Page 18 of His Reward
“There it is,” he said, his voice less and less vulnerable by the second. He sent me an apologetic look and said, “Sorry.”
I was bereft. I’d been having such a cozy moment with my omega, and, bam, I’d just been reminded that he wasn’t reallymyomega, we had just been having some fun.
“No problem,” I said, standing and stepping over the edge of the tub. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving. Why don’t I order us some room service and we can eat together before packing up and heading home?”
“Yeah,” Lucien said with a false smile, his shoulders dropping. “That sounds nice.”
I smiled and nodded as I reached for a thick towel to dry myself off, then left him to finish his bath in peace.
As soon as I was alone in the other room, I lost my smile. Lucien’s scent permeated the air like a delicious fog. I wanted to flop on the bed and wrap myself in the, frankly, disgusting duvet just so I could be surrounded by my omega’s scent forever. Just because I hadn’t reached for and made that bond didn’t mean he wasn’t my omega. The thought of another alpha touching him, ever, had me growling before I realized it.
It was the danger of playing so intimately with someone. I really should have known better. When you shared something as binding as a playtime with someone, it messed with your head and your heart.
At least, that was what I told myself as I dressed in simple jeans and a t-shirt, then went to order a mountain of food for the two of us.
Kincade Lodge’s kitchen was lightning fast. Which made sense, since the DFC people were the only ones in the hotel that week. They delivered a whole cart of post-heat treats before Lucien finished his bath and joined me in the suite’s main room wearing just a robe.
“I didn’t know if you wanted to check my wounds before we ate or after,” he said with more bravado than I was sure he felt.
“I’ll check them now,” I said, gesturing for him to come to me. “If you can stand for me to touch you.”
“I think I’ll make it,” he said with a sheepish smile.
It was a slightly Dom move, but Lucien followed directions like a perfect sub. He shed his robe and stood patiently for me as I walked in a circle around him, checking his body. He had some doozies as far as welts went, but it was nothing that wouldn’t heal and be fine within a week. He winced and flinched every time I had to touch him, thanks to post-heat aversion, but he was a trouper in putting up with it.
Once that was done, we sat down for what turned into an all-too-solemn meal. We chatted about mundane things. Lucien was excited about the upcoming Winter Games, especially since they would be contested on home turf. He talked a little about his father and brother coaching him, and I read between the lines and came to the conclusion that I’d been right about the daddy issues. There was a lot of tension there. Lucien downplayed it, though, and I trusted him to run his own life.
It felt like way too soon until we were standing in front of the suite’s door, our bags over our shoulders.
“Well, that was great,” Lucien said with a strained smile. “I had a great time.”
“So did I,” I said. “I’m definitely giving the DFC a glowing review for the auction format.”
“Oh, yeah, the auction was incredible,” Lucien said. “I’m glad they’ve decided to make it a regular thing.”
“Me, too.”
We stood there, just staring at each other. This shouldn’t have been so hard.
I cleared my throat and said, “Obviously, we both need a little time first, but, um, do you want to maybe, I dunno, go out sometime?”
“Yes!” Lucien said, blowing out all his breath like he’d been holding the question inside and desperately needed to let it go.
I nearly buckled in relief. “Awesome. Here. I’ll put my number in your phone.”
“Great.”
He handed me his unlocked phone, and I added myself to his contacts. When I handed his phone back, he called me, and I saved his number in my phone.
“Well,” he said once we finally made it out to the quiet hallway and walked down to the lodge’s lobby. “I guess this is it, then.”
“I’ll call you next week, once everything settles down a little,” I said.
“I look forward to it,” Lucien said, smiling at me in return.
We were cute and stupid. It was adorable and embarrassing. And it was maybe the happiest moment of my life. It was going to take a lot of self-control not to call or text Lucien way sooner than was reasonable. It was going to take even more effort not to miss him every second of every day until I did.
CHAPTER SEVEN
