Chapter 7
FREY
Lying in my bed, I thought of Oliver scolding me at the office earlier today. I’d been so… And he… Ugh!
Never had anything excited me more than Oliver, the tiny, pretty omega boy fresh out of college, telling me off like I deserved. It didn’t take me long to realize he had a point or two. And heaven help me, he was glorious.
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry because having Oliver yell at me was about the most arousing thing that had ever happened to me. It made me so hard.
I wanted to bend him over my desk and spank him.
Then fall to my knees and kiss and lick that ass adorned with my handprints.
Then make him come on my tongue in his hole and spank him some more, before I fucked him so deep I put a cub in his belly, heat or no heat.
Was he scared? But that blush. Those lips… They looked like they were begging for a rough, biting kiss.
He’d pressed his hand against my chest, right over my heart, and I felt the touch in my bones.
And then Chickie walked in. Oliver’s father and my closest friend.
Fuck.
Oliver was going to ruin me. He already had.
His upturned face, with his lips parted and cheeks flushed, was all I could see. The spot in the middle of my chest burned as if he’d branded me there just with the soft press of his palm.
I squeezed my eyes shut and wrapped my hand around my dick for the umpteenth time tonight.
I didn’t even try to control my fantasies. There was no point. Oliver starred in all of them, wearing lace panties that covered nothing of importance and taunting me over his shoulder with his ass pushed out.
“What are you going to do to me?”
“I’ll fucking spank you and then I’ll breed you.”
He groans, curving his spine and showing me his hole. It’s pale and so tiny; there’s no way my dick will fit.
“Put your cock in me, Frey. Please.”
I let my palm fall on his ass cheeks, and they bloom pink just for me. Then I thrust into him to the hilt, stretching that little opening, and Oliver’s cry bounces off the walls of my office.
Between whimpers and moans, he whispers promises of love and devotion.
“I’ve been in love with you forever, Frey. I’ll go into heat for you. I want you to breed me.”
I jerked off like mad until my dick chafed.
Maybe I could purge him from my mind if I did it a few more times? Except my obsession with Oliver was only getting worse.
When I finally fell asleep, I dreamed of him.
Not knowing what to do with myself, I was at the office before eight.
I scrolled through the document Oliver had sent me, rereading the part about economic development.
What if he was right? What if I had stifled the town’s growth by turning the developers away?
Tourist facilities in tune with the town’s current atmosphere and with limited capacity would create job opportunities and strengthen the existing businesses.
Low-impact and low-cost tourist activities to be promoted: hiking and wildlife watching, fly-fishing, canoeing, cross-country skiing, etc.
Low-impact and high-cost: retreats, wellness, guided expeditions, team building, rafting, paragliding, dog sled.
Paragliding? Where did he come up with that? I’d seen crazy people flying around Green Peaks, sure, but never in Beauville. And dogs? Who would pay for dog sled rides?
Hiking trails maintenance: explore grant opportunities with the Economic Development Administration.
As I read the numerous bullet points of Oliver’s so-called strategy, what bugged me the most was the number of times I told myself I should have thought of this . Because he’d surely thought of everything. Literally everything that could be done was in there, at least in the form of a small note.
Education: explore the financing solutions for a library and a learning center for high school students —aim at a hybrid solution, combining virtual high school with local supervision and tutoring.
Oliver was brilliant, and chances were, he was right about those fucking developers as well.
We would have to work with them, whether we wanted to or not.
The county would throw us under the bus, no doubt about it.
Our only chance was to convince the new landowners to do stuff in a way that would preserve the uniqueness of Beauville.
I heard steps in the corridor just before nine, so I poked my head out. I caught a glimpse of Oliver as he walked into Hughes’s old office, now Oliver’s own.
“Oliver.”
He backed out. “Yes?”
“Erm. Good morning.”
Just jeans, white sneakers, and a light summer jacket. His hair, gleaming gold and copper, was a mess, and he looked flushed. Lord, but he was a sight for sore eyes. As if the sun itself had walked into the town hall.
He gave me an unsure smile. “Good morning,” he said slowly, eyeing me up and down.
What was I…? “Can we talk?”
