Page 12 of Vegas Baby!

It went against every instinct to leave Ava alone even for a second, but I knew the others would be itching for information. They were all staring at me the second I came into view.

“How is she?” Bryce asked.

“Resting. Do you want to tell me why you’re here and why she got distressed when you said you were her scent match before I throw your ass over our balcony?”

Bryce poured out the whole sordid story about how he had accidentally blown the whistle on his coworker having an affair with Ava when she had no idea he was married. No wonder she was freaking the fuck out.

“All right, well, as long as you didn’t do any of the shitty behavior, I guess you can hang out. You’re not leaving with her, though. We can figure everything out in the morning. Give me your pizza order and I’ll put it in for delivery.”

With everyone’s preferences plugged into the app to supplement the food Luke had brought home, I took the cup of crunchy ice and glass of juice back to Ava. She was bundled up in my blankets, looking unfairly beautiful in her vulnerability.

I offered her a soft smile and held up both glasses. “I see you got comfy.”

“Your blankets are so soft.” She readjusted part of my quilt—a gift from my mom—over her shoulders and drew her knees up. Her smile was bright when she accepted the cup of ice, munching away happily. I didn’t know what the magic secret was, but ice in that perfect biteable texture was an anxiety buster.

“Do you need more blankets? I think we have a few extra in the linen closet.”

“Maybe one more?” Her eyes were so wide and hopeful, squeezing my heart with all the tenderness in them.

I fetched her another blanket as quickly as I could, draping it over her like the first one. She sipped the juice when I passed it over, her purr tentative and quiet, but there nonetheless. “What’s your favorite pizza?”

“Margherita.”

I added it to the order and paid for all of it before climbing onto the bed next to her. “How are you feeling?”

“A little better. I don’t think I’ll really feel okay for a long time, though.”

“Totally understandable. Bryce gave me a quick rundown of your situation. You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need to.”

“My mom is expecting me back when the weekend is over. I don’t know how I’m going to face her.” She crunched some of her ice and tucked herself even smaller.

“The most important thing is that you understand you didn’t do anything wrong in this situation. I hope your mother would understand that as well.”

Ava shrugged sadly and set her empty juice glass on the bedside table before wiggling down to curl on her side and stare at me with just her eyes peeking out of the blankets. “I don’t know if she will.”

I lifted my arm and Ava moved closer, letting me wrap around her blanket cocoon. “We’ll help you figure everything out.”

“You’re being so nice when you don’t even know me.”

“Sweetness, my entire job is helping people. I’d have to be completely heartless to not want to help you. Do you mind if I ask how you ended up with us? I know Luke brought you and Bryce here, but I’m still fuzzy on why.”

“Luke is friends with my brother,” she explained. “Or at least he was when they were kids. I don’t know the last time they talked. Luke moved away when I was sixteen, and this is the first time I’ve seen him since.”

The top of her cheeks flushed pink, her blush visible even as she ducked her face into the blankets. “Would I be totally off base in thinking that blush is because teenaged Ava had a thing for teenaged Luke?”

“Nothing ever happened. I was just his friend’s little sister.”

I stored that information away for later, fully intending to grill Luke about his history with Ava.

Her scent was strong and sweet, calling to me like a siren song. She didn’t need anyone pursuing things with her right now, but my instincts wanted to anyway. It made no sense that I would think Ava was mine, but the knowledge sat there anyway,floating like a neon sign above this adorable woman curled up in my bed.

The universe really had a sense of humor, dropping a scent match in my lap when she came with another scent match in tow that lived across the country, and another man’s baby in her belly. Ava hadn’t said anything about it, so I wasn’t going to either. She had enough on her plate.

Once she’d had time to heal, I could bring it up. Bryce obviously didn’t have that same idea. Maybe he would try to convince Ava to move to the East Coast with him. Something ancient in me rebelled at the mere thought of her going that far away. I wanted her to stay right here so I could learn everything about her after I’d squirreled her away into a nest and claimed her for myself.

When she was asleep, I would talk to Bryce. Scent matches had no rights based on who met an omega first, only about who was the first bond, but Ava certainly wasn’t going to go into a full heat for quite some time. If he wanted to take her away, he would have to get through me to do it.

Getting all of my panic and stress out in one giant breakdown left me feeling lighter. Bundled up in Jesse’s bed was as comfortable as being in my own nest, his warm roasted chestnut scent infusing every thread wrapped around me.

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