Page 58 of Alpha Mates

“Miss my scent that much?” I tease as I step back, but Aiden catches my wrist and pulls me in before I can take another. Our chests meet and our breaths mix as he looks at me.

“Yes,” he replies unflinchingly. “I do.”

It takes biting my tongue to silence the delighted sound his blatant honesty triggers, but there’s no hiding the way my body reacts to the confirmation and justhim.I liked Aiden reserved, but I like this uncapped side even more.

His eyes hold mine, and I don’t dare look away. I’d been far too worked up to notice earlier, but he isn’t wearing his shades anymore. His eyes are so impossibly lovely. I thought they were pure obsidian, but standing this close in the daylight, I realise that they aren’t. A light is there—a secret touch of gold that tugs at me, urging me to explore. Goddess knows I want to, but with how close we are right now, I’m barely coping as it is.

“Okay,” I manage with what little blood is left in my brain. The rest is travelling south,fast.

“Okay,” Aiden replies, lips curving into a familiar smile, only this one is laced with gentle fondness I’m still getting used to.

I swallow hard, and then once more for good measure, before I trust myself to speak again. “I’m going to shower.”

Aiden hums. “You do that, Jewels.”

Traitorous heat crawls up my neck, but I turn around before Aiden can see it or name it something unfathomable again. I march down the hallway and his rumbling laughter chases after me.

Get it together, Julian!

I head straight for the shower, not because Aiden wants me to, but because I want to clean the day’s gunk from my skin. And maybe a little because I want to keep my mate happy.

My fingers find my lips while hot water rains down on me, tracing the raw edges that Aiden claimed so wholly. He’d been timid at first, unsure like in the car, and I’d worried it was the wrong move, but then …

“By the Plains,” I whisper as I try to muffle my groan, but I’m no better at stifling it than I am at keeping my lips from stretching into a massive smile.

We kissed.

It doesn’t feel real, like I might open my eyes and find Aiden glaring at me from the other side of the bed, but it happened. Aiden and I had actuallykissed, and Goddess help me, I feel like it’s happening all over again just thinking about it—about Aiden and those soft lips or that sinful tongue that had made me moan like … like an omega.

My ears tingle as a fierce heat encapsulates my entire body, but I don’t try to scrub it away. The kiss had been perfect, and so had the words before it.

I hadn’t realised in the car that Aiden was scared, or even nervous. I’d been too excited and then too hurt by what seemed like a blatant rejection to see him clearly. But replaying it now, I can’t find the repulsion I thought I’d seen.

“Julian? Are you still alive?”

Jerking so hard I almost fall on my ass, I cling to the shower wall and my raging chest. The water is still hot, but the bathroom’s all fogged up now so only Goddess knows how long I’ve been in here.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” I call back while I grab my soap and loofah. “I’ll be out in five minutes.”

“I’m starting a timer for exactly that!” Aiden shouts back, and I grin as I hear him go.

Within what I hope was five minutes, I’m out of the shower, lotioned, dressed, and heading back out in a t-shirt and shorts with my damp hair up in a knot.

“Four minutes and thirty-two seconds,” Aiden says the second I step into the kitchen. He stands in front of the counter, his head cocked back to seethe oven’s clock.

His shades are back on. I frown. If I were to hide them all, would that make me a bad mate?

“You just made that number up,” I say, trying to ignore them.

“Yeah? Try proving it.” He cocks his head and grins.

I stare at the idiot I’ve known all my life, and my soul lights up with joy where annoyance was supposed to be. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that switch. Hovering beside him, I eye the large bowl of mixed fruits and vegetables, and next to it, a plate that held a beastly sandwich filled with what looked like everything.

“I know you eat other things besides salads,” Aiden rushes out when I open my mouth, “but it’s all I know how to make that is purely green.”

“Okay,” I reply, noting the way he shifts on his feet.

He shrugs. “I at least tried to make it good for your veggie ass.”