Page 18 of Training the Alpha

“Must be a ballet thing,” he says. He sounds as if he’s holding his breath as I get close enough to press against him. “You’re here.”

“I’m here. I bought the ticket straight after the club.”

“Damn, coach,” he grins, looking giddy and beautiful. “You even wore a shirt.”

“Max and Jed had a field day with that,” I chuckle. “Jed was upset he wasn’t invited.”

Alex cocks his head. “You told them you were coming?”

“Mmhmm,” I nod.

Alex’s breath hitches as he presses our lips together, my hands coming to rest on his hips as the rush of kissing him mixes with a dizzying pride at the memory of his performance still replaying in my mind.

“What did you think?” Alex mumbles against my lips when we break apart for air, an uncharacteristic flash of apprehension rippling across his face. “Did you enjoy it?”

“Did you not hear the noises I made at your colleague?” I scoff. “Yeah, I fucking enjoyed it, Alex. You were… breathtaking. Magnificent.”

“Magnificent,” he repeats, letting his head fall back against the door with a satisfied hum and watching me through his lashes, his face taking on that relaxed, self-assured expressionthat’s made my stomach flip since the first second we met. “Keep going, I’m enjoying this.”

“Beautiful,” I say, dropping a kiss onto his jaw, working my way down the column of his neck. It feels so good to be close to him again that I actually feel lightheaded. “Stunning. Mesmerizing. Sexy as fuck, honestly.”

“Such a way with words,” he sighs, reaching down to twist the lock on the door. “Want to see me do the splits again?”

“Yes,” I murmur against his neck, his sharp, heavy alpha pheromones making fire flare hot in my stomach. “But not here. Wanna take my time with you tonight. My house is only a few blocks away, if you can wait.”

Inviting him back to mine was the first thing I thought of as soon as the curtain fell. His eyebrows rise in surprise, a disbelieving smile twitching at his lips as his tongue flicks out to swipe across them.

“I think that’s something worth waiting for,” he says, his feline eyes dancing. “Give me half an hour.”

—

“What are these?” Alex says, zeroing in on a stack of books on my coffee table before I’ve even locked the door behind us. Because of course, of all the books in this house, he’d pick out those ones.

He scoops one up, a hardback titledUnlocking the Alpha, flipping it over and studying the blurb. He showered at the theatre, washing off the stage make-up and adrenaline pheromones, leaving him bare-faced and smelling purely of himself.

I sigh, walking up behind him. “Don’t mock me. I can feel the sass ready to burst out of you.”

“I wouldn’t dare,” he says with a wink, leaning back against me when I slip a hand around his waist. “Is this a self-help book? Are theseallself-help books?”

“I told you I was going to try,” I say, squirming inside. “This is how I get better at things—I read books. It’s what I did with physio, then training. Talking wasn’t big in my household, growing up, so books filled the gaps. I need to learn the right… vocabulary, I guess. Reading helps. It’s the only way I know how to unpack all the shit that you’ve stirred up in my head.”

I jab him in his side, and he laughs, loud and bright, placing the book down and twisting in my arms to face me. He buries his fingers in my hair. “Are you blamingme?”

“Maybe. I didn’t say it was a bad thing, though.”

I kiss him, sliding the pads of my fingers up and under his cotton t-shirt, feeling the dormant power in his torso even as he melts against me.

“I missed you this week,” I mumble against his lips.

“Me too,” he says, letting me pull off his t-shirt and doing the same to mine, running his hands over my bare chest. “So much.”

The friction of his palms on my bare skin sends a jolt straight down my spine, all the restless, aching energy of the last week of separation and uncertainty evaporating as Alex’s scent wraps around me, heavy with arousal.

I drive him backwards until his calves hit the coffee table, sending a couple of books tumbling to the floor.

Alex chuckles. “Take me to your room before we wreck your living room. I’m too hyped up to be careful tonight.”

I don’t think I’ll ever get over the sight of Alex naked in my bed, and I wonder why in god’s name I haven’t had him here since day one. He looks like something carved out of marble, some mythical creature sent from another realm to tempt me, and I am totally incapable of resisting. I drop over him, pinninghim to the mattress, drinking down his breathy moans as my hands map the tight curve of his waist.