She nodded but refused to comment, so Lucian left the bar to weave between the tables. Clarissa could count on him. He refused to letherdown.
Booth five was located centrally, close enough within eyeshot of the bar that, during quieter moments, it was easy to attract the eye of the bar staff. Lucian cut straight for it, trying to keep his gaze averted from the alpha and omega couple two booths down who’d stripped each other nearly nude and were playing with each other’s bodies. Lucian’s attempts were in vain—the sounds of the omega’s cry as the alpha tugged at his nipple with his teeth rose above the distant thud of music from the dance floor below. Their scents perfumed the air. Lucian heard them and breathed them in as clearly as he could see them, and for the first time since he’d started working for The Shepherd, arousal coiled low in his stomach. It wasn’t like him to be turned on by voyeurism, but there was no denying the chill that swept through his gut and left him to harden like ice initswake.
“That’s Adrian,” a low voice said in his ear. Lucian jumped, taking a staggering step back to find the alpha he was supposed to serve standing before him. “Once you’ve worked here for long enough, you’ll get used to him. He likes to pretend he’s The Shepherd’s biggest star because he’s a dominant omega. I wouldn’t let him gettoyou.”
Lucian’s heart wouldn’t slow. He swallowed hard, trying to do away with the lump in his throat, but his attempts were unsuccessful. Up close, the alpha was even more gorgeous than he had been from across the room, and he left Lucianbreathless.
Dark, luscious hair framed his face, adding contrast to the man’s skin. There was strength in his features that hinted at nobility, but the shape of the man’s eyes and the way he held his mouth suggested wicked cunning and a lashing tongue instead of pomp and vanity. Lucian’s eyes traveled down his neck to his broad shoulders and chest. He wore a white button-down shirt and a suit jacket, butnotie.
“I think otherwise, of course. About the whole biggest star thing, that is.” The man’s eyes didn’t wander from Lucian. “I’m not one for wannabe celebrities. I prefer undiscoveredtalent.”
The cadence of his voice was low and steady, a kind of song meant for Lucian’s ears, and Lucian’s ears alone. Lucian knew what a voice like that meant—seduction.
He’d heard it often enough that it did nothingforhim.
“I guess you must be someone who’s always looking, then. I’ll let you get back to it.” Lucian pressed the glass into the man’s hand. His heart still raced, but the smooth-talking had brought him back to his senses. “Knob Creek, neat. Is there anything else I can getforyou?”
“Yourname.”
“Nothappening.”
“Then I’ll give you mine.” The man placed his drink on the table, and Lucian made the mistake of looking into his eyes. A quiet kind of interest sparked there. It wasn’t the overenthusiastic kind that drowned out rational thought and turned men into monsters, but something softer and more introspective. In that look, Lucian lost himself. The dark depths of the man’s gaze pinned him in place and made him feel small, yet infinite all at once. “MarcusHayes.”
“Marcus,” Lucian repeated, dumbfounded by the way a single look could make him feel. He ran his thumb along the creases of his fingers, gathering the condensation left there from the glass. The frigidity grounded him and helped him regain somecontrol.
Lucian smiled. “I’ll remember. Enjoy yournight.”
“I will. Good luck with your first weekend. I’ll be cheering you on from thesidelines.”
There’d been a time in Lucian’s life where he would have fallen to his knees and groveled in front of an alpha like Marcus Hayes, but tonight, he did something he’d never thought he could do in the face of temptation—he took a step back. Marcus’ cool, collected gaze widened with surprise, and Lucian’s smile turned into a grin. He broke eye contact with Marcus, then turned and headed back to the bar withoutlookingback.
Lucian’s heart hammered, and his pulse beat so loudly in his ears that he couldn’t hear the music anymore, but none of that mattered. He’d gone head to head with an alpha who made him weak in the knees and he’d come out of it in control not only of himself, but of thesituation.
The rush went right to Lucian’s head, and by the time he arrived back behind the bar, laughter clenched his throat and threatened to givehimaway.
It was one thing to go through almost a year of inpatient therapy and go through safe, routine exposure treatments, but to apply what he’d learned to a real-life situation? Lucian couldn’t have been more proud ofhimself.
“You’re back?” Clarissa soundedsurprised.
“Was I not supposedtobe?”
“No, you are, I just…” She looked toward the booth, then back at Lucian. Lucian watched as a grin broke out across her face. “I’m glad that you’re here. I think you’re starting to get the whole service aspect down, so I think it’s about time we got started teaching you how to pour drinks. We’re going to be swamped in a few more hours, and I’ll need all the help Icanget.”
“Yougotit.”
Lucian stole one last look across the bar to booth five and ducked his head as the laughter finally made it to his face. At last, his future was in his own hands. The choices he made, he made for himself and no one else. If he decided to pursue something with Marcus—if—it would be of his own volition and on his ownterms.
The power of ‘no’ was intoxicating, and it was Lucian’s to wield however hewanted.
6
Marcus
Doingit right is more important than doing itquickly.
Marcus folded his hands around his drink. Doing it right may have been important, but knowing that didn’t do anything to temper hisdesire.
The omega wouldbehis.
