Chapter 10
Alice,Olivia, and Johnathan order a car to Caleb and Grant’s. The heating went out in the entire apartment building in the middle of the night, and they’re too cold to even consider walking to a bus stop.
Alice wiggles her toes in her boots in the warm car as the nice man prattles on about the holiday and how Thanksgiving was much better than Christmas, but only if you preferred turkey to ham, which he did.
Alice’s apartment is nice enough—a one bedroom with a small dishwasher which made the place worth its weight in gold, she thought—and cheap. But it was never lacking in maintenance issues. Leaky window wells on rainy days, no central air conditioning, a barely functioning elevator, and the occasional heat system failure were all just part of the charm. Charming until, of course, Alice had guests who thought huddling around a space heater with various electric and microwavable heating pads was not as fun and delightful as being somewhere cozy might be.
She could afford somewhere nicer, but it felt like an unnecessary expense when it was just her here. Plus it allowed her to save lots of money.
The superintendent said the heat would come back on this afternoon, but Alice had to agree that spending some hours in Grant and Caleb’s warm home would be a better alternative to shivering over a bowl of spaghetti and meatballs.
So, they burned some cornbread muffins—Olivia’s fault, she is always so wary of raw baked goods—and made their way to Caleb and Grant’s townhouse.
A sweet-looking Omega woman ushers them into the house, introducing herself as Molly and immediately fawning over Alice, saying how lovely it was that she could make it. She goes on about how she can see why the boys are so fond of her because, “You are beautiful, just radiant.”
Alice does not feel radiant, especially next to her sister, who is like a sleeker, better-dressed, more emotionally mature version of herself, but she takes the compliment and lets Molly pull her into a hug in the entryway.
Molly must already know that Caleb and Grant want Alice to join their pack, but Alice just hopes that she doesn’t know the real reason Grant and Caleb are so fond of her. Namely that she made them knot her multiple times a day for over a week while she languished in a feverish first heat. Oh, and the fact that they are scent matches. That discovery would go over well and wouldn”t derail conversations whatsoever.
“Mom, unhand our guest, please,” Caleb says. He’s wearing a black apron over a cozy sweater and slacks, a look that shouldn’t make Alice’s mouth go dry, but does nonetheless.
She sees right away that he and Grant have hung up the photos since she was here last and unpacked more of the boxes that were around pushed against the walls. The place feels cozy now, homey, and it’s filled with nearly a dozen bodies now that they’ve joined the fray. It looks already too crowded to add Alice, Olivia, and Johnathan to the mix, but the quiet relief on Caleb’s face is proof enough that he at least wants her there.
He looks tired, too. She recognizes how he feels like a mirror, the weariness in his spine from lack of sleep.
“We brought cornbread,” Alice says after they’ve quietly stared at each other for a few moments. Caleb glances down at the paper plate of yellow muffins made from a box mix, a fact Alice or Olivia would never admit to their mother. “Just a little burnt.”
“I love cornbread,” Caleb says, and takes the plate from her. His fingers linger and burn on the back of her hand as he grabs the plate, but she doesn’t want to pull away from the touch. “They’re perfect.”
“I agree,” Olivia chimes in. Caleb looks at her like he’s just realized there’s more than one person in this front room. “You must be Caleb, nice to meet you.”
“And you, Olivia.” Caleb offers Olivia a handshake due to the appraising look on her sister’s face, Alice knows it’s a good one.
Grant thumps down the stairs with a clean-shaven jaw wearing a dark green button-up and embraces Olivia and Johnathan like they’re long-time friends instead of being practically strangers who’ve met for a grand total of three minutes. He pulls Alice in for a hug, too, and his scent sinks right into her.
She pulls away quicker than her body would like, but she’s trying to maintain the feeble semblance of control she has over herself when Grant or Caleb are in touching distance.
Additional introductions are made as they’re bustled into the central part of the house, Caleb’s mom, Molly, and his two Alpha dads, Dean and Marcus, are all accounted for in the living room with Grant’s Beta parents, Tara and Luke, as well. It’s a lot of names for an overwhelmed Alice, but she makes it a point to repeat them in her mind ten times over.
Grant and Caleb introduce Alice as their coworker, the workhorse of the marketing team who makes their job easy every day. She doesn’t add any extra context about their relationship and if that hurts their feelings, they don’t let on. Alice is exceptionally curious about farming and sits herself next to Caleb’s dads to ask what the pumpkin farming industry is like until dinner is ready to be served.
