Chapter 31
“Loons!” I went straight to Luna’s desk at work when I arrived, pulling her out of her seat and all the way to the bathroom.
“Girl, what is the rush? What’s going on?”
I hadn’t told her about the bonding, only that I’d spent the whole weekend with Sidney. Nervously, I pulled my hair out of the way so she could see the bond mark on my throat.
Her eyes went wide, her usually sweet scent twisting to burnt lemons before she shrieked, “WHAT?!”
“Shhh!”
“I will not shush! How did you get bonded? You just had a heat a few months ago!”
I pressed my hand to her lips. “I don’t super understand it. The doctor said we’re ideal mates, and I guess it can trigger a mini heat to force a bond between compatible partners. Neither of us were prepared for it.”
“So, what does this mean? What happens now?”
“We’re still figuring that out.”
“You’re absolutely sure he didn’t do this on purpose? Maybe he used some witchcraft to snap you up!”
I knew she didn’t mean anything by it. Luna had been let down by a lot of people in her life and didn’t have much trust for men.
“He didn’t know what happened either,” I promised. “We’re both in this same weird-ass boat.”
Luna huffed. “Okay. I’ll stow my shovel for now. He’d better treat you like an absolute queen. I don’t want an ounce of slacking off just because you two are bonded.”
“I’m not worried about queen treatment. I already know he’s fully capable of it. Do you want to meet him?”
“Of course I want to meet him. He needs to pass the best friend inspection. Meg and I can grill him together.”
“Why do I sense a session of good cop/bad cop coming?” I laughed. Luna was feisty, but Meg was sneaky. Between the two of them they could probably get answers to anything they could think of.
“Because you know us too well.” Luna beamed. “Now when do I get to meet him?”
We hadn’t discussed any of that yet. He had briefly mentioned a Sunday dinner with his family, but I knew that Luna would be too impatient to wait that long now that she knew about him.
“We can set up dinner this week?”
“Somewhere private,” Luna replied. “I need to be able to grill without worrying about eavesdroppers. We can order takeout so no one has to cook.”
“I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t mind, but I’m cool with takeout. I promise he’s super nice, but I definitely don’t know a lot about him.”
“Don’t you worry. Once Meg and I are done with him, you’ll know everything you could ever want to know.”
I filled Luna in on the details of the weekend before going back to my office. Around lunch, my phone buzzed.
Sidney:
Are we hanging out tonight?
Allie:
You bet your sweet ass :P
Sidney:
Want me to help you unpack?
The strangest sensation of confusion and queasiness filled my stomach at his question. He wanted me to unpack my place? Shouldn’t people who were bonded live together? It seemed totally practical to continue things as if we had just started dating, but we were as good as married now. I had barely unpacked my apartment so it was the perfect time to do something if we were going to, but maybe he didn’t want to live with me. Maybe he was trying to let me down easy.
I typed out several messages and deleted them, unsure what to say. I didn’t know my own feelings on the matter, so it was hard for me to figure out what his might be. On one hand, it was a relief that he didn’t expect me to give up my apartment, but on the other hand, it felt like a rejection. The responsible adult thing to do would be to have a conversation about it.
Sidney:
Writing me a novel?
I jumped when the message came through. Of course he was waiting for me to respond and could see my internal crisis in the typing dots.
Allie:
Sorry :P yeah unpacking sounds great
Sidney:
What’s up?
Allie:
I don’t know
For some reason I sort of expected you to want me to move in and my brain is doing silly things over you wanting me settled elsewhere
Even though I don’t want to move in since it’s only been a couple of days and that would be weird but also instincts and emotions are chaos and I don’t want you to think I’m creepy :(
Sidney:
I don’t think you’re creepy
I just don’t want you to feel pressured
Having your own space is important and we can spend time at both
Allie:
Quit being so logical
And okay that’s fair since I did JUST move into my place
I had to figure my shit out. It wasn’t fair to go full chaos gremlin in his direction. He had signed up for a date, not a partner, and I had to get myself together.
A few minutes later my phone buzzed again.
Sidney:
Treats downstairs lt;3
Allie:
?????
I bolted for the elevator to head down to the lobby, and the moment I saw him it was like the sun had come out after a storm. Damn, those bonding hormones were potent.
“Hey!” I bounded over and threw myself into a hug, melting when he kissed the top of my head and handed me a milkshake.
I took a giant sip of the chocolate confection and looked up at him. “Milkshake kiss?”
He got his smile under control just in time to meet my mouth. He tasted like strawberries.
“Chocolatey,” he said when he pulled away.
“I’m naturally delicious.” I grinned and took another sip before leaning up to whisper conspiratorially, “Want to mess around in my office?”
“You shouldn’t tease me when other people are nearby,” he warned.
“But it’s fun to tease you in public.” I retreated toward the elevator, looking over my shoulder to summon him along.
He briefly checked his phone before following me, and, if there hadn’t been cameras in the elevator that would have risked my job, I’d have asked him to press me up against the mirrored walls.
I trotted down the hallway past other offices to ones tucked away, ushering him inside the small space with no windows save for the frosted one on the door.
“Welcome to my shoebox. I’m at least not in a cubicle. Omegas get offices, even if they’re mini. Sorry, it’s not very glamorous, but I’m still pretty low on the totem pole here.”
Sidney closed the door behind him, smiling at me. “I don’t need glamor to take you apart in here.”
I closed my laptop and set it aside before hopping up to sit on the desk, offering him a playful grin. “Ready and willing to be taken apart.”
“Are you, now?” Sidney slunk toward me and set his milkshake down, situating himself between my knees. He traced a single fingertip down my throat, making shivers erupt through my body. “And what if I wanted to tease you and leave? You’d spend all afternoon thinking about me and come home ready to be ruined.”
“Hmmm, maybe, but that sounds mean.”
Sidney tilted my chin up and I pressed my thighs together. “Does that imply you don’t think I can be that sort of mean?”
I bit my lip, and angled closer, wiggling against his cock tenting his scrubs. “I’m learning all sorts of new things about you.” I toyed with the hem of his shirt and stroked a palm over the bulge in his pants. “To be clear, I can be plenty mean, too. And I still have extensive plans to ruin you as well.”
“Good.” Sidney leaned in, tangling one hand in my hair and resting the other behind me. He devoured my mouth until I needed to pull away to breathe. He moved down bit by bit to tease my throat, and when I whimpered, he pressed a hand over my mouth. “That’s my good girl.”
Fuck.
I was definitely not getting a damn thing done this afternoon after he was done with me.