Page 113

He wet his lips and asked, “Do you want to watch it with me? To, uh, see if it’s something you might like, too?”
An overwhelming surge of mingled affection and excitement made me momentarily lightheaded. There was no doubt that my pheromones had answered the question before my lips ever parted, but I covered his shaking hand with mine and looked him right in the eye.
“I wouldloveto watch that video with you, Emiel. The fact that you would ask me means more than I can say.” My lips twitched into a faint, impish smile. “What do you think? I know it’s late, but... could we do it right now?”
FORTY-SEVEN
Mia
I COULD BARELY IMAGINEthe courage it had taken Emiel to talk about his needs and desires like this. The fact that he’d chosen to talk tomemade me want to tackle-hug him and start pressing wet, sloppy kisses all over his face. Unfortunately, he needed me to be the calm one. The one in control.
Quiteliterallyin control, apparently.
“Where’s your laptop?” I asked gently, looking around the room.
He pointed at a cluttered desk in the corner, and I caught sight of it. Giving his huge hand another reassuring squeeze, I bounced up from the edge of the mattress and crossed to get it, returning to climb into the bed with him as though I belonged there.
“Here you go.” I handed him the sleek silver MacBook and made myself comfortable, leaning against the sturdy headboard.
He squared his shoulders and opened the computer, his fingers sliding and tapping on the trackpad. With a furtive sideways glance at me, he said, “The video’s a female alpha with a male omega. Is that okay?”
Aw, bless, I thought, offering him a soft smile.
“I like everyone,” I said easily. “I had amassivecrush on the female alpha gym teacher at my high school, you know. Ooh...and that actress who played Xena on TV? You know the one? Though, actually, I think she might be a beta.”
“Never seen it,” Emiel said.
“We should watch it sometime,” I told him.
“Does she get tied up much on the show?” he asked, with a surprising flash of humor.
That startled a bark of laughter from me. “Honestly? You’d be surprised.”
He opened an incognito window through an overseas VPN—the perils of anyone who had a job working with kids and still wanted to look at porn, I was guessing. A moment later, the video link popped up.
Hot Omega Femmeboy Tops Bound Alpha Rut-Slut, read the headline at the top of the page.
I snorted. “I think whoever gets paid to come up with porn video titles secretly gets off on making them as painfully awful as humanly possible.”
Emiel squirmed. “Yeah, I kind of hate that part. I promise it’s not actually that bad, though.”
I wrapped my arm around his corded bicep and leaned against his side. “You like it, so I already know it’s good,” I said, settling in as he pressed play.
The video flashed through a couple of text cards listing all the information about safety precautions, applicable laws, and the actors being over eighteen. Then it faded into the opening scene—a vaguely medical-looking setting, white and antiseptic.