Page 3 of Operation: CuddleDom (The Port Haven Omegaverse #9)

JUSTICE TWILL

Daisy:

We need to talk.

It was the third “we need to talk” message she had sent today. I’d been doing an excellent job of avoiding her. I wasn’t really sure why. Maybe I just didn’t want to stand in her firing line and get called on my bullshit. I slipped the phone into my back pocket and stepped into our apartment.

I immediately smiled.

The place was a wreck. Paint swatches decorated the walls like abstract art, and boxes were stacked up by the door.

Most were returns. I’d been one-click-buying and asking questions later.

Working with an interior designer and balancing four people’s tastes was more involved than I’d thought.

But the chaos meant something now. People lived here. It was home.

Music poured from the kitchen, but it was the laughter that drew me there.

Theo stood at the island, flour dusting his forearms as he tossed a disc of dough into the air.

Mackenzie danced around him, a wooden spoon in one hand, belting out the chorus to some pop song I didn’t recognize.

Ren leaned against the counter, a beer in hand, watching them with that same dumbass grin I was probably sporting.

For a moment, I just stood there, letting the scene wash over me. Two months ago, I’d come home to empty rooms and silence.

“Justice!” Mackenzie spotted me and practically squealed. She abandoned her spoon and threw herself at me, filling my mouth with her tongue. She tasted sweet. Her hands went around my waist and under my t-shirt, her warmth against me stealing my breath and making me instantly hard.

I staggered and let the wall catch us. She drank me in, her tongue desperate and hungry against mine.

“Do we need to clear the counter off for you two?” Ren drawled.

Mackenzie giggled and broke our kiss. “We’re making pizza. Homemade!” She pulled me to the counter and wrapped me around her like a blanket. I closed my eyes for a second. She felt so damn good in my arms.

“Right on time,” she said with a smile. “How do you always manage that?”

“Years of practice.” I pressed my lips to her temple, letting her citrus scent fight to overpower the garlic and bread.

“I’m teaching them how to make dough,” Theo announced, gesturing to the array of toppings scattered across the counter.

“He’s been insufferable,” Ren added, crossing the room to place a cold beer in my hand. His fingers lingered on mine. “Apparently, the way we’ve been eating pizza wrong our entire lives.”

“Not wrong,” Theo corrected, “just inferior.”

I took a long pull from the beer.

“So what do you want?” she asked.

“You. Always you,” I said, and then realized I’d slurred the question into her ear like I was drunk on her.

“No, silly. On your pizza,” she laughed.

“Right. Food.” I took a breath to clear my head and straightened to get on with the serious business of choosing toppings. I stepped back, reluctantly dropping my arms from her, but she snatched me right back.

“We’ll do it together.” She patted my hand that was resting on her tummy. “I want veggies. You?”

“I’m a simple guy. Just pepperoni.” I traced my fingertips up her sides as she reached across the table for toppings.

“This ban on mushrooms is frankly silly,” she said, popping a slice of pepperoni in my mouth, over her shoulder before dealing them out onto the dough.

“What’s silly about it? You don’t like them.” I whispered into her ear. She bent her neck, offering it to me. The bite mark there stood out, practically glowed. Even thinking about my mark on her skin got me hard. As if I wasn’t already.

“Justice!” Mackenzie nudged me. “Theo says you have to choose a side. Anchovies. Yes or no?”

“No,” I said firmly, meeting Theo’s betrayed expression with a smile. “But we can put them on half.”

“Traitor,” Theo muttered, but there was no heat in it.

The oven beeped. I jumped slightly.

“He’s never heard his oven make a noise before,” Ren snarked as he pulled the door open and slid two of the pizzas in.

“That’s right. I’m a four-star restaurant takeout kind of alpha,” I laughed.

I took a half step back again, feeling like I shouldn’t be crowding Mackenzie while she was trying to get the pizza done. The second there was a breath of space between us, she reached back for me like she couldn’t bear not to be touching me. Liar. You’re the greedy one.

She quickly wiped her fingertips on a dishcloth and raked all her hair to one side, baring her neck for me, again.

I was lost for a moment. She was so soft and warm under my fingers.

Her scent rose off of her, the citrus softened by floral notes.

It was becoming more woodsy now, too. Theoretically, I knew pack bonds altered scents, but to experience it?

To actually smell that she was mine? It went right to my dick.

Being this close to her felt divine, like all of her sunshine was warming me, soothing away crappy work bullshit.

She turned in my arms suddenly. A slice of pizza suspended in the air between us. I shook off some confusion. Had I really been standing here, sucking up her scent and aura long enough for pizza to get made?

“No anchovies,” she said, wrinkling her nose in that cute way.

I bit the point of the pizza. It was heavenly.

