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CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

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“As the teams prepare to pour back into the paddock for the second half of this season, there’s something like lightning in the air. Silly season is well underway, with rumors surrounding driver changes flying wild. More than that, the contenders for both the drivers and constructors championships are separating themselves from the pack. But there’s no clear winner. Yet. And with some of the rivalries that have cropped up this season, we’re sure to see even more exhilarating racing than we did in the first half.”

HOLLY BUCHANAN, FORMULA 1 REPORTER

My bags were packed.

Tomorrow we flew to Deutschland to rejoin the Paragon team and get back into the swing of things. Neither River nor Vanessa had slacked off during the break, putting in time in the gym, simulator, and their other training regimens. Except for the days we were consumed by her heat. All things pointed to both of them hitting the ground running.

But I still wished we could stay.

Racing was a part of our blood, and I knew that in one way or another, we all missed it. The chaos and adrenaline of race weekends couldn’t be matched. But I’d also be lying if I said I wouldn’t miss the lazy and luxurious time we had here.

I liked Nessa’s plan of trying to spend more time here, even during the season. We all liked it. I knew Gray was already putting things into place in the background, like he always did.

The question was, where was my Omega right now?

I found her in the sauna, wrapped in a towel that should be called a washcloth, based on its size. My clothes hit the floor before I stepped inside, pulling the door fast behind me so the heat didn’t escape.

It wasn’t overly steamy, but Vanessa’s skin glowed with a sheen of sweat, that fucking hair pulled off her neck in a messy bun. She opened her eyes slowly, smiling at me like she was a cat absorbing a sunbeam.

Given how much Omegas loved warmth, this wasn’t surprising. I loved how happy and comfortable she looked. Even now, with her face relaxed, it seemed like her mouth tipped in a smile.

“May I join you?”

“Yeah.”

I climbed up behind her, moving her to sit fully between my thighs. Our skin went instantly slick and hot where we connected, but there was no chance in hell I wasn’t touching her.

“Ready to go?” I kept my voice soft. The air in here was breathless and silent, and there was no desire to break the bubble.

“All packed.” She leaned back against me. “I’m ready and not ready.”

“I thought the same thing earlier.”

“It’ll be nice to be in the car again. Especially with you in my ear.”

I dragged my hands over the poor excuse for a towel and unwrapped it, tossing it away before stroking up her stomach to her breasts. Squeezing. “I’ll be in your ear whether you’re driving or not, love.”

“Like right now?”

“Exactly like right now.”

We never followed through on me trying to talk her to orgasm, but now was as good a time as any. My cock was hard between our bodies, but I didn’t plan on using it. Not yet, at least.

“Close your eyes,” I commanded.

“Wait.” Vanessa twisted in my lap enough so she could see me. “Been looking for the right moment, but I don’t want the break to be over without telling you. You’re the only one I haven’t said it to yet. Not that I haven’t felt it, I have. I just?—”

I chuckled and hauled her lips to mine. My Omega tended to fall into word spirals around me, especially when she was nervous or questioning the dynamic our instincts guided us into. It was my fucking privilege to break her out of the babbling thoughts. Even if she was cute as hell while having them. “Tell me.”

Her tongue slipped out to brush her bottom lip, testing my control. I wouldn’t be able to hold it forever. Just long enough before I took her to bed properly. In the nest, with all of us.

“I love you.”

“Yeah?”

Her cheeks flushed a deeper pink that had nothing to do with the heat of the sauna. “Yeah.”

“I love you more than I thought I was capable of loving someone,” I said quietly. “I love the five of us together, and I love them in a different way. But you, Vanessa? You’re in my soul.”

“Wow.”

“Now close your eyes and turn back around.”

She snickered, but obeyed. “Bossy.”

“You like that.”

Her sweet scent strengthened, already amplified by the steam. I reached over and added another ladle of water to the coals, fogging the air further.

“Would you like to know what’s about to happen?”

Nessa’s small whimper was all the answer I needed.

“You’re going to give me all the control for a while. I’m going to talk to you. Arouse you. Turn you the hell on. Maybe you’ll come. Maybe you won’t. Either way I’ll push you to the brink with my words before carrying you to the nest so your pack—your mates —can fuck the sweaty, squirming, panting mess you will be when I’m done with you.”

“ Fuck .” Her head lolled back on my shoulder.

“You can always tell me to stop, understand?”

“Why the hell would I want to do that?”

I reached down and smacked her inner thigh just hard enough to make her squeak. “Understand?”

“ Yes . Yes.”

