Page 48 of Lock

Just a little. Just long enough for my heartbeat to climb up into my throat.

The sheet had slipped down far enough that I only needed my fingertips—one tiny, curious tug—to see more.

I glanced at his face.

Still asleep?

God, I hoped so.

I caught the edge of the sheet between my fingers and eased it back?—

Damn it! Boxers.

Dark gray. Soft cotton. Unfairly modest for a man who looked like sin in broad daylight.

Disappointment hit me so fast I almost laughed.

Who got annoyed their kidnapper was wearing too many clothes?

Me, apparently.

He breathed out of again…warm, steady, and it brushed across my skin where I’d leaned closer without realizing it. His scent wrapped around me, and it was heavy with alpha-strong, pheromones that filled the air. And It tugged at something primal inside me, my omega instincts I’d spent years tamping down because Rowan hated when they showed.

A tremor rolled through my stomach. And I couldn’t even blame it on my heat—there was no fever, no slick, no three-day burn—just my body reacting to one alpha’s scent like it had been waiting for it.

I should move. I should get out of bed… find water…or better yet a way out, something.

Instead I stared, half in shock, half in… something else. Something low and hot and startlingly alive.

His arm was close enough that if I reached out, my fingers would touch his skin.

My hand twitched.

“Kellan.”

The voice came rough. Sleep-roughened. Angry?

Shit… so not asleep.

My stomach dropped straight through the mattress.

Before I could scramble back, his hand shot out and wrapped around my wrist, it wasn’t hard, just firm, just enough to make my whole body go still.

“Stop,” he growled, eyes still closed but brows pulling tight. “Stop looking at me like that.”

My breath skipped.

“Like… what?” I whispered.

“Like you want something I shouldn’t give you,” he said. “Not now. Not like this.” His thumb brushed once across my pulse. “You keep staring at me like that, omega, and I’m going to do something we’ll both regret.”

A shiver ran up my spine…fear and want tangled so tightly I couldn’t tell the difference.

I swallowed, throat dry. “What if… I wouldn’t regret it?”

His eyes opened.

Fuck why were they so blue? And full of something I didn’t have a name for.