Page 78 of Slow Heat

Three men stood on the lawn behind him in similar garb, carrying garden tools. There was a work truck in the street behind them. The side of it readGarden Grow– Betas for Hire.

Jason pushed a hunk of blond hair away from his eyes. “It didn’t snow.”

“No. It didn’t.”

“We’ll have to go sledding another time. But the cold last night got me to thinking. If I’m going to do anything about your garden, I need to get started before the ground freezes. Mox, Jim, and Roe, the betas my parents hire, agreed to come over with me and get started today if that’s okay. We have a lot to do. If I remember, the place is pretty overgrown.”

Vale blinked at Jason in the pale light glinting through the trees. His blue eyes glowed like the sea in high summer, and his cheeks were pink from the chill. “Do your parents know you’re here?”

“Of course. They dosed me extra, don’t worry.” Jason grinned.

Vale flushed, a wave of heat rising through him as slick dampened his asshole.

Jason’s nostrils flared and his eyes glinted dangerously. “Oh.”

Vale groaned, wiped a hand over his beard, and said, “Hold on a minute.” He closed the door in Jason’s face and took a deep breath in and out, trying to still his pulse. Ridiculous pheromones. He was a grown man, for wolf-god’s sake.

He turned to the coatrack by the door, grabbed Jason’s coat, took a long sniff of it, reveling in the hints of pencil, earth, and something spicy. He opened the door again. “You left this last night.”

Jason took the coat from him, smelled it, too, and smiled. “Now it smells like your house. And you.”

“I thought it smelled like you, actually.”

Jason gazed at Vale with such intensity it made more slick spread around his asshole. “Did you like that?”

Vale groaned again, glancing over Jason’s shoulders to where the beta gardeners stood talking quietly in a huddle in his front yard. “I did.” At that admission, his body betrayed him even more. His cock thickened and rose, and his hole grew sopping wet. He’d have to change his underwear.

Jason’s jaw clenched, and he leaned the shovel against the side of the house. Pressing his coat back through the doorway, he said, “Keep it then. I won’t need it today. I’ll be plenty warm once I start working.”

Vale took it without argument, and he quivered as Jason’s scent wafted over him again.

Jason glanced over his shoulder toward the men he’d brought with him. “I could send them away. I can smell how you’re opening for me. And if you consent, I can do something about that.” He gestured down where his hard cock distorted the front of his work pants.

“Protocols,” Vale rasped, his own dick throbbing now and his nipples grazing the front of his shirt, roused by more than the cold air outside.

“Who cares? We’re already wrong by cultural standards. You want to feel me. I want to feel you.” He took a step forward, pupils dilated and mouth open as though he was going to bend for a kiss.

“Stop,” Vale whimpered. He squeezed his eyes closed to get himself under a semblance of control. “I thought you said they dosed you.”

“They did. Maybe they need to doseyouwith something, though, because you’re soaked for me. You shouldn’t suffer when I know what I want.” But he hesitated just at the threshold. “It’s up to you.”

“Impudent brat.”

Jason’s eyes glinted. “I should spank you for that.”

Vale’s knees quivered, and he shut the door until it was just open an inch. “Yes, you may clear out my garden,” he said through the crack, trying to get some dignity back when he wanted nothing more than to pull Jason in the house, fall on the floor, shove his pants down and get spanked—then fucked—until he couldn’t see straight.

“If you’re sure.” Jason’s eyes sparkled.

“I’m sure,” Vale said, his heart racing.

Wolf-god, Jason was so young, so inexperienced, he was probably all talk anyway. He wouldn’t know what to do if Vale let him in the house. He’d have no clue where to start with a proper spanking and fucking. Right?Right?

Vale had to believe that or he’d go mad.

Jason nodded and blew a strand of his blond hair out of his eyes, but it only landed back against his cheekbone again. “We’ll be around back. It’ll probably take most of the day.”

“I’ll have lunch ready for you by noon then.”