Page 51 of Slick Trip

“What do you think it means? It means we’re together.”

I pinched him again.

“Together how?”

“Stop pinching me like some deranged lobster! We’re together as a couple. You happy with that?”

“As a romantic couple, right? And not like . . . a couple of bros hanging out.”

“Don’t know how romantic I can be,” Jon said, shrugging. “I don’t really know about shit like that. But if you’re asking whether we’re together forever . . . Yeah, we are. And if you’re asking whether I’ll love you until the day I die. . . I will. I fucking will, Cooper.”

I could only stare at him. “That was so romantic. Seriously. All hail Jon, the romance king.”

“The heat melting your brain?”

“You write Harlequins in your free time, don’t you?”

“What the fuck is a Harlequin? Anyway, the thing you said about me ruining you for other people?”

“Yeah?”

“What did you think would happen when we kissed?” He sounded ridiculously smug. So pleased with himself he nearly levitated off the bed in his Alpha audacity. It should’ve annoyed me, but it didn’t. It made my knees weak.

“You’re very self-assured,” I managed to say. “And bold.”

“Alphas are.”

“Look who’s suddenly an expert! What about Omegas? What are we like?”

Jon’s attention settled on my face, then lower and back again, so slowly it was almost agony.

“Horny,” he said, pressing a kiss to the corner of my mouth. I snorted. Jon saying “horny” was too funny. Then he pressed his thumb against my lower lip. My mouth opened instinctively, and I drew the tip of his thumb inside, moaning around it. A dark satisfaction flickered in Jon’s expression before he slowly pulled his thumb away.

“That was a coincidence,” I lied, my face burning.

“Needy,” he continued.

I shivered. Yes. I was so needy for Jon that the word found home in the hollow of my bones.

“I don’t recognize that quality at all,” I claimed. Smiling like he knew better, Jon hooked a finger under my chin and lifted it up.

“And in case of this particular Omega, very fucking bratty.”

“Don’t act like you don’t like it.”

“Oh, I like it. You know what else I like? Taming your bratty ass.”

Groaning, I leaned forward, burying my face in the crook of his neck and letting his scent consume me.

“Are you going to always take care of me? Please?”

Jon didn’t answer with words. He just wrapped his arms around me, lifted my face toward his, and kissed me.

17

Ready

JON