Chapter 20
Chapter twenty
Bianca
Time, which had often felt tediously endless to Bianca, suddenly began to race.
Hours, days, and weeks flew by in a thrilling busyness she’d never known.
The fundraisers and board meetings that had punctuated her days were now mere rocks in a constant stream of pleasant activity.
Bianca shrewdly brokered Daniel’s furniture sales, tirelessly handled the daily tasks of the security business with Dante, brainstormed and argued new ideas with King, and became the de facto project manager on the building’s many renovations. The contractors were terrified of her.
It was delightful.
However, she didn’t spend all her time working.
In an unforeseen development, Dawn Fairmount asked her out to lunch a few days after the Fair Weather Manufacturing fundraiser, and Bianca was surprised to find that she wanted to say yes.
So, she did. Before long, they’d also had brunch, visited an art exhibit, gone out for drinks, and suddenly they were almost friends.
As if that wasn’t bizarre enough, Chloe followed through on her dinner invitation and Bianca spent a sidesplitting evening enjoying Chloe’s adoring mates and the broody/bubbly dynamic of the Clifton-Merriwether siblings.
(Bianca did not invite her bodyguards to join them, but Dante was on duty and Callum flirted him right into the dinner conversation anyway.) Afterward, Bianca and Chloe started texting each other regularly and even talked business over coffee a few times.
And then there were Callum and Pack King.
The best part of Bianca’s newfound social life was also the part that made her hate how the weeks were flying by.
Her so-called last hurrah had undeniably become something more—something delicate and addictive and terrifyingly hopeful.
She tried not to think about how soon everything had to change again.
Thanks to Callum, Bianca was as likely to end up dancing the night away at Nocturne as she was to find herself snuggled beneath a blanket watching a dance movie or a murder mystery.
Many nights an alpha (or three) joined them on the sofa, sometimes in the penthouse and sometimes at the packhouse.
Other nights, they skipped the movie and the alphas found more interesting ways to entertain them.
It was after one such night in early summer that Bianca was roused from sleep at an ungodly hour to find Pack King fully dressed and obviously prepared to leave.
She was too tired to protest or ask questions when King told her to get dressed.
She brushed her teeth beside Callum, who was practically sleepwalking.
The alphas had thoroughly worn them out and the omegas had fallen into orgasm-induced comas, which had only been intensified by the increasingly comforting combination of their scents as they nestled in Pack King’s bed.
Thus, it wasn’t until after a few sips of the black coffee Dante handed her as he helped her into the SUV, that Bianca finally had the wherewithal to wonder why they’d gotten up so damn early and where exactly they were going.
She turned to Callum, but he’d already leaned back in his seat and fallen asleep.
On her other side, Dante was watching her with a smirk playing around his pretty mouth.
Bianca ignored the shiver that ran up her spine, leaning across Dante’s lap to peer out of the window. “This isn’t the way back to the hotel.”
“Astute observation,” Daniel replied from the passenger seat, because he couldn’t help but be obnoxious, even when she wasn’t talking to him. He twisted around to grin at her. “I think your security training is going well.”
“Hush, you obtuse rhinoceros,” Bianca warned, glaring at his stupidly handsome face. “I am not yet awake enough for your tomfoolery.”
Daniel let out a guffaw that made Callum stir and grumble angrily, before pulling a sweatshirt over his face and presumably going back to sleep.
Bianca could feel Dante shaking with laughter beside her.
It was hard to be sure from her vantage point, but she thought King was fighting a smile too.
It gave her a ridiculous sense of satisfaction.
“Drink your coffee, Countess,” King commanded. “And eat your breakfast. It’s easier to handle Van’s tomfoolery on a full stomach.”
Dante produced a plastic container and slowly peeled off its lid. Bianca recognized the smell even before he’d fully opened it. He held the container out. A wave of bittersweet nostalgia washed over her, and her eyes pricked.
The container was full of familiar, figure-eight-shaped pastries.
Slowly, she took one and examined it briefly before lifting it to her lips.
She couldn’t help the little sound of contentment she made at the first bite.
The dough was soft and pillowy, flaky and buttery on her tongue with just the right amount of subtle sweetness.