Around the dining table, Alice sits with Caleb to her left, Grant right across from her, and Olivia at her right, whispering crass things about her scent matches.
“They can cook, and they’re homeowners, and they’re fucking hot, Al,” Olivia insists.
Alice kicks her sister’s leg under the table, not for the first time today.
The food looks as decadent as it smells, but what is added to the indelible comfort of the homemade feast in front of them is the perfect scent of Caleb and Grant’s home. It’s warm, like them. Familiar.
Alarm bells should be blaring in her head, but she’s too tired and hungry to give it much thought. Right now, her top priority is digging into some turkey slathered in the homemade cranberry sauce that is set in front of her.
“This looks unbelievably delicious,” Olivia adds to the chorus of praise.
“Caleb has been slaving over it all day,” Grant says. “He’s a great cook.”
“You made all of this?” Alice asks, and his cheeks pink just a touch.
“I had lots of help,” he says. He’s scooping servings of food onto her plate without asking, and she doesn’t tell him to stop. “My mom made the potatoes, the rolls are Luke’s masterpiece, and Grant made two pies.”
“Well, it all looks. . . wow,” Alice sits up taller.
“Thank you for having us. It’s nice to be with good people and great food,” Olivia says, already digging in on her own plate. “Plus your heater is working.”
Alice doles out another kick, but Olivia doesn’t even flinch.
“What happened to your heater?” Grant asks, pausing his work pouring sparkling punch from a pitcher into glasses for everyone.
“It went out last night in the whole building,” Olivia says. “Guess it happens all the time.”
“Only sometimes. Rarely,” Alice hurries to add. “Twice a year, maybe.”
“You must have been freezing!” Molly exclaims.
“Well, she has a space heater,” Jonathan adds. “And many blankets.”
“Many,” Alice agrees.
Caleb scoops cranberry sauce onto her plate and she lightly touches his wrist before he can put the spoon back in the bowl. He adds another big scoop and she nods.
“When will it be fixed?” Grant asks, his voice too distressed for a peaceful family dinner.
“Some time today, I think,” Alice says. “We’ll be fine.”
“You should stay here tonight,” Grant says. “We have a guest room. And a pullout couch.”
“What a generous offer!” Olivia perks up, and Alice would kick her sister again, but everyone at the table is talking about how great of an idea that is, especially with all the snow falling this week.
“You’ve got a full house already,” Alice says. “We don’t want to impose.”
“No imposition,” Caleb says. He grabs a glass of sparkling punch from Grant and places it in front of Alice before he starts working on his own plate. “Grant’s parents live downtown and mine decided to stay in a hotel.”
“It has a spa. And a hot tub,” Molly interjects.
“Fortuitous,” Olivia says. Fucking traitor. “We would love that. Right?”
Alice puts on a stellar performance of someone who doesn’t want to commit sororicide.
“Right,” Alice says, then digs into her heaping plate of food.
“So, Alice, how do you like working with the boys?” Molly jumps in, changing the subject.
It’s a welcome distraction from the previous topic and the impending slumber party, though Alice’s neck heats thinking about all the ways they’ve . . . workedtogether since they started.
She says, “They’re great. Very professional.”
“She’s lying, she hated me at first,” Caleb says.
“She did,” Grant agrees. Even Olivia nods. Alice sputters before pulling herself together enough to defend herself.
“It was a misunderstanding,” Alice says. “I thought he didn’t like me. He doesn’t use exclamation points.”
“Horrible bedside manner,” one of Caleb’s dads, Dean, she thinks, remarks solemnly.
“We work in an office, not a hospital. I’m not even client-facing, really,” Caleb says.
“Well, that’s probably because you don’t use any exclamation points,” Molly says. Caleb looks around the table like he’s in an episode of The Twilight Zone.
“Knucklehead son aside, how is it?” Marcus asks.
“Just fine,” Alice says, then pulls a face like she’s weighing the truth of that. “Well, I mean, it’s okay. I like most of the people I work with, but the job itself is . . . it can be demanding.”
“She means her dick boss takes advantage of her kindness,” Olivia translates.
“Constantly,” Grant agrees.
“I’ve been telling her she should find a new job,” Olivia says. “Any marketing agency would be lucky to have her.”
“That is true,” Caleb says.
