Page 56 of Heat Hesitation

"What?"

"I just realized how to get her to stop working."

My eyebrows lift, but he doesn't fill in the blanks. His lips curl in a smile for the first time in weeks, so I laugh and leave him to it.

When I pass Enzo's office, he spots me, his expression immediately morphing into irritation. I ignore it and take a seat behind my desk, unsurprised when my heavy glass door whips open a moment later.

"Where is she? You're supposed to be watching her."

"She's not a puppy, Enzo."

He frowns deeper. "I realize that, but she shouldn't be alone. She's not safe—"

"She is safe. She's been safe for twenty-six years." He doesn't relax, but I see the war behind his eyes. Trying to give her space. Trying not to let his alpha have control.

I don't tell him she's working right next door because he'll likely head over there, which would make her all kinds of pissed off. "Relax. She's fine. She's great. Go back to work."

It takes a moment, but finally, he nods. "I don't know how to loosen the noose."

"Is that what the bond is like?" I hedge.

He pauses, shaking his head no. "Not the bond. My alpha. The bond is… it's soothing. It's the only thing keeping me from losing it around her; it reminds me she's safe. And it's easier to tell when she's annoyed with me because I'm being too possessive. But truly, without it… her scent, the feel of her, her smiles, her fucking life force… it's too precious. My fear of losing her is the noose. It tightens when she's not around."

He looks at the ground. "It's like my entire existence before now was just accumulating, and it's all bursting out of me. I've never felt so out of control." He glances up, offering the rarest of things: his smile. "I fucking love it. I love her."

Then he heads back to his office to work. And it's the funniest thing… When he said he loved her, I felt no grudge or insecurity at his bond. Because I realized at that moment, I was falling in love with her, too.

Chapter 24

Ophelia

I used to sleep in. Working at a strip club and late-night parties with the catering company keeps my hours well into the night, so it's not like I was lazing the day away.

But Enzo and Theo were changing my routines. I can't say I'm mad about it, but more sleep would be nice.

When I first got here and was still adjusting, I slept in Enzo’s room, but after a few days, I decided I needed my own space. He sleeps very little and is neurotically neat. If I left a shirt or something on the ground or hanging off the back of the chair, when I returned, it would be neatly folded at the foot of the bed, waiting to be put away.

Enzo wasn't passive aggressive about my messiness; he had actual compulsions to clean and organize. I think his brain works faster than the rest of us, and he needs order to make sense of the chaos. But it was driving me crazy.

He's constantly working, even when he's not on his phone. I can see his eyes move behind his glasses as he thinks through problems at work, even when we're just lounging about or eating dinner.

I don't want to mess up his orderly world, so when Theo helped me move my stuff in after the movers dropped everything off, we unloaded it all in the nest—a room that was blessedly empty, clean, and had never seen another woman, let alone an omega.

Despite Theo's initially shitty attitude about my second-hand things, even I could admit that the old coffee table held together with duct tape perhaps had seen better days and could be tossed. We went through most of my things, separating a keep-and-toss pile, which was cathartic in a way. It helped me move into my new space and new life with an acceptance that had been somewhat elusive.

Theo was growing on me, too, because even though I had forgiven him, when we went through my clothes with the same scrutiny as my furniture, instead of getting mad each time he held something up with wide eyes and incredulity, it made me laugh instead of getting mad.

We bickered constantly. We bantered and argued and teased.

I loved it.

My relationship with each of the guys was so different from one another I couldn't believe how seamless it was to be with them, to just be a part of their lives. I was more than fond of them. I was falling for them.

Though I'd not made up with Sully, he was making good on every promise he'd made me and the residents of C-Block. Each time he involved me in decisions about the apartment building, it made me want to be involved in other ways. He listened when I talked, taking my advice with the same gravity as when they discussed Constantine Industries.

It made me feel important, like maybe I could be a valued member of this pack.

Theo's arm snakes out beneath my waist, hand splayed across my abdomen as he tugs me closer, bringing my back flush with his front in the perfect form of distraction from my early morning musings. I can feel his hard length poking against my ass. It's warm and comforting, his honey lemon scent the perfect amount of sweet and bright, making my mouth water.

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