Maybe there would be a time when Vanessa and I would go further with this. Explore kinks and control more deeply. But she wasn’t there yet. This was only the beginning.

“Give me your hands.”

She obeyed, and I took them, placing them onto the wooden bench on either side of my thighs. “This is where your hands stay,” I told her. “You’re not in trouble if you move them, but I want you to keep them here. If you can’t, you can reach back and hold my neck.”

“All right.”

Goddamn I loved the breathy sound of her submission. “Good girl.”

She muttered something under her breath.

“What was that?”

“You always know when to use that one,” she raised her volume.

“Sparingly,” I agreed. “Just enough to make you wet. And to remember that you’re my good girl whenever you obey.”

My Omega squirmed, trying to deal with the arousal she felt while keeping her hands still. I took the opportunity to lift her thighs over mine. Exposed. Vulnerable. She would feel more open than she actually was, and that was what she needed.

“Your eyes closed?”

“Yes.”

“Good.” I kissed her shoulder. Even in the heat of the room chills rose on her skin. Further exploration told me her nipples were hard and tight, and I knew she was soaked, though I held myself back from sinking my fingers into her. The delicious heat waiting there would make me break before I was ready.

“You’re safe here,” I said, lowering my voice into the register that made her shiver. “You don’t need to do anything except listen to my voice. Imagine my words in your head.”

There were so many directions I could take this, but it wouldn’t be the last time. “During the off season we’ll go somewhere. Just the two of us. A weekend or a whole week, love. And while we’re there, whether it’s a cabin in the mountains or a bungalow on the beach, you won’t make any decisions from the time the plane takes off to the moment it returns us home.”

Vanessa moaned softly, her fingers flexing and trying to grip the wood of the bench.

“There will be other rules as well.”

“Rules?”

I hummed in assent. Technically I hadn’t commanded her not to talk, and I liked hearing how undone she was by the sound of my voice. “Rules like you not wearing clothes on our little getaway.”

“Why?”

My laugh was slow and rich on purpose. “Because that’s the way I want you, love. So I can bend you over the nearest surface and plunge into your perfect cunt. Or put you on your knees so I can see those lips wrapped around my cock.” I slid my hand up her chest and squeezed her throat briefly. “Your lips are made of sin .”

“Beck…”

“You like that thought, Omega? Being on your knees for your Alpha? Your only job to bring him pleasure and taste what he gives you? Maybe I’ll keep you there and turn you into a masterpiece every time I use you for my own pleasure. Paint you with my fingers and cock and cum.”

Vanessa’s hips jerked off the bench like I’d spanked her clit. And fuck if I wasn’t tempted.

“Hmmm. You do like that idea.”

I liked it too. The erotic image it painted. Most of what would come out of my mouth wasn’t practical or even possible. But our minds didn’t give a fuck about that. Not when we could imagine it and make it real, if only for a moment.

“No clothes. What’s the next rule?”

“Your pleasure belongs to me,” I whispered those words directly in her ear to feel her shudder. “You’ll come. Maybe you’ll come until you cry. But I won’t be giving you orgasms. I’ll take them because they are already mine.”

“Does that mean…”

“You’ll have to ask every single time? Beg me to experience my orgasms? Unless I choose to gag that sinful mouth and force every orgasm out of you? Yes.”

“Beck.” She drew out my name like a moan, melting against my body, fully giving in.

“Your heart’s beating awfully fast, love.” I skimmed my fingers over her inner thighs and watched her muscles tighten in anticipation of what I wasn’t going to give her. “It gives you away. The same way your perfume tells me exactly what you’re craving.”

“I can control it,” she whispered, making me smile.

The only thing she could control was whether or not to keep her hands where I put them. Otherwise, my Omega was an open book. A stunning, gorgeous open book.

“Can you?” A soft kiss where her neck met her shoulder. “You’re saying I’m not going to taste pineapple and caramel in the air after I’m done with you? That my words don’t have any effect?”

“I—”

My teeth scraped her skin, running over her shoulder, reminding her what we’d talked about and the rings that were now being made. Vanessa wanted a proposal. She didn’t want a full bonding ceremony. Which was just fine with the rest of us.

Claiming her by proposing in front of the world? Hell yes. Biting her in public? No. That was just for us.

“I know you weren’t just about to lie to me, love.”

Perfume bloomed through the steam around us, immediately proving my point.

“It’s just you and me, Vanessa. You can admit what you don’t want to.”

“What’s that?”

I pulled her back firmly against my chest so she could feel my cock pressed against her spine. “That your pussy is clenching down on emptiness, desperate for a knot you’re not going to get.” I drew my tongue along her skin, up her neck, to just below her ear. “That your clit is swollen and begging to be touched. You’re imagining me between your thighs, licking and sucking that pretty little pussy until you scream.”

