Chapter 23 #2
His mouth finds mine, and the jealousy doesn’t disappear, but it quiets.
His lips are firm and deliberate, the kiss of a man who isn’t rushing because he’s not going anywhere, and my fingers curl into his shirt as I drag him closer.
I crave the pressure, the weight, the physical proof that he chose my doorstep over his own bed.
His hand slides from my hip to my lower back, pressing me against him, and the other cups my jaw, tilting my face, deepening the kiss until my toes curl against the cold floor.
His tongue traces my lower lip, and I open for him.
The taste of him floods through me, and I’m purring, the sound of an Omega who’s been separated from her Alpha for less than an hour and nearly lost her mind.
He breaks the kiss but doesn’t go far. His lips brush my cheekbone, my temple, the corner of my eye where I can feel the tears threatening.
“So which bedroom am I in?” he murmurs against my skin.
“The spare room is perfectly—”
“Wrong answer.”
“—adequate for someone who—”
“Still wrong,” he teases.
A trill comes from the living room. We both turn to Damien, who’s abandoned the couch and is padding down the hallway toward my bedroom with the determined stride of a cat that has identified the best sleeping surface in the house and intends to claim it immediately.
He disappears through the doorway. We hear the soft thud of him landing on the mattress, followed by a long, contented purr.
“He’s decided,” Brody says.
I laugh, swearing these two came in with plans to take over.
“If Damien chooses your bed, it means it’s correct and everyone should follow his lead.”
He grins, and there’s the Brody I recognize, the charm cutting through the intensity, the man who can drag a laugh out of me even when I’m standing in the wreckage of my own panic. “I’ll grab my bag.”
He slings the duffel over his shoulder and heads straight for my bedroom, past the spare room without a glance, and I stand in the hallway listening to the soft murmur of him talking to Damien.
He’s moving in, then, I guess. I should be protesting, except the truth is I’ve been alone since Louis left, and having someone else with me, especially after Louis’s attempted break, eases the worry in my chest.
Brody emerges, barefoot, and he’s already settling into the easier posture of a man who’s home.
“Brody.”
“Mm?”
“I’d love for you to stay. Both of you.” I swallow against the tightness in my throat, forcing the words out before nerves can steal them. “I want you here.”
His grin fades into something warmer, more vulnerable. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. I just… needed to say it out loud so you know it’s not only you deciding.”
He crosses the hallway, takes my face in both hands, and presses his lips to my mouth. A long, firm kiss that travels through my skull, down my spine, and settles low in my chest where the panic has been clawing at me.
“I love hearing that more than you realize,” he says against my skin. “Now come sit down before you fall over. You’ve been through a heat, a hike, and a meltdown in the space of four days, and you need chai and a horizontal surface.”
I almost smile. “That sounds medically specific.”
“I’m extremely qualified in snacks and emotional collapse.”
We end up on the couch with his arm around me, my body tucked against his side, my ear to his chest, where his heartbeat is steady and slow.
It helps. God, it helps. The faint scent of salted caramel and hickory wood engulfs me, and I can’t get enough.
But it also makes me painfully aware of every place we’re touching.
His thigh against mine, thumb stroking absently over my shoulder, and the solid strength of him beneath my cheek.
My body remembers him too easily. And heat stirs low in me, quieter than before but still alive, still greedy, and I press my lips together because this is not the time to turn into a needy disaster again. Corey and Jakob are still next door with Trudy.
They aren’t choosing her over me. I repeat it silently, once, then again.
They’re helping her. That’s all.
Brody’s arm tightens as if he can feel the thought move through me, but he doesn’t push.
Damien appears from the bedroom, trots across the floor, and hops onto the cushion beside us.
He curls into a ball against my thigh, his purr vibrating through the fabric, and his golden eyes blink once at me before closing.
“He chose you weeks ago.” Brody’s mouth brushes my hair. “The rest of us just took longer to make it obvious.”
My throat tightens again, but this time it isn’t only from fear.
“So, good for you to know that your house security is all hooked up. Front porch camera, back door camera, and the motion sensors all over.”
“I can’t thank you and Jakob enough. You did so much.”
“Sweetheart, you had three Alphas next door who were ready to murder Louis, so we were going to do everything to keep you safe. We were always going to overdo it.”
A laugh slips past my lips.
I just need to connect it all to your phone.
” He smiles, then grabs my phone from the coffee table.
He holds it out for me, and I reach over to tap in my passkey.
“If someone comes near the front door, you’ll get an alert here.
Same for the back. These zones are set to ignore the street, so Mrs. Peony walking her dog at six in the morning won’t send you into a heart attack. “That feels considerate.”
“I have my moments.” He swipes to the next screen. “And this one is shared with us, but only if you want it to be. You can revoke access anytime. No questions, no sulking, no Alpha nonsense.”
While he explains, his voice confident, I sneak glances at his profile in the light. The line of his strong jaw, the way his lashes cast shadows on his cheekbones, and just how ridiculously handsome he is.
I should be focusing on the screen as he enters details from his own phone. Instead, I’m staring at his mouth and trying not to think about how quickly comfort could turn into desire.
“Since I’m in here,” he says, tapping my phone screen, “I’m adding our numbers. Because the fact that we’ve been your neighbors for a month and we’re not in your contacts is personally offensive.”
“You’re in my bookmarks. The ManBaker page.”
“That’s where fans and stalkers go. You get the direct line.” He hands me his phone. “Your turn. Add yourself.”
I’m saved as Sunshine with a flame emoji, and I type in my number before handing it back. He pockets it, sets my phone down, and pulls me closer.
For a moment, we just sit there, the fire I forgot to light still dark, rain picking up outside and pebbling against the windows, while Damien purrs near my thigh.
I press my face into Brody’s neck, breathing easier now.
“Come on,” he murmurs after a minute, his mouth brushing my hair. “I’m making you my famous chai. Then I’m holding you against me until you forget every worrying thought you had today. All while watching a funny movie.”
A laugh slips out of me. “I’d love that.”
“You’re going to thank me.” He eases off the couch and heads toward the kitchen as if he’s lived here for years. I should get up and show him where everything is, but I pull my legs under me instead, watching him open the wrong cupboard, pause, then try the next one with absolute confidence.
He’s amazing, and for a few fragile seconds, the jealousy quiets under the simple fact of him being here. But it doesn’t disappear.
It’s still there beneath my heart, hot and greedy, reminding me that Brody isn’t the only one I need in this room.
I burn for Corey’s warmth at my side and Jakob’s steady presence at my back.
I yearn for all three of them to be right next to me, not next to their old Omega, and the jealousy aches hotter because I know it isn’t fair, but knowing doesn’t make it hurt less.