He looked down at the floor and scratched his beard. “I don’t know much about omegas—just Jason and our Bram. I hoped I was wrong.” He looked back up at me. “This doesn’t simplify things.”
“No, it doesn’t.”
The chair crashed to the floor when he jumped up and strode over to the window. “Why the fuck can’t something just go to plan for once? I thought we were safe.” He muttered the last bit, and leaned on the window, looking blindly out over the enclave.
Shit.None of this was his fault, my poor mate.
Fuck it.
I got up and walked over to hug him from behind. He took a deep, noisy breath and tensed all over. “Bax…”
“Shhh,” I said, and relaxed against him. “I’m yours. No need to rush things. You can have me when you want. Meanwhile, we can enjoy the build-up.”
He laughed, a strained, painful sound. “This wasn’t how I pictured it.”
I snorted a laugh into the hollow between his shoulder blades. “No, me neither. I’d planned to spend the entire last month before my fall heat dropping hints and driving you crazy.”
“Are all omegas evil?” he said on a chuckle.
I turned him around and wrapped my arms around his waist. “Depends on what you mean by evil.”
He bent his head to mine. “Teasing, tormenting, delicious, wonderful, don’t ever leave me.”
“Sounds about right.” I was about to kiss him, when the noise of Jason and Mac coming back up the hallway interrupted us. Abel tensed, an Alpha’s territoriality adding fuel to the aggressive nature of a natural alpha. “Shhh,” I said again. “I’m right here. They’re leaving.” And I pulled him into a kiss until Mac and Jason had disappeared out the door.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
Abel didn’t often show off how strong he was, except during his morning sessions with the Security crew, and the occasional bedroom trick. With me, he was inevitably gentle and careful. Not today, though. Today, he picked me up and wrapped my legs around his waist, striding toward my bedroom like the conquering hero he was.
I was starting to regret the menthol stuff—it reeked, and I’d even put some down by my groin, where it was rubbing against my balls and burning. Not a smart idea.
Abel buried his face in my neck, snorted, choked, and nearly dropped me.
Maybe being carried to bed like a monkey wasn’t the best plan. I put my feet back on the floor and raised my face for another kiss. Nothing existed for me except Abel and that itchy menthol burn at my crotch.
“I have an idea,” Abel said, slightly cross-eyed. His eyes were watering.
“What?” I murmured. His chest was like iron, something I always enjoyed, but today, with the hormones cranking all my responses up to eleven, I could hardly keep my hands away from it. I tried to rub myself against him, but he shook his head and spun me around.
“This way,” he said, and pushed me back down the hall.
“What?” Then I realized—the bathroom. “Oh.”
“Shower.”
I nearly protested—a shower would take time, at least five minutes. In that amount of time, I might melt into a puddle of need. And then I remembered one particularly steamy scene, in a book that otherwise had had nothing to recommend it. But I’d kept the book around for that scene alone.
“Wash that stuff off,” Abel said with a grin. He turned the water on to warm up, testing it with one hand, while the rest of him focused on me.
“Don’t go anywhere,” I told him. I was at my most sultry now, and I didn’t even mind if the slow way I stripped out of my clothes made me look like a slut. It was for him, and he seemed to appreciate it.
My shirt fell to the floor, then my pants, and then I was naked in front of him. His gaze raked over me, and if I hadn’t already been hard and wanting, I would have been after that.
I let him guide me into the tub, and the water fell over me like summer rain. Abel took a step back, but I reached out and grabbed his shirt. “Stay,” was all I said, not really a command, but as close as an omega could get.
“All right,” he said slowly. He didn’t seem capable of looking away from me anyway, so maybe my impulsive gesture had been unnecessary after all. I didn’t care—I’d enjoyed it.
I pushed my soaked hair away from my face and bit my lower lip, imagining all the things I could do with his body.