Page 48 of Hot for Teacher
It was true that Killian wasn’t close with his parents. They were very different people, and their relationship reflected that. But he’d never doubted he was loved.
“I’m older than you,” he explained. “As we age, those relationships … shift. People start gravitating toward the affection of partners. Friends.”
“Is that what you do?” Chase asked, cocking his head.
Killian scrubbed a hand down his face. “I don’t think I’m the paragon of mental health that you think I am.”
“You seem to be doing all right to me.”
“I get by.” They were too far away from each other for this conversation. It was no longer remotely tenable. Killian moved his seat back as far as it would go. He gave his thigh a pat. “Come sit on my lap.”
“In the car?”
“Yes, in the fucking car.”
Moving far too slowly for Killian’s liking, Chase unbuckled his seat belt and climbed over the center console, arranging himself until his thighs were straddling Killian’s, his head hunched down to avoid the car’s ceiling.
“This is ridiculous,” Chase complained, although he made no move to go back to his seat.
“It isn’t.” Killian clamped his hands around the backs of Chase’s thighs, keeping him exactly where he was.
Chase glanced out the window. “The valet can see us. His name’s Jason.”
“I’m aware.”
Of the former, obviously. Killian had had no idea about the latter.
Chase let out a noise that was somewhere between a laugh and a sigh, and then he was pressing his face into the crook of Killian’s neck as hard as he could. “They barely noticed I was there,” he said, the words muffled. “And I didn’t do anything about it. Didn’t stand up for myself. Didn’t make a scene. I just sat there.”
Killian swept a hand through Chase’s silken hair, then grasped the back of his neck firmly. “Because you, Chase Adler, are a good boy, aren’t you? You aim to please. And it’s their own fucking fault they can’t appreciate it.”
Chase’s answering sigh was hot against Killian’s skin. “Why are you so nice to me?”
“It’s the easiest thing in the world, being nice to you.”
Chase turned his head, just enough to make his next words clear. “They never scent marked me growing up. I had a nanny when I was really young, but she was another beta. We’re learning in Omega Studies … betas crave scent marking too. From our old pack days. They’ve done brain scans. There are—there are real benefits.”
It was growing damp against Killian’s neck, although therewere no other signs of Chase’s tears. No sobs this time. No shaking shoulders.
“That’s why I’m on you like a dog in heat all the time,” Killian told him. “The brain benefits.”
There was a moment of silence, and then Chase leaned back with a watery laugh. “You just made a joke,” he told Killian, some of that horrible blankness finally gone from his wet eyes.
“I did.” And while Killian could have stayed here forever, with Chase taking comfort on his lap, remaining parked at the curb of a random restaurant was probably not ideal. “Come, let’s get you home.” At Chase’s look, Killian clarified. “My home.”
“Yours. Okay.” Chase glanced out the window again, then smirked at Killian. “You sure you don’t want to give Jason more of a show? Seems like your type of thing.”
Killian gave his hip a firm swat. “Don’t be a brat. Back in your seat.”
Killian had ownedthe lounge chairs in his backyard for ages. They’d come with the patio furniture set he’d purchased with very little thought. He only occasionally remembered to use them.
But now, lying in the early morning sun with a book in hand, his coffee within reach, and Chase Adler lying boneless between his legs, curled up against Killian’s chest, Killian was gaining a newfound appreciation.
“I’m surprised you don’t have a pool,” Chase mused sleepily, his breath warm against Killian’s shirtless skin.
“Mm. I’ve thought about it. But I already use the pool at my gym.”
“And you leave for some of the summer. For your speaking engagements.”
