Page 5 of Embracing the Stalk

Blissful silence.

Red and I locked gazes.

He loves jasmine,Tim butted in.

Maxi, go do unspeakable things to your mate beforemymate feeds him to the pan,Red ordered.

I heard an outraged gasp and a growl, but the silence returned.

I sighed and held out my hand. “Let’s make the most of it while we can.”

Red took my hand, and I tugged him closer, pulling him against me. We both sighed at the touch. It was real, we were mates.

Then Red took a step back, and my heart thumped hard against my ribs.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, panicked that I’d maybe scared him. Had I been too forceful? Too overly goaty?

Red picked up the wilted flowers. “I think I should put these in water. They need it. If you add some Mountain Dew to the water, they’ll last longer.”

I couldn’t have cared less about the flowers at this point, but I let Red go, watching him bustle over to a kitchen cabinet and draw out a vase just the right size. He caught my look of surprise.

“What?”

“I don’t know many guys who’d have a vase, let alone know where it was.”

Red chuckled and opened the cabinet to show me just how many vases he owned. “I’ve always loved flowers.”

My heart skipped and pitter-pattered like kids let out to play. Destined to be mine, that’s all I could think. It was fate. How had the Goated Gods found the one stalk in the world who didn’t laugh at my love of flowers? As I held his stare, I knew he’d been worth waiting for.

From the hitch of his breath and pink cheeks as Red filled the vase with water and arranged the slightly crushed flowers, Red had clearly heard my teen O.M.G. (oh my goat) moment.

I swallowed hard and tried to recover my dignity. “You don’t sleep in the soil?”

“When I need to eat and recover, I sleep among the flowers in my backyard. I have my own house because I like my privacy, and you can’t always get that in Valentine.”

If he wanted to stay at the pride house, I’d dig out a space for Red away from the others, just under the jasmine. I knew just the place.

Red placed the vase in the middle of the kitchen table, then stepped into my space. “Can we resume the hugging? I could really do with one.”

It was easy to tug him closer and wrap my arms around him, burying my nose in the crook of his neck and inhaling his floral scent. I loved the power of his solid body flush against mine.

“You don’t mind that I’m not a teeny-tiny stalk?” he murmured in a hesitant tone.

I guess he meant an omega stalk built like Tim.

I raised my head to nibble on his ear. “You’re perfect, just the way you are.”

He giggled and writhed under my touch. “You’re not going to eat me, are you?”

“I want to eat you,” I admitted. “Your mouth, your cock, your ass. I want to nibble your fuzzies until you’re screaming my name. There isn’t a part of you I don’t want to lick and touch and make mine.” I nibbled the other ear for emphasis.

He shivered delectably in my arms. “I like the sound of that.”

I buried my face against the smooth skin of his neck and ran my hands up and down his back, feeling his occasional shiver. Red could do anything, and I’d follow. He was perfect. But was this my libido talking?

I really didn’t know what to do. I was the Inexperienced Alpha. And I didn’t even know how much experience Red had. Would it be the virgin duo or had Red cantered around Valentine, tasting every alpha in town?

“Gordon?” Red sounded very amused.

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