Page 46 of Overeager
After Noah did exactly as he’d said—sucking Eli’s cum off his fingers like it was the finest delicacy—he gave him a deliriously bright grin, his dimples in full force. “So. What did I do to deserve such a warm welcome?”
“I just …” Eli tried to find the words to express the ferocious need he’d felt, seeing Noah at his door, but all that he could summon was, “I just … like you.”
Noah’s eyes softened, his smile growing impossibly wide. “I like you too. So much.”
He ducked his head into Eli’s throat to scent mark him and then stiffened. “You … met an alpha today?”
He didn’t sound accusing, just … cautious.
Eli bit back a curse. Fucking Richard and his stupid fucking tobacco pheromones.
He didn’t want to tell Noah about Richard’s visit, not now. It wasn’t like he was hiding anything, but he didn’t want to bringthat bullshit into this space just yet. Especially after what had just passed between them. This hadn’t been about that. It had been about Noah.
So Eli settled for a half-truth. “Some uppity business dude came into my office before my lecture. He works for the dean.”
Noah took another sniff, his chest rumbling with a half growl. “Kinda rude with his pheromones,” he said, his voice harsher than its usual low drawl.
“Tell me about it,” Eli laughed, not sure if he sounded crazed or natural. “It was suffocating.”
Noah let out a soft, rumbling noise, and then he scent marked Eli as he’d intended, rubbing his face against Eli’s neck until all signs of Richard had been obliterated. “Better?”
Eli let out a relieved sigh, letting his weight fall into Noah. “So much better.”
And it was, wasn’t it? This thing with Noah. Better in pretty much every way.
If only they didn’t have to keep it hidden.
12
Eli
Something was niggling at Eli this morning, even as he lay warm and cozy in his bed with a passed-out Noah drooling on his chest. It wasn’t hard to figure out what it was.
Richard’s visit.
It wasn’t that Eli regretted keeping it to himself last night—not exactly. He was still in no rush to introduce the ugliness that was Richard into his new relationship. It was more about what the visit had brought up for him. The old arguments. The disappointment.
It would be stupid to talk about it so soon, right? Eli and Noah had only just started dating, and while their relationship was easy, it was also … precarious, if only by the nature of their positions. And Noah was young and inexperienced and just … didn’t need to be thinking about these things.
And yet.
There was potential here, wasn’t there? Real potential. Shouldn’t Eli know where they stood before things went any further?
Noah’s arm twitched where it was resting across Eli’s waist, and his breath shifted out of the deep, steady rhythm of sleep. Eli schooled his expression, relaxing his furrowed brow as he watched Noah wake.
The alpha lifted his head, sleep-bleared eyes landing on Eli’s face immediately. He always did this when he woke up—sought Eli out like he couldn’t quite believe he was there until he’d laid eyes on him.
Noah wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and gave Eli a soft, sleepy smile. “Hey.”
Eli’s breath caught at the sight of him, and his answering greeting came out almost shy. “Good morning.”
They spent a stupidly long moment giving each other fond, dopey looks, and then Noah’s eyes widened, and he was leaping out of the bed with an energy he didnotusually have first thing in the morning. “Holy shit, the plants!”
He started bounding out of the bedroom, still nude, although he did snag a pair of briefs off the floor as he went.
Eli was left dumbfounded. What the hell had just happened?
He didn’t become truly alarmed until he heard the front door close, and then Eli rose quickly, slipping on his robe without bothering to tie it as he hurried down the hall.
