I wasn’t home. Rather, I lay naked and sprawled on top of Evander, his arms wrapped around my back, and his breaths were as steady as he was.
With my old alphas, I woke up alone.
He was different from them in every way, entirely out of their league.
Trying not to wake him, I climbed off my alpha, inch by inch. I’d slept in, but we hadn’t gone to sleep until the sun was up. And the bright rays beaming through the window told me it was late.
“Where are you going?” Evander asked. I gasped as he pulled me back on top of him in one swift movement.
“Checking the time.”
He opened his eyes and stared at me. “You weren’t going to try and run, were you?”
The thought had occurred to me. Not because the night before wasn’t amazing but because this was moving too fast. Not the sex but the way I was feeling. Evander had already carved out a place in my heart, and that was the last thing I wanted.
Love wasn’t on the menu for us. All I could or would give him was sex and friendship. I didn’t trust anyone or myself enough to give him more.
“No. Not yet, at least. I do have to leave sometime this morning. I need to clean my apartment and get to the laundromat.”
The alpha rumbled low in his chest. “I suppose I can let you go. But, first, a shower and breakfast?”
“A shower, yes. But you don’t have to cook for me. I can pick something up on the way home.”
His brow furrowed. He was on to me. I would have to explain at some point that if he sought out a marked omega in me, he would never have it.
Also, if he noticed my marks in the heat of passion, he hadn’t mentioned it. I hoped he wouldn’t. I wasn’t ready to explain the scars inside me. Some days, they were as angry as the day they were born.
“You’re lying on top of one of the best chefs in this city, and you want to pick something up? I’ll be quick. I promise. Just a simple breakfast.”
I laughed and shook my head. Another reason I had to keep my distance. I couldn’t say no to him. That, and my wolf was begging me to stay as long as possible. “Okay. But nothing fancy.”
He crossed his fingers over his heart. “Promise. First, shower.”
Two showerheads kept every inch of me warm. He said he had a tub in the other bathroom. Hinting for another time? While I brushed my teeth with the new brush he laid out for me and took my time drying off, he took his turn to shower. Walking away, he whistled and murmured something about making breakfast for the omega.
So nice and giving both in bed and out, he would make an incredible mate for someone, someday.
If I had met him before my harem, we really could’ve made each other happy.
I put on my pants from the night before and padded into the kitchen where I leaned against the doorframe and soaked this moment in. Evander in his element. He whisked through the kitchen, seasoning food, moving the pan, and throwing ingredients into the mix. With one hand, he shook the pan containing some eggs and with the other, he pulled sourdoughtoast from the oven. A fruit salad in a blue glass bowl was on the counter and coffee brewed in the pot in the corner.
Shirtless, he offered a good view of his back muscles that stretched and pulled with his movements.
A sexy cooking magic show just for me.
“I can feel your stare, omega.”
“I like to watch you cook. You were born for this, I think.”
Turning to look at me over his shoulder, he smiled. “I was born for a lot of things, Hudson. This is just one of them.”
He didn’t say anything out of line, but it hit me dead center in my heart.
If I let this continue, I would want him to be mine and to be his.
A part of me already did.
“Really? What else do you think you were born to be?”
