25
Scarlett
H alf an hour later, Apollo is pulling up outside a pretty nondescript building with a secretive smile on his face.
My heart feels lighter when he slips out to round the hood, before he pulls open my door.
He helps me out, and my entire body begins to tingle when he automatically wraps an arm around my waist.
“Where are we?” I ask curiously, but he just smirks as we start up the wide set of steps that lead to a massive set of closed ornate double doors made of heavy, pale-hued marble, accented with gold painted iron.
“Patience, love. Trust me to show you a good time.” He teases, leaning over to brush his lips against my cheek, and I feel a blush creep over my face with the contact.
It’s so simplistically sweet, yet something I’m entirely unused to.
I don’t know the city as well as I probably should, considering I’ve been living here longer than they have, so I have no clue what lies beyond these doors.
Apollo reaches out, pulling open one of the doors so we can slip inside.
As soon as we do, and the door shuts behind us with a heavy thud, a gasp slips free from me when I get my first real look at the interior of the building.
Holy shit. Holy fucking shit. “Apollo…” I breathe out his name on a shocked gasp of air, my eyes darting around as I struggle to take in everything around me as quickly as possible.
He’s taken me to an art gallery for our first date.
A gallery that I hadn’t even known was here to begin with.
If I had, maybe I would’ve been bolstered to send in some of my pieces anonymously to be displayed here.
The space is warehouse style, with some sections walled off with massive sheets of marble for rooms with various different styles of art work.
As far as my eye can see, the building is full of magnificent pieces that take my breath away.
“I take it you’ve never been here before?” He sounds amused, but I’m too in awe to snipe at him about it.
“No.” I breathe, taking a step forward, but then a tall, lithe woman steps in our path, blocking off the sight of the gallery from me. I startle back slightly into Apollo’s massive frame, and my arm tingles where he steadies me with a gentle hand.
He maneuvers me behind him, and I realize why a moment later when the woman’s scent reaches me.
Blackberries and bubbly champagne. Alpha .
“Hello. Welcome to Dutton Rogue Gallery . How may I assist you today?” She doesn’t seem bothered by Apollo shielding me, and she makes sure to keep her attention on him and not me. That alone helps me relax slightly.
“Apollo Reaves. I’ve booked the building for an hour.” He doesn’t hold his hand out to the other alpha, but she also doesn’t seem bothered by that.
Her smile is mega-million watt level. “Oh yes, of course! I can still call Mr. Rogue-”
“That won’t be necessary. We will just tour around for an hour and be out of your hair.” Apollo cuts her off, and she dips her head with respect.
“Of course, Mr. Reaves. I will be around. Do let me know if there is anything I can help you with.”
Apollo weaves our fingers together, before he tugs me away from the alpha without another word. I think about glancing back over my shoulder at her, but I think better of it.
We don’t stop until we’ve reached one of the private closed off sections of the gallery full of brilliant hand carved statues and pieces of metal work and other various types of stone.
“I’ve never met a female alpha face to face before. Well, other than Raven.” I murmur softly to him when we come to a stop just inside the sectioned off portion of the gallery.
Apollo hums in thought. “I’m not sure where you originally came from, but where we used to live, there are more than plenty of them. Black Tide Valley doesn’t seem like the type of place where female alphas tend to migrate to unless they have a reason.”
“I suppose that makes sense.” I offer while getting my first good look around, some of that spark of awe returning to me as I do so.
Apollo has no idea just how much being here means to me.
After having never been on a date before in my entire adult life, I managed to snag two special dates with two amazing alphas. It’s a miracle.
“Care to look around, love? I’ve booked out the entire gallery for the next hour. Dutton is a good friend of mine and was more than happy to lend his space to me for our date.” Apollo places his hand on the small of my back, and a blush creeps across my cheeks at the contact.
As we walk forward and begin to peruse the selection pieces, I can’t help but comment. “I feel kind of stupid. How did I not know Dutton Rogue lives in Black Tide Valley?”