She swiped her thumb across my lower lip, catching a dribble of sauce.

I stepped to the side to grab a napkin, but she turned again in my arms, putting my hand on her hip like she didn’t want me to let go.

And that’s how dinner went. Ren pulling pizzas out of the oven.

Theo and Mackenzie chattering around full mouths, and me, eating pizza one-handed, my omega pressed to me.

We never even made it to the new dining room set.

It was the best fucking night of my life.

Second best, after the night on the yacht, our first as a pack.

“Okay,” Mackenzie said, dusting her hands off on a napkin. “It’s time for your education.”

“My what?” I asked, checking the clock on the stove. It was barely 7 PM.

“Your cultural education,” Theo said, as he gathered plates. “It’s a crime against humanity that you’ve never seen ‘The Pack Next Door.’”

“The what?”

“Only the most popular show of the last five years,” Mackenzie said, taking my hand and leading me toward the living room where our new sectional dominated the space. “Everyone’s talking about the season finale next week, and you haven’t even started.”

“I’ve been busy,” I said, feeling oddly defensive. “Running a company doesn’t leave much time for television.”

“Running a company doesn’t mean ignoring important cultural moments,” Theo said.

I flashed a look at Ren, hoping he’d back me up or get me out of this. “Dude, I watch every week. So does every single person in Port Haven.”

I took my position at the end of the sectional.

We all fell into place like we had assigned seats.

Me and Ren anchoring the ends, our omegas cushioned safely between us.

They, of course, were curled around each other as usual.

I shifted to get comfortable and shake off some of the irrational protectiveness that my inner alpha was screaming for.

That was the most unsettling thing about forming a pack, being pack lead.

All the new emotions and drives that I now had to figure out how to handle.

Ren settled in on the opposite end, smirking at me over Theo’s head. “You’re going to love this show. It’s about this dysfunctional pack of rich assholes.”

“So it’s basically a documentary about our neighbors,” I grumbled.

Theo queued up the first episode while Mackenzie gave me a detailed explanation of the characters and why I should care about them.

The show started, and I tried to follow along, but my mind kept drifting.

The fourth-quarter projections would be due next week.

Glenn had scheduled three back-to-back investor calls. And Daisy…

“Theo, we need popcorn,” Mackenzie announced suddenly, pausing the show fifteen minutes in.

“On it,” he said, untangling from Mackenzie. “Don’t bother pausing. I’ve seen it a hundred times.”

Mackenzie hit play and flopped back on the couch, stretching out and laying her head in my lap. I tensed immediately, my hands frozen in mid-air, unsure where to put them. I wasn’t used to this level of casual intimacy.

“You’re missing the best parts,” she said, looking up at me. “Your brain’s too busy.”

“Sorry,” I stretched one arm along the back of the couch and tentatively let my other hand rest on her head.

Slowly, I let my fingers comb through her hair, picking it up and letting it fan through my fingers.

It was impossibly soft. A strand snagged on one of my chipped nails and tugged.

I held my breath, half expecting her to sit up and yell at me.

But she sighed and snuggled into my thigh.

I smoothed it all back and off her shoulders.

“I forget how tacky her nest was in the first season,” Theo said, rounding the couch with a giant bowl of popcorn.

My stomach flipped, knowing Mackenzie would sit up, and I’d lose this contact with her.

Theo, without missing a beat, settled on the floor, his back to the couch and offered up the bowl.

Mackenzie took a big handful, but I passed. My hands were already full.

They chatted and snacked. I knew I should pay attention.

This was important to them. But my whole being was consumed with feeling Mackenzie under my fingers.

I took a risk and dropped an arm from the back of the couch to rest on her upper arm.

I traced lazy circles there. She reached forward for more popcorn and fingers slid to her rib cage.

Mine .

The word circled my head. Raw, possessive, and tender at the same time. My fingers stilled. I shouldn’t be touching her as if I owned her. Like she read my thoughts, she reached for my wrist to rebuke me for being so forward.

No. She pulled my arm around herself like a living blanket and placed my palm right over her breast. My breath caught.

I glanced at Ren. He was focused on the TV, but his head was turned slightly toward me. A smile pulled at the corner of his lips. He had Mackenzie’s feet in his lap.

I circled my fingertips, feeling her heavy in my hand, her nipple getting hard. She was mine, ours. No one else got to touch her like this.

And then… she purred. She actually purred. The sound vibrated through my hand, right into my very soul. I shuddered, feeling her aura all around me, slipping into the places inside me I never wanted to look at. Claiming me, making me hers as much as my bite mark made her mine.

My phone buzzed again. Daisy would have to wait. Everything outside these walls would have to wait.

I had more important things on my hands.