“A bourbon apple fizz,” I say with a smile, pulling my wallet.
Marilyn’s quick to shake her head. “I’ve got it. A single malt whiskey, please.”
She pays as the bartender makes both drinks, setting them on the bar top with a professional ease as we both offer our thanks. She guides me deeper into the room, avoiding any of the established groups.
“This was told to me in confidence, but I know I can trust you with it,” she says once we’re at least ten feet away from everyoneelse. “Rhett James has found a scent match. I’m not sure when he’ll bring her in, but I was hoping you’d be willing to help her feel welcome. It’s going to be a shock to everyone when he’s been such a cowboy the last seven years.”
Her eyes flick to Rhett where he laughs with a few of the other players. I don’t know how I manage to keep my smile from fracturing. Marilyn squeezes my elbow as I take a drink. Rhett told her about me, and yet… not. Had she tried to set him up on a date with someone else and he’d admitted to having a scent match to get out of it? My heart warms at the thought even as more panic sets in at our lying to the entire team.
“Of course,” I agree. And then I lie through my teeth for the second time in fifteen minutes. “Just let me know when.”
Chapter Twenty
BILLIE
Paxton smiles as one of his teammates chats about a new offensive plan they’ve put together for the game tomorrow night. I try to stay engaged, to follow along enough to respond if they try to draw me into the conversation, but I can’t quiet manage. My gaze drifts over the room as I slowly sip from the glass of wine I’ve been nursing for the last half hour since the tables were cleared and the desserts were cut into. There’s more than a couple Omegas here, holding hands with various players. So many of them have packed up since I moved out here five weeks ago, it’s a bit jarring. I’ve not managed to learn a single one of their names.
Nerves cut through my stomach.
Paxton grabs my hand, lacing our fingers together. I try and settle myself so I don’t ruin his afternoon with my insecurities that have been haunting me since I was a kid. His thumb runs over my knuckles. I take another drink of the wine, bigger this time. My eyes catch on Carys across the room. She stands with Marilyn, talking quietly, a small smile on her lips. Her dress is abeautiful plaid, the bodice slim and the skirt flaring away from her hips. That flash of interest, of desire, rushes down my spine.
I quickly look away before Paxton notices and my secret spills out in an ugly mess of words that won’t land right. How do I explain to him that I love him and yet still crave her, too? I’m not an Omega. Betas aren’t wired to need so many people the way Omegas are. The idea of hurting him by admitting maybe I need more than just his devotion and steady love sickens me.
So instead, I shove away the feelings, the slips in my control, sipping the last bits of my wine and doing my best to focus on the conversation in front of me as a third player joins. I don’t hear a word they say, though, so lost in my own head. Paxton frowns, glancing down at me. He says something to the guys. They smile and nod, and then he’s guiding me out of the large room, taking my wine glass and leaving it on one of the entry tables.
He pulls me into the coat closet and closes the door, locking it behind him.
“Bee,” he says, his voice low.
My stomach twists. “What?”
“You don’t need to be nervous of all those Omegas,” he says, running his thumb across my cheekbone. Love sweeps across the bond, flooding my chest.
I swallow and shrug. “I know.”
Just one, actually. But that’s not something I’m going to admit here, not when she just spent the night with Rhett and Paxton and I just put in an offer for a house.
He frowns, his cypress scent surrounding us in a fast wave.
“I don’t think you do, Bee. I think you’ve spent the last two hours switching between jealous and nervous.” He steps into me, cradling the nape of my neck to keep me from backing away. “I think you’re worried you won’t be enough.”
“Maybe,” I admit.
He nods, then he kisses me. It’s the most demanding kiss he’s given me in a long time, and I gasp at its intensity.
“You are enough,” he says against my lips. His possessiveness rushes through the bond, making my hands tremble as his own eases the hem of my dress higher and then slips under it to trace the edge of my panties.
“Paxton,” I gasp. “Your entire team is out there.”
He’s never been so bold. Neither have I.
“They are,” he agrees. He palms my hip, turning me toward one of the empty racks, urging me forward until my hands are splayed on the wall, my ass pressed hard into his hips. “So you should probably be quieter, or they’re going to figure out where we’ve gone and why.”
His words shoot right through me, a net of sensation that has me shaking. He hums, feeling it through the bond. He keeps his palm flat against my back as he undoes the belt and zipper of his slacks one-handed, not missing a beat. He leans over me, pressing a kiss to my neck. My breath hitches as he pulls my dress up to my hips, flipping the hem to keep it from falling back down. He pulls my panties to the side, and then his cock is there, pressing into me in one smooth thrust that has my toes curling in my low heels. I gasp, and he sets his teeth into my neck, not quite breaking the skin. He sets a deep, slow pace, every single stroke sending electric shocks to my fingertips.
“You don’t need to be jealous, Bee,” he whispers, his breathing not impacted at all. “I know you can feel me. My cock and my desire for you, my need to have you coming around me. I’ll fuck you here until you trust it to be the truth, Bee. Don’t tempt me.”
The words with the double dose of sensation are too much. My arms collapse, and I press my cheek to the wall, biting my lip to keep from moaning as my orgasm starts to crest.
