Page 52 of Broken Ice
Beau stretched on the bed, boneless and floating, as Emilio rubbed his scent all over his skin. He nosed at the curve of his shoulders, his armpits, his arms. Emilio scraped his teeth down Beau’s side, making him laugh and squirm, the sounds turning to moans as Emilio buried himself in the crease of his thighs, staying there for a while, beard burn stinging the thin skin.
Emilio went north again and landed on Beau’s neck, staying there as if he needed this as much as Beau did.
Time slipped by like a silk ribbon.
Emilio’s alarm went off.
Beau was so deep in the haze of Emilio’s scent that he didn’t even know what the sound was at first. He scrunched up his face until the noise stopped.
“Emilio?” he slurred when the Alpha didn’t return, but then a kiss landed on his lips.
“Hey. I…I have to go.”
Panic lanced through him. His eyes shot open.
Emilio wouldn’t go. He wouldn’t do that to him. He’d promised he’d never treat him like Alex had.
“What? You want to leave?”
Emilio stared at him, eyes wide.
Beau’s breath quickened. “You said you weren’t like him,” he whispered, voice small, cracking in the middle.
“Fuck.” Emilio collapsed over him, pressing their foreheads together.
“Please. Please, please—I’ll be good, okay? I’ll be better,” Beau promised. Alex had said this about him too. How he was clingy. Needy. He’d though that Emilio didn’t think that way, but—
“No. Baby, no. You’re perfect, okay? It’s the game, remember? You…you made me promise.”
Beau blinked. His brain slowly caught up. “Oh. Right.” He shook his head. The panic numbed. “Right, yeah. Okay.”
Emilio took a breath, eyes lost.
Beau forced the pain out of his scent—as much as he could, anyway, mortified at his little meltdown. “I’m okay. Go. Don’t be late.” Beau blinked around. “Oh, shit, your clothes are in the nest.
“I can borrow some of yours.” Emilio’s voice was rough, scraped raw at the edges.
“Ok. Fuck, you need to shower, too…”
“I know. I’ll do it before I leave.”
“Okay. Go,” Beau encouraged.
It took Emilio a few more seconds to get moving, bestowing a lingering kiss on Beau’s temple and climbing out of the nest.
Beau found Emilio’s shirt in the nest. He crawled under the blue blanket and hid with it on his face.
It was fine. Beau was going to befine.
His stupid body seemed to know something was wrong, cramps clawing back. Beau tried to stay silent, curling up into a little ball and whimpering as quietly as he could.
“Beau,” Emilio’s voice said, and Beau had never heard it like that.
Beau opened his eyes, and Emilio looked devastated, eyes shiny, creased at the edges as though he were in pain too. “It’s okay,” Beau whispered. “Win it for me, yeah?”
Emilio nodded jerkily. “I’ll return as quickly as I can.”
“Okay.”
