Page 46 of Knot a Good Idea

“I can walk you to your room,” Liam says too quickly. “If you want. I mean, you already know where it is?—”

Hunter rolls his eyes. “Dude, you need to cool it.”

I can’t help but find Liam’s nerves adorable. “Sure.” I stand, and he follows, smiling. “Goodnight,” I say softly to Donovan and Hunter. “I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

“Me too,” Hunter says. “You’re going to be great, gorgeous.”

I blush.

Donovan simply nods. “Sleep well,” he says softly. There’s a flicker of longing behind his eyes, but it disappears as quickly as I see it.

I tell myself I don’t need to dwell too much on it.

At best, these guys can be my friends.

But at the end of the day, I don’t belong in their world and can’t give them what they need.

I can pretend to be their Omega, but I can’t truly belong to them.

“Oh,” Liam says as we head back inside. “I actually have something for you, if you don’t mind.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah. It’s in my room. I’ll grab it once we get upstairs.”

In another life, I would be happy to be in Liam’s pack. He’s the perfect balance between Donovan and Hunter.

But I shake the thought away.

The key to my heart, or whatever is left of it, is somewhere hidden deep inside of me.

“Wait here,” Liam says, leaving me in the hallway. “I’ll be right back.”

He almost runs down the opposite end of the hall, and I have to hold back a laugh.

His excitement makes me excited.

It doesn’t hurt that his scent is all over me now, too.

Without Hunter and Donovan, being alone with Liam makes my spine tingle and delicious shocks of electricity flow through me.

I wonder if he feels the same way.

He hurries back to me as I lean against the doorway, his face flushing as he hands me a tiny white box. “It’s a small gift,” he stammers. “I mean, I don’t want you to read into it; I know you’re just pretending with us. But I want you to feel welcome here, and I thought this could be a token of friendship.”

I lift the lid, and my smile turns into a gasp.

A delicate crystal glass rose lies on the white tissue paper. It’s smaller than my palm and it shines brightly as I lift it from the box and turn it over in my hand. It has a tiny stand at the bottom attached to the sparkling stem, perfect to display.

“Do you like it? Real flowers wilt eventually,” Liam continues. “I just thought this would be nice for you to have?—”

It’s out of character for me to stand on my tiptoes and kiss him on the cheek. I don’t even think about it; my lips find his face quickly, and he freezes. He sucks in a breath but stays still as I lower my feet and look up at him.

“This is lovely,” I tell him honestly. “Thank you. I appreciate it.”

His green eyes darken as he stares at me. “You’re welcome,” he murmurs. “I, ah…sleep well, okay?”

I chuckle. “I will.”

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