Page 46 of Altius
“Do you want everything or meat lovers?”
There was a potent absurdity about the moment that was impossible to describe to someone who didn’t experience it in person.
It could have been the unintentionally suggestive phrasing of the pizza toppings.
Perhaps it was the stunned Wyatt on the stairs, clutching at the bottle of scent-canceling spray, thoroughly chastised by a plucky beta—or maybe it was said beta, looking at me as if I were blameless.
Like I’d been minding my own business instead of actively participating in the kiss, and my pheromones weren’t just as abhorrent as Wyatt’s.
Joaquin chose that moment to open the front door. He paused on the threshold, surveying our peculiar standoff. “Uh, everything okay?”
“No,” Wyatt said absently. “Everything or meat lovers.”
That did me in. The words tumbled out before I could stop myself. “What’s the difference when it comes to you guys?”
Joaquin’s laugh started low in his abdomen, a tight, wicked chortle that gained strength until it filled the foyer and the hallway between our lofts, prompting a similar reaction from Wyatt—and then me. I couldn’t help it.
Only poor Alijah remained unfazed, looking at us like we’d lost our minds.
We probably had, at least for the moment.
The door to Owen’s suite swung open.
Cal emerged first, giving me an unobstructed view of the black sweater I’d been eyeing during the game, which made hisbroad shoulders and dense chest look so tempting that my teeth ached.
“What’s so funny?” he asked, raising a brow in my direction first, then looking toward Alijah.
The beta shook his head. “I don’t know.”
Owen crossed his arms. The silver cufflinks on his dress shirt caught the late afternoon sunlight, unexpectedly prompting Joaquin to shut the front door and come clean.
Or as close to clean as his mouth seemed to get.
“Pretty sure I just walked in on Alijah propositioning Morgan and Wyatt.”
“Liar!” Whipping around, Alijah crossed to his mate and gave his arm an ineffectual slap. “Take that back. I did no such thing.”
“You kind of did, man,” Wyatt said, still standing on the same step, holding the bottle of scent-canceling spray.
“I did not!”
“Babe, come on.Everything,” Joaquin said, gesturing to the assembled crowd, “ormeat lovers?”
A tattooed finger tapped Alijah’s sternum before Joaquin pointed back at his own leering face.
Color suffused the back of Alijah’s neck, darkening his brown skin, cheeks puffed out with indignation. “I was talking about pizza!”
“With extra cheese?” Wyatt snarked.
“You.” Joaquin’s finger zeroed in on Wyatt. “Don’t you have a living room to spray down?”
“Yeah, yeah.” Wyatt plodded back down the stairs, aiming the first spritz into the mated pair’s airspace.
After that display of pettiness, he crossed the living room, starting at the opposite end of the couch from where I was sitting.
That was my cue to leave.
I got to my feet and picked up my bag, only managing a few steps before Owen’s voice arrested my progress.
