Page 35 of Heat Clinic

ChapterNine

MARCUS

Tom stepsonto the escalator while carrying one of his bags, sees me, and smiles. I hold my sunflower bouquet up for him to see. He grins the entire way down.

“Hello, darling,” Tom says, taking the flowers and meeting me in a kiss.

“How many bags did you bring?” I ask, tugging him toward baggage claim. People crowd around it even though it’s empty, their faces a mix of boredom, irritation, and apathy.

“Enough. You know me,” he says. He takes his carry-on off his shoulder and hands it to me.

I throw it onto my shoulder and steal another kiss. “I’ll go rent a luggage cart.”

I feed ones into the automated machine, then take a cart and bring it back just as the first bag tumbles through the black vinyl divider. It spits them out one by one, and I grab each one of Tom’s bags until the cart is stuffed with them.

“How many times a day are you going to change outfits?” I ask as I balance and stack them all like a game of Tetris.

“I was in London for two weeks, and I like to have options. That’s all of them, I think.”

He follows me out to the car, and I pop the trunk and start loading them, dropping each heavy bag inside and shimmying them until they fit. The small trunk closes. Barely. Tom waits for me to open his door and then he gets in. I tap in the hotel's address. The steering wheel turns as the car starts the drive.

“Any news from the clinic?” he asks.

“Yes. They called this morning, and I went to go see her this afternoon. She’s perfect. I can’t wait for you to meet her. To meet them, I mean.”

“Them?” He turns a bit in his seat to face me.

“I wasn’t sure at the time, so I didn’t mention it, but there’s a beta too. He’s actually her heat attendant. They’ve already started bonding, but they both seem oblivious to it.”

“It’s more subtle for us betas. My, you’ve been busy.”

I glance away from the road to study him. “Are you upset? I’m sorry. I should have mentioned the beta before anything happened.”

Tom is silent for a moment as he stares out the window and thinks. It’s a heavy, important silence that makes me nervous the longer it stretches on. “I didn’t know you were still even looking.”

My heart drops into my stomach. I grab Tom’s hand and bring his knuckles to my mouth, kissing them. “You know I love you, and I always will. This doesn’t change that. Not ever. And I want you to know I’ve never done anything with anyone before at any of the free clinics or rut bars or omega centers I’ve checked while I’m away on my business trips.”

“I trust you,” Tom says. “I suppose I am a bit jealous that you got to find our packmates and I wasn’t there for it.”

I smile, the heaviness inside of me lifting. “Me too. God, I wish you’d been there with me today. You’re coming to the clinic with me tomorrow, right? It’s too late to do your paperwork tonight, but we can go first thing in the morning. The paperwork is… a lot. It’s more of an interrogation.”

“Of course. It’ll be one last night with just us,” Tom says, his smile fond as he leans closer.

“What do you want to do? We can order in and watch a movie. The one you wanted to see last week is still on pay-per-view. My clients took me to an Italian restaurant that was—”

The sound of my zipper opening distracts me from watching the traffic flow around us. Tom fishes my soft cock out of my pants and gives it a tug. It thickens and plumps in his hand with every practiced flick of his wrist. He knows exactly how to touch me, how to drive me nuts and make me come undone.

My hips thrust into his hand as he works me, his thumb making a rough glide over my head as he spreads pre-cum to ease his tugging.

Cars drive by us. Someone might see. But all that does is make it hotter.

“Did you miss me, darling?” Tom asks.

“So fucking much,” I growl, glad the car drives itself, otherwise we would have crashed by now.

“What did you miss about me?”

“Everything.” I thrust into his hand as my cockhead weeps. “I missed your snark.” My body rides out the post-rut state, my balls pumping out pre-cum that dribbles down his hands and soaks into my slacks. “I miss… I missed doing the crossword puzzle with you over breakfast.” He jacks me faster. “I missed you hogging the blankets all night.”

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