Page 18 of Curvy Dirty Omega

This jerk was going to get me to cave, wasn’t he? Jesus fucking Christ. I was the biggest schmuck on the planet. A little sweet talk from a pretty alpha and my omega instincts were suddenly falling all over themselves to please him.

“You don’t have to believe me, but I didn’t kill Gideon Valor.” Before I could blink, Cassius was reaching for me.

My gun was out before I could stop myself, my sights on him the moment my bag and coat hit the floor. The gun pressed into his shoulder and Cassius gave me the tiniest smile, as if he were pleased with my reaction.

“Glad to see you don’t hesitate,” he murmured, wrapping his hand around the barrel of the gun and yanking me closer. “But next time you should shoot first and ask questions later.”

I didn’t like being this close to him.

Cassius wasn’t just warm, he was scorching hot. I tried to put some distance between us, but he wouldn’t let go of the gun and I refused to lose it to a civilian so I struggled against him uselessly while he looked calm as a fucking cucumber.

“On the off chance that I’m telling the truth, there could be a different motive for Gideon’s murder,” Cassius warned me. “And if that’s the case, Liam could be next.”

This jerk wasn’t wrong, but I didn’t understand how this was my problem.

“I was hired to be a detective, not a call girl,” I hissed, pinching Cassius’s chest hard until he let go of my gun.

“Damn, that stung.” Those blue eyes flashed at me as he rubbed his pec. “Are you always this violent?”

“Yes, she is.” Frankie sighed and ran her hand through her red curls, instantly making me feel guilty. “If you don’t want to do it, that’s fine. I will.”

Every single muscle in my body stiffened as I considered the ramifications of that – of what her pack alpha would do to her if he found out she was dating another alpha…what he might tell the world.

“No. You will not.” My heart tried to gallop away, but I swallowed it back down and slid the safety back on the gun. “Is there really no other way?”

There had to be another way.

“The infamous Lou Parker and Frank James?” Liam raised an eyebrow at me. “Pictures of you will be all over the internet once they find out Valor hired you. Then it will only be a matter of time before they figure out you’re an omega. Wouldn’t you rather work on the case in peace for as long as possible?”

I narrowed my eyes, annoyed he’d somehow picked up on that part of my personality so quickly. “I would, actually.”

“Then pretend to be my girlfriend.”

Was I really the only one who heard how fucking ridiculous that sounded? There was no way. It sounded insane.

Liam Valor wasn’t just a wealthy alpha from a good pack. He was a fucking legacy alpha. His special pheromones had other alphas acting like omegas around him if he felt like reminding them of what kind of power he wielded.

Everyone knew Valor Enterprises and their various different branches. There was no pie they didn’t have at least a single slice of. Half the skyscrapers downtown had been built by Valor Construction, and there was a Valor clothing line that always ended up in Slay.

That barely even scratched the surface of what they produced – who they knew…

I was no one in comparison – an omega from the streets who didn’t bother dressing like a professional for her biggest job since entering this field. My entire career would be made or broken by this one case.

So, I couldn’t mess this up by getting all desperate for an alpha like they all expected me to.

But…

If we set up ground rules, there was a chance we could solve the murder before the press got out of control.

“Fine, but I have conditions.” Scooping up my coat and bag, I shoved the gun in my holster and made my way back to the table. “And there’s going to be no makeover. What you see is what you get, and I’m not changing a single thing to better accommodate you.”

“I would never dream of it.”

Dumping my shit on the chair, I glared at the new heir to Valor and silently dared him to say something about my bare midriff and tattoos. If I didn’t cover those up this was going to be so much worse than finding out Valor had hired private detectives to solve their golden child’s murder.

But Liam just gave me this cocky smirk like he’d somehow won something intangible.

How the hell was I supposed to concentrate on work when he kept looking at me like that? It was really fucking distracting.

---