Page 16 of Sweethearts and Savages
It had shown how much control Bohdie had over his beast that he hadn’t put her in her place. Or it might have just been Christopher right up in his face. Who could tell?
Instead of telling him all that, I just snuggled my face into his chest. “I know.” I pulled out the two foil-wrapped sandwiches and handed one to him. “You don’t want to miss this.”
I unwrapped mine and moaned. So damn good. I wasn’t sure what Bert put in it, but it was addictive.
Bohdie rested on an elbow and took a bite of his own sandwich, giving a guttural groan that had my stomach clenching in lust. He looked at me seriously. “Is Beatrice single?”
I laughed. “She’s married to Bert, who’s the one that actually makes the sandwiches. Have I been turfed out so quickly?” I teased.
He leaned over, kissing me between bites. “Never. But we could always add her to your harem, right? We've already got Stacey, what's one more?”
I choked on my food, my eyes shooting to his face. His words were teasing and light, but I didn’t miss the assessing look in his eyes.
“What do you mean?” I squeaked out, trying not to sound panicked and failing miserably. I’d spent a couple of hours with Stacey this week, and if I was honest with myself, I kept finding reasons to stay back with her after my assigned time was done. I would start tasks with ten minutes until my study period. I would purposefully distract her so she didn’t know the time.
I knew why I was doing those things, and I felt guilty as hell as I sat here with Bohdie now. He’d been the perfect gentleman and when I was with him, I felt alive.
But I was still being dragged back to Stacey over and over again, like I couldn’t help myself. We’d so easily fallen back into our old roles, me gently teasing her, Stacey being intense and passionate about the strangest things.
I loved watching her face when she talked to me about a project, or even something like geophysics. She was so beautiful in those moments. Her warm skin flushed, her beautiful caramel eyes alight. She stole my breath away.
I’d never told anyone about our kiss that day. Or about her declarations of love. Definitely not about my own confusion. Now Bohdie was here, laying it all out like it was no big deal and I was pretty sure my heart was going to beat right out of my chest.
Bohdie put down his sandwich wrapper—somehow he’d managed to inhale the whole thing in three bites—and reached out to drag me onto his lap. “Princess, relax. It's no big deal. Me and Stacey are cool. We talked it out earlier, and I told her that I was okay with whatever you wanted. You deserve all the happiness I can give you.” He snorted softly. “She’s a little weird, but I kind of like it.”
The idea of Bohdie liking Stacey like that twisted me all up inside even more. She was absolutely beautiful, why wouldn’t he be attracted to her? Jealousy pounded through my veins, but I didn’t know exactly who I was jealous over. I didn’t like the idea of them being together at all, which was selfish of me. Why was I allowed to want them both, but they couldn’t want each other? How spoiled could I be?
“Enit, I don’t know what the hell you’re thinking, but stop it. I’m not even remotely interested in Stacey like that. Not even a little. I’m a one girl kind of lion.” He leaned forward and kissed me quickly on the lips. “In case you’ve missed all this”—he waved a hand to the basket and the pond—“you’re that one girl.” He laughed. “Plus, the only way Stacey would be interested in my body is if I was a cadaver.”
I choked on a laugh because he was probably right. I buried my face in his neck, not ready to meet his soft golden eyes. He saw too much already, and I wasn’t ready to bare my soul like that. “I can’t help wanting her. I tried so hard not to, Bohdie. She’s human. She’s a woman. I’m an Omega. She’s so damn smart that she talks circles around me and I couldn’t possibly be enough to satisfy her mind, you know? I have so many reasons and excuses.”
Bohdie stroked my back. “If it makes you feel better, I don’t think there's a person alive who could keep up with her brain.” He turned his head to the side and kissed my temple. “So what happened?”
“She told me she loved me. Then I was attacked. In my brain, I bunched them together and I hid away from my feelings, wrapped myself in fear. I ran away because facing everything was just too hard.” I shook my head. “Then my Omega Studies teacher fell through, and Miss Pea decided I’d be better off being down in the infirmary with Stace while they found a replacement, and all those feelings came rushing back, despite how into you I was. How into you Iam. I really like you, Bohdie.” My words were soft but I pulled back to look at his face. He was smiling at me, the look in his eyes filled with unsaid promises.
“I really like you too, Enit.” He kissed me softly again. His kisses were like a drug; I couldn’t get enough. “Though I know an Omega. A wolf one too. I can introduce you if you want? Dawn is the sweetest.” He frowned. “Actually, she looks a bit like you. Is the white hair an Omega thing?”
I shrugged. I had no idea. Madame Turia certainly didn’t have it. “The Omega teacher didn’t, but it might be a species thing. I’ve never met another Omega wolf.”
He frowned and nodded. “I’ll set something up.”
Shifting back onto the grass, I lay down on his chest and listened to his heartbeat while we talked. About his Pride, and how I ended up living in a town filled with vampires. The steady rumble of his voice was soothing, and when we fell silent, his low purr vibrated through me. My whole body went lax. It was like a drug. Like meditating while high. I was filled with good food, lying along the body of the hottest guy I’d ever seen, watching fluffy ducklings swim around.
I never wanted to leave this moment.
I broke the silence hesitantly. “So, you’re cool with Stacey?”
He wrapped his arms tighter around my body. “Whatever you need, Princess. Whatever will make you happy.” He paused. “Except another Alpha. I’m not sure my Lion would like that very much. Both me and the lion like Stace though. I think it might take her a little longer to warm up to us but we’ll win her over eventually. Maybe we’ll offer to be test subjects or something. She doesn’t seem like the kind of girl to be swayed by candy.”
I laughed. Yeah, I was pretty sure I didn’t deserve Bohdie, but I was certainly glad he was mine.
8
Stacey
Icouldn’t concentrate and that was perplexing. Aggravating, even. The words of the Alpha kept going around and around in my head. Logically, what he proposed made a lot of sense. After all, it was illogical, or at least unusual, to assume that one person could be everything another person could ever need. As he proposed, two people would satisfy the majority of the needs she had, both physical and emotional.
What I was stuck on was what I actually brought to the equation. I wasn’t a particularly physically affectionate person. I wasn’t emotionally aware either. The only thing I provided was aid in any cryptic crossword puzzles she had, or perhaps a burden she needed to care for. Enit was a nurturer—it’s what I loved about her, what drew me to her to start with. As a small, awkward child who’d grown up in the sterile walls of a research facility, who didn’t know how to run and play with anyone but Daniel, I’d been so lost and confused. Despite being a year or so older than me, Enit had seen me, taken me under her wing and that was the end of it really. I’d found my place, way back then, and I never wanted to leave it. But I was just a bird with broken wings to Enit; would that be enough for her? For the both of us?
