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Honeysuckle and ginger hit me a second after the sound of her voice. My memory whiplashed me back to the first time I had encountered her. Soft breaths and hushed moans, silken hair and warm skin, the look of fire in her eyes as the heat dragged her under. It sent a zing of pleasure up my spine and goosebumps broke across my skin, visceral need pouring into every cell of my body.
She was the only omega I had ever worked with who had combined her first time and her first heat. I had been her introduction to everything. Did she remember every second of it with the same clarity that I did? Did desire flood her system when she saw me again?
“Allie?” Her name on my tongue was a prayer I hadn’t dared whisper for so long.
“Hey!” She bounded up to me.
Her hair had grown out, spiraling in dark coils that fell to her waist. Her face was the same, though. Wide brown eyes, golden skin, and plump lips I couldn’t help but remember the taste of. Her body was tucked into jeans and a T-shirt for a band I had never heard of. I shoved down the surge of longing that rolled through me when she stopped in front of me.
“Hey,” I said, hoping I sounded casual. “Long time no see.”
“Oh my god, right? What? Four years?” Allie rattled off. “I asked for you with my next heats, but our schedules never quite synced up.”
I had known about each one since every request was logged in the system. At first the separation had been deliberate, but after the legal deadline had passed and I had inquired, Dr. J had told me she had lifted all of the bans in the system and she had nothing to do with us missing one another. Each time I had returned from helping one omega to see that she had been there and had to go with another alpha instead had been a kick in the teeth. I knew objectively she couldn’t have gone with me regardless, but now that so much time had passed I felt the loss of those opportunities.
The sting of those missed connections had been ever present.
“Do you want to grab a coffee?” she asked. “But not one of the ‘oh, we should grab coffee sometime’ kind of coffee. The kind where we actually do it and don’t say the same thing when we awkwardly run into one another in another four years. Is that weird to ask?”
She scrunched up her nose and I bit back a laugh. Her energy hadn’t changed a bit. I calculated how old she would be now—twenty-three—filling in the unsaid information that she was probably done with school now and had a job, was maybe moved out, maybe even had a partner.
“Oh, fuck it,” she said. “I’m asking anyway. So, yes? No?”
“Yes.” My laugh broke free and earned me a bright smile from her. I wasn’t sure how strong I was for this, but all of the barriers between us had crumbled into dust and I couldn’t stop myself from agreeing. I glanced down at the shopping cart I had entirely forgotten about. “Right now or later?”
Part of me was willing to abandon the cart in the aisle, but the other part reminded me that I needed to buy the dog food and get it home to the hoard of pups waiting for their dinner.
“Later tonight? We could have dinner.” Allie pulled out a business card from her wallet and handed it to me. “Text me?”
I held the card like a treasure, trying to disguise the fact that the mere brush of her fingers against mine had been an electric bolt through my body.
She grinned and walked away, turning at the last second to wink at me. We had only spent a week together, but what a fucking week it had been. Watching her blossom in our time together had been a gratifying experience that had carried me through my worst days on the job. I shouldn’t still be thinking about it, shouldn’t still be thinking of her.
A four-year obsession had culminated in this moment, and now that she was here, now that I could hope, I realized that I would never be free of her even if I walked away right now. Allie was a phantom, hovering over my life no matter how much time passed, whispering to me of what could have been.
I turned the card over in my hand. Allison Carmichael, Junior Architectural Consultant was laid out in crisp, clean letters. It was strange to think of her out in the world as a professional with a career instead of the university student I had last known. I tucked the card into my pocket and sped through the rest of my shopping before heading back to my new house.
A chorus of puppy howls greeted my arrival.
“I’m coming!”
I hauled the massive bag of food into the nursery room. A half dozen black-and-brown mutt puppies yipped at me, dancing at the edge of their pen for attention.
“Who’s hungry?” I laughed at the yips and arooos.
I emptied the food into the storage bucket and set about dishing up their dinner with some water and fancy additions because I liked to spoil them. I sat on the floor while they ate, showering attention upon them as they finished and came to me for love.
The business card in my pocket poked me. I fished it out and stared at it. How on earth was I supposed to approach this? I had never asked out a former client before, let alone someone who’d haunted my damn thoughts for years. My gaze slid to the puppies, and I snapped a picture on my phone. It was impossible to go wrong with a puppy pic. I sent it and set the phone down. My pride would have preferred I go about my day without checking it compulsively, but my pride would have to suffer.
The ping of a response sent my heart galloping.
Allie:
OH. MY. GOD.
I FORGOT YOU FOSTER PUPPIES!!!!
Relief struck me like a train. I could work with this.