He swallowed nervously. “Sure.”
I stepped aside to let him into my office.
I left the door open. I didn’t trust myself with him in an enclosed space.
Then I walked around my desk so there would be something between us.
Not that I couldn’t jump over it… I needed to speak before I drowned in his blue-green eyes and lost my train of thought.
“I apologize for losing my temper yesterday,” I said.
“Oh. I believe I also lost my temper. I’m sorry.”
“You were right.”
He jerked back as if I had slapped him. “I was?”
“We need to work with these people, whoever they are. We don’t have an alternative.”
Oliver blinked a few times. “I mean, we can work on several fronts, trying to influence the county, erm, and we can push for conservation in the area. Maybe they’re for conservation.
Maybe. But yeah. It would be best for Beauville if we could cooperate with the new owners.
It’s a large piece of land, and it’s sort of a miracle that Hughes never did anything with it until now.
” His rambling answer spoke of nervousness.
I’d been harsh with him and must have scared him.
“I also reread your strategy,” I said, “and I think we should prioritize and start talking about implementation.”
He shifted from foot to foot, frowning suspiciously. “Really?”
“Yes. Really. I especially appreciate your ideas on education and low-impact tourism.”
More confused blinking ensued. He looked at me as if I’d grown another head overnight. “Okay,” he said slowly and hugged his torso. He looked defensive.
“You don’t trust me,” I said.
He grinned shyly and glanced at his white sneakers. “I do. It’s just that… that’s a sudden change of opinion from you. I’m wondering where it stems from.”
His grin sent tingles through my underbelly and little sparks of happiness into my chest. It felt like a prize of some kind. As if I’d done a good job, and Oliver being pleased was my reward.
But I wasn’t doing this because I wanted to make Oliver happy. No way. I was completely rational, making wise decisions about the town’s future. While making Oliver happy.
I cleared my throat. “I understand there are parts of the strategy that are relatively low cost and low effort, and many are uncontroversial. We can take those to the council first, so as not to overwhelm them.”
Oliver nodded, mischief playing around his lips. “I would hate to overwhelm Jesse or Morris.”
I snickered. “You minx.”
He sucked in a breath, his eyes widening. What did I say?
Shit.
That sounded too intimate, didn’t it?
“Anyway. I’m sure you have work to do, and I do as well. So. Please book a meeting with Mr. Masterson. I’ll ask Jesse to find out who’s behind that trust.”
He gave me a salute. “Will do. Thank you, Frey.”
“Thank you.”
He nodded and backed out of the room. I closed the door behind him and swallowed a groan.
My office was once again full of his scent.
The brain is a weird thing. How can it think so many contradictory things at the same time and not implode?
Oliver was the smartest, most beautiful, and most maddening person I’d ever met.
My respect for him grew every time we spoke, while I increasingly craved to spank him over my desk.
Hell, I wanted to get my hands on that ass in any way I could.
I also wanted to prove myself to him and show him I wasn’t a backward hillbilly from the past like he’d insinuated.
Which, again, he deserved a spanking for.
He also deserved that I took seriously every one of his suggestions because he worked hard and meant well and because his suggestions were clever all around.
But then he would get sassy with me, and my palms would itch again.
It was raining outside, but we kept the window open.
It seemed to be a silent agreement between Oliver and me.
He’d either noticed I had issues with his scent or thought I was obsessive about airing any room I walked into.
Either way, whenever we sat down to talk, we’d keep a distance and open the window.
“I think we should focus on the hybrid high school as our main priority,” he said, eyes on the screen of his laptop. “We have ten high schoolers in Beauville now, but we’ll have thirteen next year, and seventeen the year after that.”
I cleared my throat, composing my next sentence with care. “I’m not saying it’s not important, but don’t we have more immediate issues on our hands?”
“Such as?”
Was he toying with me? “The land, Oliver.”
He didn’t even lift his gaze from his laptop. “Did Jesse find out who’s behind the trust?”
“No. The law firm isn’t returning his calls. Imagine that.”
“Hm. That’s strange.”
“It is, isn’t it? A large law firm where assistants promise you their bosses will get back to you, but nobody ever does. Not even with the simplest answer.”
