Chapter 26
Ilicked my lips. I had put on a stain so the color wouldn’t budge, but that wouldn’t stop the fun of trying.
The last time Sidney and I had been together I’d been in heat and my entire existence had been in his hands. How would things work now that I was no longer in that vulnerable, primal state?
A growl climbed out of my throat as I opened his jeans and freed his cock. As much as I wanted to go feral on him, I forced myself to go slow instead. I touched him softly, stroking the length until he was gritting his teeth and trying not to shake. He could try all he wanted, but his sharp exhalations betrayed him, and I smirked at him as I lowered my mouth, sucking the tip while looking him dead in the eye.
His composure broke when I swirled my tongue, prompting a groan from him. I gathered up my hair and handed the silken strands to him so they didn’t fall into my face while I sucked him. I kissed my way up the shaft and down, making sure I had his attention before moving to the next step, giving him my best smolder. I was going to make sure he had a night he would never forget.
I tugged his pants and lifted my head. “Off.”
I pouted at him until he stood and helped me get his pants to the floor. Once he was standing bare-assed in his living room, I went back to work, wrapping my lips around his cock, and inching forward until I hit the back of my throat. From the sounds he was making, it seemed like he almost came undone just from that. I worked him over slowly, deliberately, being infuriatingly gentle as I unraveled him.
He let out a breathless “fuck” when I squeezed his ass, digging my nails into the cheeks to thrust him into my mouth. His thighs quivered, and his hands shook where they held my hair.
Only half a whine made it out of him when I slid off and stood, gliding my hands up his chest before devouring his mouth.
Seeing the desire and frustration in his eyes was a power trip.
“Did you want to come?” I nipped at his lip.
“If I say yes, are you going to do anything about it?” He chuckled.
I bit my bottom lip, basking in my power. “I haven’t decided. Maybe I want to hear you beg, too.”
The heat in his eyes was delicious.
Sidney smirked. “I guess you should incentivize me a little more.”
From how his eyes widened, I had to guess he wasn’t ready for the confident hand that cupped his balls, or the other that circled his cock with sure strokes as I sank down again.
He buried his hands in my hair and gasped out my name. I wasn’t prepared for the warmth that rushed through me at that one word. My name on his tongue in ecstasy fueled the burning desire I’d carried for him all these years.
I pulled away and he looked like he could’ve wept.
“If you’re too quiet, how will I know if I’m doing a good job?” I nuzzled his thigh, feeling oddly bold. “Don’t you want me to learn how to please you, alpha?”
His scent burst when I called him alpha. I swallowed hard. I had used the title before for others, but when I said it to him it felt different. He was more than an alpha. I wanted him to be my alpha.
“I’m trying to keep control, and you’re making it very difficult.” His voice was strangled, exactly how I wanted it.
“That’s the point.” I gave him a smile and slid back onto his cock, my tongue stroking until he was cursing. The flavor of him shifted to salty sweetness, and I popped off again, nipping his thigh. “I can taste you getting close.”
I pressed my thumbs against the scent glands on his wrists, eliciting a deep shudder from him.
“You can come anytime, alpha. You know what you have to do, and I’ll give you what you want.”
He stayed quiet and I stared up at him, taking my hands away, and letting only my breath touch him.
“One little word. Beg for me. Just once.”
He looked at me like he had no idea what to do with me, while at the same time like he knew exactly what he wanted to do.
I was going to get him to break, one way or the other. I put my hands and mouth back to work, coaxing him until he struggled to breathe, and then stopped again.
“Fucking hell,” he cursed.
I giggled and looked up at him, waiting until his breathing calmed before starting up again, pulling him to the edge, and stopping. Then again. I was having too much fun trying to break his control.
“Jesus Christ.” He whimpered and I couldn’t help but giggle.
“On a cracker?”
That made him laugh. “I almost forgot how fucking cute you are.”
“It’s a gift.” I teased him with another lick. “Speaking of, you’re really making yourself suffer here and preventing me from giving you the lovely gift of sucking your soul out through your cock.”
I stroked him slowly, the agony obvious in his eyes. I wanted to ruin him so we could get a move on and I could let him destroy me.
Impatience pushed me onward, forcing him to sit back on the couch so I could angle up his body, stroking his cock while I got my hand between my thighs. I whimpered into his ear, and those soft desperate sounds had his scent erupting.
He turned his head and nudged my face until I looked at him. We indulged in the sweetness of each other’s mouths and he devoured every mewl I made. My fingers were nowhere near as good as his touch, but I needed him, and for me to get him, I needed him to break.
“Please,” he whispered.
Finally.
A purr rumbled in my chest as I sank down and fastened my lips around him once more, sucking until the tension burst.
Power soaked into my bones. His grip on me trembled, like he was holding back from forcing me down, but if he was going to be gentlemanly about it, then I was going to have my fun. I bobbed my head, taking him straight from pleasure and into overstimulation. He writhed beneath me until he finally pulled me away and onto his lap.
I was so ridiculously pleased with myself that I started purring.
