Without a word, he gently pulls my hand off the rail and laces our fingers together, running his thumb over my knuckles. “I’m glad you had someone. I… can’t even imagine how awful that must have been.”
My vision blurs, but I blink back the tears.
“I realized that night I wanted to be like that nurse, wanted to make sure nobody had to sit alone while the person they loved was taken. So I walked into my counselor’s office that August and switched to nursing. Everything I’d already done transferred easily enough, so it wasn’t really even an inconvenience.”
“July must be a rough month for you,” he offers.
I can’t help but laugh just a bit. “It’s not my favorite, no. But honestly? The worst part isn’t the anniversary, it’s all the small things that were suddenly gone. Things that you don’t ever really notice until they stop.”
He eases closer to me, his hip brushing mine. All at once, I realize we’re almost the same height. I’m tall for a woman at 5’10”. My parents hadn’t been quite so tall, and we always figured it was the Alpha designation that had caused me to end up taller than them both. Maybe the same was true of Cole except in reverse. Omegas are often smaller than typical, leaner and more fragile both physically and emotionally.
“Like what?” His voice pulls me from the musings, and I scramble to remember what, exactly, we’d been talking about.
Right, the little things that were missing once someone was dead.
“There’d always be fresh flowers in the kitchen.”
It’s not the one I meant to bring up. I intended to say something lighter, something that wouldn’t derail this entire afternoon with my sob-fest of a history. Instead, I gave him the one I missed the most, the one closest to me, somehow trusting already that he’d understand the significance.
“My dad bought my mom a new bouquet every time they went on a date. When they got married, he didn’t stop. He’d buy her a new one each time the old one started to wither. And then suddenly, there wasn’t a new one to replace it. They withered and rotted, and I realized he wouldn’t be able to get a new bouquet.”
I cut off my rambling. Cole doesn’t say anything, and I mentally kick myself. No one really understands the loss unless they’ve lived it, too. They never have.
“Sorry, that’s way too heavy for a first date,” I mutter.
His smile is softer this time as he squeezes my hand. “Don’t apologize.” His cheeks darken, and he glances across the boat to where Marcus and Charlotte sit in the loungers near the front, laughing about something. “Besides, I feel like everything having to do with the Council and matching should be viewed in dog years, so really this is, like, our fifth date.”
My laugh is warm and bright. Cole’s answering smile has heat sparking across my skin. I start to push the feeling away, not wanting to overstep, but it’s hard when such an enigmatic Omega is the one fueling the response. I focus on him again, that sinful small smile and the golden flecks in his hazel eyes.
Fifth date? That’s at least three dates past when most people kiss for the first time.
“Cole?”
Between one heartbeat and the next, the moment changes, the sparking undercurrent evident in my breathless voice. He turns, blocking our view of the others in one seamless movement as he presses me just a bit harder into the railing, his open arm grabbing it and caging me in. That shouldn’t be so hot, butdamn. Heat pools in my core at the blatant possession in the move.
“Yeah?” His voice is different, too, lower and richer. My raspberry scent surrounds us in a steady wave, insulating us from the sound of the boat on the water and the call of the gulls in the air—even Charlotte’s quiet laughter.
“I want to kiss you,” I breathe into the suddenly intimate space between us.
He smiles again, this one both softer and yet more heated than any I’ve seen before. Without a word, he presses his lips to mine. They’re just as soft and warm as I imagined, stealing my breath and igniting that sizzling fire across my skin until it burrows deeper. The raspberry grows stronger, and Cole grunts like he’s been punched.
“Like this?” he asks, pulling away just enough that I can see his eyes—the way that the hazel has darkened with desire.
The urge to dominate him, to let our intrinsic natures out to play and feel him submit under me, has my voice dropping.
“Yes, Omega.”
The smallest of whimpers falls from his lips, and I smirk. I lick his taste off my bottom lip. His eyes narrow as he takes in the sight. I know that his scent would be blending with mine if not for his scent blockers. Damn, I want to smell him.
“Do it again.” My voice is low and sultry, laced with the command that’ll have him fawning at my feet. “Kiss me until the whales come.”
Seventeen
MARCUS
Charlotte stands and holds out her hand, a look in her eyes that I’m not to say a word at the moment. My gaze flicks over to Megan and Cole in the corner. All I can see is Cole’s back, but the small noises they’re making relays what’s going on between them right now. A burst of jealousy blasts through me, but I tamp it down before it risks overpowering the bond suppressor Cole’s still taking.
I’d made it abundantly clear this whirlwind weekend trip was for the three of them to get to know each other and decide if this could work before uprooting Cole and moving him literally across the country to the other coast. The little voice that nags thatI’mthe one that should be shoving him into the safety railing of this yacht just needs to shut the hell up right now. In reality, this is like an intimate version of the gala. Fancy foods, fancy venue, quiet moments for interested couples to sneak off. I much prefer this version, not the least of which being the likelihood of Cole getting hurt is practically zero.
