Chapter 27 Mercer
MERCER
My hand hovered at the doorknob. Was Summer upset I’d brushed her off? I hoped she would let me explain. I didn’t want ghosts haunting what little time I had with her.
Voices carried down the long hallway. I slid off my shoes, added them to Summer’s sneaker pile, and followed the laughter toward the kitchen.
“You have to. This is a huge moment,” Summer insisted. She was seated on one of the stools at the island bench, her legs pretzeled with Jae next to her.
Lucien leaned against the counter across from them. “We didn’t do it for any other rooms.”
“You’re so right. We should make the celebration bigger to compensate.”
Lucien’s frown only emboldened Summer, who gave him a double thumbs-up.
“What’s this?” I asked.
The way Summer’s smile brightened her features tilted my gravity. Too much of a good thing too fast. “Mercer, you’re home,” she said, relief wrapped in every word. I caught her up in my arms and buried my nose in her hair.
Her bright, radiant scent was mellowed. I fell softly into her like a dream. Dust motes caught in sunbeams, glowy cheeks, and condensation beneath fingertips on a hot day. She was grateful to see me, and it was written all over her.
James was right. Summer didn’t treat me any differently.
“Mercer, finally .” Jae slapped his palm on the countertop. “Important discussions are being had.”
They were? Lucien shook his head in disagreement. “We’re talking about dinner,” he explained.
“No, we’re talking about celebrating getting the kitchen back,” Summer corrected him. She was still hugging my side, and I wasn’t about to be the first one to let go. Eventually my brain caught up with what she said.
“You guys finished it?” I asked, glancing around. New handles gleamed from the refitted cabinetry, and I realized the perpetual dust on the floorboards was gone.
Jae beamed, showing off the shelves inside the pantry. “Yup. While you were at the farm.”
“You didn’t need my help?”
Lucien snorted. “You mean, did we want to listen to you curse DIY furniture for three hours? We know how much you hate them.”
They saved me from incomprehensible instruction manuals. That was life-debt worthy.
Summer skipped over to the stovetop. “Yes, so we need to celebrate . Let’s take these new appliances for a spin!” She pretended to rev the burner knob and made race car noises. I was charmed by this and questioned my sanity.
“Lucien, remember when Papa’s family visited years ago? The dinner we had?” I asked suddenly. “We would’ve been in middle school.”
“God, that’s right. How many courses were there?”
“Eight. We didn’t finish until eleven p.m.” I turned to Jae. “I think you fell asleep when the second cheeseboard came out.”
“Now I’m sad for past me.”
It was the first time I realized food could be an event . I could tell my brothers were on the same wavelength by our identical grins.
“You up for it?” Lucien asked.
We already knew I would be the one driving this menu. “Hell yeah. Let’s do it.”
“Let’s do what?” Summer bounced excitedly. “Eight courses?”
“Maybe not eight,” I admitted. The afternoon was already slipping away. “But definitely at least six.”
“I have the best ideas.”
“Not your idea,” I shot back.
“I was the originator,” she insisted, hand on her hip.
“If I piggyback you to Mariposa’s, will you stop?”
Summer hopped on my back. “You are a terrible negotiator,” she teased. But with her arms around my neck and her giggles in my ear, it was hard to agree.
It was a bad idea to shop hungry. A worse idea to do it with an omega with no stipulated budget. None of us could say no to her.
We spent sixty dollars alone on cheese.
Now I was breaking down a lobster for the linguine while Summer had her nose pressed to the oven, waiting for the baked brie. Lucien was gamely following all my instructions for the side dishes, and Jae pulled us to the dining table to make sure we were properly appreciating the apéro.
The kitchen was already a mess, wine was flowing, and it was hard to remember the last time I felt so light.
“I can’t believe it’s taken us this long to do this,” I admitted, popping a marinated olive in my mouth.
“When was the last time we were all together?” Jae asked. “Was it last Christmas?”
“You couldn’t get away from London,” Lucien reminded him.
“Shit, that’s right.” Jae scratched his head. “The year before, then?”
“Might have been. Didn’t we all surprise Appa for his birthday?”
“Yeah, three years ago.”
Summer paused halfway through loading up a slice of baguette. “I couldn’t imagine going so long without seeing Lina and Alvin.” The distressed divot between her brows deepened. “You have to do this more often. Promise .”
Uneasiness settled over us like a fog. We wouldn’t have this house anymore after the summer.
“Your next store, Mercer. Where is it?” Summer clearly wasn’t letting this go.
“Hartford,” I grunted.
“There you go,” Summer said triumphantly. “New tradition. Every time Mercer opens a store you two have to go visit.” She waved a breadstick at us until we agreed before hopping back to the kitchen to assemble her mini tiramisus.
Lucien swirled the wine in his glass, weighing me with his contemplative gaze. “She was worried about you,” he said quietly.
Knowing she had spoken to Lucien didn’t make me defensive. If anything, at least she wasn’t feeling shitty alone. “I—I figured. Got in my head a bit.”
“You know we don’t care, right?”
“Care about what?” Jae perked up.
Yeah, I also wanted to know what was making Lucien look like he’d swallowed an insect.