“Did you have fun?” He laughed.
“Maybe.” I wiggled, eager to continue our play. “I might have thought about this a few times.”
“Is that so? Did you think about anything else?” He squeezed my ass.
“Are you kidding me? I don’t think I had another spare thought in my head that didn’t include you for ages after that heat. Every time I learned something new, I’d wish I’d known it then so I could’ve given back a fraction of what you made me feel.”
His scent dampened. “It’s probably better we didn’t get to meet up again.”
“It doesn’t feel better.”
Sidney laughed softly. “If we had, then this right now would get me into a lot of trouble.”
I tilted my head in question, my dark hair falling like a curtain. “Why?”
“It’s both illegal and very against clinic policy for us to get involved with clients. There has to be at least two years separating any hiring before we’re even allowed to consider seeing a client outside those circumstances.”
“That doesn’t seem very fair.” I pouted. “They go out of their way to make sure the pairings are compatible so of course that’s going to come up sometimes.”
“That’s true but it’s why the rule is in place. People in heat are not super rational, and it takes time for everything to fade. It’s to protect everyone involved. Some alphas might abuse their power if they had a particularly vulnerable omega attached to them.”
I absorbed what he said and snuggled in, tucking my forehead against the curve of his throat. “Was I a particularly vulnerable omega?”
He trailed soothing fingers up and down my spine. “You were, yes.”
“What am I now?”
“Now you’re a grown woman who knows what she wants. I’m no longer a heat helper, and you haven’t been a client of mine for more than enough time. If I was worried about there being an issue, I would have sidestepped on meeting with you. Although, I’m not certain my instincts are all that correct.”
What the hell did that mean? He didn’t immediately offer an explanation, so I asked.
“Well,” he began, “you’re not the only one who thought about our time together a lot longer than would be considered appropriate.”
My purr roared. “You thought about me?”
“I might have.” Sidney cupped my cheek. “Damn near ruined me each time you requested me and I couldn’t have you.”
I swallowed hard. “I’d hoped I was memorable, but I never dared to dream.”
“I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to forget you after they’ve had you.”
All of my longing tumbled through me. He wanted me. I wanted to keep him, to soothe the ragged edges he had left behind with his absence, and fill up the space in my heart that no one else could make themselves fit into.
“You could refresh your memory, if you want to,” I said softly.
“I am more than happy to.”
“How long have you been retired from heat helping?”
“About six months,” he replied.
“What made you stop?”
“Heat helping is…taxing. I couldn’t keep up anymore. Not that I couldn’t with a single heat, but they were having to space the jobs further and further apart to accommodate my recovery time. I’m almost thirty, and, as much as I didn’t want to admit it, it wasn’t something I could keep doing.”
“Thirty is hardly old,” I defended.
“It’s not, but when you’re essentially running a weeklong marathon to take care of an omega in heat, it’s more than my body could continue managing. Older clients weren’t too difficult since their heats had calmed down, but the younger ones with erratic needs and endless supplies of energy were…a lot.”
“Ones like me, you mean?” I didn’t love that I had contributed to ending his career, but from the sounds of it, it was a sooner rather than later sort of situation.
“Yes. You caught me at a good time in my career. A solid forty-eight hours running on next to nothing except for the hormones flooding my system isn’t uncommon with the first few years of heats. If you needed me at that level in the last year or two, I would’ve disappointed you.”
Like hell he would have. “I don’t think it’s possible for you to disappoint me.”
Sidney let out a sharp laugh. “That’s because you don’t remember the heat haze. Trust me when I say that level of ravenousness would not have been sated by my energy levels after almost a decade on the job.”
“I mean, it makes sense. I guess I never thought about the decline.”
“I always compare heat helper careers to professional athletes,” Sidney said. “At a certain point you’ve got to step back, or the risk-to-reward ratio starts getting too skewed.”
“I’ll let you rest then. Can I be on top?” I winked. “I’ve gotten much better at that since last time. Lie there and let me ride you into delirium.”
Sidney’s muscles tensed. “I have no opposition to that.”
“I didn’t think you would.” I snickered.
“I’m more than willing to let you have your fun.”
“But?” I prompted.
“But I’m still intending to make you beg too.”
“I don’t mind taking turns.” I stuck my tongue out at him. “God, how fucking surreal is my life right now? If you’d told me yesterday I’d be eating dinner with you and getting my hands on that sweet, sweet alpha dick I would have thought I was dreaming.”
Sidney burst out laughing. “You’re ridiculous.”
He traced each of my fingers in turn, swirling circles in my palm before pressing a soft kiss to the scent gland at my wrist. My breath stuttered, and he inhaled deeply, pulling me closer.
Sidney slid his hands down my back and I trembled. I never wanted him to stop touching me. His cock twitched to life beneath me, and I let out a little giggle. His lips curved, and he patted my butt, which made me giggle more.
Too cute.
“I think I should take you to the bedroom.”
I leaned close, brushing his ear with my lips. “Take me anywhere you like.”