“If you don’t need me then, I’ll get back to inventory checks,” I murmur, but Hestia stops me before I make it out the door.
“Wait. Are you checking our climbing equipment?” she asks.
I turn back with a smile. “Yes, I was just looking over them for damage before repacking them.”
“Can I come with you? It’s been a while since I was in the harness and I need to practice putting it on. I don’t want to get in your way though,” Hestia says.
“You could never be in the way. I’m happy to help you practice as much as you want,” I say, the tightness in my chest easing.
“Could you bring the snacks to the supply room, Henri? Is it okay to have food okay in there?” she says, looking back and forth between us.
“Snacks are fine,” I say with a laugh.
Hestia follows me down, and Henri appears soon after with the food. I thought he might hang around to spend time with her, but he leaves once he drops it off.
I watch as Hestia straps herself in, although I’m sure she’ll get everything on perfectly. I’m only looking so closely because she’s my omega, and I always have the urgeto simply gaze at her. I’ll take that opportunity whenever it’s presented.
I don’t even realize she’s done until she says, “Does this look right?”
If Hestia noticed me staring, she doesn’t comment on it.
She stands still for my perusal, and I test the buckles and snugness of her harness before moving on to the ropes. I take my time, thoroughly inspecting everything.
As expected, her gear is textbook, correctly aligned and tied with precise knots.
“You have everything exactly right,” I say.
Hestia puts her hands on my shoulders as I kneel in front of her for one more lingering look.
“Thanks for helping me, Charm. I’m not sure I did enough to maintain my skills these past few weeks,” she says worriedly.
I can’t hold in my laugh. “Hestia, you studied reports and researched the mountains for hours. I think you read more than Orion did. You’re doing just fine. Besides, you’re barely out of the academy. I doubt you forgot much from your classes in that amount of time.”
I wiggle her hips to soften my teasing. She always gets bashful when we mention her bookish tendencies.
“I did a lot of decidedlynotwork-related things during our break too,” she huffs.
“As you should. It’s a break from the job. You’ll burn yourself out if all you do is think about work. I’m always at your service to help you forget about it for a while,” I say with a grin.
Hestia laughs and finally agrees. We get her harness off, and I pack everything back up.
We finally dig into the snacks Henri brought us. Despite my desperate desire to open up, I enjoy spending time withher in silence too. It’s comfortable, no hidden agendas to be wary of.
When she’s done eating, Hestia leans back and rubs the curve of her stomach. It reminds me of the other ways we’ve filled her up, and I tense my thighs, trying not to get too excited.
“Did I ever tell you about the time our boat ran into a whale?” I blurt out.
“No! How did you do that? Was the whale okay??” Hestia asks, eyes wide.
“The whale was fine, but annoyed,” I say.
She’s riveted as I tell her the story, and by the end she’s laughing just like I hoped she would.
“So every time you left the bay you had to give the whale an offering?” she says.
“That’s right.”
“No way.”
