Chapter 9 - Bridget
Gabriel was holding out his hand to me, bowing slightly, with his movie star grin and smoldering eyes.
He was wonderful company and insanely attractive, and after hearing him confirm he was gay, it felt safe to flirt with him.
I didn’t think he would expect anything more of me, but here he was, asking me to dance.
Nathan stiffened next to me. His scent was as strong as it had ever been, almost as potent as that day in the lab. It was honestly making me lightheaded, mostly because I was trying to breathe as little as possible.
Nathan smelled good, in a way I hadn’t really noticed before. But after a few glasses of champagne, my guard was down.
I realized Gabriel was still waiting for a response. My desire to get away from Nathan’s distracting scent and spend a little more time basking in Gabriel’s glow made my decision for me.
“Sorry in advance if I step all over your feet,” I said, placing my hand in his and my empty glass on the ledge behind me. He led me toward the dance floor. “I’ll be honest. I’ve never danced with anyone. So don’t judge.”
Gabriel smiled again, this time with a mischievous edge. “Oh carrissima, I am honored to be your first.”
I laughed, blushing at the careless innuendo. Luckily, he had no idea how close to the mark he’d hit.
He placed my left hand on his shoulder and gripped my right hand loosely in his. His free hand slid to my upper back, his fingers brushing my spine through the fabric of my dress. He was warm and solid and strangely comforting.
I’d bought the dress online and was pleasantly surprised with how it fit; I’d only had to pad the bust a little.
Gabriel guided me around the dancefloor with the grace of an old Hollywood leading man.
“You have been lying. You are a superb dancer,” he said, his eyes glinting.
“I did take some ballet lessons as a kid,” I admitted. “Something must have stuck.”
I had loved ballet class. When my fathers made me quit at eight, I’d refused to speak for two days. It didn’t change anyone’s mind. A small pang at little Bridget’s disappointment struck my heart, but I pushed it away before it could ruin my mood.
The song changed to something slower: La Vie en Rose. The trumpeter took up the melody.
Gabriel slowly pulled me closer, in time with the song. He guided my other hand up so my arms draped around his neck. His hand slid down to frame my waist, his pinky fingers resting just above my hipbones, his thumbs brushing my ribs.
I couldn’t help myself. I leaned into the warmth of his body, and the comforting cedar of his scent, intertwined with Andrew’s spicier notes.
His breath ghosted against my temple. It was so cruel of me to do this to myself.
He was gay, bonded, and clearly just being nice to me after my breakdown the first time we’d met. But it felt so good to pretend.
“I feel like I’m at prom,” I blurted. Oh god, the champagne had really gotten to me. Or maybe the empty stomach was the real problem. I hadn’t been able to face eating in front of a bunch of strangers, so I’d escaped outside for the dinner portion.
Gabriel leaned back to look down at me. “Is that a good thing, fiore mio?”
I didn’t know what fiore mio meant, but I liked hearing him say it in his melodic voice. “Yes. I was homeschooled, so I never got to go to prom,” I said and stuck out my lower lip in a fake pout.
What the hell was wrong with me? I needed to never, ever drink champagne again.
Luckily, Gabriel laughed, then drew me in closer again. His hands on my waist felt as hot as brands. “Then I am glad to hear it.”
As the song came to a close, I pulled away. I needed to escape before I made a total fool of myself.
“Thank you for the dance,” I said, curtsying as they’d taught us to do after ballet class. Gabriel bowed just as formally. “And thank you for checking on me.”
“Il piacere é tutto mio. It is my pleasure, carissima. But I have another favor to ask.”
I would have promised him just about anything at that moment, “Of course.”
He pulled a business card out of his pocket, and for a second I could only stare at it.
“If this woman, or anyone else, bothers you again, please call me,” he said, gesturing again for me to take the card. Our fingers brushed when I took it.
“But… why?”
“Because you deserve to feel safe, carissima,” he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Oh,” I said, because I couldn’t come up with anything else. My stupid heart was contracting at the tenderness I imagined in his gaze, even as I berated myself. He probably would have said that to any Omega he saw reduced to a whimpering mess. “Thank you.”
“We will see you soon?”
I nodded and walked blindly back to my post on the side of the room, the card burning against my skin.
Before I could make it there, Andrew stepped into my trajectory.
He was as striking as I remembered. Though not as classically handsome as his partner, he was magnetic. The low light of the ballroom made his ginger hair gleam like copper. His classic suit and bow tie seemed barely able to contain his vital energy.
