Page 8 of Follow the Rhythm
“Right. But why are you still here? Do you not have a shower of your own?”
Charlie laughed. “I do have a shower. But I wanted to see you this morning. We did just have the best sex of my life.”
I blushed despite myself. “Okay, well, you can go now. I’ve gotten what I needed from this interaction.”
He grinned. Was he always smiling? “I was worried it was just your heat making you so mean. I’m glad to know it’s your core personality trait.”
I glared at him. “Maybe you just bring out the worst in me.”
“I told you, I like it,” he said, and slid his arms around my waist to pull me closer. He cradled my jaw with one hand and kissed me, gentler than he had during the frenzy of my heat.
I kissed him back like an idiot.
He growled low in his throat as he drew his other hand up my side to cup my breast. It wasn’t until I felt his cock stirring against my stomach that I snapped out of it.
I broke the kiss and stepped back. “I am way too tired for sex.”
Charlie looked at me, confused. “Me too. I just wanted to kiss you.”
“Well. Okay,” I said, blushing again. I turned off the water and brushed past him to get out of the shower to cover up my embarrassment. I pulled on my new robe, a housewarming present I’d gotten for myself. It was insanely soft and plush, and so big that I looked like I was wearing oversized wizard robes.
I looked in the mirror for the first time and suppressed a gasp. I had a ring of bruises around my neck from where I’d begged for Charlie’s bites. I’d had similar marks before, but maybe one or two, maximum. This was almost obscene. I touched one. It was tender but looked worse than it felt. And perversely, I felt a rush of arousal at the sight of his marks on me.
Charlie followed me out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist before he started helping dry my hair with another one.
“I know what you’re doing,” I said, glaring at him in the mirror as he squeezed water from my hair.
“Really? And what’s that?” He was grinning again.
“You’re trying to take care of me, use my biology against me to show me you’re a provider or whatever. It’s not the first time an Alpha has tried it, and I promise you it won’t work,” I said. Usually the attempts were much more inept and annoying, though he didn’t need to know that.
“Hm. And if Iweredoing that, what would be my motivation?”
“To pack me up? Bond me? Have a dutiful little Omega housekeeper and sex slave? Take your pick,” I said.
Charlie laughed again. “You? A ‘dutiful little Omega’? I’d have to be out of my mind to think you’d ever fit that description.”
I scowled at him in the mirror, and he rested his hands on my shoulders before brushing a fingertip across the closest bite bruise. I shivered, then shrugged his hands off.
“Did you ever think maybe I’m just a nice person? Or is that a completely foreign concept to you?” he asked.
I rolled my eyes. “In my experience, Alphas usually aren’t nice unless they have an ulterior motive.”
“Maybe that’s because you bring out the worst in them,” he said, smirking.
I huffed and made my way to the kitchen to make coffee. Charlie, of course, followed me.
“Oh my god, you’re like a stray dog,” I said, then stopped in my tracks.
Instead of the pile of half-built furniture I’d grown accustomed to, I now had a fully assembled dining set. Theboxes were even neatly broken down and stacked near the front door.
I turned to look at Charlie, who had the decency to look a little sheepish.
“Oh my god, you’re insane. What kind of psycho builds someone else’s furniture? How long have you even been awake?” My voice went up a full octave.
The fucker had even made a pot of coffee already. I poured myself a mug and then reluctantly poured one for him too. He beamed at me. I tried not to look at his bare chest and failed.
“I wake up early,” Charlie said defensively. “And you can’t live like that; you need a place toeat.”
