Page 99 of Sunshine

I followed Sunshine back into the living room, and ducked into my room for a quick change. We had a pleasant dinner with my company, and I forced myself to focus on the current evening.

Not the thought of Sunshine in my arms during the heat. Not her writhing beneath me.

Chapter 27

Sunshine

Only a few days after I’d dropped by Julian’s firehouse, we were driving into San Francisco to go shopping for his heat. Julian had wanted to drive, so I got to stare at him out of the corner of my eye the whole time. It had taken a little bit for our schedules to line up, and now that we were out I felt so much more alive.

It was early May, and the coastal breeze was something out of a fairytale, bringing with it the scent of citrus and eucalyptus. And car exhaust, but I was going to ignore that scent.

Julian seemed excited to go shopping, and I hoped I’d had the right idea in suggesting it. Having three omegas in the family meant I’d gone shopping for a heat more times than I could count. Sometimes it wasn’t even because they needed something, so much as it was the process of going out and gathering supplies that satisfied their instincts.

Thinking about heats made me realized I’ve been dating Pack Kahele for almost a month.

I didn’t trust it. I hated that I was still waiting for the other shoe to drop—for something terrible to happen—but I couldn’t help it. Pretty much everything else in my life had taught me that good things came to an end.

“Hey.” Julian poked my side. “You’re thinking too hard. What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” I smiled at him. He looked so effortlessly handsome in a t-shirt and shorts. I couldn’t stop looking at him. The effect was almost overpowering and I considered asking him to pull over and climb into the back seat with me. His tattoos were peeking out from below his shirt sleeves, teasing me and making me want to trace the lines with my tongue.

I was turning into a sex addict. I’d been having sex almost every day, sometimes more than once in the same day, but I still felt the pulse of desire every time I saw them. I pulled my thoughts back to the focus of the day.

“I’m plotting where we should stop first.” I told him instead.

“I don’t care where we go, so long as I’m with you.”

My heart melted and I squeezed his hand. Then I started worrying that he might think that the places I planned to visit were stupid.

At least I was confident that my first idea was sure to make him happy. I gave him directions through San Francisco, and he pulled into a gaming store parking lot.

He grinned. “Seriously? This is the first stop? I thought we were going to hit up a nest store.”

“We will.” I slipped my purse strap over my shoulder. “But we need some new games for during our downtime.”

“Who says I’m gonna let you have downtime?” he muttered as he got out of the car.

Julian wrapped his arm around my waist, and we strolled through the gaming store. We picked up games and discussed the pros and cons.

An alpha with a scraggly beard and a shirt with the logo from the popular online video game kept looking over at us. Then I heard him snorting about casual gamers.

Before I thought about it, I stepped forward, the urge to punch him in the face so strong that I had to physically check myself.

“So violent.” Julian hooked his arm around me again, dragging me down the merchandise aisle. “Love to see it.”

I was normally extra-protective of my sisters when they were getting ready for their heats. I always felt an increased need to make sure they were okay, that they had everything they needed.

The urge was stronger around Julian, fueled by something more aggressive. I’d wanted to grab Chuck and throw him off a cliff.

I rolled my eyes at Julian’s comment, and we headed over to the merchandise aisle.

“Nowthisis something Luca hasn’t thought about yet,” Julian said with a laugh. “As far as games and consoles go? Yes, he’s all over that.”

I held up a plushie of Tom Nook, our furry overlord on Animal Crossing. “Has he got you any plushies of the games you play?”

“Not yet.”

“Good. I claim victory.”