Page 56 of One Last Chance

“Mhmm,” I finally stop playing up my annoyed self and decide to give him a little back. “And what are those?” I ask.

I feel him smile against my skin. “Well,” he teases, his voice low and guttural, “for example, once the kids go to school tomorrow, I’ll be able to officially introduce you and your pheromones intoevery - single - roomin this house.”

A rush of burning lust passes through me. The day before my heat, I’m usually anything but horny, but Rowland has a way to override my natural programming, apparently, because right now I could let him do anything he wants to me.

“I’ve already been into every room in this house,” I note, wanting to tease him back.

He hums. Slowly, his hand slides around to my stomach and pauses right above the waistband of my pants, provoking me. “Our house. It’s different. Besides, I will wait to hear from tomorrow’s Dayton. I’m sure he’ll bebeggingme to show him around, all day and night long.”

Letting out a trembling breath, I lick my lips and turn my head to the side to kiss him, ready to push the boxes off the bed and fuck right there until…

“Dad! Ugh, Dad! Mac won’t stop reading the damn comics! You’re not helping. We have work to do.” We both hear Mina’s voice from downstairs. “Do it yourself, then. See how you can reach the top shelves, you knucklehead,” she bickers with Mac.

The chemistry quickly fizzles out once Mina’s steps get louder and louder as she runs up the stairs. Rowland and I pull away from each other, and I quickly sit on the bed to hide the half-baked results of his immorality in my lap.

I flash him a chastising glare and he mouths apologetic ‘sorry’ just as Mina dances into the room.

Rowland turns his attention to her, all cool and collected like nothing just happened. “Please, don’t call him a knucklehead. That’s mean.”

She rolls her eyes. “He is, though,” she says, half playing. When she notices me sitting on the bed awkwardly, leaning over my thighs, she raises a brow.

“He’s feeling a little off. It’s going to be his heat,” Rowland explains calmly.

While he’s free from raging hormones and a master at changing his attitude in a blink of an eye after years in the business world, I’m not. Realizing that he basically just told his daughter—who is now all too educated on all things venus—that we’ll be all over each other in the coming days, does no favors to my unsteady stomach or my prickling cheeks.

Mina’s eyes dart between us briefly but whether she’s thinking about all that and feels awkward or not, she gives me an understanding smile instead.

“Can I help to unpack here? You go deal with Mac, see how long you can last.”

I snort. It’s still strange seeing Mina with this new, more approachable personality. More like a young teenage girl should be. Still moody and not completely logical a lot of the time, but miles better than before.

Rowland looks at me to make sure I’m alright and then rests his hands over his hips with a sigh. “I guess I have no choice. You be good here,” he tells Mina, ruffling her now dyed black hair on his way out of the room, to her great dismay.

I watch her with a sympathetic gaze while she comes up to me, patting her hair back into a presentable state.

She starts to get ready to hop on the bed, but notices the box by her feet. “Can I open this one?”

“Sure. It’s my collection of perfumes, colognes and all that stuff. Well, half of it. I think the other box is still in the car,” I think out loud.

Mina sits down and opens the box. Her eyes light up when faced with dozens of differently shaped, colorful glass bottles. Thankfully, feeling fully asleepdown thereagain, I crawl across the bed and toward the long recessed area of the wall above that Rowland told me I should use as a place to keep my collection. It was nothing but some empty space with pretty lights before and it will hopefully fit all of my bottles.

I lean against the wall, ready for Mina to hand me the bottles.

“Can I smell it?” she asks before giving me the first one, and I nod. It’s a tall, blueish bottle faintly resembling the shape of a person. One of my older pieces that I used a lot in college. Minahumsandmhmmsat the smell of it before handing it over. She also does the same with the other one, and the next one, and the one after that.

“You have so many,” she notes, sounding astonished, when we’re maybe halfway through the box.

I smirk playfully. “You understand why, don’t you?”

Mina raises her brows and looks away, like she’s trying to prevent herself from saying something that could come off as insulting. “It’s fine. I know you don’t like the smell of my pheromones. Most people don’t. I don’t need you to lie.”

“As long as Dad likes it, I guess that’s all that matters,” she says, choosing a surprisingly tactful and thoughtful response.

I nod. “That’s all that matters.” I only wish I realized that a bit earlier in life. “That said, there’s nothing wrong with sometimes wanting to hide behind something like fragrances. Especially when you don’t feel confident. Just…don’t stay hiding too much and don’t get comfortable in the shadows,” I say, trying to pass on some wisdom.

Mina studies the bottle of perfume in her hands pensively. I know she’s been struggling a little with learning to love herself, like any young omega would. Not to mention one with her background anddifficulties. She has a lot to unlearn.

She opens the fragrance and spritzes it on her arm, smelling it.

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