Page 61 of Why Cruise

Justice looked at me sharply as he dropped my hand and I claimed the front seat of the bus.

Theo

“Eric is a shithead.”

We were walking through the mostly deserted ship. The scent dampeners must have been in overdrive. I could barely pick up Ren’s black pepper scent.

“He came up through restaurants, not cooking school. He’s a line cook, and all line cooks are bat-shit. Add alpha ego to that. Boom.” Ren made an explosion with his hands.

“But his food is amazing.”

“His branding is amazing. Tanaka isn’t even his real last name. It’s Smith. I know, I know, but it actually is Smith. He went one too many rounds with the owner of Pagoda and was out on his ass. That’s when he started doing all the high end cooking classes.”

“How do you know all this?” Ren seemed to know everyone and everything.

We walked through the reading lounge and library. I slowed as we passed the display of best sellers. I had brought three books with me, thinking I’d have lots of pool time to read, butthat hadn’t panned out. Nothing was going quite how I thought. Ren stretched out on a chaise lounge. They were set up in cozy pairings facing floor to ceiling windows. I contemplated for a whole 10 seconds before joining Ren.

I groaned as I stretched out. Ren sat up, concern painting his face. I could feel heat creeping into my cheeks.

“I have a chair like this in my nest. I didn’t realize until just now how much I missed it. My nest. Not the chair.”

Ren propped himself up on an elbow and turned toward me. “What’s your nest like?” The look I gave him must have put him off because he quickly continued with, “I know that’s a bit of a personal question.”

“No, it’s fine. It’s just that,” I shrugged my shoulder, “no one has ever asked me that before.”

“I’d love to know, but only if you’d love to tell me.”

“It’s small and kind of cluttered, actually. I keep buying furniture and stuffing it in there, but nothing seems quite right. I try not to spend too much time in there, though.”

“Oh?”

“It’s the first…” I cut myself off because that might in fact be too personal. Well, Ren did basically confess to 15 years of unrequited love last night. “It’s one of the first symptoms of touch starvation. Hiding in your nest, spending most of your time there.”

I chanced a glance at Ren. He said nothing, not even a wise nod of the head.

“I’m almost 30. I don’t have a lot of omega friends anymore. It’s natural to worry about those things.”

“That’s a hard place to be,” He said, softly.

He didn’t give me a pep talk or tell me nonsense about fish in the sea, which was oddly comforting.

I sighed and changed the topic. “So what were you doing at the sushi class?”

“I told you. I saw you there.”

“Playing some sort of new game to make Justice jealous?”

He moved so fast. I yelped when he parted my legs and knelt between them. He put one hand on the back of the chair, the other on the armrest.Fuck, don’t get hard, don’t get hard, please don’t get hard.

“I saw you within hours of getting on this dumb boat. And I wanted you. You gave me that bracelet. And I wanted you. The gods, if they exist, are laughing at me by putting me at the same dinner table as you and Mackenzie because now I’m tortured and forced to stalk you around the ship just to catch a hint of your scent. So standing next to you for an hour, with your scent wrapping around me, has me undone.”

I panted like I could bring more of his scent in me faster. His dark eyes were raw with more than honesty. It was truth.

“Fuck Justice. This isn’t about him. This is you. Want proof?”

He didn’t wait for an answer. He parted my legs further and pressed against my inner thigh. I could feel his cock hard against me. I bit my lip to hold in a moan.

“I have done a lot of despicable things in my day, Theo. And you would make the top ten list of the most despicable things I have ever done. You want to leave this boat with bite marks. And I can’t give that to you. Criminal, remember? So I’m forced to be on my best behavior and do absolutely nothing about this.” He ground against me, so I could feel every inch of him, including his swelling knot. “This isn’t about Justice or Mackenzie. It’s you.”

---