Page 9 of My Begrudging Scent Matches

Alice pastes a smile on her face and joins the party that’s formed, decidedly not noticing Caleb and Grant immediately. If she did notice them, she’d see them laughing about something with Scott and Logan, and how all of their faces lit up with grins, making it impossible for her to get a soda from the drinks table behind them without seeing her.

Maybe she’d have Lily grab her one instead.

Alice reaches for the first two half subs she sees, one with roast beef, the other a turkey club, and makes sure to grab two of the little containers of sweet sandwich sauce for her to drench them in. She could drink this stuff, it's so good, an honest innovation.

She’s about to make her break for the elevator to eat in peace at her desk when Logan calls out her name while, you guessed it, snapping his fingers. Logan is the single loudest man she’s ever met, so there’s no pretending she didn’t hear him.

Alice turns to the group and nods, but it’s obvious that they’re waiting for her to come over to them. She takes a massive breath before joining their testosterone circle.

“Thanks for lunch,” she says in greeting. “This is my favorite place.”

“I can see that!” Logan jokes with a pointed look at her hands overflowing with her selections. “Great work on the incentives program proposal, it feels good to have that done ahead of schedule.”

“Thanks,” Alice says, then processes what he just said. Her brows draw together. “Wait, ahead of schedule, how? It was due today.”

Logan purses his lips and looks towards the ceiling before nodding, “Right, I forgot to tell you. Turns out they don’t need it until Friday.”

In her periphery, Alice swears she sees Caleb tense up. She wants to scream at the news that Logan so conveniently forgot to tell her that the project he pawned off on her with a last-minute deadline actually wasn’t as urgent as he said it was. Instead, she lets out a breathy little laugh, one too unhinged to sound genuine. Logan lacks any remorse or empathy; he knew she was staying late to finish his project that wasn’t actually due today and he said nothing.

Alice pulls her lips into a closed-mouth smile. “Cool.”

She needs to get a grip on her frustration with her boss, and needs to keep her emotions in a steady place—make sure nothing sets her off. Logan says something to Scott and Grant, starting a conversation that effectively dismisses her.

She squeezes her free fist until her fingernails bite into her skin, distracting her barely. When she turns to finally acknowledge Caleb, he is staring at her with a startled look across his face. Not the composed, smiling, corporate dream boat he was just moments ago.

“Enjoy your sandwich,” she says.

“Alice,” Caleb says. There’s that voice again. “Are you feeling well?”

Grant turns away from Scott and Logan after overhearing the question, and his face now mirrors Caleb’s concern. She squeezes her eyes shut for a second and nods.

“I just, um—I missed breakfast. I should go eat this before I pass out or something.”

“Do you want a soda? Maybe some water?” Grant asks.

Are they always this helpful and worried? Her neck flames.

“Sparkling water, thanks. That’s nice of you.”

Grant grabs a chilled bottle from behind him, loosening the cap before handing it to her. The condensation drips over her fingers, it’s soothing on her skin which is rivaling the temperature of the very sun at this point. She takes a sip and the fizz burns down her throat.

With the sandwiches in one hand, and the cold beverage in the other, Alice offers a smile before trying to extricate herself from the men so she can be alone somewhere cool, maybe the newly snowy roof or a corner in the ice locker that is the parking garage beneath the building. This is when someone puts a hand on her back in an attempt to squeeze past Alice for a soda.

“Excuse me,” they say, but the touch still startles her. She practically jumps out of her skin, which makes her stumble. She finds herself pressed against Caleb’s chest as he steadies her.

That’s when she smells it. Caleb’s scent.

It’s what she smelled on Lily, the scent like a heater clicking on through dusty vents on Christmas morning. The pine tree in the living room with something sweet baking in the oven. It’s comforting and warm, all the way to her spine. It tickles over her brain and zips through her, and… Oh God, no, no, no.

Alice sees when Caleb smells her scent too. His pupils blow wide. A puzzle piece has slid into place; there’s a string that she wasn’t aware of that’s just pulled taught between them. It’s so right. Her heart is fluttering, tumbling, soaring at the realization while her mind is firing alarms to take it back, right now, quickly, so they can forget immediately what they’ve just learned.

She should have never come down for sandwiches, no matter how hungry she was, because now she knows something she can't unknow.

She knows like the truth was cooked into her blood, the very materials of it making up her bones.

Caleb Everett isn’t just an Alpha. He’s her fucking scent match.

four

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