Page 55 of Mating With My Grumpy Alphas
I watched her move around the pool's edge, taking in the details. The way the light filtered through the canopy, the perfect stillness of the pool's surface broken only by the gentle disturbance of falling water, the carpet of moss that covered everything in shades of green I'd never seen anywhere else.
"I come here when I need to think," I said, the admission coming out rougher than I'd intended. "When things get too much to handle."
She turned to look at me directly, and there was something in her expression that made my chest tight. "Thank you for sharing it with me."
"Never brought anyone here before."
The words hung between us, carrying more weight than I'd meant them to. She was quiet for a long moment, and I started to worry I'd said too much, revealed too much. This was why I didn't do relationships, didn't open up to people. I had no idea how to calibrate these things, how much honesty was connection and how much was just dumping your emotional baggage on someone who was trying to be polite.
"Why now?" she asked softly. "Why me?"
I could have deflected. Made some joke about needing company or claimed I was just being neighborly. Instead, I found myself telling her the truth.
"Because you see things differently. The way you look at that injured owl, at the books in the shop, at everything. Like you're really seeing it, not just looking at it." I moved closer, drawn by something in her expression that looked like understanding. "And because you matter to me. More than I know how to handle."
She stepped closer too, close enough that I could see the flecks of gold in her brown eyes. "It's perfect. Peaceful but alive. Like it's holding secrets."
That's exactly what it was. What it felt like. I'd never had words for it before, but she'd found them without even trying.
"What kind of secrets?" I asked, my voice coming out lower than I'd intended.
"Happy ones," she said, moving even closer. "The kind that make you want to stay. The kind that make you want to share them with someone special."
The mist from the waterfall had settled on her skin, tiny droplets catching the light. Her scent was stronger here, mixing with the clean smell of moving water and growing things. Everything about the moment felt suspended, like we were existing in a pocket outside of time.
I reached up without thinking, brushing a drop of water from her cheek with my thumb. Her skin was soft under my rough hands, and she didn't pull away. Instead, she leaned into the touch, her eyes fluttering closed for just a moment.
"Willa," I said, her name coming out like a prayer.
When she opened her eyes, there was something in them that made my heart stop. Something that looked like the beginning of love.
"I've been thinking about you," she said quietly. "About this. About us."
"Yeah?"
"I think I'm falling for you, Rhett. For your gruff exterior and your gentle heart. For the way you fix things and the way you've been trying to hold the broken pieces of me without making me feel like I need fixing."
The words hit me like a physical blow. Good blow. The kind that left you breathless and grateful and wondering how you'd gotten so lucky.
"You don't need fixing," I said, moving closer until we were almost touching. "You're perfect exactly as you are. Smart and strong and beautiful and brave enough to start over when someone didn't deserve you."
"I want to kiss you," she whispered. "But I need to know that you want it too. That this isn't just about being nice to the damaged omega."
I cupped her face in both hands, careful of my callused palms against her soft skin. "Willa, I've wanted to kiss you since the day I met you. Since you told me exactly what you thought of my attitude and made me realize I'd been hiding from everyone, including myself."
"Then do it" she said, her voice so soft I almost missed it over the sound of falling water.
"Please," I said, and it came out like a confession.
She rose up on her toes and pressed her lips to mine, and the world tilted sideways.
The kiss was gentle at first, tentative, like she was testing whether this was real or just another dream. But when I responded by pulling her closer, deepening the kiss with all the longing I'd been keeping locked away, she melted against me with a soft sound that made my alpha instincts roar with satisfaction.
She tasted like sweet tea and possibility and something essentially her that I wanted to memorize. Her hands came up to rest against my chest, fingers curling into my jacket as she pressed closer. The sound of the waterfall faded into background noise as every sense focused on her. The warmth of her mouth, the small sounds she made when I deepened the kiss, the way she fit perfectly against me despite our height difference.
When we finally broke apart, both breathing hard, I rested my forehead against hers.
"Been wanting to do that since the day I met you," I admitted.
