I didn’t even realize she was getting closer to me while I spoke.
“How did you work through it?”
“Time, mostly, and having people who cared about me on my side. You have plenty of both of those things,” I say, turning my back to her so that I can sear the lamb. “You’re the only one who determines your success, not a dollar amount, not some corporation, only you.”
I hear the stool scrape against the floor, but I don’t expect her to come behind me and wrap her arms around my waist in a hug, resting her cheek against my back.
“I really needed to hear that, thank you,” she says.
“I want to always be here for you.”
She squeezes me tighter and comes to stand next to the stove with me. She sniffs. “So, what are you making now?”
The rest of the dinner goes better than I could have imagined. Maisie is easy to talk to and there isn’t any more awkwardness around those first weeks when she got here. We’re starting a new chapter, and I’m not about to fuck it up.
We’re sitting on the couch in the lounge, the fire only smoldering at this point, both of us with a glass of wine in hand.
“What was it like growing up here?”
“At the Heather Beag?”
“Yeah. Was it weird having people come in and out? Did you have a bunch of secret love affairs here when you were a teenager?”
“If anyone could sweep a tourist off their feet, that would be Graham. For a long time, it was hard. I wanted to be back at my old house with my parents. By the time I’d adjusted to living here, I was an older teen and spent most of my time either out with my friends or in the kitchen helping Nan.”
She scoots toward me a millimeter at a time.
“Callum, are you going to make a move soon?” she asks, and I just blink at her.
“I…yes?”
She grins at me, fisting my T-shirt and bringing my lips to hers. Her lips are sweet like wine and plush against my own.
Raspberry tarts are now my favorite dessert. I’d always been a fan of the berry, but now I realize it’s because it’s the major note of my Omega’s scent.
I lick my lips as she parts from the kiss.
“Are you going to take me home? Which is also your home?”
Her flirtation emboldens me as I slide my hand from the side of her face to her throat, not even squeezing, just holding her there.
“Is that what you want, Maisie?”
She bites her lip and looks up at me from under her lashes. “Yes, Alpha, that’s exactly what I want.”
I don’t think I’ve moved so fast in my life. Maisie yelps as I pick her up and toss her over my shoulder. It quickly turns into laughter as I grab her coat and my keys and bring her out to the truck.
I’m hard the entire drive home, and Maisie only makes it worse, torturing me with her hand on my lap the whole way.
When we finally get home, of course, Lain and Greer are there.
“Nope. She’s mine for the night. No,” I say, dragging her into my room, a place she’s never been before. I can tell she wants to explore, but that will have to be for later.
She’s lucid, healed from her heat, and I’ve never been intimate with her under the right circumstances. Our first kiss was because she was protecting me. The first time I went down on her was because she figured out I was her scent match and I was none the wiser. Then there was her heat. Right now Maisie is herself and she wants me and fuck, do I want her right back.
She tried to get a good look at my room, but I don't have the patience for it. Instead, I’m undressing her and myself as fast as I can.
Knowing she wants me for me this time has me feeling feral. Her scent is perfuming all over my room and I want it to smell this way forever. I gently put her glasses on the counter, grabbing the back of her neck and kissing her frantically.
