Page 14 of Worthy or Knot (Serendipity Omegaverse #3)

Fourteen

COLE

M y hand tightens on the disposable cup. New nerves squeeze my stomach and tighten my throat. Charlotte freezes beside me.

“Sorry, did I say something?” she asks, twisting to see me.

“He told you?”

Her teeth bite into her plush lower lip as she nods. “Yeah, he told me when we went exclusive.”

The awkward fear I might fuck all this up by mentioning it falls away, and I can breathe without feeling like I might throw up the coffee. I force my grip to loosen on the cup.

“That saves an awkward conversation,” I offer with a half-smile. She relaxes back into my side with a small laugh.

“I guess it does,” she says. She takes a long drink before sighing. “But yeah. Marcus has been my only partner since designating.”

I can’t help but frown.

“Marcus said you’ve been together for two years?” It had struck me how the timing lines up with when the doctors convinced me to suppress the bond after hoping futilely for a year I’d be able to find him.

“Yeah, our anniversary is in October,” she says.

“Did you not have any partners during college? You went to Juilliard, right?”

I’ve read the Council’s packet through more than once, trying to absorb everything I can about Pack Harper. She’s been dancing for the New York City Ballet for the last three years after graduating from Juilliard’s dance program.

She sighs but snuggles deeper into me, her knees draping across my thigh.

“I had one serious relationship while in school. He was a Beta.” She takes another long drink. “What you’re trying to decide to ask is when I would have designated if the only person I’ve been with since is Marcus.”

“Guilty,” I admit.

My cheeks flush, and her lips curve in a half-smile that lights her eyes without dulling the worry in them.

“I only designated seven months ago, right before Christmas,” she explains breathlessly. “The first gala we went to I wore a blue pin rather than red. I think I still have it in a drawer somewhere at home.”

Holy crap.

I think back over those first few months I’d designated, the overwhelming urges and that first heat.

I’d had to be sedated through it. The haze and the need had been…

Well, nothing really compares to it. It had taken nearly that entire first year to really become comfortable in my skin and adjust to all the changes.

Scarlett and Violet had been similar, surviving that time of transition but not really thriving.

Well, Violet did all right through it until her heat and Sienna faked a breakup letter from her boyfriend.

“To be honest,” Charlotte continues, pulling me from the thought, “all of this still freaks me out a bit. Sometimes this aggression will just… be there all of a sudden. I wanted to punch that woman in there for simply smiling at you. The girl I was before designating? She didn’t have a single violent bone in her body.

” She sits up, putting that space between us again.

“I’m pretty terrified I’m going to mess this up and screw over you and Marcus reconnecting. ”

Tenderness fills me. I’m so scared they’re only trying to make this work because of the bond, and she’s worried she’ll be the wedge that separates us all?

That has one of us filling out the reassignment paperwork to have me sent to another pack somewhere else?

I set my half-full cup on the ground and then gently guide Charlotte’s face up to mine with a finger under her chin.

“Don’t worry about me and Marcus,” I tell her. God knows he’s done a good enough job avoiding me since they flew in last night with no help from anyone else. “Instincts are instincts. They’re made to dovetail with an Omega’s.”

Her throat ripples as she swallows, and then sage is overpowering the salt of the ocean. My dick jumps.

“I liked that you were so quick to stake your claim,” I admit, my eyes locked on her lips now.

“Really?”

Instead of answering her, I pull her to me and kiss her, letting my hand move to palm the nape of her neck.

Her hair twists around my fingers as I try to savor the first trace of her taste.

God, she tastes so damn good, like something sweet and yet savory with the bitterness of the coffee still lingering on her lips. I revel in everything about her.

There’s a moment of hesitation, of her not responding, and nerves twist my stomach, but before I can pull away and apologize, her palm is cupping my cheek.

The clean feel of her sage scent wraps around us again, and I groan.

The sound must give her courage—or maybe she was already going to move—because she straddles my legs in a fluid movement that sends a bolt of heat straight down my spine and to my dick.

It presses against my jeans, and I roll my hips in an attempt to alleviate the ache.

For a breathless few minutes, time ceases to exist, and I drown in the feel and taste of her, the Alpha the Council’s given me a chance to know and, hopefully, build a life with.

Her nails prick the skin of my neck as she moans, pressing her hips down into mine, the soft warmth of her making my already aching dick jump.

My hands run up her thighs, under her skirt.

She moans again, and I swallow the sound.

I need to hear her make that sound again, need her to cut me with her nails and mark me with her lips and bite ?—

With a desperate gasp, I pull away from her.

All at once, the sounds of the street around us slam back into my awareness.

Waves crash along the shoreline below. Birds perched on the ledge call out.

Someone’s heels click on the concrete sidewalk behind the bench. A kid’s laughter rings through the air.

Charlotte’s flushed, her chest heaving with her panting breaths. She’s even more beautiful like this. It makes me want to see her first thing in the morning, her hair a mess and the sheets tangled around her legs.

It takes me two tries to say anything.

“What else would you like to see today?”

She purses her lips, and her eyebrows furrow.

I trace the small line that forms between them.

With a smirk, she twists her head, moving fast enough to catch my thumb between her teeth and biting softly.

Her tongue runs along it, the movement so similar to other activities it has my body tightening again.

“Charlotte,” I whisper, practically begging. “We’re in public.”

The reminder doesn’t deter her, and she moves her tongue over my thumb, her sage scent intensifying around us again.

I groan, the sound mournful to my own ears. “There’s probably cameras out here,” I admit. The hat does only so much to hide my face. “Unless you want some shitty keyboard gossiper to call you something rude in a post tomorrow, you should probably stop.”

With a sigh, she lets my thumb drop. She leans back, resting her weight on my thighs and palming my chest. She traces the collar of my shirt absentmindedly.

“Do you think there’s room on one of the whale tours this afternoon?” she asks after a minute. “It’s probably too late to find one for this morning, and Megan and Marcus aren’t with us.”

I ease my phone from my pocket.

Instead of pulling up whatever tourist sensation she’s thinking of, though, I text Papa.

Is Bill using the yacht today?

It only takes a few seconds for him to text back. God, all three of my dads are probably itching with impatience, wanting to know how this morning is going. I roll my hips to try and adjust my half-hard dick. Not that I’m going to tell them, but it’s going way better than I’d expected.

No. He says the staff are available though. You want to use it for your pack?

If that’s ok with him. Charlotte wants to try and see whales. Maybe dinner or a late lunch, too?

Should be fine. Any food needs?

Nope

Give me five to confirm details.

I lean forward and kiss Charlotte again, forcing it sweet and soft to avoid temptation while we’re still out where anyone can see.

“No luck?” she asks when I pull away.

“If I kissed you twice, would you think I’d found something? Or do you assume any affection is me trying to let you down gently?” I ask with a raised eyebrow, casually trailing my hand down her calf.

Her cheeks flush. “Fair point.”

And despite knowing that there’s probably someone being a snoop on us right now, I cup her face and kiss her that second time, letting this one linger.

She’s grinning when I pull away. “So, that’s a yes, right?”

My phone vibrates as I laugh. It’s Papa again.

You’re good. Any time after 12. He says to text Frank, his captain, when you’re within half an hour of the dock. I’ll send his number.

Thank you. Love you.

Love you too

“We’re booked for one,” I tell her.

And then I bask in her happy squeal. For the first time in a long time, contentment warms me, spreading through my chest until it lightens every part of me. I could get used to this.