Page 74 of Curvy Dirty Omega

I would not think about all the commands he could give me in that tone and how pleased he’d look when I complied. I refused.

“You may record our conversation with audio as well as video,” Melinda whispered, dropping her gaze first.

Liam took my phone and I turned to watch him set it up behind me so the camera was pointed at Melinda. Nothing but my shoulder in the frame. Then he took a notepad and a mechanical pencil out of his pocket, setting it on the table where my phone had been.

I stared at it, completely fucking speechless.

This was more than pretending to be in a relationship. It had to be. Nothing else made sense, not when he was paying such close attention to me that he’d brought me something to keep my hands busy.

Flipping the top of the notepad over, I saw the pages weren’t lined but blank so I could draw if I wanted instead of taking notes.

Rubbing my thumb over the edge of the paper, I tried not to read too much into this, but it was really fucking hard not to.

When was the last time someone cared enough to pay attention like this?

That boy. He’d buried treasures in the sand without even asking me if that’s what I wanted so I could experience the surprise and awe of finding whatever it was he thought I’d like. Most of the time it was a pretty rock or a warped spoon made out of silver, but sometimes it was colored glass with the sharp edges sanded down.

Liam actually reminded me a lot of that boy and my stomach flipped hard enough I almost gagged.

I needed to ask why he was doing this before I lost my mind and fell in love with him just because he reminded me of someone I didn’t know how to forget.

“I’ll be in Gideon’s study, working,” Liam told me, leaning down to kiss my cheek again. “Let me know when you’re done.”

I wanted to turn my head and kiss him for real – grab his hand and ask him to stay, but I didn’t need him to do my job. I was a professional and I needed to act like it.

“You can come back in fifteen minutes.” I took the mechanical pencil and the notepad, leaning back in the chair as I focused on Melinda. “It won’t take longer than that.”

Liam didn’t ask how I could possibly know that, he just turned and left, giving us the illusion of privacy.

I stood and checked to make sure my phone was filming us and the angle was right. “Was anyone with you Thursday night between 8:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m.?”

“No. I was alone.”

Without Liam to distract me, it was easier to focus on the scents in this house. It didn’t surprise me how clear the air was, but there wasn’t a single trace of Gideon at all. Almost like he was never here.

“Where were you?” Turning back to Melinda, I took my seat and focused on my notepad to make this a little easier on her, but I watched her closely from under my lashes.

“I was here in my home, sleeping.”

Looking up from the blank page, I saw she was watching me just as closely as I was watching her.

Confirming where she was would be easy enough with all the security Valor had at their disposal, but there was something about this house that warned me it wasn’t as simple as it might appear.

This place wasn’t as empty as Liam’s. There were wedding and vacation pictures strategically placed, but unlike Liam’s, the air here was sterile. It was impossible to truly cleanse the air of the residents while they lived in their homes even with top-notch filters and cleansers. Pheromones seeped into the walls and furniture – clinging to the most innocuous thing.

Yet, there was barely a trace of Melinda let alone anyone else, which implied there was someone coming to this house who shouldn’t be here.

Then there were Melinda’s pheromones.

Here in her home, she didn’t need to wear scent blockers but I could see the slight sheen of the film on either side of her neck. Even still, I could smell the sweet scent of an omega with lingering traces of an unfamiliar alpha on her.

Without the bond, there should be no trace of an alpha on her at all unless she was seeing someone else.

Not only that, but there was also a gentle scent that reminded me of milk, making her natural allspice and pumpkin a little creamier. I’d write it off as a scent specific to her, but I’d smelled that exact note on more than a few omegas over the years.

Melinda was pregnant.

Did Liam know? Could he smell it like I could, or was this one of those things normal people couldn’t pick up on?

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