Page 22 of Temporary Omega

Luca swallowed painfully, and began panicking, had the man changed his mind already? Was he about to kick Luca out? Crap, he knew it was too good to be true.

Luca felt fingers on his arm and looked down to see Lincoln’s fingers wrapped around his wrist, that small touch centered him quickly.

“I’m not kicking you out,” Lincoln said, his voice calm and soothing.

Luca sat in a daze and focused on that voice, but it took a moment for the words to penetrate his panicked mind.

Luca blinked until Lincoln was in focus, and looked away feeling sheepish. “Sorry,” he whispered.

“Nothing to be sorry about, you’re feeling unsettled and anxious, and I guess everyone knows ‘we need to talk’ is considered a sign of bad news.” Lincoln smiled then added, “Even though in this case it wasn’t.”

“No?”

“No,” Lincoln reassured him.

“Sorry about the panic attack. I’m not sure where it came from, it’s not something that’s happened before,” Luca admitted, still embarrassed at his overreaction.

“I’m sure your mind has just had too much thrown at it, and it felt safe for a moment, and it saw the safety slipping away and reacted accordingly,” Lincoln said matter of fact, making Luca stare at the man dumbfounded.

“Uhhh,” that was exactly how it felt. Like the rug was being pulled out from under him again.

“And I know you really wanted to make breakfast,” Lincoln began, his gaze fixed on Luca’s. “But I thought it was best we spoke uninterrupted, at least today. I promise you can make breakfast every other day.”

“Was I that obvious?”

“You looked like someone had kicked your puppy, after telling you Santa ate the Easter bunny,” Lincoln teased.

“I just wanted to feel useful,” Luca sighed, then lowered his head; that weariness he thought he’d shaken returning.

“Hey, hey listen to me. I didn’t bring you here to slave away for me, that’s not what this is about. And you are useful. We’re helping each other out, aren’t we?” Linc prompted.

“I guess, but it kind of looks like I’m getting more out of it than you are,” Luca replied.

“That’s where you’re wrong. You’re helping me make my papa happy, and that’s priceless to me,” Lincoln insisted.

Luca looked at the man, like really looked at him, and saw the sincerity in his eyes. The alpha would do anything to make his papa happy. And now Luca would do whatever it took to make sure the alpha achieved that.

One of them may as well get the whole being a good child thing right. And since Luca had failed woefully, well…

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

11

Linc

Lincoln had left for work after breakfast with Luca. He had to admit having breakfast at his table with someone to talk to wasn’t half bad. He usually had breakfast at his desk in his office served by his assistant while looking at his itinerary for the day.

He had considered taking the day off and taking the omega out to pick up new clothes and whatever else he would need to replenish all that he’d lost.

Luca had balked at first when Linc handed him the black card, flat out refusing to pick the card up, until Linc pointed out he had nothing, and his belongings were destroyed the previous night.

A part of Lincoln had wanted to tag along, but he’d known it was a bad idea because of how much he did want to go. This was nothing more than two people in a mutually beneficial partnership.

So why had the scent of Luca’s arousal been his undoing? He’d stepped away from the omega like he’d been burned. And clearly Luca thought it was a bad idea because neither of them addressed the situation; instead they’d both refused to look at each other.

Even now in the middle of his day, he couldn’t stop thinking about how the omega was getting on. Linc had offered Luca the use of his chauffeur and one of his cars, so he knew the man was safe. But somehow that wasn’t enough to stop him thinking about Luca.

Maybe it was just his alpha instincts to an omega under his protection, but Linc knew that didn’t explain his behavior from the moment Luca had looked at him with those clear blue eyes and taken Linc’s hand, something had sparked or fluttered to life.