Chapter 15 #2
“Okay,” Tav grumbles, pulling on his seatbelt.
He looks highly uncomfortable as he takes Bella, who struggles not to wiggle as if she can feel his discomfort.
He sniffs her head slightly with pursed lips, and I have a hard time not chuckling as I begin to drive back to his place. “Why does she smell like maple syrup?”
“Clean baby piglets tend to smell like that,” I reply. “Isn’t she adorable?”
“She’s…something,” he admits. “Oh my god… why is she wiggling like this?”
Glancing at him, I can see Bella is trying to escape the towel to get closer to my omega. I think she can sense what a sweet soul he has, but I can’t tell Tav this, not yet.
He wouldn’t believe me.
Pulling over to the shoulder of the road, I can’t hide my grin as I park the truck.
“You can’t just stop here,” Tav hisses.
I ignore him as I scoop Bella out of the towel with one hand, pull open Tav’s long sleeved Henley shirt, and say,“Bomb’s away! Catch, honey.”
His jaw drops as he curls his hands hurriedly as Bella disappears down his shirt. She rubs her cheek against his naked chest, releases a huge sigh, and then closes her eyes.
“Oh,” he whispers, gazing down at her as I resume driving. “How did you know she wanted that? You’re some kind of animal whisperer, aren’t you?”
“I’ve been around animals since I was toddling around,” I grin, shrugging.
“They’ll tell you what you want if you’re willing to listen and know what their body language is telling you.
Bella wanted to be snuggled against your body heat.
She likes you, and from what I understand, there are few people she enjoys being around.
I was told while I was at the Henderson ranch that our baby Bella likes to bite people. ”
“Absolutely not,” Tav hisses protectively. “She’s a little baby angel.”
“Exactly,” I say smugly. I remain that way throughout the drive, and all the way up to Tav’s loft.
Bella is still asleep while Tav introduces her to Floyd, who sniffs her head, licks her, and then barks to remind Tav to feed him. Snorting in amusement, I grab his food to handle that while Tav sits on the coach with our piglet.
“I’m going to give up my apartment and move in with you,” I say calmly as I place the food bowl down for Floyd. “I’ve never enjoyed where I’m living, which is why I’m waiting to close on the house.”
“You’re…here?” Tav squeaks out adorably.
“Yep,” I reply, walking through the loft. “Say hello to your new roommate and his little friend.”
Tav’s jaw is practically on the floor, but he’s not sputtering or angry. I’m going to call that a win, at least until he finds the words to tell me off.
Octavian
One Week Later
I swear to god I was not meant to live with anyone else.
Not another person, anyway.
If I have to pick up one more dirty fucking sock I will throw them all into a pile and light them on fire right here in my living room.
What’s worse than being an obsessive compulsive, germaphobic, neurotic omega having to clean up after the alpha I scent matched?
Fighting the urge to rub those dirty socks all over my face, shove them in my pockets, and take them everywhere with me because they belong to my scent match and smell like him.
The fact that I even want to do that has me absolutely mortified.
I don’t particularly like feet to begin with, I definitely don’t like dirty clothes or having them strewn about my loft, and the fact that Bentley wears nothing but steel toe boots or sneakers means his gigantic feet profusely sweat, and that’s enough for me to have a stroke.
Yet, here I am, clutching about three and a half pairs of dirty, worn, stinky socks in my bare hands, staring at them while debating on torching them, or if my customers would notice the funk coming off of me if I decided to wear them around my neck like a grungy scarf.
I’m driving myself crazy.
“I might have to strangle him,” I grumble as I spin on my heel and march toward the washer.
“I’ll use all of his size forty-seven socks to fashion a noose then I’ll tie it around his neck and twist until something happens.
” With a snort, I toss them into the washing machine and start sorting through the basket on top in search of more lights. “He’d probably like it.”
Which means whatever that something was that happened would involve boners and more almost sex, and that has the opposite effect than it should; it pisses me off.
Bentley has only lived here for a few days and I don’t know if I’ve ever been so goddamn horny in my life. Being so close to him, smelling that woodsy scent coming off of him, I could definitely climb that man like a tree and stay there for all of eternity, but that isn’t going to happen.
Why?
Because Bentley Walker is either the world’s most gentlemanliest alpha to ever live, or he’s a big fucking tease who enjoys driving me up the wall way more than he likes orgasming.
The rational part of my brain knows the big guy sits somewhere in between those two extremes, but I’m not being rational.
Mainly because the man has been shooting alpha pheromone lasers out of him from the time he wakes up to the time he goes to bed, and he does absolutely nothing about it but kiss me until my face is numb while I grind so hard against him my dick is going to start ripping holes in my jeans.
It’s infuriating. Still hot, but infuriating.
But that brings me full circle because I’m hornier than I’ve ever been while my OCD is rating somewhere way off the charts, and that has turned me into this weird, super crabby, huffy, needy, clingy version of myself I’ve never seen before.
Hence pissed off at the world.
I scowl as I lift one of his white t-shirts to my nose, inhaling deeply before I toss it in with the rest of the clothes. “Asshole.”
Squatting down, I look at the size of the load, deciding if I can get away with adding more and just when I’m about to call it good, I feel something nudge my hip.
