"That's different."
"Is it?"
He opens his mouth, closes it, then concedes the point with a slight dip of his chin. "Fair enough."
"I'm not one to dwell," I say. "Once I've made a decision, I stick to it." I reach up and push a rivulet of water off his forehead because it's bothering me. "I only needed a minute to get my head around it. That's all."
Cliff catches my wrist as I lower my hand, holding it loosely, his thumb moving across my pulse point. His eyes drop to my mouth in a way that does immediate, wonderful things to my nervous system.
"Just a minute?" he says, his voice dropping by half a register.
"Don't push it," I say, but I'm already leaning in slightly and we both know it.
He smiles. Actually smiles, wide and real, which is rare enough on Cliff's face that it always stops me for a second.
"I heard you last night," I say, before he can kiss me and make me forget what I was going to say.
He raises one brow. "Heard me?”
"Yes.” I hold his gaze. "Through the wall. I heard you and Raff. With her."
Something shifts in his expression, becoming careful. "And how did that make you feel?"
I think about lying again. About shrugging it offor making a joke or doing any of the seventeen things I usually do when I don't want to process something difficult.
Then I think about what I said to myself in the mirror less than ten minutes ago about being stupid.
"Jealous," I say. "And also pretty horny, if I'm being completely honest."
Cliff stares at me for exactly two seconds.
Then he laughs, low and warm, then he pulls me in by the back of the neck, pressing his lips to my forehead.
"God, I love you," he says against my skin.
"I know," I say into his chest. "Now, are you going to do something about the horny part or not?"
Cliff pulls back to look at my face, and I watch the smile on his face fade slowly, replaced by something that makes my stomach drop in the best possible way. His eyes darken and his jaw sets, and he looks at me like he could eat me alive.
"Turn around," he growls softly.
"Yes, alpha," I say, failing completely to suppress a grin as I spin.
Cliff’s hands find my hips again, and he walks me forward until my palms hit the cool tile of the shower wall, and I spread them flat against it and drop my head forward as he moves behind me.
The full length of my alpha presses against my back, warm and solid and very big.
"You know," he says against the back of my neck, his lips barely touching my skin, "being jealous isn't a bad thing."
"I'm aware," I say, waiting for him to take me.
"It means you want something." His hands slide from my hips around to my stomach, pulling me flush against him. His cock is hot and thick against the small of myback, already so hard it makes my mouth water. "And wanting things is good."
"Are you giving me a therapy session right now?" I ask. "Because the timing is a little off."
He bites the side of my neck, and I shut up immediately.
"What did you want," he murmurs against my skin, "when you heard us?" His knees bend and hips push forward, slipping his cock over the wet seam of my ass.
