Page 116 of Feeling the Heat: Part Two
Dolly’s shrillbark rings out from the foyer, and a moment later the doorbell chimes.
“Shit, who the hell is here so early?” My eyes flick in the direction of the front door, almost dropping the tray of canapes I just pulled from the oven. My wrist touches the hot metal of the baking tray, and I hiss in pain, setting it down on top of the stove, then rushing over to the sink to run cold water on the burn.
“It’s probably Astrid. She said she wanted to come early to help distract Camille, remember?” Ambrose comes to my side and places a hand on my shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze.
I’ve learned in recent months that nothing, other than burying my face between Cami’s thighs or tits, is better at settling my anxiety than Ambrose’s touch. I turn off the tap, smiling at the alpha. “Thanks. I keep forgetting things because I want tonight to be perfect.”
“It will be. You’ve made a veritable feast. Howcould it not be amazing?” Ambrose takes my hand in his. “Let me see,” he says, bringing my injured wrist closer to his face for him to inspect.
My stomach swoops a little as the movement brings us closer together. “What’s your assessment, Doctor?” I ask with a grin.
He chuckles and brings my wrist to his lips, pressing a soft kiss there. “You’ll live.” Ambrose releases my hand and moves to step back, but I grab the back of his neck and tug him in for a kiss.
The spike of surprise and pleasure in Ambrose’s bond at me initiating a kiss makes me smile against his lips as we pull apart. Now that I’ve finally gained the confidence to show him that affection, he better get used to it, because kissing him is pretty fucking great.
Sometimes I have to pinch myself when I think back a year ago to when I would wake up in bed with only Dahlia as my company. That lonely, loveless Jackson’s head would explode if he knew what was coming for him.
“Get a room,” River says drolly as he steps into the kitchen carrying a bottle of champagne Astrid must’ve brought.
“Only if you and our omega join us.” I smack his ass with my non-burned hand as he walks by, earning an indignant huff and a flush on his cheeks.
River puts the champagne in the fridge and levels us with a serious look. “Camille is trying on different outfits for tonight’s party for Astrid to give her opinions, so they’re upstairs with Dolly.”
I smile, remembering how we schemed with Astrid to pick out dresses for the fateful launch party, and my dick twitches at the memory of a date night where Camille finally wore the skimpy one I picked out.
“Focus,” Ambrose says, clearly feeling my burgeoningarousal through the bond. “We need to finish the prep before they come back down.”
“Right.” We head to the hidden spot in the pantry where we’ve stashed all the secret supplies, River keeping an eye out in case Camille comes back down for some reason.
It’s been difficult keeping our plan a secret from her since we live together, but I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know that tonight isn’t just a celebration of her winning the case against Pulse. Which, to be fair, is more than enough reason to celebrate, given how getting to that point was many months of stress and her questioning if she made the right choice whenever some shitty article about her case got pushed on socials. But we all agreed that she deserved a celebration for something that was put on hold while life was a chaotic whirlwind of moving into the new house and her case.
Ambrose unfurls the banner, his mouth twitching at the illustration of Dolly in the corner, looking adorably rascally as she chews on a high heel. “I thought you said you were going to paint something nice.”
I place a hand on my chest, pretending to be affronted. “Hey! I worked hard on that. I even used the shoe Dolly chewed up right before Camille’s first day in court as a reference.”
Ambrose rolls his eyes as we pin up the banner in the living room. It’ll be the first thing she sees when she comes downstairs, so Astrid better make her try on outfits long enough for the rest of the guests to arrive.
River joins us, hauling in a pile of presents and placing them under the sign. “Don’t worry, he did paint something nice.” He gestures to the wrapped rectangle that’s clearly a picture frame.
“You promised you wouldn’t look!” I huff.
“I didn’t! But you painted it, so I know it’s good without needing to see it.” The love and sincerity in River’s tone makemy heart flutter like it always does when he says nice things to me. God, I really do have a praise kink.
Barely five minuteshave passed when we get a text from Astrid.
Astrid: SOS
Astrid: For once in her life, Camille picked out something to wear right away. She’s putting the final touches on her makeup right now, and I couldn’t convince her to try on some other options because she feels bad about not being there to help finish setting up.
I curse and read the message to River and Jackson, who are currently squabbling over the placement of a flower arrangement.
“No, we’re not ready!” Jackson groans, running a hand through his hair. “No one has arrived yet.”
“You should go,” River says, directing the words at me. “We all know you’ll be the most convincing at distracting her without raising suspicion.”
“But I’m a terrible liar,” I protest.
“He’s right. She won’t suspect anything from you because she knows you can’t lie well. Besides, you don’t have to lie. Just tell her that her daddy needs her help with a big package.” Jackson’s eyebrows wiggle and River chuckles as I flush.
