“Taylor?” Johnny’s eyes were wide as he slipped his fingers around Taylor’s jaw, cupping his face and holding his gaze.
Taylor let out a long breath, blinked, then inhaled so hard he almost choked on his own spit. “Sorry,” he said, all the saliva rushing to his mouth at once. “I… I… think I’m nervous. And I… I never knew you smelled like that. Like my dad. Fuck, that’s not what I meant. You don’t smell like my dad at all. I just mean… I knew youcouldsmell like that but… fuck.”
Johnny pulled back, his scent receding as a look of dread crossed his face. “I… what?”
“Not like my dad… like an alpha. I mean,shit, obviously you smell like an alpha, but it’s different. You’re different and… you smell good.Really good,but it’s… it’s making me nervous. God, I’m so fucking nervous all of a sudden.”
A lopsided smile tugged at Johnny’s mouth, as though he couldn’t decide whether to smile or cry. He leant forwards to brush a hand over Taylor’s chest.
“Tay, you know I wouldneverdominate you with my scent.Never.Yeah, I smell different because I’m really turned on, but I can’t… I don’t want to control it, but I will. For you. And I’m nervous too, by the way.”
“Shit,” Taylor said, gripping Johnny’s wrist and kissing his palm. “I didn’t mean… That came out wrong.”
Johnny pulled back, and he had a flighty look in his eyes.
Groaning, Taylor pushed him onto his back and straddled his hips, because Johnny looked like he might actually throw himself out of the window. Curling around the other alpha,Taylor shoved his face into his neck and let the scent wash over him again.
He could do this. Hewouldget over this. This was Johnny,his Johnny.
After a while, Johnny turned his face into Taylor’s hair and whispered, “Tay, please?”
Taylor sighed. “I’m good.”
Johnny gripped his hair, tugging softly.
“It’s just… You… you kinda make me feel like a virgin, you know?”
Johnny ran a hand down his back. “What does that mean?”
Sitting up, Taylor splayed his hands over Johnny’s pecs. “It means… being with omegas is like jumping into a Jacuzzi, right? You know what you’re going to get and you know it’s going to be relaxing and nice.”
Johnny tipped his head and blinked a few times. “Yeah?”
“But now…right nowit feels like… like the Jacuzzi might be filled with boiling water. Like… it’s exciting, but could also be skin-meltingly dangerous. Do you know what I mean?”
Johnny ran his hands up Taylor’s thighs, thumbs brushing over his balls. He opened and closed his mouth several times before finally saying, “Yeah, that’s what it’s like when alphas have sex. Your scents are competing, but should never dominate. It’s why communication is important. No pheromone cheat codes, or whatever. Surely you realised that when you slept with Sam?”
Taylor shrugged. “I just thought it was rough, very traumatised sex. I mean, we’d just responded to that guy with the machete, the one that nearly cut my fingers off? Me and Sam, we… we were just letting off some steam after we thought… Well we thought one or both of us was going to get our throats slashed.”
Johnny slowly sat up, a look of understanding rippling across his face as he placed a small kiss on Taylor’s collarbone. “Yeah. That was a rough shift. But letting off steam with another alpha without communicating first is risky, Tay. It sounds like you didn’t know what you were doing.”
Taylor huffed out a laugh, running his fingers through Johnny’s hair. “Maybe. Or maybe I’m just bad at sex with alphas.”
Johnny looked up at him through his thick lashes. “It sounds like you’re fishing for a compliment.”
Taylor slapped his shoulder. “I’m not.”
“Have we been having bad sex, Tay?”
“No it’s… it’s been really fucking hot, JP.”
Johnny craned his neck to kiss Taylor’s jaw. “In that case, I’m sorry to break it to you, sweetheart, but in your utterly ludicrous quest for sexual repression you havetechnicallymade yourself a virgin. Unless you’re going to tell me Sam pegged you?”
Taylor pulled Johnny’s hair, yanking his head back to kiss him on the mouth. “No, she didn’t, and neither has anyone else.”
Johnny raised an eyebrow, smiling into the kiss. “Not even a cheeky finger?”
“No, JP. I haven’t had omegas lining up asking me to sit on their faces, and it isn’t something I’ve explored myself.”
