Will reached down and pulled off his shirt, revealing a six-pack of abs and stroking-hard pecs to match. His nipples were pert, and his hands left my hair to pinch and play with them as I’d done the night before.
“Alpha, I’m going to…”
And before he could finish his sentence, the warmth sputtered into my throat.
He pulled out and sighed and straddled my legs, pushing me back against the leather sofa. “Do you see what I mean, Jack? Can’t you feel it?”
I responded, “I feel it, omega. I do. Come here.” I tucked his face into my neck while we were still panting from the climax. His scent wafted into my nose again, and I closed my eyes at the nearness of us. He was right. Will was so fucking right. I’d been lonely and desperate for human contact, male contact, omega contact, that I’d gone cold.
Chapter Eight
Will
We cuddled for over an hour before Jack extricated himself from my arms and pushed to his feet. I watched him put his pants back on and straighten his shirt from my position on the couch, wondering where we went from here. He’d opened his heart but hadn’t promised forever, not that I should expect him to. I’d told him I’d stick it out as long as I could and meant it. We’d had two extraordinary “getting to know you” sessions, and we lived in the same town. Just because I’d been crushing on him for months didn’t mean he felt the same.
But he’d sent me amazing flowers and had my car fixed and fed me chocolate and whipped cream and gotten me off twice to my returning the favor once. All actions that spoke to me, that met my needs, made me feel cherished. Cared for. I’d never gone for a guy so much older than me before, but he had no performance issues, at least so far. He just had a lot more life experience, which included one very painful relationship that left him wary.
I heard him rattling around in the kitchen, and soon the heady rich scent of coffee wafted toward my nose. Then the unmistakable sizzle of bacon hitting a hot pan. I adjusted my own clothing and followed my nose into a small-but-far-nicer-than-mine kitchen. The tablecloth was embroidered linen, the dark wood chairs padded with an earth-toned tweed. The cabinet off to the side held silver serving dishes, all polished and without a hint of tarnish.
“Nice dishes,” I commented. “My grandmother had a silver teapot, but it didn’t shine like that.”
He set the table with what even I knew had to be fine china and probably the set he used for breakfast. Gleaming white dishes with small delicate fruits dancing around the edge. I was so out of my league here. Waving me to a seat, he brought over a silver coffeepot along with a silver pitcher and sugar bowl. Hanging from a little hook on the bowl was a tiny pair of silver tongs.
While my host bustled around frying the bacon and scrambling the fluffiest eggs I’d ever seen, I added a sugar cube and a bit of heavy cream to my cup—which sat on a saucer of course—and stirred with a silver spoon. I wasn’t sure whether to be terrified or impressed. I’d met Jack at a barbecue, where he’d seemed as at home as he did here.
But could I be comfortable in his world? I hoped so.
By the time he filled my plate with those soft, golden eggs with a sprinkling of delicate green chives and slices of crispy bacon, and set an actual rack of toast like in some movie from half century ago, I’d decided I could learn to cope. Sure I could cook, but nothing I made in my little downtime between racing from doctor’s office to doctor’s office, filling in at the hospital when their regular staff went on vacation...well, I ate a lot of microwaved frozen dinners.
“Do you eat like this every day, Jack?” I asked between bites of food so good, I wanted to roll in it. Once again pointing out my peasant background.
He took a dignified sip of coffee and set his cup back in the saucer without the clink I made each time I put mine down. Mugs! What was wrong with mugs? “No, I usually have coffee and toast for breakfast, but”—his smile lit up his eyes and sent a shiver down my spine —”we used a great deal of energy this morning, did we not?”
I lifted a strip of food-magazine-worthy bacon. “Yes we did.” As I crunched through its perfection, I wondered if we’d be burning up yet more energy later. I wanted him inside me. Now. Well...after I ate all the food he’d made for me. After all, we weren’t animals.
A moment later, the landline phone I could see mounted on the kitchen wall rang. Jack sighed. “I’m sorry but this is business hours and that may be a customer. I’ll have to take it. If you’ll excuse me?” I nodded, my mouth full of crunch toast spread with soft butter and raspberry preserves.
He wiped his mouth with his cloth napkin and left the table, closing the kitchen door behind him. I continued to nosh, helping myself to yet another slice of toast and buttering it. But a moment later, Jack returned to the table. He did not sit down. “I have to go out.”
“What’s wrong?” I didn’t like the tension in his jaw. “Some kind of emergency?”
“Not exactly,” he replied. “But something unavoidable. Don’t disturb yourself. Please, finish your breakfast and leave the dishes just where they are.”
Hmmm. I looked around the house he proposed to leave me in with all its heirlooms and valuables. The jewelry store was also attached. I’d walked through it on my way in. “No, if you have to leave, I’ll go home and get cleaned up. I had some chores planned for today, anyway.” But the buzz of uneasiness inside me wouldn’t quit. “Are you sure everything is okay?”
He waved an elegant hand. “Oh yes. But thank you for asking.”
I rose, eyeing the remaining food with regret before circling the table and coming to his side. “I asked because I care and you suddenly look tense. But if you don’t want to talk about it, it’s okay. Will you call me later?”
