Chapter 26 Kane #2
“I can make time for one,” I choke out, desperation instantly clawing at my throat. “I’ll give you forever if you want it.”
She shakes her head. “I’ve got things I need to do, and I have to get back to work.”
“Back to Timber?” I ask. I don’t like the jealousy that snakes through me as she nods. “How close to him are you for your scent to get on him like that? Is that why you were so horny the first time we met?”
I just need her to say she’s Timber’s match. If she’s scent matched with Timber as well, it means we’re a million miles ahead with my grand plan to be in a pack with him as long as he can accept an omega.
They have to open up to the idea of bonding, or I’ll wedge myself into their lives so I can be the thing that holds them together.
“I live with Timber for work. It’s not anything else. I don’t just cook for him; Luke and I are in charge of his diet, and everything he puts in his body.”
Her grin just makes me hornier. I can’t decide if I love or hate that Timber could be feasting on her without me.
There’s no way I wouldn’t know. Timber is terrible at hiding his feelings, no matter how stony-faced he is.
I suspect he’d wear a baffled expression for days if he ever got laid.
Which is also why I want to fuck him so badly.
“What if I ask Timber to invite me over to watch you work?” I want to see how they are with each other as well. If Timber is as closed off and grumpy as he usually is with me, then I can be there to cushion his blows to make it easier for her as we all connect.
“From everything I know about you two, do you think Timber will just happen to invite you over to his house?” she asks.
“Hmm, very true. But I think there are ways I could convince him if you’d let me?”
“Not a chance. My heat is due next month when you’re at your away games, and I don’t need anything to trigger me before then. Which is another reason I’ve been avoiding you.”
I don’t hear anything past ‘my heat is due’. The words slam through me as I’m suddenly drenched in need.
Even hearing the word ‘heat’ come out of her mouth has my mind warping as my alpha side rears its head with a vengeance.
“And Timber… are you… what are you going to do?” I stutter. My hands shake as my heart picks up, and I clench my jaw to stop my growl.
Whether she’s with me or without me, the sound of Ollie’s cries when she’s in heat must be the sexiest thing in the world.
Ollie looks up, the corner of her lip hitching. “I'm using suppressants, so this cycle isn’t exactly regular, especially now that you two are here. I was going to come off them when you were away.”
“I think the fuck not. There is not a single chance my omega is going through her heat without me.”
She chuckles as she nuzzles me again. “Why do you think I’m telling you?”
I feel like an idiot for getting all possessive and growly, but she takes it in stride.
“But you just said we’re going to be away.”
“Maybe I’m teasing you because I wanted to see how my alpha will react.”
I nearly tumble forward at her admission. If she’s calling me her alpha now, how will she scream it when she’s demanding my knot?
“Can I see you before then?” I groan as I squeeze her. “I feel like I’m going to go into rut every time I smell you on Timber. Aren’t you as touch-starved as I am?”
She pauses as she watches me. I’m going to beg her for a morsel of her maple syrup if she doesn’t reply.
“At least promise me you’ll still come on the date,” I say. “I’ll send you all the details. If you’re a foodie, you’ll love La Vie Bleue, I swear.”
There’s nothing I need more than to see my omega smile. And the wicked grin that crosses her lips makes me weak at my knees.
“Are you going to soften me up with good food and make me all agreeable so you can whisk me away to your bed?”
I lean in, my lips brushing over hers. “Do I need good food to do that?” I ask. “Because I’m pretty sure there are other ways to make you more agreeable.”
A laugh cracks from her, followed by a growl that makes me want to get on my knees. I miss her taste so much, and I ache being next to her and not being able to give her a lick.
I lean down, testing her boundaries. No one has come down the corridor for a good five minutes. I can press her against the wall and cover her with my body if she wants to go further.
Ollie’s face is at exactly the right angle for me to draw nearer. My hands wrap around her, sliding down to her waist. My thumbs rest on her hip bones so I can keep her steady as I take her.
I’m so close I can already feel her maple syrup filling me up. Her eyelids flutter as she gives in to the moment, and I’m seconds from her when my phone blares between us, like a literal warning sign.
I groan in frustration. There’s only one person who has that ringtone, and I have to answer it on pain of death.
“One second,” I say as she leans back, but I keep my left hand glued to her as I pull out my phone with my right, and swipe to answer.
“Moretti, where the fuck are you?” Miles’s voice bursts through the speaker. “You need to be back at the rink. Now!” I cringe as I hold my phone away from my ear, and Ollie folds her arms.
The way her eyebrow arches is so freaking sexy that I pull her to my chest again. Even though she yelps, she doesn’t pull away, and I rub my cheek against hers to get a hit of her sugary scent.
“Sorry, I got held up,” I say.
“Well fucking unhold up and get your ass back here.”
“Yes, Coach,” I say, and she snorts against my chest.
My eyes shutter as I imagine how good it would feel to be wrapped up in bed with her as she laughs like that, especially if Timber is there with us.
I click my phone off and stuff it back in my pocket, giving her a sheepish look.
“I thought you said you could ‘make time’?” she purrs.
“I still mean it. I’ll blow off practice and games.
Hell, I’ll blow off the whole season if you want me to.
” I’m just that crazy. Even after one meeting, she’s twisted her way into my heart, and Timber is totally right when he said a scent match can drive you mad.
It doesn’t matter who she is, what kind of life she’s led, where she’s come from, or where she’s going.
As long as I can be her alpha, I’ll accept everything about her.
Her only reply is another chuckle as she squeezes her arms around me.
“I need to go,” she says, and my heart clenches, because it really is for real this time. I can’t decide whether to release her or show her how truly possessive her alpha can be.
But if I try to stop her, she could feel trapped, and I might never see her again.
“Call me again if you need me. I’ll answer every time,” I say.
She nods, but from the way her eyes dip, I can tell her phone call was a one-off.
That’s why I can’t get over the fact that she’s living with him. Because Timber literally has her under his nose, and he doesn’t have a clue. At least, not as far as he’s told me.
“Don’t forget our date!” I call after her as she walks away.
“I won’t,” she says as she waves back.
“Promise!” I shout.
The only reply I have is her laugh as she vanishes from the end of the corridor, and I’m left there in a swirl of maple syrup and hope.
Now I need to find my way back to the room she came from to solve the mystery of why Luke is in the hospital, and she’s out there pretending to be him.