Alice’s head swivels back and forth between everyone talking about how bad her job is. Part of her has known that this job isn’t sustainable for her, but another, much larger part has told her not to look for something better. Her current job is safe. There aren’t any Alphas or Omegas to sniff out what she is—well, that’s been the case until recently.
She has a set of tasks that she’s good at and a team she likes pretty well. If she went somewhere else it would be less predictable and had the chance to be just as bad, if not worse, in terms of workload. And if it was worse, she wouldn’t even have Lily to hang out and commiserate with.
It all feels like a risk to even think about it too closely.
Sensing Alice’s discomfort, Grant’s mom, Tara asks, “Have you been with the company long?”
“I started when I finished college, so just about four years now.”
The team of parents all wear surprised looks, but Molly is the first to ask, “How old are you, sweetheart?”
“Twenty-six,” Alice says, and Caleb’s fathers pause over their meals.
Molly doesn’t miss a beat, though, and if she’s shocked that a twenty-six-year-old Omega is unmated, she hides it well.
“I loved twenty-six,” Tara says and squeezes her husband’s hand on the table. “The year I met Luke.”
Grant looks at Alice across the table for a beat while the conversation carries on around them to different topics. His eyes tell too much—they’re open and expressive, plaintive and hungry. She chews her food thoroughly, sips at the punch, and eventually, has to look away.
After dinner, there”s so, so much pie, followed by a couple of hours of relaxing. The super still hasn’t emailed to say that the heater is fixed, but even if he had, Alice doesn’t know that she could pry herself off of this couch that she seems to sink further into with each passing moment.
An old Christmas Rom-Com plays quietly over the television, one of her favorites, but her eyes grow too heavy to watch. Caleb and Grant’s parents made their exit half an hour ago, while Grant offered to drive Alice’s sister and brother-in-law back to the apartment to pick up some clothes.
Alice, warm beneath a soft heated blanket that smells just like Grant and Caleb, was more than glad she stayed behind.
“Alice,” Caleb whispers, kneeling in front of her.
She’d drifted to sleep briefly, she wasn’t sure how long, but Caleb had changed into plaid pants and a navy sweatshirt in the meantime. His hair is damp, too, and he smells like his tea tree shampoo which makes her lips curl into a small, sleepy smile.
“Hm?”
“I said I brought you some pajamas.” Caleb holds up some clothes.
“Too tired,” Alice says, then pulls the blanket closer.
“You don’t want to sleep in jeans.” He’s stern, eyebrows set and face oh, so serious. His way or the highway, and all that.
Caleb laughs through his nose, a little huff at the words Alice didn’t think she’d spoken out loud. “Sure, sure, come on. Up.”
Alice groans but lets Caleb pull her to her feet, he steadies her with a hand on her waist. She blinks a few times, the grogginess lessening only to realize how very close they’re standing to each other. She watches his Adam”s apple move down his wide throat with a swallow, and feels his thumb glide across a slice of bare skin exposed on her hip.
Her eyes are at the perfect height to stare right at his lips, which look smooth and soft.
“Thank you for coming today,” Caleb says, his voice tenderly quiet. He leans forward just a bit, enough that his mouth is practically hovering over hers.
“Thank you for having us,” she says. Her eyes flutter shut against her will and Caleb presses his warm lips to the side of her mouth before pulling away.
“You should change,” he says, voice lower than usual. Alice opens her eyes and nods, coming back to herself.
Damn hormones.
“Right.” She grabs the clothes from his outstretched hand, careful not to touch his skin, and retreats to the downstairs bathroom where she wets her hands with cold water and presses them to her heated neck. She’s fine. This is fine. They could sleep in the same house and not sleep together, they were adults after all, and Grant would be back with Olivia and Johnathan any second now.
It was good of him to pull away.
She repeats all this in her mind while pulling on a long sleeve and sweats, both belonging to Caleb, if the scent was anything to go by.
Because she can’t help herself, she takes a moment to peer into the drawers and under the sink. Sunscreen, towels, some boxes of toothpaste—nothing exceptionally interesting. Usual guest bathroom fare. What she really wants is to poke around their closet and bedroom. She wouldn’t dare though, she knows about curiosity killing cats and the like.
With her own clothes folded neatly in a pile—bra stuffed in between her folded-up jeans because the thought of him seeing her bra was laughably making her skin hot to the touch—she makes her way back to the living room where Caleb now sits on the edge of the folded-out couch bed, his elbows on his knees.
She’d already decided that Olivia and Johnathan would take the guest bed and she’d take the couch bed. The other bed in the house was not going to be an option.
