"I locked the door when I came in." I did. The second I saw her heading for the office. Because I knew—Iknew—that once I got her alone, I wouldn't be able to keep my hands to myself. "No one's coming in, Bea. It's just us."
Her pupils blow wide, her scent spiking so sweet and thick it makes my mouth water. "That's—that's very presumptuous of you."
"Yeah?" I brush my nose along her jaw, breathing her in. "Should I unlock it? Let you walk out of here? Because I will, if that's what you want." I pull back just enough to meet her eyes. "But I don't think that's what you want."
For a moment, she just stares at me, her chest rising and falling with quick breaths. Then her hands tighten in my shirt and she yanks me down to her mouth.
The kiss is immediate fire—all teeth and tongue and desperate need. She tastes like the coffee she had this morningand something sweeter, darker, uniquely her. I groan into her mouth and she swallows it, kissing me harder.
My hands find her waist, her hips, lifting her onto the desk in one smooth motion. She gasps against my lips but doesn't pull away—if anything, she hooks her legs around my waist and drags me closer, until we're pressed together from chest to thigh.
"Fuck," I breathe against her mouth. "Bea?—"
"Don't stop." Her hands are in my hair now, tugging just hard enough to make me growl. "Don't you dare stop."
I don't. I kiss down her jaw to her throat, finding that spot where her scent is strongest, and I bite down—not hard enough to break skin, but hard enough to make her cry out, hard enough to leave a mark. I suck at the tender skin, claiming her, and her hips roll against mine so hard I see stars.
"That's it," I murmur against her skin. "Take what you need, sweetheart. Use me."
She whimpers—actually whimpers—and does exactly that, grinding against me with increasingly frantic movements. I can feel her heat through both our jeans, can smell her slick starting to soak through, and it's driving me absolutely insane.
"You're so fucking perfect," I tell her, my hands sliding under her shirt to feel bare skin. She's so soft, so warm. "So beautiful. Been thinking about this all week. Been thinking about you."
"River—" Her voice breaks on my name. "I'm—I need?—"
"I know." I kiss her again, swallowing her gasps. "I've got you. Let go, Bea. I've got you."
And she does. She comes with my name on her lips and her nails digging into my shoulders, shaking apart in my arms. I hold her through it, kissing her throat, her jaw, her temple, feeling her pulse racing under my lips.
"Holy fuck," she whispers eventually, her voice wrecked.
"Yeah."
"That was—" She looks up at me, eyes still dark and satisfied, and slowly registers the state I'm in. The way I'm shaking. The obvious bulge in my jeans. The damp spot on my thigh from her slick. "Oh. Oh shit, River, you didn't?—"
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine. You're—" She reaches down, palms me through my jeans, and I have to lock my knees to stay upright. "Fuck, you're so hard."
"Yeah, well." I catch her wrist gently, stopping her before I lose what's left of my control. "That's what you do to me, sweetheart. But this wasn't about me. This was about you."
"That's not fair?—"
"Life's not fair." I kiss her forehead, breathing through my mouth because her scent is still making me half-feral. "But watching you come? Feeling you soak through your jeans onto mine? That was better than getting off."
"Liar."
"Not lying." I brush her hair back from her face with hands that aren't quite steady. "What are we doing?"
"Right now? Making out in the stock room like teenagers." She touches my jaw, her fingers soft. "Generally? Building something. All four of us."
"Your scent's been changing." The words come out before I can stop them. "Getting sweeter. Richer. I don't—I'm not sure what it means, but?—"
"You think it's my heat." It's not a question.
"I don't know." Honesty feels important right now. "Maybe? I've never—" I stop, realizing how inexperienced I sound. "I've never been around an omega going into heat before. But the way you smell, the way I'm reacting to you—it could be. Or it could just be that I want you this badly."
She swallows hard. "If it is... I'm not ready."
