Page 4 of Follow the Rhythm (Fairview City Omegaverse #2)

I was sleepy, the kind of sleepy that told me my heat was nearly over. I’d put poor Charlie through the wringer. Unfortunately for him, his scent being so compatible with mine had made my heat much more intense than usual. And he was right. It had never been this good with another Alpha.

“You did a good job,” I murmured.

“You too,” Charlie replied. He gathered me closer in his arms. I gave up my fight against exhaustion and drifted off.

There was never an easy way to kick out a heat partner.

I woke up sticky in the nest, alone, and thought for a minute that maybe he’d snuck out and done the dirty work for me.

But no. I stumbled into the bathroom, and there he was in the shower, the water glistening on his eight-pack and slicking his hair back from his forehead.

He smiled at me through the sliding door of the shower as I walked in.

“Good morning, beautiful,” he said, his eyes roving my body before his gaze met mine again. I rolled my eyes.

“Move over,” I said, sliding the door open and joining him under the spray.

“This would be where you say ‘good morning’ back.” I ignored him and fumbled for the shampoo, my muscles still weak from a day and a half of knotting. He took it from me, spun me slowly towards the wall, and started massaging it into my hair before I could protest.

I may have let out an involuntary moan or two as he kneaded my scalp. He did have good hands after all.

“Thanks,” I said begrudgingly as I rinsed. I turned to face him again, and he handed me a soaped-up loofah.

“No problem,” he said with a completely genuine smile that spiked my annoyance.

“What are you doing?” I asked, running the loofah over my body.

“Helping,” he said simply, and stole some of my very expensive conditioner.

“Right. But why are you still here? Do you not have a shower of your own?”

Charlie laughed. “I do have a shower. But I wanted to see you this morning. We did just have the best sex of my life.”

I blushed despite myself. “Okay, well, you can go now. I’ve gotten what I needed from this interaction.”

He grinned. Was he always smiling? “I was worried it was just your heat making you so mean. I’m glad to know it’s your core personality trait.”

I glared at him. “Maybe you just bring out the worst in me.”

“I told you, I like it,” he said, and slid his arms around my waist to pull me closer. He cradled my jaw with one hand and kissed me, gentler than he had during the frenzy of my heat.

I kissed him back like an idiot.

He growled low in his throat as he drew his other hand up my side to cup my breast. It wasn’t until I felt his cock stirring against my stomach that I snapped out of it.

I broke the kiss and stepped back. “I am way too tired for sex.”

Charlie looked at me, confused. “Me too. I just wanted to kiss you.”

“Well. Okay,” I said, blushing again. I turned off the water and brushed past him to get out of the shower to cover up my embarrassment.

I pulled on my new robe, a housewarming present I’d gotten for myself.

It was insanely soft and plush, and so big that I looked like I was wearing oversized wizard robes.

I looked in the mirror for the first time and suppressed a gasp.

I had a ring of bruises around my neck from where I’d begged for Charlie’s bites.

I’d had similar marks before, but maybe one or two, maximum.

This was almost obscene. I touched one. It was tender but looked worse than it felt.

And perversely, I felt a rush of arousal at the sight of his marks on me.

Charlie followed me out of the shower, wrapping a towel around his waist before he started helping dry my hair with another one.

“I know what you’re doing,” I said, glaring at him in the mirror as he squeezed water from my hair.

“Really? And what’s that?” He was grinning again.

“You’re trying to take care of me, use my biology against me to show me you’re a provider or whatever. It’s not the first time an Alpha has tried it, and I promise you it won’t work,” I said. Usually the attempts were much more inept and annoying, though he didn’t need to know that.

“Hm. And if I were doing that, what would be my motivation?”

“To pack me up? Bond me? Have a dutiful little Omega housekeeper and sex slave? Take your pick,” I said.

Charlie laughed again. “You? A ‘dutiful little Omega’? I’d have to be out of my mind to think you’d ever fit that description.”

I scowled at him in the mirror, and he rested his hands on my shoulders before brushing a fingertip across the closest bite bruise. I shivered, then shrugged his hands off.

“Did you ever think maybe I’m just a nice person? Or is that a completely foreign concept to you?” he asked.

I rolled my eyes. “In my experience, Alphas usually aren’t nice unless they have an ulterior motive.”

“Maybe that’s because you bring out the worst in them,” he said, smirking.

I huffed and made my way to the kitchen to make coffee. Charlie, of course, followed me.

“Oh my god, you’re like a stray dog,” I said, then stopped in my tracks.

Instead of the pile of half-built furniture I’d grown accustomed to, I now had a fully assembled dining set. The boxes were even neatly broken down and stacked near the front door.

I turned to look at Charlie, who had the decency to look a little sheepish.

“Oh my god, you’re insane. What kind of psycho builds someone else’s furniture? How long have you even been awake?” My voice went up a full octave.

The fucker had even made a pot of coffee already. I poured myself a mug and then reluctantly poured one for him too. He beamed at me. I tried not to look at his bare chest and failed.

“I wake up early,” Charlie said defensively. “And you can’t live like that; you need a place to eat .”

“Well. I’m not going to say thank you because I don’t want to encourage this psychotic behavior.”

I took a sip of coffee. It was perfect.

“Well, this has been just great, but it’s time for you to go,” I said, putting down my mug a little too forcefully.

Charlie nodded, chugging his coffee. “Yeah, I have a shit ton of work to do.”

“Where do you work? The… handsome idiot store?” Woof. Not the cutting remark I’d intended. I took another sip of coffee.

“Your insults all sound a lot like compliments,” Charlie laughed.

“Shut up. It’s early. And you’re not wearing a shirt.”

Charlie grabbed the duffel bag he’d dropped by the front door when he arrived and wandered back into my room. “So, I was thinking…” he called from the other room.

“Oh, goodie.”

“I’m going to be in town for a little while on a contract. Would you want to do this again sometime?” He emerged fully clothed, but his hair was still damp, and he was barefoot.

“What? Let me poorly insult you?”

“I’d prefer just the incredible sex, but the insults are a package deal, right? And honestly, I think they add something to the experience.”

I hesitated. It had been good sex. Great, even.

But how much of that was just my heat hormones?

And was I really prepared for casual sex with an Alpha , when my only sexual encounters were out of necessity?

Professional heat partners were a necessary evil to reduce the soul-crushing pain of a solo heat, not a substitute for genuine experience.

But on the other hand, what was the point of moving out of the Omega Center if I didn’t live a little? Couldn’t I have some fun? Choose something for myself, just this once?

As if he could read my mind, Charlie stepped closer, and his scent enveloped me.

I leaned unconsciously forward, and when he opened his arms, I sighed and stepped into his embrace.

He dragged my damp hair away from my neck and breathed in, taking my scent from the spot right below my ear.

I bit my lip against the tingling that rushed across my scalp.

“It doesn’t have to mean anything beyond two very hot people having fun,” he said softly in my ear, then nipped at my earlobe.

“No ulterior motive?” I asked.

“I’m not looking for anything serious,” Charlie assured me. “Are you?”

“Fuck no. The pack thing, bonding… It’s never happening for me.”

“Great, then it’s settled,” he said and kissed me fiercely while I fought to keep my knees from buckling.

We exchanged numbers, and he kissed me one more time before I finally got him out the door.

I locked it behind him and looked at my cute little bistro table. It would be nice not to eat on the couch.

I frowned. “It’s just sex,” I told myself firmly, and dumped the rest of the coffee down the drain.