“No. I do not. But I wouldn’t mind your hands on me again.”
He tsked. “Flirty omega. I love how insatiable you are. I hope we always stay that way.”
Always? Those weren’t words for a temporary relationship. Any other alpha would alarm me by talking about forever so quickly. It might have been a red flag. But with Sothea? It warmed me. Made me feel safe and loved.
Like I never wanted to leave his sight.
We ate breakfast together with the sun shining through his kitchen window. He talked about some tattoos he had coming up that week, and I droned on about my boring my job. When we were done eating, my heart sank to my stomach. If only life was so simple that I could stay here and not worry about paying bills and keeping a schedule.
“What is it, Altan?” He gripped the underside of my chair and scooted me over until I was right next to him. Heat radiated off him, making me shudder.
“I wish it was Sunday. You and I could laze around all day and spend more time together.”
“We can make that happen this coming weekend. It’s only a few days away.”
“I have to get going. Today is a half day but I still have to go in at noon. They started us on this weird new schedule.”
Sothea leaned forward to kiss my bottom lip. “I will miss you, omega.”
“Me too.” This was nuts. Thinking about leaving him, even for a day, was making my chin quiver, like I was on the verge of crying. Why was everything so intense with Sothea? What made this different?
“I have some late appointments,” he said. “How about I bring you dessert tonight?”
I laughed, chasing the almost-tears away. “Is it you? Are you the dessert?”
“No. Well, yes, that can be on the menu as well, but I know a place that makes the best guava pastries. They are my favorite. Those and the bear claws.” He flushed, cheeks reddening, and I tried to think of how either of those pastries could be a double entendre. Came up with nothing.
“I love bear claws.”
Sothea laughed, shaking his head.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he said. “It’s just uncanny how perfect you are. I’m never going to get enough of you.”
I took his hand and put it over my groin. “Not even now?”
He cocked his head. At first, I thought he was going to deny me. “You said you were sore, omega.”
“The shower helped. I’m all better now.”
“Hmm.” He picked me up like I weighed nothing and headed to the bedroom. “I’ll be the judge of that. I might have to inspect you head to toe just to make sure.”
And he did. He so did.
Chapter Eleven
Sothea
Our relationship was zooming along, at least I thought it was in human terms. They required extensive courting, according to Greta who watched a lot of reality TV. But I didn’t mind because as long as we were spending time together, I could accept that.
My bear, on the other hand, was not okay. He wanted the deal closed, everything finalized, mated, and marked. My pointing out that he’d bitten me and wore the tattoo mark did not convince him. As far as my bear was concerned, there were rules to be followed, and traditions. And, at some point, he was going to have to know about my bear. So I called and made reservations at a nice restaurant and then asked Altan if he’d go with me. I probably should have done it in the opposite order, but I had a little anxiety about the whole thing. Over the time we’d spent together, I had put out a few hints, trying to find out if he even knew shifters were a thing, but I didn’t get anything back that told me one way or another.
As close as we’d grown, I hoped even if he didn’t know about us, he would be able to accept my bear because the beast was head over heels about him. We hadn’t been out for a fancy meal, so far, and I thought on some level, I might have been trying to put him in a good mood before making the big announcement.
“You look so handsome,” he crooned when he opened his door. “I should go change.”
“No way.” Altan’s baby-blue sweater and nice slacks were more than dressy enough and made him look incredible. “You’re perfect.”
