“Then, that’s why. For all the reasons, but, most especially, as the omega who saved my life and set me free, I would do anything for you.”
I hum softly. “You don’t even know what I need help with. What if I robbed a bank?”
“I’ll be your alibi.”
A small smile creeps across my face. He’s impossible.
“Hurt someone.”
“You wouldn’t. You’re Sofia Sol, the girl who walked home from the next town over with no shoes on because you didn’t want your parents to come get you when they were sick.”
I gape at him.
“How do you even know that?”
“This town likes to talk.”
“What about if I killed someone or stole something really important?”
“If you did that, I would ask you why and, knowing you, the reason would be a good one, in which case, I would be on your side, even if it meant going to law school to get you off.” He grins, and I see a future with this alpha.
“Eli,” I whisper.
“When I think of Sunshine Cove, I think of auburn hair, long tanned legs, a smile that’s a little crooked but the most genuine I’ve ever seen, huge brown eyes with flecks of green, and the scent of ginger, mango, and coconut.”
“I wasn’t here, though.”
“And it never felt right, but I waited for you to come back. I would have waited forever.”
“Eli, this is just…a lot to take in. What you’re saying…I mean, this is fake dating. We’re supposed to be fake dating, but what you’re saying isn’t.”
“We are,” he says with a shrug of his shoulders. “But it doesn’t mean I can’t feel some kind of way about you, too.”
I exhale roughly. “I guess so.”
“Devon’s here.”
I whip around, watching as he comes down the sand towards us. I can’t wait, so I walk to meet him. When he gets close, he wraps one arm around my waist and tows me into his chest.
“I am sorry.”
“You?” I shriek. “What do you have to be sorry for? It was his fault.”
“For ruining our date.”
“It wasn’t ruined because of you, Devon. If you even, for one second, believe anything my idiot brother says, I will paint pink daisies all over your boat.”
He slowly grins and tows me back in so we’re standing pressed from thigh to chest. “You will?”
“I absolutely will. Big, gaudy pink flowers.”
“Sebastian loves you.”
“I know he does. He loves you, too. That doesn’t give him the right to hurt both of us because he’s feeling left out.”
Devon picks me up and spins, round and round, until I’m screaming, and he falls down in the sand with me on his chest.
“I think you are the most perfect omega in the whole world, Rebel.”
