Page 137 of Slow Heat

Jason raised a brow. “And now?”

Vale lifted his brow in return. “Now?”

Jason laughed and kissed Vale’s mouth before pressing kisses to each tattoo. “Now they’re ours. No matter what we do, you’re still Vale.”

Vale reached up and grabbed Jason’s collar, tugging him up to stare into his eyes. “You said something about your tongue and my ass. Don’t be all talk, baby alpha.”

Jason knocked his hand away and placed his own carefully on Vale’s throat. “You’re bossy for an omega.” He squeezed lightly and then kissed Vale’s red mouth. “I like you that way.”

Then he flipped Vale over, shoved his legs apart, and rimmed his hole long and hard, until he came, trembling and gasping Jason’s name.

After the sex,Vale helped pack up the rest of Jason’s things. He sang a little tune under his breath, something he’d heard his pater sing years before. Jason hummed along, providing harmony, and before Vale knew it, they had three stuffed bags worth of belongings to join the mess at Vale’s house.

But as Vale turned to unlock the bedroom door, Jason gently grabbed Vale’s hand and said, “Let me show you one more thing.”

He opened the window that overlooked the beautiful yard and climbed out onto the roof beneath it. Kneeling on the opposite side, he stretched his fingers out to Vale.

Vale shivered.

The memory of their first interview through his study window rose, sweet and absurd, to the front of his mind.“I’m here now.”Vale reached outside, took Jason’s hand, and let him lead him out onto the slates.

Vale sat down, taking in the yard, the house next door, and the trees reaching up to the blue sky. “This is quite the view. I’m afraid there’s nothing like it at my house.”

“But you’re there, so it will be perfect,” Jason said, leaning back with his elbows against the roof and his knees pointing up at the sky. He tilted his head back, and the line of his neck was interrupted by the bump of his Adam’s apple. Vale’s mouth watered. He wanted to kiss it.

“I first read your poems out here,” Jason murmured.

“Oh, really? Funny, because I’m writing a poem about you right now.”

“You are?”

Vale chuckled. “Yes. In my head.”

“Tell me.” Jason sat up. “Do you need paper? Should I get some for you? I don’t want you to forget it. You really should write it down.”

Vale laughed, the sound echoing against the house and out over the autumn leaf-strewn yard. “You truly want me to write poems about you?”

“And publish them. Yes.” Jason nodded excitedly. “I think everyone needs to know how much you love my cock. You need to tell them. In a very explicit but elegant way.”

Vale laughed again. “I thought you were going to put an ad in the newspaper about it.”

“But this is much classier. Much more upper crust.” He winked and tugged Vale closer. “I’m going to be Jason Sabel, world-renowned scientist and heir to my father’s company one day. We can’t look cheap while letting the world know I’m the greatest alpha you’ve ever known.”

Vale rolled his eyes before leaning over to whisper the opening line in Jason’s ear.

“Yes, I love it,” Jason said, taking Vale’s chin in hand. “What comes next?”

The second line of the poem was swallowed by Jason’s mouth. Vale didn’t protest. Pressed back against the sun warmed slate roof, he tugged Jason down on top of him. The blue sky stretched above, the world spun on around them, but on the roof outside Jason’s bedroom, they were all that mattered.

Alpha and omega, coming together, full circle.

The beginning and the end.

EPILOGUE

“Are you sureit was wise to ask Urho along?”

Rosen poked Vale in the ribs, nodding to where Jason and Urho stood knee deep in the crashing waves, talking endlessly aboutscience. Urho had agreed to take Jason on as a research assistant during his sophomore year at the university and now they were altogether too chummy.