We said good night to our host and drifted up the stairs, too replete to walk quickly, even if we’d wanted to. My heart was beating faster with each step, however. Was this it? The time my mate would claim me? We didn’t know each other well, but my wolf was howling with need, wanting to bond with his mate. He smelled good; it was all I could do not to lean in and sniff him. It probably would have been all right, but I wasn’t sure he was where I was. Pausing outside my room, I waited for him to say something. To ask to come in with me or invite me into his own room.
I waited…and then after what felt like an hour but was probably twenty seconds, the alpha said, “Good night.” He went into his room.
What the heck? Didn’t he know how this place worked?
Chapter Nine
Remi
The last thing I wanted to do was to duck into my room without the omega in my arms, but taking him to bed on the first night, well, it didn’t seem right.
I wanted love, not lust. Not true. I wanted love and lust. If I wanted to take an omega to bed without getting to know him, then I could get back on the dating apps or online and do just that.
But, with Bowen, my alpha panther and I craved more. We needed some kind of foundation before mating and marking him, as hard as it was to carry that plan out.
Still, there was disappointment in my omega’s eyes. Did he want me to take him to bed on our very first night here?
It was too late now.
I sat on the edge of the bed, thinking over my options. I could go to his door and knock. It was so few steps to his door.
What would I say? Ask him if he wanted to go to bed with me? I was a nice guy but that didn’t sound very romantic.
Throwing myself back on the bed, I decided to shower and get some rest. But just as I’d kicked off my shoes, a text came through.
My heart stammered. Could it be him?No, he doesn’t even have my phone number.
That was when I realized: I wanted it to be him. I wanted him to text me and tell me he was lying awake, thinking about me as much as I was about him. That he craved me like I craved him. He was waiting for me in his bed.
I picked up the phone, letting the fantasy linger as long as possible.
The text was from Seth, my brother. Bubble burst.
Something is up with the payroll system. Can’t put in everyone’s hours. Call me?
Without speaking to him, I already knew the problem. There was a certain button you had to click between employees to enter their hours worked and, if you didn’t, well, it was frustrating at best. When I got back, I needed to change programs, but I was stuck between being aggravated and not wanting to learn a new system. I called Seth.
“Hey, am I interrupting something?” he said. I could see him in my head, his eyebrows waggling.
“No.”
“Well, damn. I was hoping you were getting some.”
Good grief. My brother. “Let’s talk about business, please. Let me guess. You put in one employee’s hours, and now it won’t let you do another.”
Seth laughed. “So this is an ongoing issue?”
“It is. But I have a hack.” I walked him through fixing it and then he did two more employees after that to make sure he had the hack down pat.
“Can I ask how it’s going?”
“His name is Bowen. He’s nice and polite…”
“Is he hot?” my brother asked. I’d known the question was coming. Seth had no tact whatsoever.
“He’s absolutely stunning, Seth. He really is.”
“Better than Davis?”
