Page 44

He swallows hard, his hand flexing before he shoves them in his pockets.

“I—I could make that offer, if you’d like,” he says, a hint of a blush covering his tan skin.

I don’t think I’d be capable of words even if I tried. I want tosee him shirtless. I want to see if his ink extends beyond the sleeves of the t-shirts I’ve seen him in.

I give him a quick, single, jerky nod. His lips curve up into a small smile.

He reaches over his shoulder and tugs the shirt over his head.

Oh my god.

I can’t help but let out a gasp.

My entire face flushes a hot, tomato red. His tattoos don’t just end at his neck and arms. They spread across his entire chest and down his torso.

He’s also so, incredibly muscular that my mind doesn’t quite process it. He’s not as chiseled as Chase, but the sheer power I can see in his muscles is undeniable.

He hands me his t-shirt, his thick dark chocolate scent fresh on its fabric.

“You—you have a lot of tattoos,” I cough out, my hands clenching into fists around the fabric. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something as detailed as the art spread across his torso.

“Do you want to get a closer look?” He asks, kneeling down so he’s at eye level with me as I sit on the bed.

I tentatively reach out a hand, looking at him for permission.

“May I?”

What am I doing? I’ve never, ever wanted to touch a man, let alone an alpha. And now here I am, genuinely asking if I can touch Madden’s chest.

“Go ahead,” he says, his voice a deep timber.

“This is incredible,” I breathe. “Is there any meaning to this one?”

“I, uh, I liked dragons when I was a kid, thought they were cool,” he chuckles.

I trace my fingertip over the gorgeous dragon tattoo, that wraps itself around his arm, my touch following the outline of the flames across his chest.

A purr vibrates through his body, making my eyes snap up tohis. His eyes are dark and intense as he looks at me. My perfume swirls around us, sweet and thick with my attraction to him.

Madden’s purr grows to a growl and he leans closer towards me, his nostrils flaring as he inhales deeply.

He’s so close to me right now that it almost feels like he’s all I can see. It’s almost like we’re breathing each other in. If he leans forward anymore, his lips will be touching mine.

The warmth I’ve been feeling around all four of them grows and to my absolute mortification, I feel slick gush into Chase’s boxers as my core throbs.

Oh my god.

Oh my fucking god.

I jerk backward, covering my face with his shirt, not that that does anything to calm my body down, because his scent is practically soaked into the shirt.

Madden coughs. “Sorry, that… that was a lot. I’ll leave you for now,” he says.

The last shred of my dignity is grateful that he leaves, shutting the door behind him and locking the scent of my slick in here. Away from all the alphas outside that I’m not sure I should be attracted to.

This was the first time I’ve ever had slick drip out of me because of an alpha. I’ve had slick before, but that was because of my heat. And I just had my heat, so I know this couldn’t be because of that.

It’s undeniably because of my body’s response to an alpha.