More. Give me more of this.
It’s almost as if he hears me. I swallow the low growl he lets out, steal it for myself before his hands slide down and he’s lifting me back onto the counter. My legs wrap around his hips, holding him against me as my hands raise to touch his face.
He yanks himself away, wide-eyed. “Shit—Kenny—,”
He looks… rumpled. Undone, his glasses slightly askew and his cheeks flushed. It’s a good look for him. “This is too soon.”
I reach for him again, carefully sliding off his glasses and placing them on the counter before wrapping my fingers in his shirt to draw him closer. “Maybe not. Maybe we’re just really, really late.”
Maybe this is something we should have done a long time ago. Harmless, sweet kissing, even as heat threatens, ember flickering to life in my stomach. Even as he presses closer and it’s not enough, desperation and need filling me up. Maybe I’m tired of being only comforted.
Maybe I want to be wanted, too.
And he wants me. I can feel it in every desperate movement, in every harsh breath he lets out against my lips before he tastes me again. Could lose myself to this feeling.
This would have been a really good first.
We pull apart, both of us breathing heavily. His lips are swollen.
When I shift again, a needy noise that I’ve never heard before echoing in the back of my throat, he grabs my fingers, lifting them to his lips. “Part of my job as your alpha is to know when you need to stop, baby. I don’t want to, but we need to stop now.”
I can barely concentrate, my eyes on his lips.Want.
“Kenny.” He murmurs my name. Says it again, and again. “My Kenny.”
Yes.But he pulls me into his arms instead, hugging me against the counter as I bury my face in his neck. My teeth graze his skin, testing, asking, and he hisses. “I’m going to be late for work.”
He doesn’t sound like he particularly cares. But his words break through the haze, and I pull back. “Work?”
His finger presses against the tip of my nose. “Yes.”
“But… it’s so late.” And I realize I have no idea what he does. “You have to go?”
He holds out his hand. “Nope. You can stay with me if you want to. It’s incredibly boring, though.”
***
Curled up in his lap, I stare, wide-eyed. He gives me a rueful smile as he slips the headphones over his ears. “Good evening. You’re through to Oscar. How can I help?”
The high-pitched rant that hits my ears makes me flinch back, but he barely flinches. His thumb rubs my lower back in soft circles as he leans forward, clicking at the monitor in the corner of his room. “I’m really sorry to hear that. It sounds like a simple fix. I’ll go through it with you.”
When he slips the headphones off an hour later, I haven’t moved. “What happened to college?”
He had a scholarship. He was going to use his brain to do brilliant things that none of us knew how to describe.
But he’s… here.
His voice turns chiding. “It’s honest work. I’m not ashamed of it.”
I know that. I’m not judging him for it. “But why?”
His smile softens. “Some things are more important than a classroom.”
I can’t breathe. “You didn’t go, because of me? You could have studied online!”
“Maybe I will.” His smile turns teasing. “We have time, remember? But my focus is my pack, Kenny. That’s what makes me happy. It’s not a sacrifice for me to work to contribute to a home for us. It’s a privilege.”
I nearly growl. But I’m thinking too hard. Thinking about things I should have already thought of. But… I didn’t. “Who paid for my spot at the Center when Charles’s money ran out?”
