Page 22 of Omega's Forbidden Heat
She remembers finding excuses to come to the kitchen when Finn and Jack would study there together. Jack always seemed to be finished and trying to distract Finn. He didn’t seem so bothered about helping back then. Or listening. She realises he is good listener, someone who gives you his complete attention.
He slides the onions to one side with the edge of the knife and starts peeling mushrooms with his thumbnail. “And I haven’t got a lot else to do.”
She jumps up onto the counter, taking another bite of the carrot and swinging her legs. “That’s because you haven’t been looking for stuff to do.”
He puts his knife down and looks up at her with irritation. “Let me rephrase that, there is lots to do — clearing the house, getting it on the market, sorting out the probate. But it isn’t exactly fun.”
“And bookkeeping is?” She smiles — she won’t let him turn this conversation sour — and the strength of it tugs at the corners of his own lips. Rudely plump lips she knows would be soft to kiss.
“True.” He stares at her and, despite the distance between them, she feels the air heat and her skin prickle. “You’ve got carrot in your teeth.”
“I have not.” Finn and Jack were always teasing her as a kid, claiming she had a spider crawling down her back or lice in her hair, making her jump and scream and then bursting into laughter.
“You have,” he says seriously. He points with his forefinger to his own teeth. “Between the front and the next one.”
“Oh.” She draws back her lips and leans forward. “Here?” She mirrors the spot on her own teeth.
He nods and his eyes slide down and up as she hooks her thumb nail between her teeth.
“Is it gone?”
“No.”
She repeats the action, digging deeper between her teeth this time and the area with the tip of her tongue. She can feel the piece of carrot stuck there.
She repeats the action, digging deeper between her teeth this time and exploring the area with the tip of her tongue. She can feel the piece of carrot stuck there.
“Now?” she asks.
He shakes his head and his arm rises and falls. Then he steps forward, hesitantly. “Want me to get it?”
She nods, not trusting her voice, and he comes closer, stopping touching-distance before her. Her heart stops beating in her chest and her mouth goes dry.
He rests his forefinger under her chin and tilts her head upwards, and his touch makes her eyes flutter shut automatically.
He coughs. “Open your mouth, Amy.”
Her skin heats and she’s sure he must be able to feel it under his fingertip. The blood rushes in her ears and their scents are so fierce the combined strength of it has her almost dizzy. How can this man, this Alpha, have such a powerful effect on her? And why can’t she make him dizzy like he makes her?
She parts her lips and his thick thumb enters her mouth. The aesthetic of it is filthy. She has a desire to clamp her mouth shut and suck that thumb hard, lick her tongue around the calloused skin.
The pad of his thumb brushes over her gum and the sharp ridge of his nail catches slightly, making her wince.
“Sorry,” he says, pinching her chin now so she can’t pull back. “Got it.” He removes his thumb and flicks the piece of carrot away, but his eyes don’t leave hers. She’s never seen them this close before, never seen the brush strokes of blue melting together to create that light shade that has her drifting towards him. They fall to his lips, to her parted mouth, and she can’t help copying his move, allowing her own gaze to wander to his mouth. His is open too and behind those fat lips, she can see the deep red of his mouth, his tongue and the sharpness of his teeth.
Her breath comes in needy little pants, so loud he must hear it, and her body tingles all over, her core swooping.
The tip of his tongue slides from his mouth and runs along the seam of his lips. She leans a little closer. Waiting.
But then the front door slams shut and Jack jolts away so fast she almost tumbles off the counter. Shame spirals in his scent and his face returns to that blank expression. She rights herself on the counter and tries to breathe. He was going to kiss her. She’s sure of it. And if he hadn’t, she was going to kiss him. Screw the rules about Omega and Alpha etiquette. One more second and she wouldn’t have been able to help herself. She is so desperate to know how he tastes. It’s a question that’s been lingering in her mind for far too long.
Finn skips into the kitchen, excitement playing across his face. “What?” he says when he finds them both staring at him.
“Nothing,” Jack says, hands in his pocket. “I was helping Amy start a stir-fry.
“Don’t bother making any for me. I’m heading out. We were done here anyway, right?” Finn snaps shut the laptop lid and unhooks his car keys from the wall. “You want me to drop you home?”
“Yeah,” Jack answers.
