Glancing around at the earnest faces staring at me, I nodded. That, I could do.
“You know I trust you all,” I said firmly. “With my life and more.”
The tension that had filled the room began to dissipate as the conversation turned to the rabbit that had been injured earlier.
“I wish Julian hadn’t taken off so fast,” Pete mused, pulling that damn flask from his pocket. I cocked a brow, but he ignored me, as usual. “Let him know that it looks like Tiko should make a full recovery.”
“That’s great,” I commented, not sure why Julian would be brought up but for all I knew, Pete was already plastered.
Before I could think of a non-intrusive probing question, my cellphone vibrated in my pocket, a new text message from Julian showing on the screen.
Sorry to bother you but I wasn’t sure where I should sleep tonight.
Right, while I was busy being the touchiest, whiniest Alpha in the known universe because I hadn’t manned up and told the Omega how I felt about him, he was left in limbo with no place of his own.
Shaking my head in self-disgust, I shoved my phone back in my pocket and stood, nearly toppling my chair in the process. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go talk to Julian.” I grabbed my dishes and turned to Colby. “When is go time?”
“We’re going to leave to take positions at three,” he said confidently. “That will have us well in place before they try to slip in to set their IEDs.”
I nodded and forced a smile. “I’ll be there to see you off.”
Then I headed off to try and explain to Julian that I was an idiot, but hey, at least he’d already seen my dumbassery for himself.
Julian
Across from my seat on the sofa, the television was on, but while I was waiting for my phone to alert me to a new text message, I couldn’t have told you whether the throuple on the home improvement show was going to vote to enlarge their master bedroom and install the new soaking tub or if they were going to sell it in favor of the modern townhouse with the community dog park for their six giant schnauzers.
And I definitely wouldn’t have guessed that instead of responding to my text, Chuck would stride into the suite and kick off his shoes before crossing to pull me off the couch and into his arms, then proceed to kiss the hell out of me.
I was breathless and weak-kneed when he finally released my mouth, still keeping me anchored to him with one strong arm hooked around my waist, which was good since my head was swimming.
“I’m sorry,” Chuck murmured in my ear, his hot breath sending shivers down my spine.
“What?” I asked stupidly, still focused on bringing enough air into my lungs to stop gasping.
“I’m sorry,” Chuck repeated, pressing light kisses to my neck. “I know I overreacted earlier. It wasn’t fair for me to take my frustrations out on you.” He switched to the other side of my neck and nibbled on the sensitive skin there. “Especially since I never told you how I feel.”
“Huh?” I shook my head to clear the erotic cobwebs his kisses were spinning. “How you feel about what?”
“About you.” Chuck’s chest vibrated with a small laugh, and he pulled back to meet my eyes. “I have very strong, very not casual feelings about you, Jules.”
“I..you do?” Dear God, I felt like I had woken up in the middle of class and been handed a pop quiz.
Chuck nodded, his expression serious. “I do,” he confirmed, his grip tightening slightly on my hips. “Which is why I didn’t react well at the thought that you would just walk away from me, from us.”
Before I could string together the words to tell him thatIhad strong feelings forhim,Chuck pushed on.
“But that doesn’t excuse my behavior,” he stated firmly. “You are never to blame for my behavior or actions, so while it doesn’t make it okay, I hope it might offer some explanation why I reacted how I did.”
I studied his face for a moment, his eyes were gentle, his chin set as though preparing for disappointment, and his brow was furrowed. “I love you, Chuck.”
Chuck’s eyes widened and it was his turn to shake his head in disbelief. “You don’t have to say that,” he said softly. “It was very unfair for me to have pushed you into a situation where you didn’t even feel like you had a bed to call your own. It was damn near unforgivable for me to get so cocked up over a minor miscommunication that you felt like you needed to find somewhere else to sleep.”
“I didn’t tell you this to pressure you.” Chuck pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead and pulled back. “I’m going to sleep in one of the guest rooms tonight and we can talk after everything is over tomorrow, okay?”
Um, no. No, that actually was not okay with me. And since Chuck didn’t seem convinced by my words, I decided to take a slightly moredirectapproach. Pulling out of his grip, I held his eyes as I reached for the button on my jeans. By the time he reacted, my jeans, underwear, shoes, and socks were in a jumbled mess at my feet and I was naked from the waist down.
“Jules?” Chuck sounded endearingly confused as he fought to keep his eyes above my waist. “What are you doing?”