“It’s only been one day,” he said casually. “Maybe they’ll call back tomorrow.”
I couldn’t keep the frustration out of my tone. “It’s obvious they’re doing their best to keep the identity of the buyer secret from us.”
“Could be. But we don’t know that.”
“Oliver, this is serious. Someone is doing their damnedest to underhandedly take control of our town. You said yourself we need to be ready. Shouldn’t we be talking about that? What about the Masterson guy?”
“I forwarded you the quote. We can book a consultation with him next week.” He paused and typed something. “But nobody is trying to take control of anything.”
“But we don’t know that,” I threw back at him.
Finally, he looked up. “Why do you insist on it being something sinister all the time? Maybe they’re someone famous who just wants privacy.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Sure. Or maybe it’s the pope.”
Oliver narrowed his eyes, his mouth curving with displeasure. “I’m just saying that until we know who they are and what they want, we can’t do anything anyway. We’re wasting time speculating and riling ourselves up for nothing.”
My eyebrows flew up. “You mean I’m riling myself up for nothing?”
“Yes,” he said simply, and returned to his screen. “And I just found a hybrid high school that’s on the other side of the range, five hours from here. They started two years ago. How about we call them and ask how it works for them?”
He must have heard my growl but chose to ignore it.
In the end, he got what he wanted. I gave him the green light to start working on a plan for the hybrid school and a grant application for the trail maintenance. As if I could tell him no to anything with the way he smiled and smelled.
Would I ever get used to having him this close every damned day?
When he finally left my office two hours later, I was flattened. Self-control was exhausting. Every muscle in my body ached with tiredness, except for my dick and balls. It was as if all my energy gathered there.
I stumbled to the bathroom and quickly took care of the problem, Oliver’s face on the back of my eyelids. I came into the sink and washed away the cum and shame.
Then I splashed cold water on my face.
The universe was determined to punish me because I ran into Chickie on my way home.
“Hey, Mr. Mayor. How come you’ve declined Phil’s invitation for dinner, huh?”
“I’m sorry. It’s been a rough few days. With Hughes selling and Morris freaking out about the dugout in Maple Street, I’m all over the place.”
Chickie frowned. “Phil invited you before we found out about the sale.”
“Oh. Yeah. Um…” It was enough that I saw Oliver at work every day. Eating dinner with him and his parents? I’d lose my mind.
“Is something the matter, Frey? You’ve been acting weird.”
Shit .
“I’m…” I couldn’t come up with anything believable to say.
I’d never had a huge need to pour my heart out to anyone, but Chickie had been my closest friend for nearly two decades.
When I struggled with a problem, he was the one I would tell.
He’d been by my side through the election campaign and the rough first year as mayor.
Chickie put his hands on his hips, and his face scrunched up into a sour grimace.
“Are you depressed or something?”
I let out a strangled laugh. “What? How did you come up with that?”
His shoulders rose and fell with a deep breath. “You’re over forty and unmated.”
“Thanks for the reminder,” I muttered.
“Look, I get that being the third wheel to other people’s domestic bliss isn’t ideal, but do it for Phil, okay? He’s worried about you, and honestly, so am I. Come on Saturday. We’ll have a few beers, and I promise I won’t bug you about how my kid is doing at work.”
I snorted. “Like you would dare in front of him.”
Chickie’s lips twitched. “I wouldn’t. He’s just like Phil. But he won’t be there on Saturday.”
“No?”
“Oliver moved out. We’re empty nesters now.”
I blinked. That meant I could come for dinner. “Oh. He took the apartment above the post office?”
“Sure did. Monty and Jordy helped him move. He barely stayed a week at home, and now he’s gone again. At least it’s a ten-minute walk and not a whole day’s drive. He’s a proper adult. A job, his own place.”
“Good for him.”
“One of these days, there’ll be some cocky asshole on my doorstep, telling me he wants to marry my little Ollie.” Chickie sneered with disgust. “As if anyone would ever be good enough for him.”
My stomach clenched. I must have been hungry.
“As if you were ever good enough for Phil,” I said.
Chickie laughed and slapped my shoulder. “True.”
“Tell Phil I’ll come on Saturday.”