Page 38 of Fragile Heart

He pulls me into him again, and for reasons I’m not quite up to examining, I don’t resist. I don’t do casual hookups. And scent match or not, I can’t guarantee that this’ll be anything more than a one-time experience. But does my mind care about that right now? Absolutely not.

He snakes an arm around my waist and laces his hand with mine. My knees wedge around his. His cinnamon scent surrounds me, melting into my bones. It eases the edges Brett left, smooths the wounds that never really healed and the insecurities created by realizing the man you loved didn’t love you back. For the first time since finding those messages, my chest doesn’t burn with the pain of his betrayal.

“Anything?” I ask, my voice breathless.

He drops my hand in favor of cupping my cheek, letting his thumb trace my lips. Warmth spreads out from my belly, and I melt into him, letting my weight collapse against him. Hedoesn’t hesitate, taking my weight and holding me against him. He runs his nose along my jaw.

“Anything.” He confirms against my ear. I can’t help but shiver. “No expectations. Just pleasure. Just allowing our bodies to do what they’re designed for and letting ourselves enjoy what we’re hard-wired to crave.”

I want to give in, want to know the way he feels surrounding me. I haven’t knotted with anyone since that summer a decade ago. Is it just as overwhelming as it was then? A bolt of heat shoots through me, settling between my thighs. Caleb groans as my scent grows even stronger.

God, I want to say yes. And yet… The idea of being only temporary stings, lancing through me with the precision of a bullet.

I duck my head, trying to reel in my thoughts and cool my body. An impossible task when so much of his body touches my own. And the reality is that Iamtouch-starved.

“Tell me, sweetheart,” he says.

How do I even convey the mess of everything going on in my head? I’m not about to admit to him that I don’t want this to be a casual fuck when I’m not sure if ending up with anything more serious is a wise decision. He’s Ethan’s pack mate. That can’t possibly end well.

“Brielle?” His voice wraps around my name, and I moan, the sound low in my throat. His hold around my waist tightens.

I shake my head.

“I’ll tell you a truth, then,” he whispers against my ear before he pulls away from me enough that I can see his eyes.

I want to cry out at the loss. His blue eyes are darker than before, so intense it sends a shiver of awareness through me. He eases me back to my knees and tangles his hand into my hair. I swallow, tracing my lips with my tongue, trying to remember how to breathe.

He doesn’t continue.

“A truth?” I ask.

He nods and runs his thumb along my cheek. I can’t help but lean into him, into the touch. His lips curve, a small half-smile that warms his eyes.

“All I’ve thought about the entire time we’ve been here is how you must taste,” he says. “Every small catch of your scent has left me so fucking hard I can’t focus. And not just today. Every time I’ve been near you, I’m a half-second from pinning you to a wall and burying myself between your thighs.”

He drops his mouth to my jaw, running his lips along my skin before biting the sensitive spot just below my ear. I tilt back on instinct, giving him more room.

“I kept as far away as I could after you agreed to hiking today,” he whispers against my skin. “Otherwise I didn’t trust that I wouldn’t seduce and knot you at the first opportunity.”

I suck in a breath and try to turn toward him, wanting—no,needing—to feel his lips against mine, but he grabs my chin and forces me to stillness. He kisses the sensitive spot just below my ear, right where so many Omegas carry an Alpha’s bonding mark. Right over the tattoo I got in celebration of my five year anniversary.

The reminder sours my stomach and cools my body more thoroughly than a bucket of ice water. He notices, of course. He runs a hand down my side and traces my jaw with his thumb. He croons, a voiceless, warm noise that has my knees weakening. The tension bleeds out of my body again, my body’s need becoming too much for even the soured memories of Brett to force away.

Caleb pulls my head farther back, pulling on my hair, and traces his lips down my throat. His lips skate over my collarbone as he whispers, “I need to know if I can eat you better than he did.”

I force a swallow. That won’t be hard. Brett hated eating me out. I eventually just gave up asking for it. The thought of Caleb between my legs? Of his shoulders forcing my knees apart? My scent surrounds us in a new wave, the acidic edge still betraying my need. He groans against my heated skin.

“And then I need to hear you when you take my knot,” he admits against the hollow of my throat. He sighs and bites the sensitive spot where my shoulder meets my neck. I can’t help but whimper, and he presses a smile into my skin.

“We’re a long drive from a bed,” I say.

He laughs, low and deep, before pulling away from me again.

“No one will hear us out here,” he murmurs. The corner of his mouth ticks up, a flash of humor lighting his eyes. “But I’m sure I can manage enough self-control to get us to one if you’d prefer it.”

Knot him? Out here? I focus on the small creek cutting through the meadow, on the large pine trees that tower around us, on the small birds chirping all around us. He presses his lips to my ear.

“You smell like a fucking dream, Brielle.”

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