Page 28 of Overeager
He’d probably been looking like an idiot, grinning widely at nothing as he changed kegs and washed glasses and chopped limes into garnishes, but how else was he supposed to act?
Eli washere.
Out of all the bars in the city he could have gone to, he’d ended up at Noah’s. Which was a blessed piece of fucking luck, because Noah had been stuck trying to figure out how to get Eli alone. He’d been ready to give in and go to Eli’s office hours next week, to try to coax him into being unprofessional enough to at least give Noah his number.
But now Eli washere. In a booth Noah had been spying on for the last hour, in the moments he’d been able to spot it through the crowd.
Noah walked straight to that booth now, finding Eli sitting with the striking alpha woman who had to be his sister—theowner of the earthy pheromones that had raised Noah’s hackles earlier, when he’d thought Eli had shown up here on some kind of date.
There was also a pretty, full-figured omega woman who looked to be with the alpha sister, judging from their linked arms and the way she snuggled into her every time she laughed.
Noah wanted to be at that table. He wanted Eli to be snuggling intohimlike that.
For now, though, he loomed over them, grinning way too broadly. But fuck it, Eli liked his smile. He couldn’t keep his eyes off Noah when he was grinning, and Noah wasn’t afraid to push the advantage.
“Hey.”
“Noah,” Eli greeted, the word almost a squeak. His eyes were wide and kind of panicked, like he hadn’t expected Noah to come over to the table to fetch him.
But how else was he going to get him? And if Eli had just texted Noah like they’d both wanted, they wouldn’t have to have an audience like this, would they? So Noah wasn’t going to feel too bad about it, even with the way the alpha sister’s eyes were narrowing and darting between them, sharklike and predatory, as if she sensed blood in the water.
“It’s my break now,” Noah announced, giving Eli an out to leave the table and join him without too much more fuss.
But the sister had other ideas.
“Hello,” she all but purred, holding out her hand for a shake. “I’m Faith. And this is Liz.” She raised a dark brow as Noah shook her hand firmly. “And you are …?”
“I’m—”
“I already said his name is Noah,” Eli grumbled, glaring daggers at her.
Faith flashed him a sickeningly sweet smile. Noah had enough siblings to recognize she was goading her brother. “And how do we know dear Noah?”
When Eli only kept glaring, Noah cleared his throat. “Eli and I met in Sedona.”
He hadn’t been sure if their connection in Sedona was something Eli had shared with his sister, but Faith’s reaction was fairly telling.
“Oh, did you?” Her smile grew as she drawled, “How fascinating.”
“Faith,” Eli said, a clear warning in his tone.
Faith held up her hands. “Don’t let us stop you from … reconnecting, Eli.” She and Liz made eye contact, an unspoken message passing between them, and something newly devious entered her gaze. “In fact, Liz and I need to be going.”
“Faith.”
“Sorry,” Faith said, not sounding sorry at all. She didn’t even meet Eli’s eyes, too busy sizing Noah up. “I know we dragged you out. But Noah here can take care of you, can’t he?”
Noah decided right then and there he loved Eli’s sister beyond measure. He would send her a fucking gift basket, if only he knew her address.
“Faith,” Eli repeated for the third time, through clenched teeth.
This time Faith did look at him. “Eli,” she taunted. The siblings had a stare off, and then Faith nudged her head toward Noah. “Noah’s waiting.”
Noah grinned invitingly. Eli looked to Liz, but the omega only smiled gently at him, not even attempting to come to his rescue. Eli let out a heavy sigh—Noah tried not to be offended by that—and rose from the booth, brushing up against Noah as he did so.
Fuck, he smelled good.
Even with strange pheromones layered over him, he was tart and enticing and perfect.
