Chapter 14
Allie was too perfect. Somehow she managed to be sweet and joyful, curious and eager, despite her nerves. I had been gifted the rarest treasure to see her open up to me the way she had. It was going to be like cutting off a limb when it was time to part ways with her, but I had no choice. There was no world in which I would get to keep her, and even if I could, it didn’t seem fair. Allie deserved the opportunity to be with others if she wanted. Just because I was at a phase in my life where it felt somewhat natural to settle down, didn’t mean I could expect it of her.
Even if we did want to make the attempt to be together, two years stood between us and a potential start date, and that meant I couldn’t share any other heats with her until then, couldn’t spend time alone with her. Entertaining the idea would only hurt. They made it difficult for a reason. For all I knew, once she had stepped away from the intimacy of our situation, she could forget me entirely.
It would be easier for both of us if I could forget her too.
I slipped out of the nest and got a bath running for her, sprinkling in salts and bubble bath to add luxury. It had been almost a full day since her last spike, and though we’d had plenty of playtime in those hours, I knew what it meant. Her heat was almost over and I had to get ready to say goodbye. The very fact that I didn’t want to was reason enough to do so sooner rather than later.
She called my name when she woke and I gathered up my sleepy omega and deposited her into the hot water. I took a few moments before joining her in the bath to strip off some of the especially soiled layers of the nest, put them into the washer, and clean up the used toys scattered around.
There was a soft energy about us today as we lounged in the hot water, steam wafting in delicate tendrils around us. Allie snuggled onto my lap, content as a kitten to simply be touching me.
I traced gentle fingers over her arm. “Have fun?”
“Maybe.” She hummed contentedly, settling more comfortably, her fingertips tapping a slow rhythm against my skin. Was she nervous? She only seemed to do that when she was thinking too much.
“That was your first heat spike in about twenty-four hours, so you’re almost done.”
Allie grumbled and somehow managed to snuggle closer. “I don’t want to be done. I want to stay here and do nothing but eat, sleep, fuck, and cuddle forever.”
I laughed too hard, jostling her until she made an irritated sound in the back of her throat. “You’d miss real life eventually,” I told her. “Besides, you get to indulge in this every year.”
Say it.
No.
Say. It.
“And if you want, you can find a partner outside of your heat and still do all of those things.”
Allie seemed to dislike the statement as much as I did, pressing her fingers to my lips. “Shhh, other people don’t even exist right now.”
“Okay.” I indulged myself by holding her, purring softly while I twirled strands of her hair.
I didn’t want to let her go. I had never been attached to a client like this and I couldn’t figure out why I was with her. True, being her first for so many things was an intimacy I was rarely granted, but maybe it was just something about her, too.
I was conscious of every minute that passed. Each one brought us closer to the end.
When the water finally cooled and our fingertips pruned, we ventured out for food, refueling before settling on the couch to cuddle naked beneath a stack of blankets. I put on a nature documentary to keep the silence at bay and simply indulged in the nearness of her while I still could.
With the heat beginning to fade, Allie’s energy levels dropped, making her clingy and drowsy, purring away in my arms. I was never away from her for more than a few moments, letting myself touch her as much as I wanted and making sure she had everything she needed.
I cradled her while she sipped drinks to rehydrate, hand-fed her one bite at a time, delighting in the easy trust we had developed. I couldn’t allow myself to become irritated at this coming to an end. Focusing on the time we had was the only way I could enjoy it. The future was nothing but a shapeless void without her in it. I knew without a shadow of a doubt that she was going to fill my dreams for a long while.
Allie slept on top of me, off and on, drifting between sleep and wakefulness, but never for long in consciousness. Her fingers curled against me in her sleep and I swallowed the knot of emotion that formed in my throat.
She mumbled something incoherent and rooted around in her sleep until her face was tucked into the curve of my neck. I traced lines down her spine, her purr growing louder at the gentle touches. Clients had been lovable before, but I had never felt like I was in danger of falling in love with one of them.
Sometime later Allie raised a rumpled head, giving me the sweetest and sleepiest smile before kissing me softly like it was an instinctual action. She sighed happily and traced the planes of my face, looking at me like she was trying to memorize every detail. I couldn’t fault her since I had found myself doing the same to her more than once this week. Her dark eyes were pools of ink, filled with warmth and depth I would willingly drown in. Her hair was a mess of curls and waves, frizzed from sleep and sex, the occasional strand of caramel breaking up the dark brown. Her lips had the slightest Cupid’s bow, her bottom lip fuller than the top, the color of them a deliciously kissable peach pink. My claiming bites decorated her throat and I couldn’t help but tip her head back so I could lick over one of them.
Allie shuddered above me, tilting her head to give me better access. The scent gland itself was always sensitive, but touching the bites I had left on her was uniquely potent. I slipped my fingers into her hair to hold her in place, teasing her skin as much as I pleased, letting myself memorize the sound and feel of her as much as the look.
“Sidney.” The breathy way she said my name was better than any drug. She moaned long and low as I bit down hard enough to trigger all of her base instincts, slick dripping warmly from her cunt and onto me.
Allie rocked her hips, her hand disappearing beneath the blankets. Her fingers curled around my cock, angling it so she could sink down onto me with the cutest fucking whine as she stretched around me. A few days ago that would’ve been unthinkable, but now she was comfortable enough to take what she wanted.
I kept her still, a frustration to her if the sounds coming out of her were any indication. That was okay. Right now was about more than gratification. I sucked at her skin until ginger and honeysuckle bathed my tongue and a hefty red mark adorned her skin alongside my bites. I shouldn’t be marking her more than was necessary during the heat haze, but I liked seeing my marks on her. I couldn’t keep her, but the marks would take time to fade, allowing me to touch her in spirit for a while longer, even if I wasn’t there anymore. The thought of her walking around and everyone seeing that she belonged to me if only for a while soothed the primal parts of my brain.
She squeezed her pussy around me, trying to encourage me to move. “I need you.”
I pulled the blankets down and took hold of each of her hips. “Ride me. I want to watch you.”
A blush took over her face, but she rose up anyway, bracing her hands against my chest and moving experimentally until she figured out what felt best. Her thighs flexed as she lifted herself and let gravity bring her back down, her beautiful face contorted with pleasure.
She moved slowly, leaning into a gentle luxury where we could both enjoy the feel of one another without racing to the finish line. I tugged her bottom lip from between her teeth with my thumb. It was plump and dark pink from her biting it.
“Don’t try to hide your sounds from me. Let me have them while I still can.”
I swept my thumb over her clit and she blessed me with a squeak and squeeze of her cunt, before the sound slipped into sweet omega whines as I continued to touch her as I pleased. I wasn’t after giving her satisfaction so quickly. I wanted her to stay on my cock and drag her own pleasure from the depths.
Allie gave me exactly what I craved.
I watched it all: the sway of her hair as it tumbled over her shoulders, the bounce of her breasts when she sank down and our hips met, the flex of her muscles as she worked herself toward the peak, and the ever-growing pink flush from her exertion.
Beautiful.
Every inch of her was a goddess and I was merely a supplicant for her.
Eventually she grew impatient and took her fingers to her clit, driving herself to the edge as easily as she drove our bodies together.
I burned the sound of her coming into my memory along with the feel of her pulsing around me and the curl of her nails into my skin.
Carrying her with me wouldn’t make the end easier, but I was pretty sure that nothing would.