She nods. “I do, but I have other news, too. About Rhett.”
I tense. I can’t help it. I force my voice level. “Oh?”
“He apparently went on a date with Carys,” she says. “They’re scent matches. They figured it out at that party on Halloween.”
For a long minute, I can’t hear a single thing over the roar in my head.
Scent matches.
My cypress scent explodes out of me. Billie only snuggles deeper, unable to distinguish the edge to it that betrays my hurtand fear. I palm her knee, pulling her closer into me, trying to soothe all the angry edges of me I wish weren’t there.
Rhett’s also her scent match. That’s why he smelled of orchids in the locker room yesterday before morning skate. I’d had to run right the hell out of there before I lost my cool and figured out where exactly her perfume was coming from. I’d been half-terrified she was hooking up with one of the players.
Which, turns out, I wasn’t actually wrong about that. I’d just never expected my brother to be the one. Not after he hadn’t said a word after Halloween, when Carys seemed to drop completely off his radar just like all of his hook ups and flings.
Instead, they’re scent matches.
Fuck.
“That’s…” I finally manage. My voice is equal parts hoarse shock and polite interest. Flashes of last night pop up with a sudden clarity. “That explains his behavior last night, then. I thought maybe he’d been scolded by Marilyn over something.”
“What happened?” Billie grabs her coffee without pulling away from me, casually drinking it awkwardly, the mug tilted to keep it from spilling on us both.
“Well, normally he’s drowning in partners that want his attention. Like at Halloween before you and Carys started dancing.” I twist her hair around my hand, trying to ground myself. “Last night he didn’t let a single person touch him. He had a couple drinks, laughed with Kane and me and a few people who recognized him at Slapshots. We celebrated the win, of course. It’s the first time we’ve managed to string together four in a row, so we were all feeling pretty ecstatic. Kane and one of the other guys were placing bets on who Rhett would take home. But he didn’t. He didn’t even buy anyone a drink. It was odd enough even Kane made a comment about it. He just shrugged Kane off without any explanation, really, and then headed home not long after that.”
Billie finishes her coffee and then wraps her arms around me, turning her face into my shoulder. “I told her we could help cover them about going on dates. They’re keeping it secret right now since the season’s rocky and she’s worried what her dad will think about it all.”
True fear rips through me, hollowing out my chest until it’s a miracle I keep breathing at all. It’s bad enough knowing she’s my scent match… and my brother’s now, too, while being near her as Billie’s friend. But having to be in close proximity to both of them? Risking smelling her perfume out of need like that bar on Halloween? Jesus, this is literal hell. I’d been so scared this move would be awful for Billie, but it’s actually me that’s finding himself raked over hot coals.
“Yeah, sure,” I say. Anything to make Billie happy at this point. “If you guys want to, then that’s fine.”
She straddles me without fanfare, the hem of her dress pushing to the tops of her thighs, showing just a hint of the simple blue thong she wears underneath. Her nipples peak through the thin fabric, tempting me. I run a thumb over one of them, smiling as she shivers. My dick presses against my sweats, but I ignore it. This soft intimacy, the warmth and comfort and ease of it, is something I cherish the most about my relationship with Billie. I’d never had it before her, not in the few serious relationships I’d managed during my early twenties.
“Houses?” I ask, trying to gauge her mood.
She shakes her head. “I need you before you’re gone again.”
I’m not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. I pull her dress over her head, letting it fall to the floor at my feet, not waiting to strip out of my own shirt. Instead, I run my tongue down her sternum, letting my beard scratch up her skin while I soak in her taste and touch and the way she feels in my lap. I close my eyes to savor it even more. Her peach doesn’t growany stronger, the same faint perfume caressing the edges of my senses. My cypress overwhelms it in only a few seconds.
I palm her hips and bring her down into me, grinding against her. She hums, the sound cutting off with a startled gasp as I pull a nipple into my mouth, sucking lightly. Her stomach tightens, and goosebumps race across her chest. She shivers when I pull away and her wet nipple tightens in the sudden cool air. As I give the same attention to her other nipple, I trace the edge of her panties, letting a finger slip beneath them and slowly move across her clit and then her opening, her body already wet and ready.
She only tolerates my teasing touches for a minute. With a whine, she pushes me away, her second nipple tightening in the sudden air. She gasps, but it doesn’t stop her from ripping my shirt off and dropping it off the back of the couch. She’s just as impatient with my sweats, rising just enough that she can push them down until my dick springs free, already hard and ready for her, leaking a bead of precum onto my stomach. I push into her warm hands as she wraps them around me, gritting my teeth as she tightens her grip and strokes from root to tip and back.
“Bee,” I grunt.
Her fingers trace my knot.
“You want it today?”
It’s something I always double check even two years since she first worked up to taking my knot. Knotting for Betas can be painful if they’re not ready for it, no matter how much work they’ve done to train their bodies to take one. The last thing I want is to hurt Billie.
She nods.
“You want me to grab?—”
I cut off, unable to form the rest of the words, watching in rapture as she pulls her panties to the side and lowers herself onto me. The slide’s an exquisite torture, her body clutching atme like a damn fist. I suck a breath in through my teeth, my stomach clenching.
“Jesus, Bee,” I manage to gasp. “Every time, it’s like the first time. It’s so fucking good, sweetheart.”
