Page 9 of Tempting Frey
Yeah, he was beautiful. Like a damned picture. Shining eyes with long lashes, a smooth jawline, and dimples in his cheeks. Those lips. He stopped laughing, and they were full, parted just a tad, as if waiting for something, the pink hue and the plump shape so innocent yet seductive at the same time…
Those deep eyes flashed to mine and widened a fraction.
My heart thumped, and I was suddenly hyperaware of my dick in my jeans, thankfully soft.
“A burger? And glazed ribs?” Sedric asked loudly, and I looked up. Jordy and Monty hired the omega a month ago. He was a good server, quick and friendly, but he’d been making eyes at me since he’d started. For once, the intrusion was welcome.
Hunter moved his beer aside to make space for his burger.
“The ribs are for me, thanks,” I said, and took the plate from Sedric.
Then I dug in, not looking up until the food was gone.
Barclay arrived, so I exchanged a few words with him. He looked a decade younger as he smiled and hugged his mate. And even as I couldn’t help but envy him, it was nice to see Barclay happy.
When Monty began ordering rounds of drinks, it was my cue to get out of there. I excused myself, paid at the bar, and hurried home.
As soon as I closed the door behind me, I dropped my clothes and shifted. Running would have been best to relieve my strange frustration, but I’d eaten too much.
Instead, I lay on the living room carpet and slept in fur. In bear form, my dreams were peaceful. If I saw any blue-green eyes and plush, kissable lips in them, I didn’t remember.
4
OLIVER
My first meeting with Frey on Friday night was an anticlimax. He barely even looked at me, mumbled less than ten words altogether, scarfed down his dinner, and stalked home with his gaze on his shoes. He seemed to be bent on avoiding me.
Only at one moment did I catch him staring at me. He looked almost angry, and my stomach swooped.
Theodore Frey, the largest alpha bear in the mountains, looked scary enough without trying. When he frowned, the sky darkened.
But to me, he was the most handsome and exciting man on earth. Just the shape of his hands, huge with strong fingers, prominent veins, and dark hair on the backs, was enough to get me wet and fidgeting on the bench. The touch-starved omega in me wanted to follow him like a puppy and… what? Bang on his door only to get thrown out again? I had more self-respect than that.
“What’s wrong with him?” Monty asked when Frey was gone.
“I think he’s lonely,” Barclay said. He had his arm around Calvin, Calvin’s enormous belly pressed to his side. I couldn’t look at the beautiful shape without a pang of envy.
I couldn’t change forms for an unknown reason, but I was a shifter omega. At twenty-two, my body screamed at me to procreate. Seeing Frey would only make it worse. I owned a collection of toys that I’d put to good use over the years. It would feel awkward to masturbate in my childhood bedroom again, but desperate times…
Monty interrupted my bleak thoughts. “How old is Frey anyway?”
“Forty-one,” I replied automatically, and Hunter flashed me a look. Was it weird that I knew?
“Damn, that’s rough,” Monty said. “If I’m still without a mate in ten years, I’ll be grumpy as fuck.”
Hunter sighed. He was pushing forty too, and it was no secret he was actively looking for a mate everywhere he could. Frey, on the other hand, hadn’t dated at all—at least not according to the Beauville gossip mill.
Monty looked at me, grinning. “And you don’t like any of these aging beasts, Ollie? Couldn’t you save at least one of them?”
Sometimes, the best defense was an attack. “I used to thinkyouwere handsome, Montgomery, but then you told a joke, and…” I shrugged. “The magic was gone.”
Good-natured as he was, Monty just laughed. “Keep making fun of me, friends. But one of these days, the Laurel Riley himself will come back to Beauville, and guess who’ll snatch the most beautiful, talented omega in the world, huh?” He pointed at himself with both hands, waggling his eyebrows.
“Give it up, Monty. He’s not interested.” Calvin shook his head, chuckling.
But Monty folded his arms over his chest. “You’ll see.”
Calvin looked sleepy, and as soon as Barclay finished his one beer, they went home. I excused myself too and headed back to my parents’ cabin. I couldn’t help but slow down when I passed the small lane leading up to Frey’s home. The windows were dark.
