I grab the box and whatever scraps of dignity are still lying around.
Three giant Alphas, one house and a guest house, and the entire place saturated in their combined scent. My bikini bottoms are in a state I am choosing to blame entirely on the ocean.
I need at least six feet of distance. Instead, I push out the back door into the sunlight—with my goods—breathe in salt and heat and sea breeze, and remind myself that I am a woman with a plan, a problem, and absolutely no control over what my body has decided to do in this house.
Hawaii, frankly, has a lot to answer for.
14
LUCA
“Impossibleis one word for your scent,” I murmur, adjusting my grip on the wheel as the truck tears along the road with the ocean flashing blue to our left. “Cruelis another.”
“So dramatic,” Adelaide says as she turns in the passenger seat and faces me, giving me her full attention in a way that nearly ruins me. Her scent has already taken over the cab, sweet peony threaded with dark chocolate and warm Omega, and every breath I drag in goes straight through my bloodstream like a drug.
One day. That’s all it’s taken for my body to decide she belongs in my space.
“Anyway, North was okay with us taking his truck?” she asks, one brow arching.
“We share it all the time, and it’s mine for the day. Besides, I figure we’ll need it for all your shopping.” I grin her way.
She laughs as she tucks her hair behind her ear, trying for casual, but the air in the cab says otherwise. Her scent deepens again, and my jaw tightens. She sits there so innocently in her tiny white skirt, tight T-shirt with a palm tree on it, and sneakers, and I can’t stop staring at those stunning legs.
“You always this cocky?” she asks, though there’s amusement in her voice now, a spark she isn’t bothering to hide.
“Only when I’m trying not to lose my mind in a confined space,” I tell her.
Her lips twitch. “Bit over the top.”
I let out a rough laugh. “You’re my Omega scent match in the passenger seat. I’m being massively understated.”
Her smile doesn’t vanish, but it goes soft at the edges. Her fingers trail over the seam of the seat belt at her waist. “So this is biology?” she asks, and her tone is light, but there’s curiosity under it. Wariness too. “That’s your excuse?”
“Nah.” I keep my gaze on the road. “It’s a fact. My whole system clocked you the second you got near us. Every Alpha part of me went straight from interested to territorial in about five seconds. That doesn’t happen around just any Omega.”
She goes quiet for a moment, then says, “That sounds inconvenient.”
I grin. “For me? Extremely.”
“For me too, actually,” she mutters, almost under her breath.
That pulls my attention sideways for half a second. “Yeah?”
She leans back against the seat, pretending she’s at ease. “You three walk into a room, and the air changes. That’s not exactly subtle.”
Warm satisfaction curls through me, dark and male and far too pleased by that confession. “Good,” I say.
Her head turns. “Is that so?”
“Yeah.” My voice drops. “Means it’s not all in my head.”
Color rises in her cheeks. “You’re very sure of yourself.”
The truck roars over a stretch of uneven road, and she braces a hand against the door. Her sweet scent slides through the cab and settles under my skin until I’m gripping the wheel enough to feel it in my forearms. She stares at them, admiring, and onpurpose I grip the wheel tighter so my muscles harden, those veins popping out a bit to really impress her.
She’s still admiring them, and I love every second of it. A slow smile drags at my mouth. “You know I can smell your arousal, right?”
Her head snaps toward me with that stare that implores me to shut the hell up.
