Page 40 of Follow the Rhythm (Fairview City Omegaverse #2)

“I can’t believe you chased me down the street, you madwoman,” I teased. It felt like a dream, having her in my arms.

The realization that she loved me kept recurring, over and over with each step as I carried her home, and each time brought a jolt of happiness. I felt almost drunk on it.

“I was going for a grand gesture.” Jess gave me a mischievous grin. “I think I succeeded.”

I carried her through the car park and up the lift to my flat. She was lighter than the last time I’d held her, and too thin. My Alpha was fighting between the urge to fuck her and feed her up.

I suppressed the former in favor of cleaning the cuts on her hands and knees. She half-heartedly protested, saying she could do it herself, but the look on my face must have changed her mind. I sat her on the couch and knelt in front of her to tend her wounds.

“So what have you been doing? Other than missing me, of course,” she said, wincing as I dabbed her right knee.

“I went to London, actually. To visit Michael’s parents.”

“London?” Jess said, indignant, then she got quiet. “You’re moving back there?”

I paused. “I was thinking about it. But recent events have changed my mind.”

I kissed her, but she pulled away quickly.

“If you really want to move back, you should,” she said stubbornly.

“The only reason I wanted to leave was that Fairview felt too full of you. But now, wherever you are, that’s where I am.

” I stroked the side of her face until she smiled.

The gold flecks in her eyes sparkled in the afternoon sun that gilded her profile.

I used my thumb to brush her lower lip, re-memorizing every line of her face.

“You’re stuck with me, too,” she said.

I leaned in, breathing in her scent. Each lungful both calmed me and inflamed the part of my brain that wanted to claim her then and there. I settled for a gentle kiss.

“What do you want to eat?” I asked, leaning back on my heels.

She looked bewildered at the change of subject. “I’m not hungry.”

“Wrong answer. You’ve lost weight.” I stood and held out my hand to pull her up.

Even though she grumbled the entire time, she let me cook my signature, and only, dish: scrambled eggs and toast. When I sat at the bar, with the plate in front of me, she scowled.

“I’m not letting you feed me like a child,” she said.

“Let me take care of you, love,” I replied, gesturing for her to sit in my lap. “It's either this or letting me draw you a bath. My Alpha is insistent."

Jess blushed, and her perfume spiked. But she let me pull her closer.

“Do you not like being spoiled?” I asked when she finally settled in my lap.

She took a reluctant bite of toast. “Not historically.”

I combed my fingers through her long, dark hair, starting at the base of her neck. She shivered on my lap. “Your scent is telling me you like the idea.”

“Is that a thing?” she asked, her voice higher than usual. “I mean, for Alphas and Omegas. Wanting to wash me?”

I nuzzled her neck. “I don’t know. What I do know is my Alpha wants to care for you, in any way you’ll let me.”

“Do you want to build furniture for me?” she asked.

I barked a surprised laugh. “Where did that come from? Do you have an IKEA bookcase you need assembled?”

“No, it’s just… Charlie did that. When we first met. He built a dining set for me and washed my hair.” She squirmed a little in my lap, which did interesting things to my cock. “I thought he was just being way too nice.”

“I see,” I said carefully, not wanting to spook her. There was clearly a part of their story I didn’t know. “To me, that sounds like an Alpha that wants to show he’d be a suitable mate.”

“He told me he didn’t want anything serious,” she protested, and took an angry bite of toast.

“Yeah, well, men are idiots, love. What can I say?” I circled her tiny waist with my hands, enjoying the way her hips flared out under my palms. “Do you miss him?”

She squirmed again, and I gripped her hips tighter. “Yeah, I guess so. A little.”

I drew the hair off the back of her neck and kissed her there, scraping my teeth gently against the delicate skin.

“Then I’ll tell you what I told him. If you want him, I won’t stand in your way.

You’re built for a pack, my little Omega, and I trust your judgment on who that pack should be. It’s your choice, no one else’s.”

Jess whimpered, cutting the sound short as usual. She chugged the glass of water I’d left for her, as if suddenly parched. Her perfume was spiraling higher, and I could feel the heat coming off her.

“Do you like that? Thinking about a pack that wants to spend every day taking care of you, worshipping you?”

She laughed, then turned in my lap to face me. “I actually think I like you saying I have agency over my own life a little more.”

“Anytime, love,” I said with a smile.

She kissed me, her arms looped around my neck. Her ass was soft and full in my lap, grinding gently on my cock, which was already hard thanks to her perfume.

“How about that bath?” I asked against her lips.