I stop at a statue of Astarte with a unique twist that piques my interest. “He doesn’t.
He lives about fifty miles away in Port Iris, his home city just down the West coast. He has galleries just like this one set up in Barker and Green Mount to the North as well, and he’s looking to open his first gallery on the East coast next year in Yulemite. ”
“Wow. That’s impressive. What made him venture to the US from France?
” I query as we move through the building from display to display.
There’s such a wide variety of pieces from artists I know, and some I don’t.
While we work our way through other rooms and sections, I quickly fall in love with several works from new to me artists that I make a note of, most definitely planning on stalking them online later when I get home.
Apollo stops just outside of one of the last walled off sections we’ve yet to go through, turning his body towards me to garner my attention. When I meet his eyes, there’s a glint there that would make a normal omega nervous, but it just makes me lift a brow at him in challenge.
My breath catches in my throat when he steps closer to me, making the soft peaks of my breasts brush against the hard planes of his chest through the fabric of our clothing.
I tip my chin back to keep our gazes locked, and his entire body begins to rumble with the beginnings of a purr, which causes me to metaphorically melt into a puddle of goo.
He nuzzles the tip of his nose against mine, and I force myself to stay still for him.
“I want to show you something, love.” His arm snakes around my waist, careful of my arm in the sling when he crushes my body against his as gently as he can.
I just nod, wanting nothing more than to feel his lips on mine.
He’s so damn close. All I have to do is lean up a little more.
I swallow back a whine when he pulls away, blinking rapidly while he guides me into the room we’d stopped outside of.
It takes me a moment to pull my attention off the attractive angles of his face to get my first good look around.
My mouth drops open when I come to a halt, Apollo pausing beside me.
He’s patient as I step forward and twirl around to take in the entirety of his little surprise. “And you thought I was a Ruby Rain super fan.” His eyes fucking twinkle while he watches me gape in stunned awe. It’s an entire room dedicated to my pseudonym used in the art world.
“Oh my God. Dutton Rogue has an entire room filled with every single one of my published pieces.” I say it out loud because I still can’t believe that what I’m seeing is real.
He’s even got some of my pieces I published before my life had been sold away and I’d lost this vital part of myself.
Pieces of my work that are no longer even available to the public on my art blog.
“I’m kind of jealous of the way you say his name, love.
I thought I was your favorite artist.” Apollo slinks up behind me, wrapping one of his powerful arms across my chest, and the other around my waist to pull me back against him.
Heat floods through my entire body at the feeling of every hard, perfect line of him pressed against me.
When he presses his satin soft lips against the patch of skin behind my ear, a small whimper escapes me.
His arms tighten at the sound, and when his tongue darts out to taste me, a rush of slick gushes from my core in response, unbidden.
I moan when he trails the hand of the arm band around my chest up until it collars my throat.
He uses his thumb to press underneath my jaw, forcing my head to the side so he can have better access to the smooth expanse of my neck.
“Apollo…” I bite off the whine that nearly escapes me. My pussy throbs with need at his answering hum while he licks and nips his way over my skin.
Our scents rise and twine together thick in the air around us, and with each breath I suck in, I can’t get enough. “We can’t do this here.” Even as I say it, I can’t help myself when I grind back into the hard length of him pressed against the curve of my backside.
“We can do whatever we want, love. Tell me what you want, and I’ll gladly give it to you.” He purrs against my neck, drawing another whimper out of me. My hips rock back against him, my thighs beneath the yellow sundress I’m wearing already sticky with slick. Sweet mother Mary and Joseph.
“What about cameras?” I pant while his fingers flex, messaging my throat and making it that much harder to breathe. I am fucking here for it.
“Are you really concerned about that, love?” He rumbles against my skin, nearly making me sob when the arm banded around my waist starts to inch closer towards the throbbing ache at the apex of my thighs.
If I just let go, he can slip that hand beneath the skirt of my dress.
Rub his fingers through the mess he’s made of me.
Discover just how little he has to work to get me soaked for him.