Page 33 of His Gentle Omega
It wasn’t a lie. I was able to take deeper breaths and I didn’t feel the need to cough every five seconds. The tightness that had held my chest in a vice had also eased up. I knew I was nowhere close to being well, but the meds seemed to be doing their job. “I’ll take my medicine like a good boy when I eat, do a breathing treatment and probably be back in bed soon. Walking out here feels like I ran a marathon.”
He gave me a look that brought back all kinds of memories. One of his I-don’t-really-care-what-you-want-I’m-doing-it-anyway looks. Which meant I was going to be subjected to his mother-henning me. I liked it much more when Bennett did it. Bennett had a way of quietly getting people to do exactly what he wanted, without you thinking it was his idea. Asher had always been too pushy for his own good.
Damn, I had missed him.
“Come eat,” Bennett called–ordered–from the dining room. He was placing a steaming bowl in front of Lucas. “Blow on that before you eat it. It’s super hot. Do you want crackers?”
“Lots please.” Lucas nodded his head, giving Bennett a wide smile.
Asher hovered after me, ready to catch me if I stumbled, while I shuffled like an old man to an empty seat. I wanted to tell him it wasn’t necessary for him to walk behind me, hands held up on either side of him, but the truth was my legs still felt like they were made from noodles.
“Start with three crackers and we’ll see.” At Bennett’s questioning look, I explained, “He puts an entire sleeve of saltines in his soup or chili if you’re not watching.”
Bennett chuckled, but made sure to hide his face from Lucas, so he didn’t think that he was laughing at him.
“Well, chili is icky and it takes that many crackers so I can eat it, Daddy.” Lucas explained, his tone serious. “Beans. Gross. And they make you fart.”
Grinning at him, I nodded in agreement. “That they do.”
Bennett handed Lucas his three crackers, then placed a bowl of the most amazing smelling soup in front of me, before taking his seat. Closing my eyes, I leaned my headtoward the bowl, so I could feel the steam on my face and breathe in the wonderful aroma.
Beyond the chicken and herbs, a new scent caught my attention. Sugar, cinnamon, and the lovely scent you get when you mix them and fry them up. Donuts. Glancing around, I tried to pinpoint where the smell of my favorite cinnamon-sugar twists donuts was coming from. Had Asher remembered how much I loved them and brought a box over for dessert?
Not glimpsing a bakery box anywhere, a memory tugged at the corners of my mind. I smelled the same scent while in the hospital.
Bennett.
It was Bennett.
He smelled like one of my most favorite things in the world. Because of course he did. The Goddess wasn’t cruel enough with her meddling, putting my fated mate in my path at the worst time in my life. She had to make him smell likethaton top of everything else.
My body and brain caught up with themselves, and my skin tingled, desire slamming into me like a racing car. My breathing sped up, and all the blood in my body raced south to instantly fill my cock. The urge to sweep all the dishes onto the floor, grab Bennett and lay him out on the table, so I could taste every sweet inch of his skin, burned through me like a wildfire.
Ah, not dead after all, my tiger purred, content.Good to know.
Slamming my eyes shut, I gripped the edge of the table hard, then tried to casually reach down and press a hand to my rock-hard dick.
Go down, go down, go down, I chanted in my head.Why, why, why? Thank fuck, I’m wearing sweats, or I’d probably pop a hole straight through my jeans. Go. Down!
“Shay?” Asher’s worried voice drifted into me ordering my wayward cock around.
“I’m okay.” Whispering, I opened my eyes and blinked the sexual haze from my sight. “Just got dizzy for a second.”
Lust had slammed into me hard enough that the little white lie wasn’t that much of a lie. It had left me a bit dizzy and off-center. Mostly because I hadn’t felt anything like that in longer than I could remember–if ever–and I had honestly thought my dick getting hard had disappeared along with my tiger. Now they were both back, apparently, and my dead dick was anything but.
When I opened my eyes, Bennett was staring at me with an almost wistful look on his face. Did he know what had happened when I’d caught his scent? Did he feel the same thing?
Catching me staring at him, his cheeks flooded with color again, and he quickly ducked his head, shoving a spoonful of noodles and chicken in his mouth. When he swallowed, he told Lucas, “I don’t like chili either, for the same reasons.”
Bennett gave me a wink, and a shy smile, and a swarm of butterflies took flight low in my belly. My skin felt hot and feverish–a different kind of fever than had burned in me the last few days, and a shiver of need shook my entire body. At some point–and soon–we were going to have to acknowledge the fated mate sized elephant in the room.
Asher shot me a quizzical look, his eyes darting between me and Bennett, and I ignored him in favor of taking a small sip of the delicious smelling soup. It was as tasty as the aroma had guaranteed, and I was happy I could actually enjoy it. Concentrating on eating got my mind off of what was happening inside my body, and my dick went down to half-mast.
“Is Gabe coming over for dinner?” Bennett addressed my brother, who was still hovering by the table instead of sitting. “I know soup isn’t a summer food, but there’s plenty.”
“He’s getting the kids around. Trist has been beyond cranky, so we’ll probably just eat and run. And I can eat soup anytime of the year, honestly. After the long drive, we’re both just happy to not have to cook tonight.”
The front door opened, and the large bear of a man came in, a toddler secured in each of his brawny arms. The one that looked like him the most–Tristan if I was putting the correct name with the correct baby–saw Asher and immediately reached his arms out with a screeched, ”DA!”
