I blink. “He’s going to allow someone else to drive the girls somewhere? That sounds made up.”
“You laugh, but he’s being a bigger pain than Ava about it,” she says dryly. “I explained that either someone other than him drives Ava while she’s vulnerable and in heat, or Ron drives the girls. Those are the options.”
“I mean,Ican drive us back to New York.”
She laughs. “Youarewildly out of practice. I suspect you’re going to be a little busy in the back seat to be of much use behind the wheel.”
Oh. Right.
My cock stirs at the reminder, as if my body just remembered all the fun that comes with a heat.
“Okay, I’ll see you in an hour. Give my omega my love.”
When I arrive at Ava’s office in the Hart Senate building, it’s far emptier than usual. Shelby must have let the rest of the staff go home early, either for the holiday break or because of Ava’s heat. Regardless, it’s blissfully quiet in a place that is normally organized chaos. One junior aide remains, and she’s busy packing up her laptop bag. I recognize her as the omega that Ava had recruited straight from Georgetown. The first omega congressional staff member for the first omega congresswoman. What Ava has accomplished in the last decade or so has been nothing less than extraordinary.
“Hello, Mr. Kendrick-Taylor,” she says with a smile. “Mrs. McGregory and the senator are in her office with your girls.”
“Thank you, Dakota. Happy holidays and safe travels if you’re leaving the city.”
She shakes her head. “No, I’m a local, so not very far to go at all. Same to you, though it sounds like you’re going to have a happy holiday indeed,” she says with a laugh.
I open the door to Shelby’s chief of staff office and I find the chaos that was missing. Amelia, our oldest is in a chair as far as humanly possible away from her two younger sisters, playing on her phone. She’s always been our bossiest and most stubborn, but her recent presentation as an alpha has thrown it into overdrive.
Olivia, our middle daughter and easily the wildest of the three, is busy holding something above Charlotte’s head.
“Hello, baby vipers. Let’s maybe tone it down several notches,” I say gently, setting my bag down on a table near the door. I ruffle Amelia’s hair and she wiggles away while making a face, which only makes me grin. “Olivia, give your sister back her toy. Where’s Mom?”
“She’s in her office with Aunt Shelby. Amelia told Mom that she stinks, so she sent all three of us out here to wait for Uncle Ron,” Olivia informs me eagerly, never one to miss an opportunity to rat out her big sister.
I cut a look at my oldest, who at least has the self-awareness to look sheepish. “I didn’t mean it like that. It caught me by surprise. I never smelled mom’s scent like that before, and my nose is so much more sensitive now.”
“Commenting on people’s scent is rude in general, and you know that. Doing so when an omega is going into heat would be like a boy calling you disgusting for being an alpha,” I chide.
“I know. I told her I was sorry. I don’t think she was too mad. More that those two were getting on her nerves,” she says, pointing at her sisters.
“Were not!”
“Were too!”
Thankfully, Ron picks that moment to open the door. His practiced dad—and now grandpa—eye quickly takes assessment of the situation. “Oy! Can it. Let’s go tell your mom bye and hit the road. If you guys can keep from fighting for thirty whole minutes, we’ll stop for ice cream on the way.”
We all head into Ava’s office. It’s a large, vaulted room, with a partial wall in the center that has cutout openings to a smaller space Ava uses as a makeshift nest when she needs it. The American flag and the New York state flag bracket either side of a large portrait of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt. Ava liked to say that Eleanor should almost be considered the first female president with as much as she helped FDR, so she deserves just as much recognition.
My mate is sitting at her large desk underneath, and her scent is intoxicating even at a distance. I stay back by the doorway, not wanting to respond too much to it in front of our children. She catches my eye and gives me a bashful small smile, and I can feel her anxiety through the bond. I silently shake my head and send love and happiness her way.
I see her shoulders relax, and she opens her arms. “Give me a hug goodbye, girls. I’ll see you in a few days,” she says. “Well, Amelia, you don’t have to,” she adds quickly, and I can tell that her feelingsarehurt a little by Amelia’s offhand comment.
I glance at my oldest to see how she’ll respond, but she steps forward and hugs her mother. “Iamsorry, Mom. My nose is just sensitive,” she whispers.
“It’s all right, baby, I understand. I bet it is intense when you’ve never smelled it before. It’ll be gone when I see you next, okay?” Ava presses a kiss to her forehead and releases her, before pulling the other two into hugs.
They say their goodbyes to me before Ron and Shelby usher them out the door. I can hear Amelia and Olivia already starting to argue as they head out. So much for ice cream.
I turn back to face my mate and crook a finger at her. “Come here, you.”
“Nah, you come here. Or does my perfume not lure you in anymore?” she responds, jutting out her chin with a fake pout.
“Must not be too far into your heat yet if you’re still being a brat.” I grin and close the distance between us. I pull her out of her chair and into my arms, burying my nose against her throat and scenting her. I hadn’t ever thought I’d get to smell this particular flavor of Ava again, and I intend to savor it and commit it to memory this time.
