Page 60 of Claiming Their Omega

I feel like I just won some kind of battle.

Easton is next. I kiss him soft and lingering on his cheek, inhaling his scent. He shivers, then quickly goes inside. Then it’s Cade, who presses into the kiss for a second before yanking himself away and going in.

Hendrix is last. He’s got a look in his eyes like he’s daring me to try it, but you bet I kiss him on the cheek anyway. He doesn’t scare me.

I pull back, my nose full of all four of their scents, my lips tingling from the warmth of their skin and the light scrape of stubble over my mouth.

“Thank you,” I repeat to him in a whisper.

“You’re welcome,” Hendrix says, voice rough. Then he strides inside with the others.

I stand out on the porch for a moment. Unsure what to do next or even what to think of my own daring. I’ve pushed the envelope a lot today, especially with Hendrix, and I’m not sure where I go from here.

I end up going to my room and reading a book I snagged from the shelf in the living room. I think it originally belonged to Jesse’s mother. It’s a romance novel, and I can’t help but think about my own writing, and how much I enjoy writing my own romance novels but also how fake I feel when I do it.

After a little while, there’s a knock at the door. “Come in,” I call.

I close the book as the door opens. It’s Hendrix.

He leans against the door frame. “I want to take you somewhere.”

I’m still wearing his shirt from earlier, and my stomach goes tight. I feel bad now for what I did, and how I pushed him. Especially now that I know the kindness he and his pack showed toward my family. “Sure thing.”

To my surprise, he has me get back in the pickup, and drives me into town. “Where are we going?”

“You said that you don’t have a lot of clothes. You had to wear something from your ex.” Hendrix pauses. “You shouldn’t have to wear anything of his. And I know you… you like to dress a certain way. To feel pretty. So I thought we could get you some more clothes. Do a little shopping. You shouldn’t keep living out of a suitcase.”

I’m touched, my heart melting. “That’s—Hendrix, that’s so kind of you. Thank you.”

Maybe he feels a little bad for losing his own temper earlier. He shrugs. “Don’t worry about it.”

“You all keep saying that as you do all these lovely things for other people. I know what you are, the four of you.”

“Oh?”

“Good men. You can’t deny it. You are.”

Hendrix flushes a little and clears his throat. “Well, keep it to yourself, if you please.”

“If I please. And you call me fancy.”

Hendrix chuckles.

He is right, I really do need more clothes. And not just because I’m wearing the same few sets over and over. The clothes that I have with me aren’t at all suitable for working on a ranch. I don’t want to get rid of them. I really do love being fancy and elegant, wearing skirts and dresses and heels. But I’m not going to do that while I’m scrubbing out the barn, feeding the animals, or mending fenceposts. I’m not the kind of person who insists on wearing whatever they want, no matter how unsuitable the outfit is for the occasion.

There’s not much shopping to do in town, honestly, so we have to go the next town over to a larger area, where there’s this cute little “downtown” with a row of independently-owned shops.

“I remember begging Aiden to drive me here with my friends before I was old enough to drive,” I reminisce as we find parking.

Hendrix chuckles. “I remember him complaining about that. We’d drive over too and meet him so that he could hang out with us while you hung out with your friends.”

“It was fun, even though we didn’t have any money to spend, really. We’d just window shop, try on things and hang out.”

“Well, you do have money to spend this time,” Hendrix says warmly. “Knock yourself out.”

I can feel my face flushing. I’m not going to actually spend a ton of money. I would never take advantage of Hendrix or anyone else that way. But it is nice that I don’t have to worry about spending my own money. I have some savings but goodness knows what’s going on in my bank account with how long I’ve been away from work.

We go into different shops and I focus on finding some practical clothes for working around the ranch. Hendrix seems surprised. “No dresses?”

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