“Maybe I’ll come by.”
“How do you know where I live?”
His smile wasn’t nearly as bright as before when he said, “Your car. But I think you figured that out. I glanced at the registration when I returned it to you this morning and picked mine up.”
“Also, how you knew where to send flowers?”
He shook his head. “Small town. I just told Vivian who I wanted them sent to. No address necessary.”
Resting my forehead on his chest, I nodded. “I hope you do find time to stop by. I can’t promise you anything like this to eat, but if you don’t mind potluck, I can cook something for us.”
“I’d like that.” He lifted my chin and pressed a soft kiss on my lips. “It’s been a very pleasant morning.”
“I’d call it awesome.” His kiss deepened and made me forget what else I planned to say.
Together we walked out to his car and I turned down his offer of a ride in favor of completing my run. I’d found more interesting ways to work out any trace of angst I might have left, but I had to do something to fill the hours between now and tonight.
As Jack drove off, I fell into a jog but only made it a few blocks before my phone went off in my pocket. Fishing it out, I saw Dr. Avery’s number so I answered. Turned out their weekend phlebotomist had called in and they needed an emergency blood draw for a patient who’d had an alarming result on a test.
“I’ll be right in,” I told the nurse, picking up speed to get home and dress. I had an awful feeling about whose blood I was heading there to draw.
Chapter Nine
Jack
I couldn’t believe this shit. My time with Will interrupted because of some bullshit error or stupidity in the lab.
I didn’t have time in my life for others’ asinine behavior.
Okay, I had all the time in the world.
I simply didn’t appreciate the wasting of said time, especially when it shot right in the middle of feeding my...Will.
I raced over to the doctor’s office, more pissed off than I had been in a week and burned tires pulling into the parking spot.
The place was packed. Sneezing and coughing sounds filled my ears, and I could practically feel the bacteria weaseling its way into my nose and ears, hell-bent on giving m
e an infection.
At the check-in station, the workers looked equally concerned about the sick noises, covering their mouths and squirting out gobs of hand sanitizer between patients.
“Jack Hendrix. I was called to redo some lab work.” I cleared my throat, determined to shake the onset nervousness from my voice.
“Yes, sir. Take a seat over there. That’s the well area.” The woman pointed to an area within spitting distance of the so-called sick area—the same area I’d chosen to sit in on my last visit. At least they were pretending to separate the two.
Ten minutes later, my knee shook like an earthquake. Every sound grew louder the longer I sat. My chest sank beneath the weight of something I couldn’t see.
The automatic doors opened and I inhaled for what seemed like the first time that day. Will walked in, this time wearing plain navy scrubs, lanyard around his neck holding his ID, and a water bottle in his hand. He took quick strides across the waiting room and winked at me before entering the lab room.
My insides pulsed, but only for a second before the anxiety returned to take its place.
No, it was all a mistake. They’d made a mistake. Someone in the lab was an idiot.
I was as healthy as a horse.
“Jack Hendrix, Lab A,” Will called out from the door shortly after, in his professional tone, the one that didn’t tell the entire place he was calling into the lab the man who recently gave him a blow job.
I stood and flattened my pants with my palms, removing the sweat from them at the same time.
In the lab, Will was setting up what looked like enough tubing to remove most if not all of my blood at one time. Seven vials lay on a tray along with a needle that could make an elephant shudder.
When I sat down on the vinyl-covered bench, Will placed the privacy screen behind him.
“Roll up your sleeves for me, Jack.” His voice had softened, but his eyes didn’t meet mine. Fuck, what I wouldn’t give for his eyes to look at me.
I rolled up the sleeves of my shirt and attempted to sit back and take a few deep, calming breaths, but nothing was working.
“Hey, love, it’s okay. It’s probably just a lab mix-up or some false results. Happens all the time. Trust me.”
I did. I trusted this male before me. And I shouldn’t.
Trust gets you in trouble and left at the altar like a fool.
My breaths weren’t coming any slower. My hands shook.
“Come here, alpha. I can’t draw blood with you shaking like this.” He looked around and then stepped forward and straddled my legs. Then pulled my head against his stomach and ran his nails against my scalp. I listened to the strength and rhythm of his breaths and forced myself to breathe the same.
“There you go. Everything will be fine. Good news or not, we’ll get through this, Jack. You and me. Now, let’s get this over with so we can know for sure. I’m pulling some strings to get this through the lab faster, even if I have to drive it in myself. You with me, Jack?”
Fuck, yeah, I was so with him.
I leaned back and attempted a smile, but it came out more like a growl.
“There’s my alpha. Grumpy and contrite. Let’s do this.”
He sat on the metal stool and before I could even come back to reality from his embrace, he was snapping the rubber tubing from my arm. “Done and done.”
He scribbled down some things on a sheet of paper and then moved the privacy screen back to its former place. A nurse stood on the side, a young woman, and took the vials from him. They exchanged some words and with a nod, she left.
“The lab is sending a special driver to pick it up. We should hear something by this afternoon. Let’s keep busy in the meantime. Makes the time pass faster.”
“Let’s?” I said, thinking that he’d come in for a full shift.
“Yes. You and me. Let’s go. I only came in for this.”
