Page 48 of Overeager
It was an inadequate response, but he hadn’t realized—even with the little hints he’d gotten—how much Noah had taken on for his parents when it came to his siblings, or how much it had affected him.
“Yeah. Oh,” Noah told him with a soft smile, some of his intensity lightening. “Besides, I know at least some of my siblings are gonna have kids, and I wanna be a good uncle for them. Take the littles off their hands when they need a break.” He grabbed Eli’s hand. “I know there will be children in my life, they just don’t have to be my own, ya know?”
“Well, when you put it that way, it sounds …”
“Perfect?” Noah supplied, giving him a cheeky grin.
Eli narrowed his eyes at him. “Suspiciously so.” When Noah kept on grinning, Eli let out a sigh. “That’s what I always wanted, I think, with—with my ex. To figure out a life we really wanted. Todowhat we really wanted. But even without kids … his work was like his child, always demanding our presence for one thing or another.”
There’d been dinner parties and overnight functions with insufferable snobs. Late nights and weekend after weekend lost to Richard’s overtime. And then the working “vacations,” the two of them holed up in some rental with a prospective client and their family so Richard could network.
Eli cleared his throat. “And then when I was finally settled in my own career, he changed his mind and said he wanted kids after all. Decided that the two of us weren’t enough and were never going to be.” Eli’s muscles tensed with old, familiar anger. “I think he’d always expected me to change my mind. To give in to my omega instincts or something.”
“Is that why he never bit you?” Noah asked, his eyes on Eli’s neck.
Right. Eli’s lack of a mating bite. His distinctly bare neck. It had been a sore point for so long, and then after the divorce, ithad only been a relief—one less way his life had to be torn apart by what had happened between them.
“I think so,” Eli said with a shrug. “I was young when we got married, and he’d said things about waiting until we were more … established. Making it a sort of vow renewal or some bullshit. But yeah, I think he just wanted to wait until I was willing to be knocked up.”
Noah’s smile had taken on a brittle edge. “Can I call him an asshole again?”
“No.” Eli set his empty cup on the side table, trying to give Noah a stern look and failing. He just looked so sweetly indignant on Eli’s behalf. “There’s no need.”
Noah pushed his lower lip out in a mock pout. “Well, damn. Then will you at least accept my gift?” He gestured back to the box of plants that had been abandoned in Eli’s hallway. “I did some internet sleuthing, and I think you must have underwatered. We’ve got a dry climate here, and people underestimate—”
Eli pressed forward, placing his hands on Noah’s wrists, halting the too sweet words about his too sweet gesture. Something else was leaving his mouth without permission, in one hurried rush, “Willyouspendmyheatwithme?”
Eli had a fairly regular cycle, with three heats a year, and he’d managed to sync them up with school holidays. Which meant he had about six weeks still before he needed to bring this up. But he couldn’t help it—he wanted Noah there, and he wanted Noah to know it.
Noah blinked at him. Once. Twice. “Yes?”
“It’s over spring break,” Eli told him. “You might have plans.”
Maybe Eli should have felt guilty for even asking him. He could handle it well enough with suppressants and toys, and maybe Noah had visions of jetting off to Florida and getting rowdy on some crowded, drug-filled beach. That was whatcollege kids did these days, right? Or was that just lies reality TV had told him?
“Plans?” Noah turned his wrists quickly, so now it washishands grasping Eli’s, keeping him from withdrawing. “No plans. No, sir. All plans canceled.” He shook Eli’s arms gently, barely containing his grin. “Of fucking course I want to spend your heat with you.”
Eli sagged in relief. “Yeah?”
And it was hard to second-guess it, when Noah’s pheromones were so warm and pleased, his scent emitting pure satisfaction just at being asked.
“Fuck, yeah.” Noah groaned. “Oh my god, it’s going to be so hot.” His voice dropped into something low and intimate. “You’re going to get soaked, baby. I’m going to knot you so many times.”
Eli flushed, shifting in his blanket burrito. “Noah …”
“I’ve never helped anyone through a heat before. How do you get?” Noah asked him, shameless as always. “Are you needy? Bossy? Feral?”
“Um … the first one.” It was actually kind of embarrassing, how needy Eli got. It was part of the reason he hadn’t been brave enough to ask Noah yet. There was a vulnerability to it—to letting someone else see him that way.
“Needy?” In the next second, Noah’s brain seemed to catch up with his mouth, and he swallowed hard, his pupils blowing wide. “Fuck …”
Eli squealed as he was suddenly scooped off the couch, blanket and all.
“All right,” Noah said decisively, lifting Eli against his chest. “Back to the bedroom with you. I need to have you immediately. These fucking plants can wait.”
Eli giggled all the way back to the bedroom. Any lingering anxiety he’d had left over from Richard’s visit was gone, washed away in the gentle stream of Noah’s patience and care.
13