Steam filled the bathroom. I’d had an extra-large tub installed when I moved in, and little Jess looked adrift in it. She was thinner than the last time I’d seen all of her beautiful curves, but her breasts were still as full as I remembered.

“Can you please get in here with me now? I’m losing my mind,” she said, her cheeks flushed.

I stripped quickly and climbed in with her. She settled back in my lap, her ass cradling my cock, and leaned against my chest. She exhaled slowly.

“Better?” I asked.

“Almost,” she said, and guided my hand to her pussy.

Even in the water, I could tell how wet she was. I drew a finger through her slit, gathering some of her slick, and she whimpered in response. I suppressed a growl.

I slid one finger inside her, and she clenched greedily on me. My cock jerked beneath her ass as I brushed my thumb against her swollen clit.

“Yes,” she moaned. “More.”

I thrust my finger into her and added a second. She rocked her hips, drawing my fingers deeper. I stroked her clit, then pressed down and ground it in a slow circle.

“Fuck, Kieran.” She gasped when I curled my fingers inside her. “Fuck me.”

“Not yet,” I growled. I added a third finger, stretching her gently. She moaned again, loud and long, gripping my wrist to fuck herself on my hand.

“Okay, I’m ready,” she panted. “Please. I need you. I missed you so much.”

I groaned. How could I say no to that?

I let her turn in my lap until we were face-to-face. She guided my cock to her entrance, and even the touch of her hand was enough to make me buck my hips. I tried to stay still as she sank onto me, but I couldn’t help a few small thrusts. Her pussy was already milking me, searching for my knot.

Jess gripped my chest, staring into my eyes, her mouth a perfect O. “Oh my god,” she said. “Oh my fucking god, how did I forget how huge you are?”

“Jess,” I rasped, her name a warning of how close to the edge I already was.

We settled into a tempo that drew me slowly deeper into her as she rocked on me. Her face was more flushed than ever, her eyes closed in concentration.

“Look at me, love.” I cradled her jaw. Her eyes fluttered open. “I want you to imagine Charlie is here too, watching us.”

“Oh, fuck,” she said, looking almost pained as she rocked faster on me.

“Would you want to suck his cock while I fucked you?” I jerked my hips up to meet her. The base of my knot brushed her entrance.

She moaned incoherently, panting and nodding.

“What if he fucked your ass while I filled your sweet pussy?” I growled.

She cried out and slammed down on my knot, locking us together.

Lightning flashed up my spine, and I thrust my hips once more before tumbling over the edge with her.

She was gripping my shoulders, her head thrown back in a silent scream, her legs gripping my hips.

After what felt like an eternity of my cock pulsing inside her, she collapsed on my chest.

“Too good,” she panted into my skin.

I couldn’t talk yet, so I pressed a kiss to her hair instead.

We lay catching our breath until the water cooled around us.

Later that night, in bed with Jess curled in my arms, we finally got around to talking about the album.

“What are you going to do?” She was drawing circles on the forearm I had wrapped across her stomach.

“I have no idea. Johnny set up a meeting with Ellis so we could talk about it, but I don’t know if I can stand to be in the same room with him.”

“You think he leaked it, then?”

I sighed. “I don’t want to think that, but I don’t know who else it could’ve been.”

“The Ellis I knew wouldn’t have done that. Sure, he’s a dick sometimes, but this is just… horrible,” she said sadly.

I was afraid the Ellis she knew, the one I knew, was gone, but I didn’t say so.

“You should still meet with him,” she said firmly. “Give him a chance to explain himself.”

“I’ll just lose my temper.” I took a deep whiff of her scent. She must have been pumping out soothing pheromones because a deep sense of calm settled over me.

“I still think you should go.” She snuggled her back closer to my chest.

“I know. But you should come with me.”

She stiffened slightly in my arms. “Why?”

“Because whatever decision we make, it concerns you, too.” And it did. She was part of the calculus of my life now. “I also value your opinion and want you to have a say in whatever comes next.”

She huffed a bit. “Damn it, Kieran. Stop turning me on; I’m trying to go to sleep.”

“Sorry, I just want to remind you how much I respect you as a person,” I said, smiling into her hair.

She elbowed me in the ribs.

“You’ll come then?” I asked.

“Yeah, I will,” she whispered. I thought I could hear a strange note of sadness in her voice, but I chalked it up to being exhausted from how many times I showed her just how much I missed her.

“Thank you, love.” A purr started in my chest, and Jess snuggled closer again.

“Love you,” she said sleepily, planting a kiss on my palm before intertwining our hands.

“Love you, too.” I listened to her breathing slow and deepen, lulled by my purr, until sleep pulled me under, too.