THEO
Theo
The wine made everything soft around the edges. It was delicious. I didn’t know much about wine. I lived alone, ate alone. Wine always seemed like a waste when you only needed a half cup for cooking.
Mackenzie passed out forks, and busied herself with the plate of chocolate lava cake, making sure we each got a forkful. I took a bite to be polite. No, to be included.
I watched Ren’s shoulders tense as someone caught his eye across the deck. It wasn’t the tall alpha woman from this afternoon. It was a scruffy-looking kid. Well, not a kid, but he was younger than me. Ren muttered something under his breath that sounded like a curse.
“I need to…” He gestured vaguely. “I’m sorry, excuse me.” He trailed fingers down the back of Mackenzie’s arm before stepping away.
Justice’s eyes followed Ren’s retreat, his face darkening for a moment before he turned to lean against the rail. The line of his back was rigid as he took a long drink of wine.
“So.” Mackenzie nudged me with her elbow. “Justice Twill, huh?”
“Shhhh.” I felt my face heat. Hopefully, our whispers would be swept away by the wind.
“Oh please. I bet you were Googling him under the table.”
“I was not.” I absolutely was.
She grinned. “You know, I think this cake needs whipped cream. We left it at the table.” She stood with exaggerated casualness, her voice louder than it needed to be. “I’m just going to pop back to the dining room. To get whipped cream. For the cake.”
I groaned. “Subtle.”
She winked.
“Should we go with her?” Justice asked, turning from the rail, watching Mackenzie move across the deck
“No, she’ll be fine.” I said, even though everything in me said to go with her.
Justice hummed in agreement. Even in the light wind, his scent seemed to wrap around me as I joined him at the rail. The moon painted silver trails across the water. I couldn’t remember ever seeing so many stars.
I cleared my throat, searching for something witty to say. The Google search had turned up hundreds of hits. An article in Gentleman’s Growl was there. I hadn’t clicked it open, but I vaguely remembered the article. I cleared my throat again. Shit, why was this so hard?
“Do you still eat eggs every morning?” I cringed inwardly. What the fuck was I doing, talking about eggs with Justice Twill?
He turned to me, surprise flickering across his face. “How do you…”
“There was this article. Ages ago.” Heat crept up my neck. “A ‘day in the life of a super famous CEO’ or something. It mentioned you always have two eggs over easy for breakfast. Something about decision fatigue?”
His laugh was soft. “Fuck, I forgot about that interview. Pretty sure my assistant wrote most of it.”
“So it’s not true?”
Justice was quiet for a long moment, staring out at the ocean, twirling the wine in his glass.
“No, it’s true.” He took another sip of wine. “I grew up… poor… we didn’t have much. But my parents, the one good thing they did, they always made sure there were eggs and bread in the house. Sometimes that’s all there was.”
My heart squeezed. I wanted to reach for him, to soothe away the old hurt in his voice that seemed so out of place with the commanding CEO at dinner.
“It’s the only thing I really learned to cook.” His smile was self-deprecating. “And ramen, of course.” He stretched for the wine bottle and refilled his glass. “I guess I’m a walking stereotype for the typical basement-dwelling tech nerd.”
“I doubt there’s anything typical about you.” Thank fuck he was staring out at the water and didn’t see me cringe. What the hell was I doing? These were the many reasons I didn’t have a pack.
“You and Ren. Old friends?” I reached for something else and instantly regretted it.
Justice shifted his weight and immediately tensed. The movement brought him closer, his arm brushing mine against the rail. “It’s complicated. We used to know each other. Now we don’t.”
“Sorry, I shouldn’t pry.” I dropped my eyes to my wine glass.
“It’s nothing.” His voice was gentle. “Ancient history.” He took another sip of wine. “What about you and Mackenzie? How long have you been together?”
I choked on my wine. “Oh, we’re not… together together. We’re just well, together. We just met yesterday.”
“Yesterday?” His eyebrows shot up. “But you seem so…”
“I know. It’s crazy. We got stuck sharing a room because of some mix-up with the reservations. But it feels like…” I traced the rim of my glass. “Like she’s always been a part of my life. Like I was missing something and didn’t even know it until she showed up.”
Justice was quiet for a moment. “That’s rare. Finding someone who fits like that.”
“She makes me brave.” The wine was definitely making me too honest. “I’ve never had anyone who just… accepts me.”
Justice moved closer, his shoulder pressing against mine. “Tell me more about your design work.”
His scent was everywhere. My head spun, and it wasn’t just the wine.
“Oh, I thought you were only interested because it pissed off Bob. No one is ever interested in male omegas.”
Justice gave me a searching look, making me feel lost and found all at the same time.
“I’d really like it if you didn’t diminish yourself like that in front of me.”
It was like the world stopped on a dime. Everything but Justice Twill and his chocolate eyes fell away. And I knew that in that second, I would do anything this man asked me.
Shit.