“Wait a minute,” I say with a laugh. “Are those my ties? I’ve been looking for those! I thought I was going crazy.”
Her cheeks flush. “Most of them you just forgot. I only stole like… two. Maybe three.”
I shake my head and strip as instructed, handing her the discarded items. I wait patiently while she moves things around, fluffs them, and adjusts some more. I have no idea why; I can’t see any sort of difference, but her nose is scrunched up in the most adorable look of concentration, the tip of her tongue sticking out between her lips. Finally, she seems satisfied and motions for me to come onto the bed.
“If I’m naked, only fair for you to be too,” I point out as I slip beneath the pile of blankets.
“Is this a ploy to get into my panties, Mark Taylor?”
“If I everdon’twant into your panties, I want you to promise to have Tony take me ‘round back and shoot me.”
She giggles and tugs my shirt off along with the sports bra she’d been wearing.
I pull her body to mine, amazed at the way my muscles relax as soon as our skin is touching. “Fuck, that’s better. I know it was an important evening, but I was starting to feel like I was going to climb out of my skin if I didn’t touch you soon.”
“Side effect of the bond. I am a little nervous about the next few days,” she admits.
We had ultimately decided to contact the bar association in the morning and report that Ava was an incredibly late-presenting omega and we had bonded. It was rare, basically unheard-of in someone’s thirties, but her mother seemed confident that she could produce the necessary bloodwork documentation to prove it.
Shelby believed that with the correct strings pulled with the press, it would be easy enough to spin it into quite the fairytale romance. An explanation of why we’d always fought like we had. Which, honestly, was the truth—the best kind of lies usually were. Ava would reassign any of her open cases in my borough, and hopefully, that would be the end of it.
Unfortunately, it meant that we would no longer be working against each other, so how much time we’d be able to carve out together during the day was questionable.
I tickle my fingers lightly down her side, pressing my lips to her forehead. “We’ll figure it out. Once we make the official public announcement after we talk to the bar, people will be more understanding of us needing to see each other and touch frequently.”
“Were you serious about the baby stuff?” she asks quietly. A complete shift from what we’d been discussing, so obviously something she’d been chewing on for a while.
“Yes.”
“You really don’t want to run for mayor anymore? I’m not going to ask you to give up your political aspirations,” she says, propping herself up on her elbow, cheek pressed to her palm. “We could hire a nanny.”
I sigh. “I’ve always wanted to be a dad. I just never really pictured what that looked like before, because I could never see myself getting married. I didn’t think I’d ever find an omega and never felt much ofa pull to any ‘betas’ before you,” I say, poking her. “Faced with the reality of a possible baby now, though, I don’t think I want a stranger raising them for the long hours that we both sometimes work. I’m… excited about the idea of parenting, if I’m being honest.”
“A stay-at-home alpha is certainly a new one. You’re going to catch a lot of shit about it.”
I shrug. “Ask me how much I care. If I’m not running for mayor anymore, I no longer have any desire to impress any of those stuck-up assholes. The only opinion I care about is yours. Willyourespect me less if I stay home with our baby?” It’s a genuine question, I realize. I hadn’t considered that Ava might view it as emasculating. A bit of panic surges through me, and she must feel it, because she cups my cheek and kisses me.
“No, Mark. I wouldn’t respect you less. In fact, I find it incredibly sexy. Something about a man who is secure enough in his masculinity to embrace more ‘submissive’ roles is hot. Maybe I’ll talk you into it in the bedroom too,” she says with a grin.
It’s nothing I’ve ever fantasized about before, but the sudden mental image of Ava in a black leather teddy and stockings makes my cock twitch.
She fake gasps. “Did I just feel a surge of desire, sir?”
I blush. “Maybe. I’ve never thought about it before. But the idea isn’t… unappealing.”
Ava bites her bottom lip. “Wow. Well, it isn’t on my end, either. Maybe we should do some toy shopping soon. Ease into certain things.” She pushes on my chest until I roll onto my back, and she straddlesmy hips. She still has her panties on, but a large wet spot is showing on the cotton where slick is beginning to leak from her.
Her perfume fills the small space of the nest, and I groan. “Please tell me you’ve recovered enough that you’re interested in sex again.”
“Now that I’m thinking of pegging my big, strong alpha mate, I’m definitely interested in sex again,” she says, slowly grinding along my length.
“Fuck, Ava, you can’t just say things like that out loud,” I rasp, embarrassment and desire filling me in equal parts.
She laughs and leans down to kiss me, gripping my wrists and holding them above my head like I’ve done to her in the past. It’s crazy how different everything feels now that we are bonded. It’s like I’m comfortable enough with her, with us, to let down guards I didn’t even know I had.
The idea of switching who’s trading off who’s in charge in the bedroom?
Sounds kinky. I’m in.
