Page 9 of Instant Bond

“Pampered and spoiled?” I repeated incredulously. Those two words were pretty far removed from my vocabulary.

“That’s what I said. You don’t plan on arguing with me, do you?” He reached out to me, his hand seeming to come in slow-motion. I could only stare, wide-eyed as it approached my face.

When my chin was gripped in his strong hand, his thumb dragging across my lower lip, I felt paralyzed. I was throbbing all over now, and couldn’t imagine that Karter wasn’t totally aware of how turned on I was.

“No.”

“I didn’t think so. I could tell as soon as I met you.”

“Tell what?”

“That you’d want to be a good boy for me and do what I say.”

Argue?I wasn’t in the state of mind to deny him anything, let alone form a verbal argument against it. Was this what it was like, submitting to an alpha? Should I be feeling so helpless? Or was I just touch-starved?

All I knew was that I was definitely in over my head.

KARTER

HE RUSHED INTOa bathroom as soon as we arrived. That was my fault. I shouldn’t have teased him so much in the car, but I couldn’t help myself. His responses were so charming and arousing and so incredibly obvious.

It also helped soothe my ego to know that my near instant obsession with him wasn’t one-sided. The impossibly strong attraction I had for him was mutual, that much I knew for sure. I didn’t have much to be insecure about in terms of what I could offer, but I didn’t know yet if he was even interested in a relationship, much less with me personally. But being desperately and helplessly attracted to me was a start.

Hormonal reactions aside, I planned on using today and tomorrow to show him what he was missing by not taking care of himself. The added effect of relaxing him and opening him up to the possibility of becoming more acquainted with me was a pleasant bonus.

I clacked away at the keys on the laptop balanced on my lap, glancing up periodically to watch as the team I’d very carefully hand selected took care of him. All betas and omegas. Maybe it was a little too possessive so early, but I didn’t think I could stay relaxed watching another alpha touch him. Even in a completely innocuous situation like this one.

He’d had his scalp scrubbed with an exfoliating shampoo, then moisturized with a deep-conditioning hair mask. A nourishing clay mask for his face to absorb excess oils, then a sheet mask to hydrate. Manicure, pedicure, the works. My onlyregret is that he would smell like a fruit salad on the way home instead of the scent I was quickly becoming accustomed to.

My team chattered with him, ever friendly and accommodating, while he asked questions about the products. I hoped he wasn’t focusing too much on thereviewaspect, because frankly I’d mostly made that whole thing up.

I left them briefly, to put together a little gift bag of our products for him. Perusing one of our stock rooms, I filled it with the products they’d used on him, as well as a few of our best selling ones. Then, considering, I sat it down to slip back into the salon room.

Crooking my finger to beckon over one of the girls who’d been working on him, I pulled her aside so he couldn’t hear the conversation. “What size do you think he wears?”

“The kid?” She asked, glancing back over to him. Though I knew she didn’t mean it any particular way, her description of him didn’t thrill me.

“His name is Cameron, and he’s not a kid.”

She seemed to notice my annoyance, and quickly tried to dispel it.

“Oh! No, no, he’s not really a kid. I just meant, I have sons older than him, you know? So it’s just habit for me to think of him that way.”

I acknowledged her sentence with a grunt. “His size?”

“His size for what, exactly? Pants? Shoes?”

“Lingerie.” My tone was flat, daring her to react in a manner that betrayed any sort of surprise or judgment.

She blinked, twice, before composing her expression into what could only be described as complete neutrality.

“I… Would say you’d be safe with medium in anything intended for a female, and small for anything intended for a male.”

“Thank you.” I dismissed her by jerking my chin back towards the salon area before walking out.

When I was finished picking out the last few items I wanted Cameron to have, I returned to the salon area. As I opened the door to enter, I nearly ran smack into him.

“Oh!” He jumped back a little, startled. “I was just looking for you.”

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