Page 2 of Instant Bond

“Oh!” Eternally grateful that there was no one behind us in line to impatiently scoff or tap their foot at my stupidity (nightmare scenario), I paid for the rest of the order. Despite the annoying situation, the cashier’s polite smile stayed glued on. I knew her pain, I worked customer service jobs too. “Sorry about that,” I apologized.

“It’s okay,” she assured me. “Your lemonade will be out in just a second.”

When it came, I scooped it up and nudged Ty toward the door, desperate to avoid any more embarrassment in the face of the hottest alpha I’d ever laid eyes on.

As we walked out, Ty gave a large wave and shouted a goodbye to his generous benefactor, who was still on the phone, now imparting orders in a stern tone. Eventhatwas kinda hot, thanks to his deep and sort of gravelly voice. But I felt bad for whoever worked under him. I would have been pissing my pants every day if that was what my boss looked and sounded like.

“That was nice, huh?” Ty voiced, delighted with his luck in life.

“Very nice,” I agreed, grateful that he was way too young to pick up on things like attraction or sexual tension. “Do you want to eat on the way home, or wait?”

“Wait!” He declared without hesitance. “I want to watch Epic Power Squad while I eat!”

“Epic Power Squad it is.” I was all too familiar with the ragtag group of students whose secret identities were elemental heroes that routinely saved their city from impending doom.

Ty chattered the whole way, the topics varying wildly between his new classmates, his favorite shows, and random things like the cracks in the sidewalk. Grateful to have something to focus on other than the shivery feeling that alpha’s blue eyes had given me, I led us both home.

KARTER

I WAS INa shit mood.

The disorganization of the employees at the company I worked for was nothing new, and I’d been inconvenienced by it dozens, if not hundreds of times in my career. Still, none of the annoyances I’d endured came close to losing the cute-faced omega in the café with the tiny waist and soft, shy voice. I’d taken one phone call, a call that should have been brief and easily resolved, but by the time I’d talked a marketing manager off the ledge, the very lovely man and his adorably polite little brother had vanished. When I noticed they were gone, I’d rushed to the door to see if I could flag them down, but they’d already turned some corner and disappeared from my sight. Irritating.

It’s true he was probably a little young for me, and his t-shirt featuring a potted cactus with a Free Hugs sign hanging from it didn’t inspire confidence that he was an old soul trapped in a college student’s body, but I had been too attracted to care.

I was the VP of marketing at a successful beauty and lifestyle brand that my mother had started from the ground up when I was a kid. That wasn’t to say that I hadn’t started from an entry-level worker in the mail room and painstakingly climbed my way up the corporate ladder to attain my current comfy position. I knew very well that my childhood had been more privileged than most, but in my 33 years of life, I could hardly remember a time that Farrah Morrison had cut me an inch of slack.

She was a bossy and brash alpha, and often just a little too much in the personality department. I loved her dearly,as well as my omega mother. She was more sentimental and sweet, though she couldn’t be accused of cutting me too much slack in the effort department either. I supposed that was why I was sitting pretty in a high-paying position with two degrees in business administration and advertising.

I had no complaints, missing omega from the café notwithstanding. I did what I liked, when I liked. I didn’t avoid dating, though I rarely felt more than a brief connection or a mildly pleasant sense of companionship. I enjoyed my work, usually, and enjoyed my free time. It had been quite a while since I’d been presented with an insurmountable challenge or something I coveted but couldn’t have. Maybe that was why the incident stung so bitingly.

I knew for a fact that the pretty young thing was unmarked, without a mate. Otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to smell his unique pheromones so distinctly. The scent had been mouthwatering, simple and sweet but homey and comforting. Like fresh sugar cookies and warm vanilla.

But it wasn’t like I could hire a sketch artist and post on local groups asking if anyone recognized him, could I? Could I? It took me a concerning amount of seconds pondering it to decide that I couldn’t.

Even if I was willing to, which frankly I couldn’t deny I would be, he’d looked a bit skittish, like someone who would be scared off by such a grand gesture. It looked like I was screwed, unless I happened to run into him again. But in such a large and populated city, the chances of that were pretty much slim to none.

Hence why my mood was shit.

A knock on my office door dragged me out of a now bittersweet fantasy of those dreamy hazel eyes, warm caramel with lush green threaded through.

“Come in.”

Lucas Cromwell was a successful model that we had used in several of our advertising campaigns. His fair and flawless complexion was perfect for makeup, and his thick, curling locks of dark hair were perfect for showing off the efficacy of our haircare products. Not to mention his toned figure made any piece of clothing look sexy and on-trend. He was the kind of omega that most alphas would dream of being with. We’d gone to the same private school, and had attended many of the same professional events since.

I detested him and regretted the day my marketing team had ever made the proposal to bring him on board. I further regretted the night that I’d gone out for drinks with the team to celebrate a particularly successful product launch and had somehow ended up with Lucas on my lap, and then later in my penthouse apartment. I could only thank any of the deities that may or may not exist that I’d gained my wits and composure before anything permanently scarring had happened between us. I’d made my disinterest in pursuing anything further as clear as possible, but Lucas was one of the pushiest, most persistent people I’d ever had the displeasure of knowing. It was obvious he was not used to hearing the word no.

“We just finished the shoot for the new shimmery body oil,” Lucas informed me as he approached my desk and laid down a manila envelope bulging with photos. “But these are the physical proofs from the shoot last week. Pamela wanted you to sign off on the ones you approve.”

“Bringing proofs to my office is an intern’s job. You don’t need to be here.”

“Well, I was on my way out anyway, and so I offered to swing them by. I thought you’d appreciate the efficiency.”

“Well, I don’t.”

Lucas was unfazed by my dismissive tone. I wasn’t sure if it was because his insane levels of confidence rendered himimmune to rejection or because he was used to me. “I can’t wait for you to see the proofs from the one we just did. They’re going to be so sexy.”

I knew very well how sexy they would be, as I’d been the one to approve the nude-illusion concept months earlier. Unfortunately for him, his personality left such a bad taste in my mouth that my brain couldn’t even allow me to see him in that way.

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