Page 94 of Knot Here for You

Of course, Vee took care of that herself, by asking Asher to kiss her in the woods when they hiked up the trail to the cliff to jump into Lake Kilrose.

I shake my head at the memory and then lift my hand to knock on Vee’s door.

She’s expecting all of us tonight, but I asked if I could have her to myself for just a few hours. And though it was clear my pack wanted to protest—they want to spend as much time as they can with her—they agreed when I told them we’d end up at our pack house.

So they’re at home now, preparing dinner and making the place as inviting as they can. Because when we designed our pack house, we designed it with Sylvie in mind. Or I should say, with the girl she was when she was at seventeen in mind. We’ve had to scramble to make a few adjustments to some rooms, but I think she’ll love it.

I know she will.

The door opens and my heart stutters in my chest. I have to keep my hand curled around the door frame to keep from rubbing over my ribs to relieve the ache there. My girl is extraordinarily beautiful. I never get tired of looking at her, running my eyes over all that pale skin, more pink now than gray. She’s got her hair tossed in a careless ponytail, strands of it falling out and framing her face.

The circles under her hazel eyes have faded. I swear every time I see her she looks better, stronger, healthier.

“Ford!” She pops up onto her toes and brushes her plush lips against mine. “Hi!”

“Hi, pip,” I growl, hooking my fingers in her belt loops and pulling her closer until her hips press to mine. My forehead touches hers before I steal another kiss from her mouth, this one longer and much more involved than the peck she gave me. When I pull back, her cheeks are flushed and her lips swollen. Her honeyed nectarine scent is stronger in the air than I’ve ever smelled it before.

It makes my mouth water and my dick hard.

“You can’t kiss me like that before a doctor’s appointment, Ford,” she murmurs against my mouth, but I know she doesn’t really mind because she presses her mouth to mine again, nibbling at my lips and then swiping her tongue over them to soothe away the little hurt.

This time when she pulls back I let her put space between us, my hands dropping from her hips to adjust my cock behind my zipper. She watches the move and her cheeks get even pinker. But she glances behind me, taking in the empty porch and front walk.

Her brow arches. “Just you today?”

I’m not sure if she’s disappointed or not, but I don’t let her see how my heart sinks at the possibility of it. Instead, I usher her back inside her house and open the coat closet, examining the shoes she has neatly lined up there. “Just me. We thought it would be better to not overwhelm the doctor with too many alpharomones.” I slide my eyes over her outfit: tight jeans, a nice, sheer black button-up shirt. She’s wearing a tank top underneath, thank god. If she wasn’t, I would probably order her back to her room, either to change or so I could fuck her.

But as it is, I reach for her favorite ankle boots and then kneel in front of her.

She smiles as I help her into her shoes. “You know I’m not upset that it’s just you, right, Ford?” Soft fingers caress my cheek, scrape over my beard, tilt my head up so she can meet my eyes. “I’m happy to spend time with you.”

I blow out a breath and then stand. “I’m happy to spend time with you too, pipsqueak.”

Her nose wrinkles adorably as she reaches for her purse. “You know, I’m still not a huge fan of that nickname. I’m not that little.”

I look down at her, a full foot shorter than me. The top of her head barely reaches my shoulder in her heeled boots. “Really?”

She scowls. “Well, okay, yes compared to you, I am little. But everyone is little compared to you. I’m actually above average height for an omega, Ford.”

I chuckle and kiss her forehead. “Sure you are, pip.”

She huffs, but doesn’t say anything else on the subject, leading the way out the door. I set the alarm and make sure the house is locked up before I follow her onto the front porch, where I find her eyeing me suspiciously. “What?”

Her arms fold over her chest, and her scowl deepens. “How do you know the code on the alarm system for my house?”

Oh, shit. I forgot she doesn’t know, forgot we were keeping this a secret from her.

Well, I’m not about to lie to her. Never again will I lie to her.

“We-uh, when we found out you were in town, it wasn’t hard to figure out why you were here and we knew you wouldn’t want to stay in your grandma’s house so we may have, sort of-” Vee’s brows rise with every word out of my mouth until I finish in a rush. “boughtyouthishouseandhadAurietellyouitwasaclient’s.”

She blinks, her arms falling to her sides. “I’m sorry. Did you say you bought me a house? And you had Aurora Whitten tell me it was a client’s? Have I been paying you rent all this fucking time?”

I look down, running my hand through my hair and cursing when my fingers snag on the elasticband holding it in a bun at the back of my head. “Maybe? We don’t really need the money. We’ve just been putting it in an account for you if you need it.”

She blinks again. Then chuckles and shakes her head. “I don’t know if I should be upset or grateful. But I’m tired of being upset, so I’ll go with grateful.” She moves closer to me, hands gripping my hips as she lifts her face to mine. I bend immediately, curling over her to kiss her.

It’s quick, but she keeps her face turned up to me as she murmurs, “Thank you for taking care of me even when I didn’t realize it.”

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