Page 135 of Altius
Checking the time on my phone, I said, “They should be serving dinner soon. Stay here until then.”
“You’re right,” Alijah nodded, moving into my row. “A full alpha is a happy alpha.”
His longer legs erased any sense of extra space. But I didn’t mind. Alijah wasn’t intruding. His warm presence was more than welcome.
“And happy alphas should conk right out.” I closed my laptop and lifted the table tray to slip it into the seatback. The new travel-sized weighted blanket from Cal was draped over my legs.
Alijah let out a breathy laugh, shoulders crowding his ears, eyes sparkling. Joaquin must be messing with their bond.
“Someone missing you?” I teased.
“Y-yeah.” Placing his elbow on the armrest between us, Alijah leaned closer. “It’s the first time we’ve spent the night apart since we got mated. He keeps…”
After a few nonsensical twists and spirals of his hands, which left me baffled, Alijah had no choice but to spit out the words, “Thinking. About—things.”
“Things you should probably keep to yourself.”
Digging his teeth into his bottom lip, Alijah glanced around, confirming no one was paying attention to us. Then he shifted even closer, melding our upper arms together, his thigh pressed against mine.
“Last night, he filled my head full of…ideas,” Alijah whispered. “About how we could kill time. You and me, I mean.”
Without turning my head, I studied his expression from the corner of my eye. A flustered beauty is so easy to let your guard down around. But I knew better. There was a seductive devil pulling strings from the shadows.
The current situation bore all the hallmarks of a Joaquin set-up.
A casual, unassuming encounter, almost mundane in its appearance—going to lunch, opening the bathroom door, watching your sister dance—allowing him to snare you without realizing it.
Until it was too late, helplessly trapped while Joaquin spun fantasies before your eyes, intoxicating you with his rakish laugh, slipping praise down your throat along with his tongue.
How his dark eyes shone, watching as you inadvertently discovered new facets of your sexual identity.
Promising to make you feel just as good, if not better—together. Over and over.
I’d temporarily fallen into Joaquin’s clutches one too many times. My luck had held out this far. But it was only a matter of time before he got me for real.
And Alijah was the sweetest, most honey-laden trap imaginable, with a smile made of pure joy and smooth brown skin that tasted like orange marmalade.
“Do you want to know?” Alijah asked, nose just brushing my hair.
It would be foolish to indulge him. So very foolish. There was no need to listen to another word that left his kissable lips. I should force him to go back to his seat and then hide under my blanket until we reached California.
That’s what I should have done. But I didn’t.
Instead, I stupidly played along. “He wants you to touch me. Where?”
“Knee first, then—then gradually move my hand to your upper thigh.”
Alijah moved to follow through on his mate’s instructions, but I shook my head, giving a meaningful look at the approaching flight attendant.
I thought he might wince and turn away, but Alijah opted to nod in return, then sank a few inches in his seat, head drifting in my direction, eyes half-closed, as if on the verge of falling asleep, and continued.
“I’d squeeze and massage your leg. Marvel at the dense muscle. Your power. How your quads strain against the denim. Beg for you to smother me with your thighs.”
“That’s what you’re into?” I asked without turning my head, picking up the closest paper—Owen’s prototype design for a vibration therapy unit. Not exactly the dry, clinical prose I was hoping for.
Now all I could think about was how many hertz separated the hum of the plane from Cal and Wyatt’s purrs.
“But you’re not. I know.” Alijah stroked the armrest with his middle and ring fingers. “Do you remember how many times I tried to get you to sit on my face during your heat?”