Her hands lifted off the bench, Vanessa groaning in what might be pain as she placed them back down.

“It would be so easy for you to touch yourself and get off, wouldn’t it? I haven’t used my bark. Your hands can move all on their own, love.”

She didn’t move, breaths ragged.

“But you won’t.”

“How do you know?”

I licked her again, my lips meeting her skin in an open-mouthed kiss. “Because of the truth you don’t want to admit. That you are an utter powerhouse of a woman who takes no shit from anyone. And you fucking love being at my mercy.”

Vanessa gasped her air now, abandoning the bench to use the other option I’d given her—clinging to me. Her hands reached back to hold my neck and shoulders, sweat from the sauna and the heat between us dripping down her skin.

“And the reason you won’t get yourself off is because you know it’s different. Anywhere else you give yourself an orgasm and it will make you shake and moan. One of your other packmates fucks you and your eyes will roll back in your head. But here and now? In this moment? You know that you’ve given yourself and all the control to me. And you know that the minute you give in and take it back is the moment your pleasure evaporates.” I lowered my voice further. “Because you know that whatever pleasure you give yourself will be nothing compared to the pleasure I take from you.”

“Beck. Please .”

“There’s my good girl,” I murmured. “Begging for me to take my pleasure before it’s even a rule.”

My Omega’s nails dug into my skin as she arched, frantic. Just like I’d thought, her perfume merged with the steam in the air so I could taste her arousal. We needed to do this again with everyone. The benches in here gave me plenty of ideas.

Lifting my fingers, I made sure she could see them before I put them in my mouth and wet them. “Ask me again, Vanessa.”

“Please.”

“You can do better than that.” I smiled into her neck and made sure she felt it. “Tell me exactly what you want.”

She shuddered and went still. My Omega still struggled with the words she needed, but of all people, she deserved to use her voice without fear. We would get there.

No matter what she said, I loved this woman more than life itself. But what she said nearly put me on my knees.

“I want you to take your orgasm from me.”

My vision went dark, all the blood flowing to my cock and leaving me lightheaded. “Those words were perfect,” I praised her. “My sweet fucking Omega.” Her whine nearly undid me.

I’d wet my fingers for a reason, and let my hand drift lower. “I don’t think I’ll have to work very hard, will I?”

Vanessa shook her head.

The second I touched her clit, she tensed, and I didn’t hold back, circling hard. No teasing. Not when she’d been so good.

She came in seconds, shaking, her cries going nowhere in the wet air. She was so wet we could both hear my fingers taking every bit of pleasure she owed me. Sloppy and sopping and so fucking hot. “So messy,” I whispered in her ear, knowing she loved it despite her claim to the opposite. Vanessa couldn’t afford to be messy, so she loved it when she was forced to be.

Because we weren’t judging her. We wanted her just as she was.

As she took shallow sips of air, I lifted her thighs back over mine and pushed them closed. Covered her hands with my own and pulled them down so I could wrap our arms around her body together.

I kissed her hair. “Still with me, love?”

“When my soul comes back into my body, maybe.”

“That good?”

She turned and glared in the cutest way possible. “You know it was.”

“Think I could get you to come with only my voice?”

“Yes.” No hesitation behind the statement. “Either that or a single touch.”

I tugged her back against my chest, tucking my cheek next to hers. “We can work up to that.”

She took one deep breath and then another. “Can I tell you something?”

“You can tell me anything.”

Slowly, Vanessa turned so she was more across my lap, able to lean her head on my shoulder. “That was fucking hot. But I feel heavy, and I’m not sure why.”

“Just part of you learning to embody every part of yourself.” I brushed my knuckles down her bare spine. “You’re not used to fully letting go outside of heat. And it can be terrifying. Vulnerable.”

She sighed. “Yeah, that’s how it feels.”

“You’re brave as hell for confronting those feelings.”

“The earth-shattering orgasm helped.”

“Want more?”

The look she threw me had me throwing my head back with laughter.

“Is that a trick question?”

“No.”

“Then, yes? Obviously.”

I lifted her and set her on her feet. “Then grab that sorry excuse for a towel and let’s go. You have ten minutes to rinse yourself off and get that beautiful ass into the nest. Or go straight there and let the four of us lick the sweat and cum off your body.” I raised an eyebrow in question. “That’s a decision I won’t make for you. This time.”

She stared after me as I left, gaping. I grabbed my clothes and texted the others to get to the nest, eager to find out which option she chose.