We didn’t speak for a moment. His scent was as spicy and rich as I remembered. My body also remembered, with visceral clarity, what it felt like to have that scent surrounding me, along with his purr.
“I’m glad to see you’re feeling better,” he said, his voice pitched low.
“Yes, much better.” I didn’t know what else to say. Should I acknowledge him purring for me? It meant nothing, not if he was bonded. I veered away from that minefield. “How are you feeling? Your knee, I mean.”
“Yeah, good. It seems like the first treatment is wearing off. The pain is coming back. Not as bad as before, though.” He leaned down to rub the top of his kneecap. “I’m anxious to get my second injection.”
“Five days til you come in again,” I said, then blushed. Did that sound too eager?
Andrew’s expression turned hungry, and a predatory glint shone in his deep, green eyes. A drop of molten heat lit me from the inside.
“Are you ready, amore?” Gabriel asked, coming up behind me. He brushed his hand lightly along my shoulder before going to Andrew’s side. “I have a promise to keep,” he said, his voice almost too low for me to hear.
Oh, right. Andrew had been looking at Gabriel with that almost feral expression, not at me. That made much more sense. But why was it so disappointing?
“Good night,” I said and escaped before I could overhear anything else.
Nathan was right where I’d left him, and he was looking livid.
“What are you thinking?” he asked as soon as I stopped in front of him. “You can’t… he’s part of the study.”
I snorted as I slipped the business card into the small bag I’d brought with me. Even if I never intended on using it, it didn't mean I couldn’t look at it from time to time. “I’m not allowed to even speak to subjects now?”
“You did more than speak to him,” he replied, his jaw tight, and I realized he was talking about my dance with Gabriel.
“Gabriel isn’t even part of the study. He’s just a… nice man with a tangential relationship to the study.” Gabriel was nice, but that wasn’t why I’d been so happy to spend time with him.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s unprofessional,” Nathan said. “He’s interested in you, and so is his partner. You shouldn’t be… fraternizing with them.”
“Ha!” I said, too loudly. A woman next to me turned, alarmed.
I’d show him unprofessional. I grabbed Nathan’s arm and hauled him out of the archway into the lobby.
It was even more crowded there, so I marched up the carpeted stairs.
I didn’t want an audience for my spectacular deconstruction of his argument.
We made it to the second floor. It was a small space, with three balconies hung with thick white velvet curtains that blocked out most of the sound from below.
“First of all, they are not interested in me. They’re a bonded couple.
Secondly, I’d hardly call talking at a gala event for the clinic ‘fraternizing.’ Also, this is so not your business that I can’t even believe I’m having this conversation.
” My blood was boiling. Usually, I could shove it down, be polite, but something about Nathan Manalo made me want to actually yell at him.
It was so unfair to be brought back down to earth like this, when I’d been riding a fairytale high.
I inhaled sharply after my rant and got a face full of Nathan’s scent. My reaction to it — a twang of pleasure between my thighs — made me even angrier. How dare he smell like that while being such an ass?
Nathan’s face was impassive. His shirt was unbuttoned slightly below his jacket, showing the hollow at the base of his throat. I forced my gaze away.
“I thought you were done being condescending,” I said into the silence. “Or is that just when you want to play the hero?”
“I’m not ‘playing the hero,’” Nathan said, a fire igniting behind his eyes. “And unlike you, it seems I actually care about the perception of this study. If any of the funders see you getting too close to a subject, do you think they’ll ask questions before they fire you?”
“So you’re worried about my career? That’s it?”
“Yes.”
An uneasy silence settled. I was livid, and I wanted to storm off, but I still had to work with him, and that didn’t seem like a mature way to end the conversation.
He exhaled slowly and shook his head, breaking our eye contact. “I’m sorry. That was unfair.”
“You think?”
“Let me try again,” he said after a moment. “I don’t want to give anyone a reason to think twice about having you on the study. Even if it’s discriminatory and wrong.”
I reluctantly met his gaze again. “What do you mean?”
Nathan sighed. “Some funders I was speaking to tonight. They’re bigoted Alphas who don’t understand why an Omega is on the team. They said… some hurtful things.”
My face burned. I could easily imagine what a group of Alphas like that would say about an Omega outside her designated place. My fathers had been saying the same things all my life.
“Oh,” I said softly, all the fight leaking out of me at once.