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Dio chuckled at the stunned look on my face as he grabbed me, pulling me in tight to his body, before kissing me thoroughly. He slid his hands down through the low sides of my overalls and under my boy leg underwear to grab my bare ass, touching a lot of skin on the way because of the cropped t-shirt I was wearing.
“I really like these overalls,” he mumbled against my lips. “I never knew baggy denim could be so damn sexy.”
I pulled away from him when my scent started spiking, passionfruit bleeding through the horrible perfume.
“Look what you did.” I said, waving my hands around, trying to waft clean air onto me and dissipate our mingled scents.
“I have zero regrets. I want the entire world to know you’re mine, Lex.”
He kissed me again lightly, then pulled the neck of my shirt to the side and licked over his mate mark as I gasped. It felt like he was tonguing my clit. I was about to grab him and make him follow through, but he spun away and disappeared into the bushes with a groan. Leaving me feeling achy and needy.Damn sexy ass alpha scrambling my brain.
I took three quick breaths in, then one long breath out. It was a technique Leif taught me when I was young called the bunny breath. He encouraged me to do it whenever he needed me to calm down and focus. I still did it sometimes, and it always gave me an instant sense of calm.
I was pretty sure Leif learned it from a parenting website. I used to catch him scrolling them sometimes, instead of looking up fart jokes like a normal kid. He was four years older than me, and I was grateful for him every day. He was the only real parent I’d ever known. Yet sometimes I worried I’d stolen his childhood.
I smiled when I thought of him and Maia. He’d been smitten at first sight and he deserved all the love in the world. Everything had changed for him when Maia stumbled onto our farm, and I was so glad she did. I hoped her heat was over soon. I couldn’t wait to spend more time with her. She was a cool chick, and way more badass than she realized.
There was so much I wanted to talk to her about right now. I didn’t regret mating Dio, but heading back into reality this morning I was starting to worry I didn’t know how to be a good omega for him. I didn’t want to let him down.
I was running on pure instinct at the moment while getting bombarded with new emotions and needs now that my omega was out. I was craving Dio’s touch, and I’d never felt that way about anyone before. Maybe there were things he needed from me, too, that I didn’t know about.
Enough Lexie, get your ass in the kitchen and stop mooning over alphas.
Pep talk over, I turned my butt around and got moving.
Everyone looked up as I appeared at the door. A chorus of greetings and women asking if I was okay followed me as I walked through. I grabbed an apron and fussed over putting it on, before anyone could get too close and hug me. I waved my hand in a shooing motion at them all.
“A tiny knock won’t keep me down for long. I’m fine, ladies.” I felt myself wince slightly as I reassured them. It felt like I was lying to them right now, letting them believe I’d had a concussion the last day or so. But I wasn’t ready to answer questions just yet.
These women meant the world to me, but I’d also helped most of them escape situations far worse than mine. I had become their safe space to land, so I had always kept my issues separate.
I looked around to see what needed doing. I spied Ava standing awkwardly behind a long stainless steel kitchen bench. It felt weird seeing Ava without Cary hovering. I hadn’t seen him leave her side since they’d arrived. Her face lit up when I noticed her and I gave her a grin as I headed her way.
“Is Cary healing okay? Where is he?” He’d been in a lot of pain the last time I’d seen him.
“Cary was with Nick earlier. He’s still limping a bit, but he won’t sit still.” Ava sighed and shook her head. “Nick’s been showing us around the farm. Cary wants to figure out where he can help.”
“Oh, okay. That’s good.” Cary didn’t seem like the type to sit around and let people wait on him, either. Lucky for him, there was always plenty to do on a farm. I looked around again to see what we could do to help.
“Do you want me to start the next batch of eggs, babe?” I called over my shoulder.
“Yes, please. Thank you.” Isabella sing-songed from across the kitchen. Isabella had worked in hospitality before she arrived here. She had been invaluable in helping us set up the function center that we were now using as the communal dining hall.
In a commercial kitchen, most kitchen hands addressed the head cook as chef, but that had felt weird here right from the start. It wasn’t our vibe. We were much more casual, but we still needed some kind of order to get things done. So we’d all taken to calling her babe when we were working. In this kitchen, she was the boss.
Without her, we’d all be lost. She’d become the unofficial mother hen of the group, which had taken some of the pressure off me when I kept bringing more and more broken, abused women home to the farm.
“Do you know how to cook scrambled eggs, Ava?”
Ava shook her head, seeming a little shy and flustered suddenly as she looked around at all the kitchen equipment. “They didn’t teach us cooking at the Palace. I’d love to learn, though, I’ve always wanted to.”
“I can teach you. Scrambled eggs are a simple place to start.” I gestured her around to my side of the bench and she came eagerly. Yet there seemed to be a hint of sadness about her, too. I wasn’t sure what was causing it.
“Are you okay? For real?” she asked quietly.
I looked at her and remembered her sweetly offering her help the other morning when we were talking with GG. “Could we maybe hang out for a bit after the breakfast is done? I could use your advice with, um, stuff.”
“Of course.” Ava said as she smiled warmly. She shifted closer to me and her nose wrinkled briefly, but she didn’t mention anything about the cheap perfume. She had perfect manners, like a well-turned out omega princess. Which is exactly what the Palace had trained her from a young age to be.