He’d gone home, gotten dressed, and come into work for me—just for me. Fucking good omega, even if he wasn’t mine.
“Let’s get out of town. I know a place.” In fact, I knew just the place.
“Can we stop at my house so I can change?”
“Of course. But I’m driving.”
He half smiled at me and then followed me out, at a good distance, of course. Then I followed him to his house and waited while he ran in, changed, and returned to hop into the passenger seat. His scent concentrated in the cab and all my nerves melted away.
“You okay?” he asked, buckling his seat belt.
“I think so. I think you can be a good distraction when you want to.”
He chuckled and took my hand. Tingles flooded my skin, and my stomach fluttered. Never had someone holding my hand made me feel the way Will did in that moment.
Will made hand-holding feet like the most romantic foreplay.
Chapter Ten
Will
I hadn’t lied. The labs made mistakes from time to time. I got called in for redraws a few times a month, and I hated the stress the patients were under while waiting for their new results. In Jack’s case, I’d been able, with the support of Dr. Avery, to pull in a few favors and get an answer the same day.
Also, a service I wasn’t able to provide to my other patients...distraction while waiting. It helped me as much as Jack because while I was always concerned with the patients I came in contact with, no other had been my alpha.
How cruel could life be if Jack’s health was in jeopardy right when we found one another. He was older than me...but not that much older. And he sure looked healthy. I was going to think positively while we waited for the results but if, heaven forbid, something was wrong, we’d face it together. If he would permit. Every time I drew blood I knew the possibility was there that something would turn up for the patient. I had a personal routine, a mantra. Good energy, positive thoughts, hopes for a long and healthy life.
With Jack, I’d amped it up by a lot. Even more on the second draw.
“So, where do we go from here?”
“Huh?” I was spending so much time thinking about making the afternoon pleasant despite our worries, I’d gotten lost in my own head. “Oh, drive straight for about five miles. We’re watching for a dirt road with a tall tree on each side and a little pile of rocks off to the side.”
“Sounds mysterious.” I liked hearing the humor in his voice. Sexy stuff.
“Well, it is and it isn’t. It’s a place all the locals know about, but we don’t want to attract strangers. They have a tendency to leave a mess behind, and we don’t want that.”
More than just trash, rumor had it the spring was a healing place. And although not everyone believed it, we did want to preserve the natural beauty. At one time, we’d been more open, even had a sign...but it had become a party site and drug mecca, and after spending weekend after weekend picking up garbage and used condoms, and drug paraphernalia, we’d actually destroyed the original track in and set up a new one with no sign.
I’d tell Jack the whole story later, but I didn’t want to tell him now that I’d picked this spot for its healing properties. Not that there was anything wrong with him.
But just in case.
We sailed down the road past a few farms and a lot of trees, in comfortable silence. Even with the Sword of Damocles threatening to destroy our happiness, it was hard not to be glad just to be together. At least that was how I felt. But Jack’s casual position gave me hope he felt the same.
Soon, we approached the twin sentinels, tall pines reaching toward the sky with the narrow dirt track between them. “Turn here,” I said. “It’s about a half mile back.”
Jack stopped just onto the road. “Is it rough?”
“Oh crap. We should have brought my car.” The Ferrari was a sports car, but its gleaming paint would not appreciate the pebbles kicked up along the road. I bit my lip, considering. “It’s not rough, and it gets a lot of use, but if you want to go back we can switch vehicles?”
He shrugged. “Nah. I can always get the
car detailed later and I’m curious about this place you’re taking me. What is it anyway?” He shifted back into gear and drove forward, slowly.
“You’ll see.” In fact, I could already see the clearing in the distance. Butted up against the side of one of the foothills, the water poured from a crack in a boulder to fill the pool below. Additional holes in the pool’s sandy bottom sent water frothing up to create a bubbling experience. “I hope you like swimming.”
“I didn’t bring trunks,” he asserted. “Are we likely to have company?”
“Nope. Only locals come here, and not often.” The trail ended in a narrow turnaround area and we climbed out. “What do you think?”
“Very pretty. Spring water, huh?”
“Yep. It’s a hot spring, but I like to come even on warm days. It’s a special place.”
He paused unbuttoning his shirt. “Like...a healing place?” God, nothing got past this guy.
I shrugged. “Some people think so.”
“And you thought it would be a good choice today?” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “In case, huh?”
“I don’t think anything is wrong with you, but I do know how worrisome it can be when you get a call back to double-check results. They are probably just being extra careful.”
“Or made a mistake?” He continued stripping, slipping his shirt over his shoulders and reaching for his belt. “I feel fine, if that matters.”
I watched every inch of toned, sexy man emerge from those clothes. How could anything be wrong with him?
“It matters. It matters a lot.”
Ripping my gaze from his bod, I pulled my T-shirt over my head and stepped out of my jeans. We were both naked and headed toward the pool when I heard the ringtone from the car.
We froze.
“That’s mine,” Jack said, turning to pad over the soft grass. “Think it’s the doctor?”
The Omega's Silver Alpha_MM Non-shifter Alpha Omega Mpreg_A Mapleville Romance Page 4
