Page 6 of Duke's Baby Deal
Carefully, I pulled apart my old shirt and cut out the pieces I would need, then matched them to the ones I’d drawn on the turquoise material and made sure that everything would go together properly. It was going to be stunning. I thought about staying up late to finish it, but it would be quicker to use the machine tomorrow and I didn’t want to be tired tomorrow night. My heart sped up, thinking about it.
Maybe Iwasgoing about this the wrong way. Maybe what I needed to do was lay off on the other guys and the whole ‘make him jealous enough to back me up against a wall’ and start flirting with him exclusively. He was a pretty quiet guy—maybe he was as socially illiterate as Rosie’s man. And that whole thing about being raised in the Big Alphas’ shadows kind of hit home. I could see how that would make a guy with a quieter personality feel invisible.
There was a thought.
I mulled the idea over for a bit while I pinned the pieces together and decided it couldn’t hurt to try being a bit more focused on Duke. And of course, once Duke was on my mind, it didn’t take much before I started daydreaming and I indulged in a little fantasy where Duke came and saved me from Justin being inappropriate, just carried me away and then kissed me and then… I squirmed and gave up on the sewing.
“I’m going to grab a shower!” I yelled out my bedroom door.
“Bram, you’re going to wake your father!” my mother scolded from the bottom of the stairs. “Keep your voice down!”
“Yeah, yeah, sorry,” I said, ignoring her tutting. I grabbed some pajama bottoms and locked myself in the bathroom.
Like all the homes in the enclave, the walls were paper thin, so my more personal activities had to wait until I was in the shower, where the sounds the water was making would hide any soundsIwas making. I turned the taps on full blast and stripped so fast I gave myself a friction burn on one arm, but as soon as I was safe under the shower I forgot completely about it.
I pressed my back against the wall and put one hand on my chest, pretending it was Duke’s. The other went straight to my cock and I took a long, shaky breath as I imagined my hand to be his. I could almost feel his lips on mine, and I rubbed my other hand over my chest, touching myself in my favorite ways, because somehow I knew that Duke would do that. He was a real gentleman, even when he was wrestling some overexcited alpha out of a fight.
A thought occurred to me and my hands paused, as if this idea was too big for my brain to keep both my thoughts and my hands going at once. Duke was a gentleman. That was it!Thatwas what was going on with him. How the hell had I never figured that out before?
Well, even gentlemen had their weak points. I’d just have to find them and use them against him.
What would he do if he knew I was using him to jerk off to? I stifled a giggle and went back to my fantasy, imagining how it would be once Duke and I got down to business. My breath came short and I caught my lower lip between my teeth, something I’d read about in one of Bax’s novels. Hopefully, it looked as sexy as it sounded—I’d have to try it out in front of a mirror and see. I ran my hand over my chest, imagining Duke’s deep voice in my ear, his breath hot against my skin. It made an almost painful shiver of excitement run down my body to settle heavily in my balls. “Ngggh.” I pushed my hips forward and squeezed my eyes tight shut. I pinched one of my nipples, because holy shit that felt good, and stroked faster down below.
My original intention to take a bit of time once I was in here was blown to pieces. As much as I tried to slow down and enjoy the moments, imagining Duke stroking me, pressing me against the wall while the water poured down around us—unh. Before I knew it, my whole body went tight and the world exploded in starbursts that left me both wrung out and still tense, which wasn’t normal. Then again, it had been a while—I didn’t ordinarily get the time to have this long a shower.
It did end up leaving me kind of grumpy, though. The whole thing was over way too soon and just wasn’t assatisfyingas it usually was. I rested my head against the plastic liner and let the water curl down my body, tickling and raising the hairs on my neck as it went.
In the end, I was still grumpy and nerved up when I was finally forced out of the shower by Mom knocking and threatening to turn off the water, but I figured I’d been havingepiphaniesabout Duke the whole time, so I was only logical that I’d still be a little worked up.Meh.I washed up quickly and got out of the shower, toweled off and put on my pajama pants. Tomorrow was full moon, and I needed to finish Rosie’s dress, and then maybe my shirt if I wanted to get lucky in any way with Duke. I needed to get to bed.
CHAPTER SIX
Aaaaaaand…I should have guessed. The reason I was so unsatisfied last night? That yearly torture that all omegas go through. So, here I was. Full moon night. Harvest Moon at that, like the universe was amusing itself, seeing how much worse it could make my life.
Because where was I?
Stuck home, because my stupid body thought this was a fantastic time to come into heat.
Mom and Dad had left close to an hour ago to go party it up at the festival in Central Park. Ordinarily, I’d love having the place to myself, but this whole can’t-be-around-anyone-who-isn’t-family thing stank like two week old carrion. I might have settled in on the couch with a chocolate bar and mint tea and watched a movie Jason had loaned me when he heard, but I was hyped up and needy and kind of pissed that I was missing out, so I’d come upstairs to sulk on my bed.
It was Justin’s last night in Mercy Hills, and my last chance to show Duke that I’d pick him over anyone. I kind of wondered if Justin would get pissed and try to take advantage of me in front of Duke—like, a whole damsel in distress thing, except for not actually being a damsel—and I hoped that if it happened, Duke would actuallydosomething about it. Like, punch Justin in the face, then haul me off into a corner and tell me to smarten up, then kiss me silly. After all, I was going to be eighteen soon. He could at least stake his claim.
Right?
Unless I was dreaming this all up. Just because he was usuallyniceto me didn’t meant hewantedme. No matter what Rosie said.
Oh, for crying out loud. I hated this part of my heats, when I was all hormonal and everything had me on the point of tears. And this wasimportant.
I’d hoped…I thought… Well, I didn’t know. I was holding tight to the idea that he was just being a gentleman, but with my hormones raging out of control like so many undisciplined pups, all the worst case scenarios kept haunting me. Maybe he was just being polite when I flirted with him? Maybe he thought I was too young and that was why all the funny looks?Ididn’t care that he was eleven years older than me. I liked him. He was sexy—that dark hair, and the way it curled around his face… I wondered what it would do if he ever let it grow longer?
Just the thought of that…Ungh.
He was sweet too and when he smiled, something weird happened in my stomach, like I’d eaten a live bird and it was trying to get out.
For that matter, why the hell did everyone else get to run around having sex with whoever they wanted, as long as they didn’t get someone pregnant in the process? Why did omegas have to be as pure as the driven snow until they mated?
Stupid.
Just thinking about it made me squirm on my bed. I knew from long experience that taking a morepersonalapproach to my problem wasn’t much relief. And thinking about it just made it worse, because I started wondering what would happen if I justturned upat Duke’s place in this state. But that would be a shitty thing to do, because I thought he was interested, Ihopedhe was interested, but I still didn’t know if he wasinterestedinterested.
