First class. Seattle to Oahu.
I reread the vouchers once more, then stare up at the staff member, stunned. “Thank you. Seriously. Thank you so much.”
“You’re very welcome,” he says with a bright, tired smile.
The large man dips his head. “Appreciate it.”
The staff member gives us both one last polite nod before heading back behind the desk, leaving the two of us standing there with matching boarding vouchers.
“Well,” he says. “Congratulations. You’re coming to Hawaii with me.”
I glance up at him, and a laugh slips out before I can stop it. “When you say it like that, it sounds far more intimate than I think you planned.”
That not-quite-smile touches his mouth again. “Fair.”
I stare back down at the voucher, still half convinced it might vanish if I look away too long. “Still. This is… kind of amazing.”
“It is,” he admits.
I fold the paper carefully and tuck it into my bag. “I suppose this is the part where I properly thank you.”
“I was wondering.”
“There it is,” I murmur. “A little bit smug.”
“Only a little?”
That gets another laugh out of me.
He puts his hand out. “Ace.”
“Adelaide.” I shake it.
He’s close enough now that I inhale his scent beneath the recycled airport air, the general scent of too many people, and the Seattle winter blown in from outside. Ocean salt. Something tropical like guava. And underneath both of those, a hint of basil crushed between your fingers.
My brain just… stops.
Huh.
I know scent attraction is a thing. Omegas and Alphas can react on some strange chemical level that makes everyone around them unbearably smug. I’m also aware that has never happened to me. Not once in my twenty-four years. I’ve been around Alphas my whole life and felt absolutely nothing.
Until now, apparently.
Which is inconvenient.
And a little bit fascinating.
So this is probably just exhaustion, and stress, and the fact that he’s extremely attractive and he protected my pink carry-on bag in a Seattle airport without being asked.
Basic hero stuff. I’m responding to the heroism.
That’s what this is.
He drops my hand and takes a small step back, and my body notices immediately. Which is ridiculous. It’s not like he took theoxygen with him, but it just feels, briefly and annoyingly, like he did.
Definitely still the heroism.
“Were you waiting for your flight here?” I ask, then immediately want to take it back because obviously he was. He was in the lounge, existing, near me, smelling unfairly good.
