

Lennox chuckled, pressed his lips to her forehead, and swiftly pried the blanket away from her. Then he picked her up and strode into the suddenly too-small bathroom, setting about turning on her even smaller shower while keeping her at his side.

Brinley ducked her head enough to avoid the temptation of glancing into the mirror and repeated herself. “Lennox, what building? What are you talking about?”

He met her questions with his own. “How do you think I knew you would be home? Knew you’d fallen into heat?”

She would have crossed her arms over her chest if he wasn’t holding her so close. “You’re the one who pointed out you have resources. Some elite, overpaid spy? How should I know?”

The deep, rich sound of his chuckle filled the air between them again. “No spies. Just very well compensated investigators, one oversized check, and a pair of highly motivated lawyers.” He extended an arm to check the water, then ushered her into the shower stall ahead of him before pulling the door closed.

The space was cramped with both of them, but she already knew that. Worse, she only minded slightly more than she had the other time they’d taken a moment to bathe themselves—during a brief stretch of semi-clarity she’d enjoyed on the second day. She was pretty sure it was the second day.

Brinley shook the thought from her head, let herself enjoy the sensation of the water gliding across her skin, then moved aside a bit in the interest of sharing and said, “That doesn’t really answer my question. What building?” She didn’t even know how to articulate her confusion.

He watched the water run down her torso, curving over her breast and sluicing down her belly, for a long moment. A sound like a low, appreciative groan carried from him, nearly overshadowed by the straining pipes.

She was very perversely grateful for her body’s sore, overtaxed state. Under normal circumstances, that attention—that sound, that stare—would have had her aroused and squirming in seconds.

Lennox found his voice before he succeeded in dragging his eyes up again to hers. “Your former place of business went out of business on Saturday,” he declared. “Everything it was, from the dirt to the license, belongs to me now.”

Brinley’s mouth dropped open.

Lennox slid his hands over her sides and tugged her closer, pulling her more directly into the path of the spray. “The business is done. Waters is done. But the building can be fixed. I’ll let you have that, if you want it. That’s what I was referring to, baby.”

Her heart beat harder, louder.Holy shit.It didn’t seem possible. It was definitely illogical. “I … I think I’m more confused now than before,” she said on a whisper.

His lips lifted in a grin and he reached for her soap. “Let’s wash, find some clothes, and head out. We can have a better conversation with food in our stomachs.”

She was still nodding, and wondering if she was perhaps not quite out of her heat after all, if only to explain the confusing daze encompassing her mind, when Lennox set to work scrubbing her clean. And it felt good. Physically, of course, but also on another level she couldn’t define. It was different than after care. Hours had passed since they’d last had sex. This was just … care.

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