“Designations are dumb, okay?” Lucien blurted. “It’s a stupid way to give people value. And I know it’s easy for me to say as an alpha, but I’ve never cared about that and neither should you. Anyone worth your time won’t give a shit what any of us are.”
It was a rousing, sincere declaration, about four hours too late. Nevertheless, it was still good to hear, even if I had already reached my limit of designation embarrassment ten times over today.
Jae half raised his hand, trying to follow. “What are you…are you trying to say that there’s nothing wrong with being a beta?” Two brain cells high-fived in Jae’s head as he turned to me, finally catching on. “Did you think there was something wrong with that?”
“Kinda?” I winced.
“Should I cave your head in?”
“No, I’m good.”
We flailed in the silence that followed. The walls I had subconsciously placed between us crumbled. All I was left with was how much I had missed them.
“We should definitely make this a tradition. Dinner together,” I clarified. “Not the whole…designation thing. Summer’s right. We shouldn’t go so long without seeing one another.”
Lucien nodded. “Agreed.”
“Then cheers to making you cook for us again,” Jae said, clinking his glass to mine against my will. “Speaking of which, when is the next course?”
After dinner, the four of us migrated to the back porch for dessert. Fireflies danced like lanterns in the halo of the mellow evening air. Summer placed individual tiramisus in front of us despite our groaning waistbands.
“Lucky we have dessert stomachs,” she winked at me.
“I must have missed that in biology,” I said blandly.
“You can trust me.” She patted my cheek and I resisted the urge to yank her into my lap. “I have researched extensively.”
Summer’s tiramisu was laced with coffee so fucking strong I thought I’d stuck my tongue on a live wire. But it was impossible to stop eating. Delicious, delightful death. She laughed like we weren’t going to be lying in our beds, wondering how our hearts were going to stay in our chests.
“You’ll be fine .” Blush pink with pride as she collected the little ramekins to take back to the kitchen.
“She better not be washing up,” Lucien said when she didn’t return.
I stood up. “I’ll make sure she’s not.”
Lucien could always say multitudes with a single look. Talk to her . I got the message loud and clear as I reentered the house alone. The clattering of dishes confirmed Lucien’s suspicion. Summer was arranging dirty plates in a stack by the sink as I snuck up behind her.
“Tomorrow,” I said, winding my hands around her waist.
“But—”
“That’s part of the tradition, too.” I kissed the golden dip between her neck and shoulder. “Leave it for tomorrow.”
“Okay, well if it’s tradition ,” she smiled. Her thoughtful eyes searched mine. “Are you all right? You were upset after the farm. Because of what the alpha said to you?” she asked softly.
“Yes, I was,” I said honestly. “But I’m good now. Promise.”
“And we’re good?”
It was a travesty that she even questioned it for a second.
I wanted her. I wanted her so fucking much.
“No, we’re not good .” I pulled her roughly against me. A surprised moan slipped from her lips. Head rush . Every second without her touch felt like a waste. “You drive me crazy,” I muttered.
“How is that my fault?” she asked breathlessly.
Then a deliberate arch of her back, all soft curves, and a light tug of my hair.
I blacked out and had her pressed against the wall in the next blink.
Her hands made a soft thud as they hit the wall above her head as I held them down.
The strap of her top hung loosely off her shoulder, her breasts almost about to spill out.
“So I’m the only one suffering?” I leaned close like I was about to kiss her cheek but stopped before I touched her.
An almost-kiss at her jaw. Then her neck.
Breathing in her scent and watching her nipples harden into tight peaks.
“Bouncing around in these shorts is criminal, by the way. Do you know what your ass looks like in these?”
I bit back a groan as I cupped a perfectly rounded cheek with my free hand. Summer squirmed. “Well, I’m not going to buy shorts that make my ass look bad , Mercer.”
She was taunting me. I knew she could feel just how much I liked it against her thigh.
“It’s a problem,” I said, seriously. “I lose my train of thought every time I catch a glimpse. Stuck there trying to decide what I want to do more with it. Spank it. Bite it. Fuck it.”
“So many options.”
“You can see how that’s become a problem.”
“I can. Definitely a you problem, though.”
“Are you sure?” I twisted the smooth fabric and tugged. Letting that seam nestle against her clit as her pupils blew out. “Because I think you’re forgetting that shorts this tight hide very little. And I bet if I squeezed my hand down there I would find the wettest little pussy begging for a cock.”
The immediate explosion of her omega perfume was so intense even I could tell. Without thinking too hard about it, I scent-marked her and she shuddered.
“So what if you did?” she said defiantly, even as her hips rolled, trying to make contact with my thigh. “What are you going to do about it?”
“Depends.”
“On what?”
“If you can handle everything I want to do to you.”
Summer rose up on her tiptoes. All pretense that I was ever the one in control melted when she pressed a kiss on my cheek before whispering in my ear.
“Take me to my nest, Mercer.”
Her words took a moment to sink in. Too monumental, weighted with more than I expected. Finding all my buried wants and truths and shattering my foundations.
I trusted what she was asking of me. Trusted the way she said it, the way she felt in my arms. She wasn’t asking out of pity. She wanted this. Wanted me.
I finally let myself kiss her, my heart pounding like falling rain.