Page 14 of Sunshine

I might have snuggled with my cousins and sisters before, but it was different with Julian. His scent coconut and pineapple scent surrounded me, making me think about beachy vacations.

“Mmm. Yes.” Julian sighed, squeezing me against him gently before loosening up. “You smell good, too.”

“What do I smell like?”

“Laundry. Sunshine. Outside.” His voice was thick with sleep. “Like a nest.”

I blinked, keeping my eyes on the cooking show. That was a compliment. Had to be.

Betas had softer scents than alphas or omegas, and Rob had always said I smelled fresh and clean and like being outside. It somehow didn’t come out sounding like a particularly alluring thing, and I’d always wished I had a more evocative scent.

But Julian said I smelled like a nest.

I tried not to read anything into the situation. This didn’t mean he wanted to date me. He was my friend, and he’d had a stressful night at work last night. Of course he wanted comfort.

I thought again about how Mason had never really warmed up to me. Not like his alphas had. We’d been friendly enough, but he’d always acted like I could never give him what he needed.

It was strange then that just snuggling on the couch seemed to make Julian more relaxed than I’d seen him in days.

His breathing gradually evened out, and before I knew it, my eyelids were heavy. I wanted to stay awake and revel in the feel of Julian’s arms around me. His chest moving up and down, the hard planes of his body curled behind me.

But sleep claimed me anyway. I woke up a few hours later when Julian shifted. I made a sleepy noise, and Julian patted my arm.

I lifted my head, and twisted so I could look at him. He was awake and gave me a sleepy smile.

“Hi. Epic nap time snuggles achieved.”

I nodded, setting my head back down. I usually didn’t like napping in the middle of the day, but today I felt refreshed, like I could run ten laps.

Well, maybe not ten laps.

Julian shifted, and drank some water, before handing me my cup. He sat up a little bit, pulling me with him.

“Didn’t mean to fall asleep, but I feel better.” He wrapped his arm around my waist, adjusting the blankets so we were both covered. He gave a little sigh, and my heart thumped in my chest.

I curled into his side. “I apparently needed that, too.”

We ate some snacks until I felt more awake. I shifted so I was a little bit more on my back, and I could look at his face. “Are you okay? Just working too much or was last night that bad?”

Julian made a face. “It’s a bunch of little stuff that’s making me crazy.”

“Oh, that’s worse sometimes.” I thought about my stupid invoices.

“You know Chuck?”

He was an alpha in Julian’s company who had mentioned—a time or seven—that maybe omegas shouldn’t be allowed to be firefighters.

I glared. “He’s an asshole.”

“He is. And mostly it’s fine, but last night on-site, we had to pull an omega woman out of the car. She was okay—everyone survived, with relatively minor injuries,” Julian reassured me, “—but there were three different cars involved, and one of them had kids who were scared, and it was a high emotion situation.”

“Did Chuck do something?” I could see where this was headed.

“Yeah. The omega woman wanted me to help her out of the car, but Chuck kept stepping in. He was really upset, even though you couldn’t see it, and the omega woman’s pheromones were bothering him. We needed the Jaws of Life to get her out of the car, so by the time she was freed, her scent was really concentrated. She was terrified, and that set him off.”

I snuggled against Julian, pulling my ankles under me. “But you made her feel safer.”

“I did.” Julian sighed. “Afterward, when it was safe to react, Chuck got in my face and told me I needed to keep my emotions in check. That it was bad enough to have to ignore the passengers, he didn’t need to worry about my scent too.”

---