Cassidy #5
Oh, right. We’re in my office. The room is noticeably darker than when I’d closed my eyes.
Outside the windows, night has settled over the city, leaving little more than reflections dancing across the glass. I have no idea how long I’ve been asleep, and the winter nights are no help since everything is dark by four.
Something cool brushes against my thighs. I jerk away, instinctively reaching for my new bond with my alpha.
“Harlan!” I gasp.
“It’s me,” he soothes, calm and reassuring, as he runs his hands up and down my thighs. “I’m just fixing your skirt before we can leave here, okay?”
Oh. I blink down blearily.
Sure enough, my pencil skirt is halfway up my thighs now, from where he’s been trying to get me redressed.
Harlan carefully eases the fabric back into place, rolling me to my side so he can do up the zip, all with the concentration of someone wrapping fragile glass.
“I wasn’t about to carry you through the building like that.”
The realisation makes heat bloom across my cheeks.
“Oh. Good point.”
“There usually is one.”
I roll my eyes, though I’m much too tired to put any real effort into it.
“You...” I yawn, covering my mouth. “You packed up in here?”
“Everything.”
Only then do I notice my laptop case sitting beside the door. My handbag next to his briefcase.
Even the charger I’d forgotten I’d plugged in beneath the desk has disappeared.
My gaze drifts slowly around the office, noticing how clean everything is.
The blankets have been straightened. The cushions rest neatly back in my nest.
Near the bookshelf, a small diffuser lets out a faint curl of mist, and I frown.
I don’t own one of those. I can’t stand them, not with how sensitive I already am to scents.
Especially now that my office smells like all of my mates.
“Harlan?”
“Hm?” he asks, distracted as he adjusts the buttons on my blouse.
I didn’t even realise it got into such disarray.
“What is in that?” I ask, pointing to it.
“Scent neutraliser.”
Relief hits so fast I nearly go boneless.
“Oh.”
Oh. Oh. Oh.
“I figured you’d rather not explain tomorrow why your office smells like you’ve been thoroughly bred in it.”
“Harlan!” I gasp, horror filling my face, even as gratitude builds inside my chest.
He grins without the slightest hint of apology. “Trust me, little luxury, I’m probably going to say dirtier things. At least when my brain is ruined by desire for my perfect mate.”
Somehow all of it just quiets down, and I sag into him.
He’s perfect.
My perfect alpha.
“I also opened the window for twenty minutes before switching the diffuser on.” He nods towards it. “Nobody’s going to walk in here tomorrow and know what we’ve been doing.”
“Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me for removing one more thing for you to worry about.”
I flinch, but nod. “I know.”
He crouches in front of me, jacket long discarded, sleeves still rolled, resting his forearms across his thighs. “Anything else you’re worrying about while you’re in that ridiculous little head of yours?”
I think about it. About tomorrow. About work.
About everyone else. About the mark hidden beneath my blouse.
Then I shake my head with a soft smile. “No. Right now, everything is quiet.”
“Good.”
Before I can ask what he’s doing, one arm slides behind my back, and the other hooks beneath my knees.
“Harlan—” I gasp as the room tilts. A surprised squeak escapes me as he lifts me effortlessly against his chest.
“I can walk!”
“I know.”
I lightly shove against him. “So, put me down.”
“No.”
I puff out my cheeks, eyeing the office like someone’s going to be hiding there and seeing us acting so unprofessionally.
“I wasn’t asking,” I mutter.
“I noticed.”
He adjusts me higher against him with infuriating ease before moving towards our things. Surely, he’s going to realise how incapable he is of carrying me and our bags.
“Silas has already signed off the last approvals. Isaac made sure your inbox was clear before he left. Evander even texted me twenty minutes ago asking whether I needed him to make some food for you coming home.”
My sleepy brain struggles to keep up with it all, my cheek still pressed to the warmth of his shirt.
“You’ve all been taking care of me?” I whisper, my eyes stinging with tears.
Not sad ones, though, but ones that come from being so loved.
So cared for.
“We’re a pack, luxury, and we’re going to take care of each other,” he says softly. My heart squeezes. “You don’t need to worry about anything tonight, okay?”
His forehead brushes mine for the briefest second, then he presses a soft kiss to my lips.
“You’ve worked hard enough, okay?”
I don’t argue again. Mostly because I don’t have the energy.
Mostly because… it feels really nice.
Really, really nice.
The office floor is deserted by the time he carries me towards the lifts, the rows of dark desks sitting empty beyond the glass partitions, and that alone lets me breathe.
The overhead lights have dimmed into their evening setting, leaving long stretches of quiet corridor ahead of us.
“Night, Mercer.”
The voice barely registers, even though I know it should. Harlan grunts something that might have been a reply.
I don’t even lift my head from where it’s tucked beneath his chin.
His scent wraps around me, warm brioche and honeyed citrus filling every breath.
The steady rhythm of his footsteps rocks me gently against his chest.
The lift arrives and the doors close, leaving us alone once again.
Somewhere between the lobby and the car, I fall asleep all over again, still safely wrapped up in the arms of my alpha.