Page 74 of Heat Hesitation

I don't want to rewrite the past, but I know her history with this river is more than just that moment in time when she ran from Asher, our pack. It's the death of her family, too. Macabre, maybe, but I think being in here, like this, is healing in a way.

"What were you trying to say earlier?" I ask.

I lick and taste her wet, salty skin. Her long dark hair came out of the tie she had it in from work, and I run my fingers through it at the base of her head, massaging as she closes her eyes.

"I know what she said doesn't bother you. It doesn't bother me either. I don't want anyone ever to think I'm stuck with you, though. I fucking love you. So much. You're everything to me. And I can't imagine my life without you in it."

Her eyes open, pleading with me to accept and trust that. But I already do.

"I know my love. Because I feel the same way."

I kiss the tip of her nose, releasing her to swim and play while I sit at the bank's edge to dry off. When I'm fully dry—because, like a heathen, she doesn't care about getting dressed while she's dripping wet—I get dressed and drive us home.

Chapter 30

Ophelia

"Greta's gonna murder you," Theo sing-songs to Asher, who's been throwing popcorn at the TV screen. Sully and Enzo had to work, so it's just the three of us, and we've been so busy lately, I begged the guys to have a chill, stay-at-home day where they didn't rush off to exercise or run errands or do whatever it is adults do.

Instead, it's two o'clock in the afternoon, we're watching horror movies in the theater room—I can't believe I live in a house with a freakin' theater room—and Asher's playing a game where every time the heroine does something stupid, he yells "boo!" and throws popcorn at the screen.

"Greta won't ever find out," Asher glares at Theo, throwing popcorn in his direction.

The entire room is basically one massive leather couch, stuffed with pillows and throw blankets. I was horrified to learn they hardly ever used it. Apparently, they were all work and no play before I showed up in their lives.

"Why, you gonna pick it all up yourself? I've never seen you clean a day in your life."

"I know how to use a vacuum, asshole."

"I'm sorry, do you think you clean up popcorn with a vacuum?" I look at Asher incredulously.

"Uhh. What's the right answer here."

Theo snorts and starts laughing. Since I'm cuddled between them, I smack his chest and turn back to the movie.

"I mean, you can with the sucky part of it, right?"

"The sucky part?"

"I mean... the hose part."

"Do you even know where your vacuum cleaner is?" I ask, and he gives me a sheepish look.

Although I haven't bonded with Theo or slept with Sully, things have been great. Both feel like they're on the precipice so I'm trying to not feel anxious neither has happened.

Sully is quiet. Not like Enzo, more like he's carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Sometimes, at the dinner table, he looks at me like I'm his salvation. Also, unlike the other guys, he doesn't ask me things; he tells me. Omega, you're hungry, sit down and eat. Omega, you're tired, go to sleep. Omega, you're thirsty, come drink.

That last one, he tugged me into his lap and held out a cup with a straw, and watched me suck the contents down. He was hard as a rock beneath my ass; after I finished drinking, he didn't pull away or take anything further, only giving me a smug look of satisfaction for obeying him.

It's like he's reining in his dominance, afraid to push me too far too fast. Sometimes the guys get dominant in the bedroom, and though I love it, I'm not naturally submissive. But when Sully does it… I can explain it; it sets me on fire. He can scent my arousal, my interest. I don't know what he's waiting for, but it's only building the tension between us.

In the meantime, we've all been swamped, hence the lazy movie day. Between my meetings, the guys' work at Constantine Industries, whatever it is they do there, and checking in on C-Block, I fear becoming all work and no play Ophelia, so I've started putting my foot down, insisting we have a day off once a week where we just enjoy each other and life.

And this totally counts. The villain on the screen with the chainsaw lifts it dramatically, roaring beneath a gross mask made of skin while shaking his arms like an inflatable tube man. "That's just not practical. Those things must be so heavy."

"I don't think practical is the point."

The scene cuts to a young couple, naked, of course, because it's a horror movie, skinny dipping in a lake while the bad guy runs toward them through the woods.

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