Page 26 of The Wedding Planner's Manny
Suddenly, I realized what was happening. I knew who thought like that. Of course!
Vinists.
Hadn't Rhys married one of them? It was shocking to think the way they treated omegas was still encoded in his mind even after he'd left them. Then again, once you warped your perception so far that you could accept what Vinists were saying as gospel, it must be hard to return to normal.
Deep down, though, he had to know that what he was doing wasn't right. That what he was thinking wasn't right.
“You didn't upset me,” I said slowly. “I was a little embarrassed, but that's not your fault. I shouldn't have been throwing my scent around.”The way you're doing now.God, he smelled good. A little like maple syrup on freshly made pancakes on a Sunday morning. I wondered if he'd ever been to Canada, if maybe he wanted to go to Canadatogether.
Focus, Ethan.
“And it's totally okay for you to talk about whatever you want,” I added. “Well, maybe noteverything, but certainly anything alphas and everyone else can talk about. You know I'm right, don't you?”
For a moment, Rhys closed his eyes. When he opened them again, I thought I saw a little more clarity in them. “I'm sorry. I'm just...” He looked like he wanted to avert his gaze, but he wasn't allowing himself. “I'm just a little messed up, I guess. It's difficult for me to know how to behave sometimes, and I screw up.”
Oh, Rhys.
When he called himself messed up, I wanted to punch the person who'd done that to him. I wanted to punch everyone who made omegas think they had to wait on us. It was disgusting.
“It's okay,” I told Rhys, forcing a smile on my face because it wasn't him I was mad at. “Let's just sit down for a moment, okay? You made coffee after all, and we should drink it.” I glanced at the kitchen island and the mug he'd prepared for me. It was only then that I noticed he hadn't poured one for himself.
Of course not. I suppressed a sigh and tried to act natural. “You forgot to pour yourself a mug, silly.
Here, let me do that for you,” I said, walking to the coffee maker ahead of him.
“I'm really sorry,” he apologized again, finally sitting down.
“It's okay,” I repeated. “You've been through a lot.”
Rhys shook his head while I picked a blue mug from the shelf for him.Blue like his eyes.“I know not everyone subscribes to the Vinist beliefs and all that, but I figured every alpha likes submissive omegas, right? It's just nature. I didn't mean to offend you or anything.”
I turned to him, empty mug in hand. “Is that really what you believe? That every alpha would want you to be submissive—that I would want you to be submissive?”
“You wouldn't?” Rhys sounded genuinely curious now.
“Most alphas are pretty decent people, you know?”Just not the guy you went with...“Whatever you’ve been taught about alphas, I’m not like that.”
“I didn't mean to offend you.”
“You didn't.” But he did spark images in my mind. When he spoke of being submissive, I couldn't help but wonder what he looked like naked, on his hands and knees, waiting for me to join us together. He wouldn't have to be submissive for me to enjoy that fantasy, though. No, he could ride me too. Or, if hereallywanted me to, I could ride him.
Feeling heat rush to my lower body parts, I turned away from Rhys to focus on the coffee for a minute.
I shouldn't be thinking about Rhys like that.
Butsomeonehad to show him that alphas weren't all assholes, and why shouldn't that someone be me? According to my grandmother, I was a fairly untypical alpha, which basically made me perfect for the role.
“I'll try to do better in the future,” Rhys said in a soft tone of voice that just about broke my heart.
“You don't have to pour me coffee. I should probably go home now. You’re not going to need me.
Nathan’s in his room and Caleb went to sleep about an hour ago.”
“No, stay,” I found myself saying before I could stop myself. “I mean, you can stay if you'd like to. I don't think less of you because you were a little confused today.” Thinking about it, I was actually kind of impressed that he’d managed to get Caleb to go to bed before I was home.
“Okay,” Rhys said, but I wasn't sure if he actually believed me.
I finished pouring coffee and slid the mug over the kitchen island toward him. If I wanted to convince him that things weren't weird between us, I had to act normally. So I started talking about work.
