Page 68 of Knot Going Down

“Is there anything I can do to help?” Emily asks gently.

“Maybe.” I switch my heels to the other hand. “I don’t know.”

My skin feels too tight, like I’m wearing the wrong body. My pulse is humming under the surface, frantic and hot. I can’t sit still. I rise to my feet, the platform blessedly sturdy beneath me as I pace to the far end, away from the pool. I don’t know where I’m going—just that I need tomove.

Emily follows. Her hand lands lightly on my shoulder. “Maybe we should go back to the room.”

“No,” I say quickly. “I don’t want you to miss dinner. And Ican’tgo in there right now. Not with all that—” I wave my hand vaguely, as if that can summarize the disaster of my existence right now, the impending heat and ravenouswantI’m trying so hard not to drown in. “I’m just so fucking horny, Em. And I don’t think I can hide it much longer. Not with two alphas breathing down my neck. And they smell like?—”

I stop. My hand covers my face, and I groan into it. “Emily, they’re my…” My voice cracks. “Fuck.”

I shake my head, pacing the length of the board again. I can’t let this happen. Iwon’t.I won’t ruin what she has with Declan. I won’t be the omega who steps into a bond that doesn’t belong to her. Declan hasn’t touched me. Hasn’t looked at me like that. Not without the influence of scent. But if hedoescatch it—ifhesmellsme—what then? He’s my scent match. And that’s not nothing.

But it’s not a choice, either.

“And then there’syou,” I say, the words ripped from me before I can stop them. I turn, sudden and sharp.

Her eyes widen. “Me?”

She shifts back a step. Away from me. And my insides rage at the distance.

“You with your big innocent eyes and that sweet little laugh that shows up in my fucking dreams,” I spit out. “And that body. Geez, Em. I want to—” I bite off the rest before I say something I can’t walk back from.

She blinks. “You want to what?”

She looks like she belongs in a painting. Golden in the last light of day, midnight dress clinging to her like temptation incarnate, backdropped by the stars.

“I want to kiss you.” My voice drops, low and rough. “I want to kiss you so bad I feel like I’m going to explode.”

“Because you’re…” She swallows. “Horny?”

There’s no judgment in it. Just curiosity. Maybe a hint of caution.

“No,” I say. “Because you’reyou.And I like you, Em. I think I’ve liked you a lot longer than I realized.”

She stares at me, stunned. Mouth slightly open, she doesn’t look freaked out. If anything, she looks breathless.

“You want to kissme?” The awe in her voice nearly undoes me.

“Have you ever kissed a girl, Em?”

She freezes, deer-still. Her head tips slowly side to side.

I take a step closer. Not crowding her. Just enough.

“Do you want to?”

I won’t push her. But Ihaveto ask. Because the way she’s looking at me—it’s not a no.

“Y-yes.” Her voice wobbles on the single syllable.

I lean in, slow and deliberate. Letting her see me coming. I tilt my head and press my mouth to hers—not a kiss. Just a question. A whisper against her lips.

I do it again, firmer this time, my hand coming up to cradle her jaw.

She’s rigid beneath me, holding her breath like she’s afraid to move.

“Relax,” I murmur.