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“We need to be honest with ourselves—we all like her. We’ve discussed it before,” I said. It was true. She was beautiful and sweet, got along with our daughter, and smelled like fucking heaven on earth. If not for our baggage and need to protect Joey, we probably would have dived in headfirst.

“But she’s a bad idea,” Gideon said.

“I’m not disagreeing. She may not even like us. We are the creepy old men perving on her.”

“Judging by the way she kissed me back, she is most certainly interested. Fuck, I wanted to drag her into the back and taste her properly.” Cullen groaned, rubbing a hand over his face. “It was like all reason escaped me.”

“Let’s be honest with ourselves—we all know she smells better than any other omega we’ve been around. I don’t know if it’s the same for you, Cullen, but my instincts tend to rise to the surface when she’s around. Gideon, what about you?”

He swallowed. “I won’t lie. She is obviously attractive and has a pleasant scent. But she’s not appropriate for us.”

“I agree with you, but we need to treat her with respect, not grope her at every opportunity,” I said as I cleaned away the dishes from Joey’s snack.

“It was one time!” Cullen groaned.

“One time too many,” Gideon countered, turning and focusing on his task, effectively dismissing the conversation.

With a grumble, Cullen turned and left the kitchen, probably to go find Joey and make amends for being so grumpy.

There was no denying that we all liked Beth.

She was beautiful and painfully sweet. If I were slightly younger and didn’t have Joey to think about, I would have been chasing her down for even a chance at a date with her.

My pack was fucked, but we had to make it work.

Chapter 9

Beth

Cullen Noble was an ass.

What gave him the right to treat me like that, to tell me that I was behaving inappropriately and then drag me against a wall and kiss me in a way that I’d never been kissed before? That left me weak in the knees and still dreaming about it several days later?

I hadn’t even bothered to return to my date. It would have been embarrassing, seeing as I stank of Cullen and my own traitorous arousal. I was pissed at Cullen, but my body was another story.

I had quietly dreaded Wednesday, when Joey would come for her lesson. Cullen usually dropped her off—from what I understood, his schedule was the most flexible. I could have pretended I was sick and avoided work this week, but I desperately needed the cash. The price of my dorm room was going up next semester, and I couldn’t risk not having the money for it.

So, putting on my big girl panties, I headed to the rink on Wednesday. As I warmed up, I did my best to push Cullen Nobleout of my mind. I was going to teach Joey and pointedly ignore him—that was my plan.

“Bethany!” Joey’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

Skidding to a halt, I turned and saw her standing at the edge of the rink excitedly as she took off her skate guards. Behind her stood Jensen, already wearing his scrubs.

“Hi,” I greeted her warmly, keeping my focus on the child rather than looking at her incredibly hot father and thinking about what his pack mate had done to me mere nights ago.

“Hey,” Jensen greeted me. “Mrs. Green is picking Joey up today—the girls are having a sleepover. I’ve been called into the ER because there’s been a few emergencies.”

“Okay, I’ll make sure Mrs. Green shows up.” I smiled warmly. “That sounds like a lot of fun!” I said, addressing Joey.

“It will be!” Joey said. “We are going to bake cookies.”

I gasped. “That sounds like a perfect night.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind? I know one of us usually picks her up…” Jensen bit his lip, and for a second, my mind wandered, considering just how that lip tasted. Would he have a musky flavor, like his scent?

Mentally shaking myself, I smiled brightly at him. “Of course that’s okay. I know Mrs. Green. I taught her daughter last year. As long as I know who is picking her up, I’m happy. The last thing I want to do is send a child home with a stranger!”

Jensen grimaced. “Yeah, that would be bad. Thank you, Bethany. We’ve been swamped lately, and you’ve been a lifesaver.”