Page 34 of His Prodigal Alpha

Rex stopped his tickle assault and smoothed his palm over the side of my belly. “Sorry, kitten.”

I wondered if he could tell how much I loved the endearment. Fighting back a smile, I sighed and snuggled back into his chest again. “Are you apologizing for your pro-canine attitude, for tickling me, or for your kid making me uncomfortable?”

“Can it be for all three things?”

I laughed again. “Sure. Why not?”

As we lapsed into conversation again, I marveled at how easily we interacted. He was a veritable stranger, but I felt like I’d known him for years. The texts we’d been exchanging hadhelped with that, but it was more like we really were kindred spirits. Once we’d stopped and had a calm conversation after our not-exactly-brilliant reunion, our compatibility started to show up in little ways.

We both loved the outdoors and had both lost parents at a young age. We shared a sense of humor and, as we’d just discovered, liked the same types of TV shows. We both seemed to be spontaneous people, living life in a ‘roll with the punches’ kind of way, too.

Fundamentally, it also seemed like we were on the same page. Neither of us had factored kids into our life plans, but when it came down to it, we shared a vision for our son’s upbringing.

I really was starting to believe Eric and Ollie’s theories about compatible mates.

The oven timer buzzed, and Rex got up to dish up the heavenly-smelling dessert he had made. My mouth actually watered when he held my bowl out to me, and I dug into the decadent confection with gusto, moaning when the first bite of warm, sweet, gooey goodness lit up my taste buds.

Beside me, Rex shifted in his seat, crossing one long leg over the other while he appeared to concentrate on his own bowl.

The pudding was absolute perfection. There was a bitterness to the chocolate sauce which worked well against the sweetness of the ice cream, and the different textures made every bite a dream.

“This is so good,” I mumbled around another mouthful, closing my eyes in my enjoyment. “Mmm. Please tell me there’s more.”

“I’m glad you like it,” Rex replied, but his voice sounded a little strangled.

I opened my eyes and turned my head to find him watchingme intently, his own dessert untouched. The spoon was still in the bowl, lodged inside his melting ice-cream. Frowning, I asked, “Aren’t you going to eat that?”

“Hmm?” He blinked at my question, then seemed to come out of whatever trance he’d been in, giving his head a little shake as he looked down at his bowl. “Oh. Yeah. Of course.”

Raising an eyebrow at him, I asked if everything was alright. Rex looked sheepishly down at his dessert and nodded. “Yeah,” he said, then looked back up at me with a rueful grin. “I was just distracted by the sounds you were making.”

“Oh…” I felt myself blushing, understanding thatmaybeI’d sounded a little pornographic. I maintained it wasn’t on me, though: it was the dessert’s fault.

“Don’t be embarrassed, kitten,” Rex gave up the pretense of being at all interested in finishing the food he had made, placing his bowl carefully down on the floor at his side. He leaned over and placed his hand on my thigh, squeezing it gently. “I like that you’re gettin’ comfortable enough with me to relax and make those sounds. And I can’t lie: I like that I’m responsible for you making them.”

Courtesy of my ever-rampant hormones, I picked up on the arousal in his tone and my body ran with it. Suddenly, I wasn’t craving the sweet, gooey chocolate anymore. Instead, I was craving him.

More specifically, I was craving his knot.

Shifting in my seat and praying that my slick wouldn’t leave damp patches in my underwear, I swallowed roughly. Being perpetually horny was killing me.

Rex had been nothing but a gentleman over the previous few days, always taking his cues from me. He’d stuck to his word to take things slowly, given that our situation meant wecouldn’t afford to make things even more awkward between us. He hadn’t given me any reason to think that he was only sticking around for the prospect of more sex.

And, really, I was the size of a house: I knew I wasn’t the same catch I’d been the night we met. That had to mean he really did have other motivations, right?

When I thought about it, Rex had honestly been doing everything he could to prove that he was serious about sticking around.

Would it really be so bad to follow my urges at that point?

The other night, after he’d massaged my back and I had almost given in, he hadn’t complained or called me a tease. Even though I’d felt a little guilty for going hot and cold on him, Rex had rolled with it, reassuring me that he only wanted to do what I was comfortable with.

Ever since I’d come to Shifters Sanctuary, I’d lamented that I’d never find an alpha who would treat me the way Beck treated Ollie…but was that really true? Because the more I interacted with Rex, the more I realized that he was every bit as sweet and honorable as Beck seemed to be. All I had to do was give him a chance.

My instincts told me that he was safe. That he wouldn’t mistreat me or consider me his property. All I had to do was let him in.

My puma yowled inside me insistently, urging me to do just that. Even though I liked to think of my breed as a big cat, it was times like this where I understood why scientists classed mountain lions as the largest breed of small cat…because, boy, was my inner feline acting like a needy overgrown house cat!

Tired of fighting my instincts and my hormones, I decided to take a leap of faith.

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