And I was being rude.
“Colby, hi! Nice to see you.” I stepped over and offered my hand. “Sorry I was being weird there for a minute.”
Colby laughed and accepted my hand, his grip strong and friendly. “No worries. I’m used to it.”
I felt a touch of color creep into my cheeks. “That still doesn’t make it okay,” I admitted. “Is it rude for me to ask if Rafael is coming?”
“Of course not,” Colby assured me with a grin. “This time, he’s not. Since strategy is more of my thing, he stayed home with the kids and sent me.”
I nodded, remembering that Colby had a proven record as a tactician. “Perfect. Why don’t you have a seat and fill me in?”
Instead of taking the chair I gestured to, Colby shook his head. “Now’s not great, honestly. I’ve been riding for hours, and I stopped to do some recon on the way in. I could use a bite to eat and a couple of hours to rest and process what I learned before we talk.”
“Of course.” I pulled his keycard from my pocket. “Dinner won’t be ready for a couple more hours, but there are snacks and drinks in the room I have ready for you. It’s in the guest wing, room twenty-six. Next door to the one I set aside for Sonny.”
“Perfect,” Colby said, stifling a yawn as he accepted the card. “I’ll catch up with you after a bit.” He paused on his way out of the room and looked back over his shoulder at me. “You have a fox on your staff now?”
I cocked my head in confusion. “Uh, no? Why?”
Colby’s eyes narrowed slightly but he shook his head. “Probably nothing. We’ll talk later.”
Okay, that was weird, but I really didn’t have time to dwell on it if I was going to catch up on my paperwork and still have time to grovel for Jules’s forgiveness before dinner.
~*~
Half an hour before the evening meal would be served, I steeled myself at the door to my room, realizing I still hadn’t come up with an appropriate apology for Jules. Tapping in the code to unlock it, I pushed the door open and then stopped short at the sight of Jules stretched out naked on the bed, limbs akimbo and small snores muffled by the pillow his face was buried in.
My chest tightened at the sight, followed quickly by my slacks when he shifted in his sleep, hitching his knee higher on the pillow under it and flashing me a view of the sweet little hole I couldn’t quite get enough of. Is rimming considered an apology?
My feet carried me to the side of the bed before I gathered up enough control to hold back. Apology or not, I wasn’t far enough gone to think I had some sort of rights to his body when consent hadn’t been given.
Swallowing a sigh, I leaned down to press a light kiss to the top of his head and retreated to the bathroom to clean up for dinner.
“Jules?” I called his name softly as I re-entered the bedroom, not wanting to startle him. “Baby, wake up.”
Jules rolled over to his back, glaring at me with blurry eyes. “What do you want?”
“What do I want?” I repeated softly, placing my hand on his bare foot and noticing absently that there was loose soil on the sole. Brushing the dirt off, I squeezed the arch lightly. “I want you to forgive me. I know I was a dick, and I really am sorry.”
When he didn’t answer, I gave up on holding back the sigh. “But if you’re not ready for that, then I just wanted to be sure you don’t miss dinner.”
“Already?” Jules seemed surprised, turning to look out the window at the setting sun. “I didn’t realize it was that late,” he mused to himself. He yawned and stretched before pushing up to sit with his feet dangling over the edge of the bed, facing me. “What you mean is you’re sorry I’m mad, but you still think it was funny.”
I had to fight to keep from hanging my head at the hurt in Jules’s voice. Kneeling between his legs, I looked into his eyes.
“No, that’s not what I mean,” I said firmly. “I mean that I am sorry I hurt you. You were trying to be helpful and I turned it into a joke. It wasn’t funny and it wasn’t okay for me to do that.” I pressed a kiss to each of his knees and looked back to his face. “In addition, I understand that my earlier attempts to apologize came off as insincere. I’ve had some time to reconsider things and I was definitely being a dick.”
“Because it was kind of funny,” Jules scoffed as he echoed my earlier justification back at me.
I shook my head. “No, it wasn’t. I know I was trying to justify it earlier and I was wrong to do that.”
The scowl left his face, but my Omega still looked skeptical. “I’m still mad.”
“I understand,” I said quietly, reaching up to stroke his cheek. “You have every right to be. If you think of something I can do to make it up to you, please let me know.” When his eyes narrowed, I hurried to continue, “Not like that. This is not an attempt to get into your pants.” When Jules snickered, I shrugged and patted his bare thighs. “Not even your figurative pants, I swear.”
I stood up and offered him my hand. “Do you want to eat with me in the dining room?”
The brief hesitation gutted me, but Jules finally accepted my hand and let me pull him to his feet.
