Jordy #2
I’d driven my car up with Kieran, and my dad had followed us in his. Now they’d be riding back together. What I would have given to be a fly on the wall during that car ride.
“Alright,” he said, watching as my dad left the room. Both our gazes shifted over to Dani, who gave a dramatic sigh.
“Fine. I’ll go find something else to do for a minute,” she said, pointedly prancing over to the doorway before turning back to give me a suggestive look, wiggling her eyebrows. “You guys want to try and get a quickie in, right?”
“Bye, Dani,” Kieran said flatly, giving her a wry look. She scoffed, wiggling her fingers at him dismissively as she walked the rest of the way out.
“So no about the quickie, then?” I asked, once she was out of sight and he snorted, shaking his head.
“Don’t tempt me,” he said. His tone was light and teasing, but the bond between us gave me insight to his real emotions. And anyway, I was pretty sure he might have said yes if he hadn’t spent most of the morning wrapped up in bed with me. And then bending me over his desk.
“Hey,” I said softly, crossing the room to him so I could hug his waist tightly. His heartbeat rumbled under my ear as he wrapped his arms around me, his lips coming down onto the crown of my hair. “It’s just a couple years. That’s nothing. We have forever, remember?”
I felt him nod, but he didn’t say anything. My broody, emotional alpha.
“I got you something,” I went on. “Well, I made it.”
“You made me something?” He asked, sounding surprised. I wasn’t exactly an artsy person or a crafter, so I wasn’t offended by his curious tone.
“It’s just something silly,” I said quickly, to make sure he wasn’t expecting some masterpiece.
Extracting it from the pocket of the hoodie I’d taken from him that morning, I held out a colorful beaded bracelet.
It was ridiculously cutesy and childish, the kind of thing you make at summer camp when you’re 10.
Some of the beads were plain with glitter, but the bigger ones had little images on them.
Hearts, angel wings, and different candies.
Once he’d finally given in and told me what my omega scent was, I’d been teasing him a bit mercilessly about it.
Getting turned on by the smell of candy was funny, no matter what the context was.
I’d ordered the silly little custom kit online and assembled it while he’d been at work.
“Now I’ll be with you all the time,” I said, and waited for him to refuse to wear something so dumb, and to scoff at me for even suggesting it.
He took it from me and slipped it onto his wrist, handling it so delicately it was like it was made of tissue paper. It clashed violently with his tattoos and combat boots, and he stared down at it somberly, like I’d given him a trinket to remember me by before one of us went off to die in a war.
My heart melted at his expression, so obviously miserable but already so protective of the dumb bracelet I’d made. It was so cute I couldn’t help but let a strangled little laugh out of my throat before I smashed into his chest again.
“Kieran,” I cooed out his name as I nuzzled into his firm body. “It’s going to be okay. Really.”
“Yeah, I know,” he finally admitted, his voice low. “I can deal. And we’ll still see each other a lot. I’ll just… miss you.”
“I’ll miss you, too.”
“I mean, even without… Even besides the fact that we’re together, we haven’t really spent any time apart since we met, so it’s just…
Yeah,” he finished. That part was true, and I’d been trying not to think about it.
He was such a constant in my life, someone I looked forward to seeing every morning when I woke up, and someone whose presence just swamped me with comfort and happiness, even before we’d given in to our feelings for each other.
“But I’m happy for you. And I know you’re going to do amazing and crush everything, like always. ”
I smiled, lifting my head to look up at him. His automatic and unwavering faith in me made it impossible to feel like I could possibly fail at anything.
“And in the meantime we’ll talk every day. It’ll be like I’m not even gone.”
I knew he didn’t agree with me, but he just gave a small nod. “I should have gotten you something, too. I didn’t even think about it.”
“You already gave me something to remind me of you all the time,” I said, taking his hand and pulling it to my hip. “I’ll look down at it every time I’m jerking off in the shower.”
He groaned, laughing in a bitter way as he gave me a quick squeeze. “What a waste.”
“I’ll send you pictures,” I offered sweetly, blinking my lashes at him. “And videos, if you want.”
His eyebrow perked up along with the corner of his mouth. “I’m not going to say no to that.”
Chuckling, I raised up on my toes and slipped my arms over his shoulders to hook behind his neck. Like always, he grasped onto my ass and lifted me up into the air so I could hitch my thighs around his waist. I heard the clack and felt the chunky shape of the bracelet against my hip as he held me.
Even though we were permanently linked to each other by way of our mate bond, I was still learning new stuff about him all the time.
And every new trait I discovered only made me feel more infatuated with him.
He was adorable, always trying to seem so grumpy and scary on the outside, but a squishy, lovesick marshmallow on the inside.
And I was the only one lucky enough to get to experience all that sugary, gooey sweetness.
“I’m sorry everything will be kind of tough for a bit, but it’ll all be worth it once I’m finished,” I promised, leaning in to rest my forehead against his.
“I know,” he said. “You have to kick ass now so we can have money later. Just in case I… I mean, I know it’s kind of a long shot for me to get rich doing tattoos, so…”
“I never thought that,” I responded honestly. “I just want a career that doesn’t make me miserable, where I can help people. I’ve always known you were going to get famous with your art. Money would be the last thing I would ever think to worry about, being with you.”
He let out this shocked little noise from his throat, the sound he made when he was shocked and happy but didn’t know exactly how to express it without revealing too much of himself.
“Seriously?” He asked, the warm brown of his eyes going dark. “You don’t ever worry that it won’t work out?”
I was sure that concept was completely foreign to Kieran James, the supreme king of expecting the worst in every situation and still feeling disappointed with the results, so I only shook my head.
“You are the most talented person I know, Kieran,” I answered softly, brushing my lips over his brow before pressing small kisses to his cheeks and then his lips.
“Your art is weird and special and perfect, just like you. The world really needs that kind of thing right now. And other people can tell when they look at it. I’ve always known that. ”
He let out a deep, shuddering breath, his Adam’s apple quivering a bit as he swallowed, his hands tightening on me.
“I love you so much, Jordy. I can’t believe I actually get to be with you.
I never thought I would be as happy as you make me.
I didn’t think anyone could be as happy as I feel when I’m with you,” he added on, and the deep emotion in his voice tugged at my chest. “I don’t know what I would do if you hadn’t…
You know, kind of forced me into this,” he finished, sounding somewhat chastised by the reality of our situation.
If I hadn’t pushed and pushed and pushed, who knows how long it would have taken us to end up together?
“I love you too,” I murmured, arching into him when he gave me a kiss so long and deep that my lips were tingling and my pulse was fluttering. “I’ve always known you would be the perfect person for me, and I was right. Like always,” I tacked on, making sure to use my extra annoying singsong voice.
He tried to summon up a dry look for my antics but fell woefully short, the depth of his love and absolute affection for me ringing clearer than a bell through our mate bond.
“Always,” he finally admitted. “You always know exactly what I need, Angel.”
“Anyway, I’m sure you would have given in to your feelings for me eventually,” I said. “I have complete and total faith in you.”
And my complete and total faith in him would never waver for a single moment.