"You made me wait," he says casually, hovering right over my cock. "Six hours. So now you wait."
He rolls his hips in a slow grind. The knot presses against his rim, stretching the muscle around the widest part—and then he pulls off. The knot slips free. My hips jerk up involuntarily, my abs locking. I let out a pathetic, wrecked sound.
He does it again. Sinks down until the knot almost catches, stretching him perfectly, and pulls away at the last second. My whole body bucks against the mattress. His eyes track every twitch of my face, reading me with the same intense focus he gives his design projects.
"Benji—"
"Shh." He drops down again, taking the knot almost to the popping point before rising off. My breath punches out of me. "You don't get to rush this."
Another slow roll.
"You made me stare at my phone for six hours," he says, like we're discussing what to get for dinner. "Wondering if you were ever coming back." He sinks down. Pulls off. "So I'm going to make you feel every. Single. Second."
I’m shaking. Every muscle in my body is screaming to thrust up and lock us together, but I stay put because he told me to.
"Say it," he demands. He sinks down, stretching his rim wide around the knot, and holds it right on the edge.
"I love you," I bite out, my voice wrecked.
He pulls off.
"Again." He drops down, grinding the knot in but refusing to take it.
"I love—fuck, Benji—I love you."
He pulls off and sinks back down. His thighs are trembling under my hands. He’s working just as hard to hold himself back.
"Again," he says.
I groan, my brain completely short-circuiting. "I love you, I love you, please—"
"Please?" A startled, genuine laugh bursts out of him. It’s the brightest, happiest sound I've ever heard. He wasn't expecting it. Knox Rivera begging while his omega edges his knot is apparently the funniest fucking thing in the world. Hearing that laugh settles something deep inside my chest. The panic, the fear of screwing this up, the worry about what I am without the swagger—it all just shuts the fuck up.
Benji sinks all the way down.
With one final roll of his hips, my knot pops past his rim. We lock. The fullness hits me like a freight train. My back bows, my hands flying to his hips. He lets me grip him now, grinding downinto my lap with the knot buried deep. His cock is leaking slick between us. I wrap my hand around it, needing to feel him come while I'm stuck inside him.
He comes first, spilling over my fist and across my stomach. His whole body clenches, nails digging into my chest as he lets out a messy, satisfied moan. I follow half a second later. The orgasm rolls through me in heavy waves. I pull him down and press my face to his neck, my mouth finding the claiming bite while my knot pulses inside him.
The adrenaline drains out of the room. Benji's hands flatten against my chest, his fingers absently tracing the lines of my tattoos. My thumb draws lazy circles on his hip.
I reach up, brushing my thumb over his cheekbone where the tears dried earlier. He turns into the touch without a snarky comment. That small movement wrecks me more than any of the filthy shit we just did.
He slumps against my chest, the knot still holding us together. He buries his face in my neck, breathing in deep. I press my nose into his hair. Black coffee and something sharp.
When the knot finally eases, Benji shifts off me.
He reaches over the side of the bed and grabs the hoodie I wore to the hospital. He holds it for a second, pressing the fabric to his nose for a quick inhale, then tucks it against the pillows on my side of the bed.
He grabs the tangled blanket from the foot of the bed, pulling it over both of us and tucking the edge around my shoulder. He adjusts his pillow, grabs my arm, and pulls it around his waist as he settles back against my side.
My omega is building a nest.
He’s arranging my scent around us. He’s keeping me.
I hold completely still. If I say a fucking word, this stops. If I grin or point it out, the walls come back up, and the joke comesout. So I shut up and watch his hands arrange the space until it smells like both of us.
We settle into it. The bed is warm, smelling heavily of cedar, ink, and coffee. Benji curls into my side.
