Page 117 of Sugar Rush
“I know you will,” he said, the brief flash of stern instantly gone from his voice. He shifted back onto his heels, staring into my face again. “I am so, so proud of you. We all are.”
“Thanks. You made it easy to do everything right,” I said honestly. His eyes darted over to where Kieran was hanging back, pretending to check out the decorative stuff Dani had already put up on her side of the room.
“Well, I’ll give you guys a minute,” he decided. “I’ll be in the car, Kieran.”
I’d driven my car up with Kieran, and my dad had followed us in his. Now they’d be riding back together. What I would have given to be a fly on the wall during that car ride.
“Alright,” he said, watching as my dad left the room. Both our gazes shifted over to Dani, who gave a dramatic sigh.
“Fine. I’ll go find something else to do for a minute,” she said, pointedly prancing over to the doorway before turning back to give me a suggestive look, wiggling her eyebrows. “You guys want to try and get a quickie in, right?”
“Bye, Dani,” Kieran said flatly, giving her a wry look. She scoffed, wiggling her fingers at him dismissively as she walked the rest of the way out.
“So no about the quickie, then?” I asked, once she was out of sight and he snorted, shaking his head.
“Don’t tempt me,” he said. His tone was light and teasing, but the bond between us gave me insight to his real emotions.And anyway, I was pretty sure he might have said yes if he hadn’t spent most of the morning wrapped up in bed with me. And then bending me over his desk.
“Hey,” I said softly, crossing the room to him so I could hug his waist tightly. His heartbeat rumbled under my ear as he wrapped his arms around me, his lips coming down onto the crown of my hair. “It’s just a couple years. That’s nothing. We have forever, remember?”
I felt him nod, but he didn’t say anything. My broody, emotional alpha.
“I got you something,” I went on. “Well, I made it.”
“You made me something?” He asked, sounding surprised. I wasn’t exactly an artsy person or a crafter, so I wasn’t offended by his curious tone.
“It’s just something silly,” I said quickly, to make sure he wasn’t expecting some masterpiece.
Extracting it from the pocket of the hoodie I’d taken from him that morning, I held out a colorful beaded bracelet. It was ridiculously cutesy and childish, the kind of thing you make at summer camp when you’re 10. Some of the beads were plain with glitter, but the bigger ones had little images on them. Hearts, angel wings, and different candies. Once he’d finally given in and told me what my omega scent was, I’d been teasing him a bit mercilessly about it. Getting turned on by the smell of candy was funny, no matter what the context was. I’d ordered the silly little custom kit online and assembled it while he’d been at work.
“Now I’ll be with you all the time,” I said, and waited for him to refuse to wear something so dumb, and to scoff at me for even suggesting it.
He took it from me and slipped it onto his wrist, handling it so delicately it was like it was made of tissue paper. It clashed violently with his tattoos and combat boots, and he stared downat it somberly, like I’d given him a trinket to remember me by before one of us went off to die in a war.
My heart melted at his expression, so obviously miserable but already so protective of the dumb bracelet I’d made. It was so cute I couldn’t help but let a strangled little laugh out of my throat before I smashed into his chest again.
“Kieran,” I cooed out his name as I nuzzled into his firm body. “It’s going to be okay. Really.”
“Yeah, I know,” he finally admitted, his voice low. “I can deal. And we’ll still see each other a lot. I’ll just… miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too.”
“I mean, even without… Even besides the fact that we’re together, we haven’t really spent any time apart since we met, so it’s just… Yeah,” he finished. That part was true, and I’d been trying not to think about it. He was such a constant in my life, someone I looked forward to seeing every morning when I woke up, and someone whose presence just swamped me with comfort and happiness, even before we’d given in to our feelings for each other. “But I’m happy for you. And I know you’re going to do amazing and crush everything, like always.”
I smiled, lifting my head to look up at him. His automatic and unwavering faith in me made it impossible to feel like I could possibly fail at anything.
“And in the meantime we’ll talk every day. It’ll be like I’m not even gone.”
I knew he didn’t agree with me, but he just gave a small nod. “I should have gotten you something, too. I didn’t even think about it.”
“You already gave me something to remind me of you all the time,” I said, taking his hand and pulling it to my hip. “I’ll look down at it every time I’m jerking off in the shower.”
He groaned, laughing in a bitter way as he gave me a quick squeeze. “What a waste.”
“I’ll send you pictures,” I offered sweetly, blinking my lashes at him. “And videos, if you want.”
His eyebrow perked up along with the corner of his mouth. “I’m not going to say no to that.”
Chuckling, I raised up on my toes and slipped my arms over his shoulders to hook behind his neck. Like always, he grasped onto my ass and lifted me up into the air so I could hitch my thighs around his waist. I heard the clack and felt the chunky shape of the bracelet against my hip as he held me.
