Page 307 of Labor of Love

It was infuriating. The way he looked at me, the way he was so chummy with everyone elsebutme, the way I wanted to bathe myself in his scent every time I caught a whiff of his pheromones.

It made a sour feeling sink into the pit of my stomach, like a warning that I needed to get as far away from him as possible.

Cats and dogs don’t mix well together.

But now here we were, Luca standing outside the café I’d just finished having lunch at. His tail was wagging like he was happy to have caught me out in the wild, outside of my bar.

He could have been happy to see Asher, who was with me, but something told me it was not him Luca was after. Maybe it was the wistful part of me, but my guess turned surer when I stood and told Asher I’d catch him later.

Luca’s eyes followed me as I made my way through the café to him. Once outside, his tail went into turbo mode, wagging so hard I worried it might just fly away. Then I was blasted with an intense wave of pheromones.

My breaths were shallow to keep myself from inhaling too much of his addictive scent. The last thing I needed was to get hard and wet with slick in the middle of the street.

Taking a step back, I asked, “What are you doing here, Luca?Especially so close to your rut. Go home.”

It explained why he was having such a hard time controlling his animal traits and why he’d been frequenting the bar recently. An alpha this close to his rut would be on the prowl to find a suitable omega to spend it with.

My stomach churned at the thought of him spending his rut with Lumi or Asher or any of the number of pretty omegas he’d gotten close to at my bar this past week. He was also so free and happy with them, yet when he glanced my way, he looked like he owed me something.

He probably still felt sorry about our terrible first encounter and thought he could make it up to me by showing my bar patronage? Who knew? But what Ididknow was that this man was taking up way too much real estate in my head. If I were a smart man, I’d tell him he owed me nothing so we could go on our merry little ways.

“I was just imagining how you’d dress outside of work and wished to see you under the sun, then there you were. You’re beautiful, Onyx,” he said, his eyes trailing up and down my body.

If only I were a smarter man...

I flushed under his compliment. More of his scent filled my senses, and then I was burning for a whole other reason.

“Thank you,” I replied softly, then stepped to the side so the wind could carry his tempting scent away from me.

We ended up staring at each other for a moment, neither of us speaking nor breaking eye contact. It was my first time seeing him outside and during the daytime. Under the sun, his blond hair sparkled like gold. His blue eyes turned into jewels that I couldn’t tear my gaze away from.

He was so bright and sunny, while I was the complete opposite of him. My dark skin was a couple of shades lighter than my jet-black hair. My eyes were also so dark, they were almost navy under the light. We were like day and night, and I so wanted to bathe in his light.

Luca’s cheeks flushed the longer our eyes connected. The ears on top of his head twitched before poofing out of existence, like he hadn’t been flashing them to the world seconds prior.

“I was wondering...” Luca started, then cleared his throat before continuing. “If you’re not opposed to me, I was wondering if you would spend my rut with me?”

Luca rubbed his hands together like he was nervous. Why he would be nervous, I hadn’t the faintest clue. Proposing to spend a rut or heat together wasn’t anything to get shy over. In fact, I was sure any of the omegas who frequented my bar this past week would be thrilled by Luca’s offer.

If I were being honest with myself and the heat that instantly pooled in my stomach from his offer, I was happy to accept, too.

Instead, I found myself hesitating. This wouldn’t be the first rut I’d spent with an alpha, but those were fun experiences I quickly moved on from.

But a rut with Luca and hispheromones that smelled like they were created just for me? Moving on from him might be almost impossible.

The question was, do I let myself fall?

2

LUCA

I’d never been as nervous about asking a potential rut companion as I was now.

Since the first moment I set my eyes on him, even through the layers of fog of my drunken brain, Onyx was like the pure moon breaking through the storm clouds. Dark, mysterious, and unmatched beauty that captivated me. He was the last thing I remembered before falling into a peaceful sleep.

I later learned of how disastrous that night was. My vomiting all over the beautiful man was not the first impression I wanted to make.

Thankfully, Onyx wasn’t the type to hold grudges. He was perfectly hospitable to me the few times we chatted at his bar.Toohospitable if I was being honest.

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