Page 43 of Perfectly Naïve
“Now, it’s fun and games,” Wilder says with a wicked grin. Liam and Sawyer smirk, and Hayes’s mouth moves to the shell of my ear. “Get ready to be swept off your feet, vixen.”
Chapter Sixteen
OLIVIA
Courting. They’re courting me.
All week, I’ve been worried that somehow my brain concocted this whole scenario, and I’ll wake up from the longest, most perfect dream. I’m aware that it’s illogical, but things like this don’t happen to me.
Four gorgeous, attentive men want me. They don’t look at me like I have two heads when I talk, don’t laugh at me when I’m awkward, and they don’t attempt to diminish my work or goals. I can’t help but compare the night they asked to court me with that horrible date with Pack Johnson my mom forced me to go on. I’ve never felt quite as small as I did sitting at that table, surrounded by unfamiliar alphas who likely couldn’t even identify the six essential building blocks of life. Conversely, I’ve never felt as desired as I did when Sawyer, Liam, Hayes, and Wilder declared that they wanted to court me.
Nigel took Mother to one of her society events tonight, but I don’t mind the drive over to the packhouse. It gives metime to grapple with my new reality.An omega in courting! How exciting.Parking in the driveway, I try to calm my breathing and heart rate. They’re physiological stress responses. I can control them. Besides, it’s only dinner. A casual night in with three sexy alphas and one sexy beta. It’s not like they’re going to bite me tonight—that type of official pack marking won’t come until later. We probably won’t even do anything physically intimate. Not that I’m opposed. Still, my heart races, my hands are clammy, and a bead of sweat tickles my spine as it slips down my back.
“It’s just dinner.” I suck in a fortifying breath as Sawyer opens the front door, rests a hip against the doorframe, crosses his arms over his chest, and cocks one eyebrow at me.
Right. This is embarrassing.
Hoping the twilight hides my blush from the man I crushed on throughout my childhood, I force myself to get out of the car and walk toward the house.
“Hey, baby. Are you all right?” He’s trying not to laugh, the little shit.
“Fine,” I grumble as I allow Sawyer to pull me into his chest for a hug. I inhale deeply, filling my lungs with his scent. There are faint traces of the rest of the pack, and as I breathe them in, my shoulders relax.
“No need to be nervous,” he whispers.
“Can you read my mind?” I mutter, the words muffled by his strong chest.
Sawyer chuckles. He runs his hands along my back and rubs his cheek over the crown of my head before placing a kiss there, scent marking me. “No, but I know you. You have a tendency to overthink things.”
“No, I don’t.”
“If you say so.” His chest vibrates with silent laughter.
“Quit hogging my cute little smarty-pants.” Wilder’s faceappears over Sawyer’s shoulder, and then I’m spun out of his arms and scooped up into Wilder’s. His eyes crinkle in the corners, the well-worn grooves making it clear that Wilder spends a lot of time smiling. I can almost picture him thirty years from now. Wilder, with silver-streaked hair and deep laugh lines etched into his face. To think, if things go well with them, I may have the privilege of witnessing those lines deepen and settle.
Wilder carries me, princess style, into the house, pressing a kiss to my temple as he walks. “Are you ready for the best dinner ever?”
“Are you cooking?”
“Not tonight. Hayes is.” Wilder sets me down on one of the stools that line the kitchen island, and I’m treated to a front-row seat of Hayes in action.
The massive alpha is wearing a pink apron that saysQueen of the kitchen, and I can’t stop myself from giggling. It has Hayes looking my way. His lips twitch as he takes me in with an intensity that has my heart skipping.
“Are you laughing at me, vixen?”
“Me? Never.”
“Who’s laughing at you?” Liam bounds down the stairs, his eyes finding me before they bounce to Hayes. He doesn’t look surprised by the apron, so it must be a regular occurrence. “I told you we could get you a different apron.”
Hayes scoffs. “And I told you all to fuck off. Cici gave me this. It’s special.”
I giggle. Liam’s sister is probably close to eleven or twelve now. “That’s cute.”
“Isn’t he?” Wilder steps up next to his twin and pinches his cheek.
Hayes swats his brother’s hand away with a growl. “Knock it off, or you don’tget cake.”
The change in Wilder’s expression makes me burst out laughing. Hayes must be an excellent baker, because the idea of being cut off from the cake causes Wilder to take three steps back, his hands lifted in surrender.