“Oh, you are just the sweetest little angel baby, aren’t you?” I whisper as Bella drops the missing sock at my feet before she plants her butt next to Floyd.
“So smart, finding your big stinky daddy’s sock.”
I smile and reach out, grabbing the offending piece of cotton before scratching behind her ear and I can’t help the small chuckle that escapes me as I watch my dog proceed to lick all over Bella’s face.
It’s like he’s proud of her. Hell, I know he is.
Floyd took to the piglet faster than I expected and now he acts like he gave birth to her on his own like some miraculous conception shit.
He fusses over her the best he can, follows her everywhere and makes sure she’s okay, and the little pig definitely reciprocates.
Whenever Floyd has a narcolepsy spell, Bella sits right there next to him, keeping watch until he wakes up, and she’s basically become his seeing eye pig.
They even share the dog bed when they can’t con me into sleeping in ours.
Mine.
My bed.
The bed.
Ugh.
I roll my eyes as I give Floyd a good scratch, too, then get to my feet and start the washer with a sigh. One that turns into a growl of frustration when I hear the shower stop because that means Bentley is finally done, and there are more whites in there that I should be washing.
That man is going to be the death of me.
So, I take the five steps over to the bathroom door, cross my arms against my chest and wait.
If he doesn’t bring his towels out after the way I’ve bitched about him leaving them on the curtain rod all week, I might rocket right through the ceiling.
“Hey, I was wondering, where is your nest?”
I poise for a fight as the door opens, my mouth forming words that get caught in my throat the second the steam rolls out of the bathroom.
It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve seen it, shirtless Bentley makes my brain short circuit. Wet, dewy, flushed, only wearing a towel while he uses another on his long blonde hair, Bentley instantly gives me a boner, makes me perfume, and I’m pretty sure drops my IQ several levels.
“Tav?”
My jaw goes slack as I stare at him, my arms slowly falling to my sides and dangling like they’re barely attached. My glasses fog up as my eyes hone in on his chest and the light dusting of hair, the millions of muscles, and the way that towel around his waist is hanging on for dear life.
“Tav, baby, you keep looking at me like that and we’re going to have a problem.”
With a huff, my eyes snap to his and I reach up to take off my glasses, clean them, then shove them back on my face a little too hard. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
Bentley gives me a lopsided grin. “Don’t tempt me.”
“Apparently I don’t. At all.” When that grin turns into a frown, my annoyance kicks up to level one hundred, and I turn around and stalk toward the couch. “Are you going grocery shopping today?”
I hear him follow me, no urgency to his steps as his bare feet pad across the hard wood floor. “Do you need me to?”
“Yes,” I snap, aggressively fluffing the pillows. “I told you that last night.”
Why does he have to smell so good?
My dick is so hard right now it practically hurts, and I haven’t stopped perfuming. If he gets any closer I’m going to start slicking at an embarrassing rate, and then I’ll end up with blue balls and an even shittier attitude.
“Did you make me a list?”
I spin to face him again, whipping around so fast I almost lose my balance.
“Of course I made you a list. It was my idea to make you a list. Why do you think I’d send you to the store without a goddamn list?”
“Tav, baby,” Bentley says softly as he closes the space between us. “What is going on with you?”
I blow out a breath and drop my forehead to the center of his chest. “I don’t fucking know. I want to strangle you, and I want to fuck you, and there’s a pretty big part of me that wants to do both at the same time, and it’s making me very cranky.”
Bentley wraps his arms around me and starts slowly rubbing my back. “I can see that.”
“Oh good. Gold star for you.”
“Tav,” he snorts and presses a kiss to the top of my head. “Where’s your nest?”
“I don’t have one,” I grunt as I slightly adjust so I can rub my cheek against his naked chest. “I’ve never had one. I don’t want one. I don’t like being an omega so I don’t like doing omega things.”
Bentley chuckles and despite the way it currently sounds like nails on a chalkboard, I push my face harder against him and breathe deeply as he says, “I think that’s your problem.”
“I have a lot of those but lack of a nest is not one.”
“Baby,” my alpha grunts as I slide my free hand over his sides and up his back. “You might have been able to get away with not doing omega things before, but you won’t be able to much longer. We’re matched, sweetheart, and that changes everything.”
“Everything except how often I’m getting laid.”
Bentley barks out a laugh and cups my cheeks, tilting my head so I’m looking up at him. “Patience isn’t really your virtue, huh?”
I smile in spite of myself as he dips his chin and presses a sweet kiss to my lips. “I’m virtueless, Bent. I have none of them.”
“And that’s how I like you.” He kisses me again, his lips lingering against mine a little longer before he steps back and gives me a shit eating grin. “But I’m going to build your ornery ass a nest, anyway. I don’t like seeing you drive yourself crazy like this.”
“I don’t want a nest, Bentley. I don’t need…” My words trail off as he drops his towel, flashing me his half-hard cock in all his naked glory as he walks backwards toward the bathroom.
“You don’t need what now?”
“Bentley Walker, you are infuriating,” I growl, my eyes snapping to his as I throw the couch pillow at him. “Absolutely infuriating!”
My alpha cackles his way into the bathroom and as soon as he closes the door, he starts belting out the lyrics to I’m Too Sexy as loud as he can.
That man is definitely infuriating, and I think I’m falling in love with him, anyway.