Page 99 of The Heat of Us

I don’t think there was another alpha in the world more attuned to his omega than Ben was with me.

We were too tired to cook but we didn’t order in.

Ben and Aleks ran to the shop and came back with everything to make pizzas.

It was chaos in my kitchen.

“Stop eating the toppings before it can make it onto the pizzas!” I batted my sauce-covered spoon at Remy and he dodged it easily.

“Why?” His incorrigible grin was infectious. “It’s like a pre-dinner charcuterie board.” Remy looked over the spread, clearly about to ignore me and select his next bite. “The names almost sound romantic. Don’t you think, my darling soppressata?”

I spread the sauce on my pizza with enough extra aggression that it splashed. “Your nicknames are getting worse,” I said through clenched teeth.

“So that’s a no?” Remy said around a mouthful of olives.

“Yes it’s a no!”

Aleks waved at Remy to get his attention. “Pass me some prosciutto,” he asked, pointing at the far end of the kitchen bench. I narrowed my eyes at him and he shrugged helplessly. Traitor.

Remy attempted to throw the prosciutto. It landed limply between us, far from Aleks’ reach.

“That was quite possibly the worst ingredient you could’ve chosen to throw,” Ben commented matter-of-factly.

Remy picked it up and walked it over to Aleks. “I’m in porn. I don’t need my brain.”

“Hey!” I protested. “Don’t say that. Our jobs are not easy.”

He grinned. “I didn’t say it was easy. I said I don’t use my brain.”

“You use your second brain,” Aleks offered graciously.

“The penis brain,” Ben clarified.

“Oh for god’s sake,” I grumbled. I was surrounded by idiots.

Remy hugged me tightly from behind. “Do you want us to gooo?” he asked in a sing-song voice.

“No, dammit,” I said crossly. I watched Ben work. To my great dismay every second pepperoni ended up in his mouth instead of on the pizza.

My stomach growled and I caved like a house of cards. “Give me some, I haven’t had any yet.”

Ben was more than happy to shove some meat in my mouth.

We eventually spread an assortment of pizzas (some looking a little more sparse than others) out on the dining table and Remy let out a relieved sigh. “Now that we have Ben here, we can finally watch something that isn’t analysing maggot life cycles for once.”

Ben’s head whipped around. “What?”

“We like true crime…anything,” Aleks explained.

“Remy doesn’t.” I smiled broadly.

Ben looked between us all. “Yeah…I’m with Remy on this one.”

“Oh so you can agree with me,” he replied instantly before realising what he’d done. “Did I ruin it?”

“Yep.” I patted his shoulder. “Let’s just eat and give Ben the responsibility of picking something we’re all happy with.”

Ben eventually selected Kill Bill, reasoning that we would get lots of blood but also a storyline to enjoy. I fell asleep when the limbs started flying. I was vaguely aware of being moved to my nest, three bodies pressing against me.

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