Page 17 of Perfectly Naïve
“Cuddling?” she asks, studying the couch.
“Mmm. It’s an art, and if done right, it can be the perfect way to bond. Plus, your pack will want to hold you, so it’s important to understand the different positions.”
She opens her notebook again. “Positions like sex? Like a reverse cowgirl of cuddling?”
“Jesus fucking Christ, are you trying to kill me?” I drop my head back and stare at the ceiling, willing thoughts of old wrinkly elderly women and old saggy ball sacks into my brain and not Liv’s ass bouncing up and down.
Her pen scrapes across the paper. “Are all alphas easily distracted?”
“It’s worse when an omega strips down to her lingerie,” I deadpan.
“It’s a matching set,” she defends. “I thought it was cute.”
“Fucking sexy,” I say on a growl. “Shit. Stop talking about your underwear.” Dirty urinals. Smelly gym socks. A litter box. The smell of portable toilets at a baseball field in the summer. My cock deflates. Finally, I exhale. “Let’s just put on a movie, okay?”
Another minute of this, and I might just take her up on her offer to have sex day one.
“That’s why you wanted me to bring snacks,” she murmurs. “What are we watching?”
Now this is a conversation I can have without thinking about her naked. I avoid looking in her direction, just in case,though, and make my way to the couch. “There are a few choices. Classic rom-com?—”
“You would watch a rom-com?”
Frowning slightly, I take in Liv’s adorably perplexed expression. She looks like she’s trying to solve a complex mathematical equation with only half the data. “Of course I’d watch a rom-com. Why wouldn’t I?” The guys and I watch them from time to time, mostly on holidays.
There’s a little groove between her eyebrows I want to kiss away. “Nothing, it’s just, my mother said...”
Her mom. The woman has never liked me, and I have to say, the feeling is mutual. She’s a vapid, materialistic, judgmental bitch, and I don’t say that lightly. Despite my mother being good enough to help raise her two children for her, Marnie has always made it clear thatIam beneath her son and daughter. I have to push down the growl forming at the base of my throat, because I can guarantee that whatever bullshit Marnie Wellington has filled Liv’s head with is going to piss me the hell off.
Liv’s pretty face scrunches up in a frown.
“What did she say, baby?”
“That omegas should be agreeable. That alphas don’t want omegas with opinions.” Her little button nose crinkles in distaste as she says those words, so at least she knows how gross that sentiment is. But that doesn’t mean some part of her hasn’t internalized it.
Slowly, I run my palms up Liv’s arms, enjoying the little shiver that racks her body before I settle my hands on either side of her face, cupping her cheeks and tracing her jaw with my thumbs. “Olivia Wellington, I hope you know that your mother is full of shit, and any alpha who’s halfway decent and worth a damn not only wants his omega to have opinions, but he wants to hear them and encourage them.”
Her eyelashes flutter when I lean forwardjust enough to skim the tip of my nose against hers. I want to cover her in my scent and hate that she doesn’t even realize that’s what I’m doing.
Fuck,what I wouldn’t give to smell her. This woman is going to try my restraint far more than I ever would have thought possible. “Do you understand, Liv?”
She nods. I hate that I can’t inhale her the way I want to. One of the ways an alpha can take care of an omega is by paying attention to the way their scents change, and I can’t wait to have a better understanding of what she’s thinking.
“Now, what kind of movie would you like to watch? A rom-com, epic sci-fi? Maybe a horror flick?”
Her nose wrinkles at that. “No, thank you. I don’t like horror movies. They make my amygdala and hippocampus go into overdrive, and that’s just uncomfortable.”
A deep chuckle vibrates through my chest. Of course, she’d have some scientific explanation for why she doesn’t like scary movies. I rub my thumb over her jaw before dragging it along the lower edge of her bottom lip. It makes her pupils expand, and I doubt she realizes she’s doing it, but her body leans forward, eating up the space between us.
“Scary movies can be great for cuddling,” I whisper. “But maybe another time. What do you say, rom-com?”
“It would be good for research purposes,” she says, her voice breathy. She clutches her notebook against her perfect breasts as her gaze drops to my lips.
“Right. Research purposes.” My body very much wants to do things to Liv that would make her blush, merely for research purposes. Fucking hell. She has no idea how fucking perfect she is, does she? “Come on.” I bend down and scoop her into my arms bridal style. Liv lets out a startled squeak and wraps the arm not holding on to her notebook around my neck. God, she fits perfectly in my arms.
“Sawyer, what are you doing?”
“Just another little lesson. Alphas are very touchy-feely, and we can be overbearing and possessive. You’re going to have to learn to enjoy being carried around.”