When she lifted her gaze, she found King’s rich, steady brown eyes in the rearview mirror. He was watching her, idling at a stop sign for an extra moment while he gauged her reaction. Bianca could feel his packmates watching her as well, could feel their desire to please her in the air around them.
“You made this?” She spoke the question though she had no doubt of the answer. King nodded and Bianca’s heart stuttered in her chest. “You got up at some unholy hour to make me kringla this morning? Why?”
King pulled away from the stop sign, breaking their eye contact and returning his attention to the road. “Because I liked the way you looked when you told us about sharing them with your mom. I wanted you to feel that way again.”
“Okay that’s really fucking sweet,” Callum burst out, whipping the sweatshirt off his head. “If you people insist on conversation at this hour, you’d better have coffee and one of those Norwegian cookie things for me too.”
Bianca was grateful for the laughter that followed his outburst because it gave her a moment to tamp down the emotion swelling in her throat.
She took another bite of her kringla, savoring it this time, releasing the sadness it’d initially evoked.
The simple breakfast treat was intrinsically tied to her few pleasant moments with her mother, and now it was part of a new, precious memory.
She looked up as Dante held the container out to Callum. Callum grabbed one and took a huge bite, then moaned dramatically.
Bianca met King’s eyes in the mirror again.
This time she smiled—really smiled. She didn’t know how to let herself say the words lodged in her throat, but she could let him see how the gesture had made her feel.
King’s eyes widened in surprise before he smiled back, wide enough that she could see one of the deep dimples in his cheek.
Bianca felt the unfamiliar urge to purr.
It was a crime that he kept those dimples hidden most of the time.
If her smiles could earn his, maybe she’d try smiling more often.
“Gimme gimme,” Callum demanded, reaching for the travel mug Dante produced from gods knew where.
He greedily took a gulp before letting out another theatrical moan.
“Oh, thank the gods! You obviously made it instead of King. Your pack leader thinks I don’t notice when he skimps on the sugar, but I absolutely do. ”
Daniel snorted a laugh and King gave a playful growl. “Quiet, Trouble, or I’ll make you drink Countess’s coffee.”
Callum mimed zipping his lips, shuddering when Bianca took a sip from her own mug. “My lips are sealed. That is a cruel and unusual punishment that I could not survive!”
Bianca wrinkled her nose. “You’re not getting the full experience, pet. Black coffee is the proper pairing with kringla in my culture.”
“And I love that for you! I, however, shall not partake. Besides, I’m sure different families have their own takes on it just like some Korean Americans have with traditional Korean food.
Yay intracultural diversity!” Callum exclaimed, kissing her loudly on the cheek.
“I love you, Queenie, but if I’m being kidnapped at the ass crack of dawn, I deserve at least some comforts. ”
Bianca’s heart did not squeeze again at his casual declaration of love. She focused instead on the rest of his sentence. She turned on Dante with narrowed eyes, remembering that she’d had important questions to ask before he’d distracted her with food.
“If I’m being kidnapped at the ass crack of dawn, I deserve some answers. Where are we going?” she demanded.
“It’s a surprise,” Daniel answered, looking entirely too pleased at the prospect.
“I hate surprises,” Bianca replied flatly.
“Not true,” King corrected. “You’ve enjoyed every surprise we’ve given you. Like yesterday morning.”
Bianca squirmed in her seat, skin heating at the memory.
She’d woken up with King’s face buried between her thighs, tongue lapping at her pussy like he was starving for it.
She’d soaked his face and then he’d fucked her just as desperately as he’d devoured her. She was still deliciously sore from it.
“That was entirely different and you know it,” she snapped, crossing her arms over her chest and ignoring how hard her nipples suddenly were. “I don’t enjoy unplanned excursions.”
“Also not true,” Callum chimed in, giving her an apologetic shrug when she turned to glare at him. “I’m just saying, toots. Our first date was an unplanned excursion and we had a blast.”
Bianca felt warmth spread through her at Callum referring to their initial Nocturne adventure as their “first date.” The warmth was followed by a rush of annoyance. These men were maddening. They were intentionally distracting her from her point and enjoying every minute of it.
“Whose side are you on here?” she grumbled at Callum. “You are also being kidnapped, remember?”