“Did you find what you were looking for?”
“Hm?”
“In the bathroom?” Caleb looks like the question is genuine and not like he expects that she was snooping for no reason. “I heard the drawer.”
“Oh, definitely. Yes, I uh, just needed some floss,” she lies. “Stuck food, and all that.”
“Good. I hope that’s enough blankets,” he nods his head over at the made-up bed, the top two are ones she recognizes from her heat.
“Looks great.”
Alice holds her elbow, ever aware of the awkward air between them, but unsure how to address it. His phone rings before she has to, the ringtone breaking through the quiet making both of them jump. Caleb pulls it from his pocket.
“It’s Grant,” he says to Alice before answering. “You okay?”
Alice can’t hear what Grant says through the phone and she tries to make it look like she’s not actively trying to eavesdrop. Caleb gives a few one-word responses as Grant speaks before saying he’ll see him soon, he loves him, then ends the call.
“Your heater is fixed,” Caleb says.
“Oh,” Alice says. “That’s. . . good news.”
“It is,” Caleb agrees, then after a minute remembers to add, “Your sister and her husband said they wanted to just stay there for the night.”
Alice feels a longing pull to the sofa bed. She’s already so cozy and her bones are weary and exhausted, but if her heater is fixed then they probably want her to go home, too, right?
They remain standing there, so stiff across from each other.
Alice steels herself. “I’d like to stay. Since the bed’s already made up and everything.”
Caleb grimaces.
“Unless you want me to go,” Alice is quick to add.
“No, no, I just hadn’t even considered you going home. Of course you can stay. I want you to.”
“Okay.” Alice sits right down on the edge of the sofa bed, decision made, no need to beg. “I guess I’ll head to sleep then?—”
“Can I hold you?” Caleb blurts. At Alice’s frozen expression, he rakes a hand through his hair and goes on. “I haven’t been sleeping really, is all, and I thought maybe if I could. . . hold you, and just. . . be near you it might help. Just for a while, no funny business.”
Confirming that he hadn’t been sleeping well is almost comforting; she feels less lonely to know she’s not the only one struggling since the night after her heat broke.
“No funny business,” Alice repeats.
She doesn’t tell Caleb how bad of an idea it probably is, or give him the fifteen reasons flashing through her mind not to. Instead, she just crawls onto the sofa bed and under the comforter, sheet, and blankets. Once she’s in, Alice lifts her head to look at Caleb, then pats the bed next to her.
He scrambles in, the springs squeak under his weight before he lies down beneath the covers and gathers her to him. After some adjusting, his arms wrap around her, one on the back of her head, and her face is to his chest. Right where she can scent him and where, after a few breaths, she feels a low purr emanating from his chest.
“I’m glad you came today,” Caleb says. “I missed you.”
“What did you miss?” she asks. “My bad grammar?”
Caleb laughs, his chest shaking against her, and she feels his lips press against her head.
“You do have bad grammar sometimes,” he says. “I’m sorry I wasn’t kinder when I started at Labyrinth, and I guess all of the time. I don’t mean to be so. . . intense.”
“You are intense,” she agrees, and his chest shakes again. He pulls her closer to him and she lets him, sinking into it. “I was wrong and defensive and didn’t think you liked me, and I hate when people don’t like me.”
“Who doesn’t like you?”
“Well, you, I thought, for one,” Alice says. She remembers the cold rooftop where she accused him of just that, when the fire of her heat was brimming beneath her skin waiting to be set off. It feels like months have passed since then. “Probably lots of other people, too.”
“I don’t think so,” Caleb says. He sounds tired, more relaxed than usual. “I liked you right away. From your first email, you delighted me. You’re kind to everyone, even when they take advantage of you. And you’re smart, hard-working, and very, very beautiful.”
She’s glad he can’t see her face, all tucked up under his chin as she is. Alice has never been able to hide her blush.
“And then I came to the office and there you were. I started missing you as soon as I met you,” he says. “I never want you to leave.”
The words are melting into her, she can’t even find it in herself to feel the wriggling dread when she’s pressed against Caleb like this.
“I didn’t even mean to find you,” Caleb says, but his voice is heavy with sleep. “You snuck up on me.”
Gradually her muscles unclench until she is a pool of warmth and relaxation all wrapped up in Caleb Everett, her self-declared work nemesis and begrudging scent match.
They both fall swiftly to sleep.