Page 37 of His Gift
I was falling in love with him, too, but that was wrong on so many levels. He was a friend who was here for me in my hour of need, but once my heat was over, he would go back to his high-flying life in Barrington and I would be stuck here in my crappy apartment in Norwalk with no future.
He frowned like I’d spoken my thoughts aloud. “You’re saying the same thing now, only with your face instead of your words,” he said. “I don’t like you thinking that you don’t deserve a nice heat with?—”
“A nice alpha?” I finished when he seemed reluctant to compliment himself.
He smiled sheepishly, which made me smile back, my heart thumping madly against my ribs. “The point is, I chose to come help you. I was already in Norwalk looking for you when I got your call.”
I blinked. That was a really good point. He’d showed up at my apartment within minutes of me calling him. Barrington was at least two hours away if you were speeding and didn’t get pulled over.
“You came looking for me?” I asked, my heart swelling a little.
A far dirtier sensation thrilled me as Shawn’s knot started to go down and my hole gushed with slick and cum as he pulled out. I was sad to lose that connection with him, but I liked the way he rolled to his back, pulling me over him like his own personal omega blanket.
“Of course I did,” he said, brushing my sweat-damp hair back from my forehead. “I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you since the auction.”
I grinned. “That’s because you paid a hell of a lot of money for me,” I teased him.
He laughed. I loved how I could feel every vibration through all the places our bodies touched, and even without him being knotted in me, there were a lot.
“I would have paid that much for real,” he said, caressing the side of my face.
I didn’t know how to feel about that. On the one hand, I loved how possessive he was. It made my omega do a little victory dance to have caught the eye of such a great alpha. But on the other, that simple statement bore too much resemblance to the stupid plan I’d actually concocted to sell myself. I was embarrassed that I’d ever thought of such a thing.
“I have to tell you something,” I blurted before our sweet nothings could go on.
“Yeah?” he asked, concern in his eyes as he gave me his full attention.
I didn’t know where to start.
“I almost did something really…drastic right around the time we met.”
Shawn frowned, probably thinking that we’d actually only just met, so my drastic thing was recent, but he didn’t interrupt or question me.
Background. He needed background if this was going to make sense.
“My life has been really hard,” I told him. “Neither of my parents had any money growing up. They were high school sweethearts, if you can believe it. My dad was apparently quite a catch back then. He played football, he charmed the teachers, and he bullied anyone he thought was a dork. Papa was borderline dork, but he fell head over heels, though I have no idea why. Dad treated him horribly, but for a while, Papa told me he kept thinking he could do better, make Dad value him more.”
“I knew there was a reason I didn’t like him,” Shawn growled.
“Yeah, well, it gets worse than that,” I went on. “Papa got pregnant during his first heat. His parents were appalled. They forced Dad to marry Papa.”
“I don’t like the sound of that at all,” Shawn said.
“It was a disaster,” I agreed. “Dad didn’t have many prospects outside of high school. Definitely not college. He went to work in a garage, training to be a mechanic. Papa worked as long as he could while pregnant with my older brother, Jeff, but even twenty-five years ago, there weren’t a lot of businesses that would hire a pregnant omega or keep them on after they gave birth.
“Anyhow, typical story, Papa ended up shouldering most of the load once Jeff was born,” I continued. “Two years later, I came along. Jeff is a beta and I’m obviously an omega, and Dad sort of lost interest in all of us after that. He started going away for what he called business trips, which we all knew was a big, fat lie. Word got back to Papa that he was cheating on him. That broke Papa’s heart, but there was nothing he could do about it with two small boys to raise.”
“I’m sorry he had to go through that,” Shawn said, stroking the side of my face.
His touch and the way he looked at me caused the temporarily silenced ball of heat need within me to flare. I winced slightly. The next wave was coming on hard and fast. I needed to rush things if I was going to make my point before I was too needy and desperate to continue.
“Anyhow, Papa was first diagnosed with cancer when I was in my senior year of high school. I’d been busting my ass to earn a scholarship to Barrington University. I’d almost had it locked down, but then the medical bills started coming in. Papa couldn’t work, Jeff ditched us as soon as he graduated high school to take a job with the merchant marines, and the second I got a job and started earning money, Dad showed up again, asking for what he said was rightfully his.”
“How did he justify your income being rightfully his?” Shawn growled, thunderclouds in his eyes.
“I’m an omega. He’s my sire.” I shrugged. “Way back in the day, I would have virtually been his property until I married another alpha.” Which was probably why he thought he had a right to collect on me if I’d gone through with my plan to sell myself to Rick Deluca.
“That’s barbaric,” Shawn said.
