Page 128 of Knot That Serious

He paused, skating his closed lips back and forth in thought. “Do you want me to?”

She imagined Jack seeing the mark, the expression he would make. “Yeah,” Eli said. “I do.”

His smile curled against her skin, and then he listened.

He shifted her hair from one side to the other, creating new territory for him to explore. His hands smoothed up and down her arms, sliding onto the top of her thighs. Eli covered them and dragged them beneath the hem of her shirt.

“You can touch me,” she whispered.

“I thought that’s what I was doing,” he responded, voice deep and rumbling against her throat.

Eli shrugged. “Do it faster.”

He threaded a hand through her hair, grabbing lightly and tilting her head back. Eli tried to remember how to breathe as he skated his nose up the side of her neck. “And what if I don’t want to go faster? What if I want to… savor?” he asked. He dipped his head and pressed a chaste kiss to her shoulder. “You taste so decadent, after all.”

Warmth spread steadily from each place they touched, and Eli groaned, softening against him. He couldn’t just say things like that!

Despite his claim, the hand left at her waist spread, fingers digging into her belly. Sensation crashed in a wave across her skin, pebbling her nipples as he trailed north, lips still mapping her neck and throat and shoulders.

She gasped as he released her hair and slid his other hand up her shirt. An outright chill danced up her spine, and she shivered against him as his palms covered her breasts.

Eli huffed a laugh at herself, flattening her hands against Raj’s thighs, the soft, dark hair dusting his skin tickling her palms.

Heat dripped through her, melting her further against him with every brush of his lips and nip of his teeth. He cupped her breasts, squeezing them before he flicked only his thumbs over the pert tips.

His teeth scraped against her neck, and she let her lips part for a ragged breath as he sucked at her skin. “There,” he said, releasing her with a pop. “That should do,” he said against the spot. It was tender to the touch. “If you need to, you can…” He hummed, and a note of confusion sang through her. “You can pretend I’m him, if you want to,” he said, voice utterly soft.

Eli paused, felt her pulse in the mark on her neck, felt her breath freeze in her chest. The words took a moment to register.

Then she sat up, and Raj’s hands fell away from her with ease. “I’m sorry, I—” he began.

But Eli turned back toward him and threw a leg over his thighs. He shifted his legs to accommodate her, and she sank into his lap, laying her arms over his shoulders.

“Why in the world would I want to do that,” she asked, leaning closer, “when I have you right here?”

The furrow in his brow eased as she pressed their lips together. She sighed against him, sinking into his chest as she learned the shape of his mouth and the taste of him through the mint of toothpaste.

Eli rocked her hips against him, a tease of friction between her legs.

She threaded her hands through his hair, tilting his head to continue the kiss as she sat up to adjust her position, seeking warmth and pleasure as she sank into him again.

She could feel him, hard between her thighs, against her panties. It was still too many layers between them. Eli let an impatient moan slip off her lips and into Raj’s.

Could he feel her? How wet she was just from his attention? His hands on her skin and his lips against her throat?

His hands curled around her waist, dragging her against him, and she hummed appreciatively into his mouth. They slid up her shirt again, teasing her nipples. Every brush of his thumb across the peaks sent another burst of heat through her, right between her legs.

The longer this went on with Raj, the more Eli felt a pit grow in her chest. She felt like she was using him.

And maybe this had started as an arrangement to make the other alphas jealous, but Eli hated the thought of Raj thinking he wasn’t good enough.

Because he was.

He was kind, and polite, and proper. But also silly, sliding off the hood of the car. Shooting her in laser tag.

Raj was a good alpha. He deserved a good omega.

And that might not be her, but she was willing to pretend, at least for the moment.

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