Her cheeks were flaming red, and she couldn’t quite look anyone in the eye. “Yep, yep. No one has the moves like us.”
I chuckled, gave the sisters a wave, and led my omega out of the community center.
“I’m never going to be able to show my face in town,” Olive groaned once we got outside. The night air was cool, and I tugged her flush against my body to make sure she stayed warm.
“Nah, it will be fine. And if they make a big deal about it, I’ll egg Stanley’s car. Give the town something else to talk about.”
She pursed her lips, but I knew she was fighting a smile. Relief flooded me that she wasn’t too upset. I couldn’t stand the idea of hurting Olive in any way.
“Should we walk back?”
She stood on her tiptoes and gave me a kiss, running her fingers down the stubble on my jaw. “Yes, please.”
24
OLIVE
I pausedat my front door, Easton beside me. I’d been so anxious about this date, but everything with Easton was just…fun. Easy.
The date could end here, and I knew Easton would accept it. Wouldn’t be mad at me for it.
But I didn’t want the date to be over.
“Do you want to come inside?” Ugh. My question came out so unsure and pathetic. I cleared my throat, gearing up to sound more confident.
Easton blinked, his lips parted. “Really?” Now it was his turn to clear his throat. “You don’t have to,” he rushed to say.
For as persistent as Easton could be, he had never pushed this, never even asked why I didn’t want them inside.
“How do youknow?” I asked. This time, exasperation tinged my tone.
He furrowed his brow and took a step closer, his hand cupping my elbow, his thumb massaging my arm. “What do you mean?”
“How do you know I’m nervous about having people in my space? I swear you understand me better than I understand myself sometimes.”
A self-satisfied grin spreads across his face. “BecauseI see you, Olive. I’ve known you were meant to be mine since the moment I first spotted you.” He twisted a piece of my hair around his fingers. “And I’ve been watching you.”
“Watching me?” I asked, sounding breathless.
“Just when you would come into town, not like setting up cameras inside your home. Because that would be inappropriate.” He nodded a little too aggressively, as if he was proud of himself for knowing that would be wrong. “I was just… observing you, sunshine.”
“Observing,” I said slowly, running my hands down his chest. “Is that what we’re calling stalking these days?”
Easton huffed and pulled me into his tight embrace. “I don’t fucking care, Olive. You can be mad at me all you want, but I can’t stop.”
“I mean, I did suspect something was going on when you were always at the market with me.” A smile tugged at my lips. I couldn’t even pretend to be mad at him. My Easton. My stalker. “But… I don’t want you to just watch me. I want you here.” I took a deep breath. “Here, with me, inside my home.”
He squeezed me even tighter. I was crushed against his chest. Not a whisper of space between us.
“I know you’re a private person. You’re shy and prickly and so adorably snarky. You need time to trust people, and that’s something I understand.”
I didn’t move, barely breathed, too afraid to break the spell. I could tell by the way Easton’s body trembled, the way his scent turned bitter, that whatever he was thinking about was painful. My arms flexed around him, as if they were powerful enough to stop the bad memories.
“Do you want to tell me about it?”
He buried his face in my hair, breathing in deeply, and it made me wish I hadn’t worn deodorant today. I always wore it while going out so I didn’t irritate anyone else with my scent. But I wanted to give Easton my scent now.
“My mom wasn’t a good mom,” he started, his words slightly muffled against my hair. “There were always men in andout of our house, and they were always more important than me. I never invited anyone over because I was ashamed. I didn’t want them to see how I was living—the trash and cigarette butts everywhere.” His hands twisted into my hair, and he pressed my face tighter to that spot where his neck and shoulders met. “I didn’t want them to see how she treated me… how she hit me and yelled when she was angry. By the time I was a teenager, I stopped coming home. I started by camping out—first in the woods, but it freaked me the fuck out. Then on the beach. Carina found me one night and demanded I come inside, and I ended up living here, in this house, for a lot of high school.”
