Page 82 of Curvy Dirty Omega

“What happened?”

“He had to leave.”

“Hm. Why do you look so sad for someone who likes rainy days and oranges then?” Liam grabbed the bottom of my chair and pulled me closer so smoothly that I found myself staring up into those gorgeous red eyes once more.

I really wanted him, didn’t I? This legacy alpha who kept making me feel special.

Every time he did something for me…I wanted to give in to my instincts and trust him. I wanted to rely on his strength so badly, but I was terrified.

What if I gave in and then we went our separate ways after this case?

Even still…I wanted to tell him everything. I wanted someone to understand. Because even Frankie had never quite understood why I still thought about that boy.

“Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if he’d stayed,” I admitted, shifting in my chair so I was just a little bit closer to him. “But he always kept me at arm’s length. There was a wall between us that I never really understood. I don’t even know his name. But none of that matters anymore. It was a long time ago and we were just kids.”

“Why does this boy remind you of rainy days and oranges?”

I searched his eyes, wondering why he wanted to know so badly, but it wouldn’t hurt to tell him.

Liam wanted me to trust him, so maybe I should. It would be a good test and maybe then I’d know…

Maybe I would finally understand why I was so drawn to him.

“It rained the day he had to leave,” I explained, unconsciously reaching up to touch the spider lily tattooed on my shoulder. “He smelled sweet like oranges and even though it was raining, he wasn’t using his umbrella despite having one. At first I didn’t understand why he would do that, but then I noticed he was crying. That was the first and only time I ever saw him cry.”

Sliding my hand up to the connecting spider lily on my neck, I wondered if I’d be getting another one this year.

How many years was I going to do this to myself?

Red spider lilies were summer flowers associated with final goodbyes when people part ways for good – they also guide the dead through the cycle of rebirth. Fitting, considering that boy had left during a summer storm.

Every year he didn’t come back for me, I would get a spider lily tattoo, and tell myself I needed to say goodbye for real this time because I’d never see him again. I had to say goodbye and move on.

That boy wasn’t coming back to save the girl I used to be. There was no point anyways since she was long dead and gone. Every spider lily inked into my skin was a reminder that I needed to accept that.

I’d been forced to become someone else to survive in such a hateful world without him – a world that kept trying to consume every piece of me until there was nothing left.

But…

Now there was a man who reminded me so much of that boy and in so many ways – a man who was sitting here looking at me with the kind of patience I desperately needed, the kind of patience no one had ever been able to give me.

The look in Liam’s eyes told me he could wait forever if need be as long as those pretty red eyes could see me…

Color from the LED lights painted his white-blond hair in a deep red, making his legacy eyes look even more intense. The sudden urge to touch his hair was overwhelming…I was consumed with curiosity. Would it feel as soft as it looked?

I reached out before I could stop myself and hesitated at the last second, worried he might not like it. “That boy asked me to wait for him and for whatever reason, I always think he might come back when it rains…but I don’t remember what he looks like, so how would I know if I ever saw him again?”

Liam’s pheromones shifted slightly, getting heavier the longer I held his gaze, as if he could somehow hear my thoughts.

I really wanted to touch his hair. “It’s been so long though that it’s just nostalgia now. Rainy days and oranges remind me of what my life was like before everything fell apart. Before I became an omega.”

Suddenly, I could smell the sweet scent of oranges and vanilla with a more intense note of sandalwood than I remembered Liam having.

The pheromones were strong enough I could even smell them through his scent blockers and my skin started to feel hot and tight, just like it had the night before.

It hurt everywhere he wasn’t touching me, and I was so fucking thirsty I might just die without another glass of water.

Every second he held my gaze felt like an eternity and all I wanted to do was beg him to hold me – to do something when every inch of me felt feverish and there was something slick making my underwear damp…something that deepened the scent of oranges until it was dark as night and unbelievably delicious.

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