Page 37 of Knot That Serious

She was surrounded by Jack’s comforting cinnamon scent.

God, she wanted—

Eli blinked, and the doorknob was cold to the touch against her palm. She froze, heat still thrumming through her blood, flushing her from the inside out. She ached, and wanted Jack. Beckett. Both of them.

Anyone to help her with the need between her—

Oh.

So this is what a heat feels like, she thought, dizzy with realization.

Eli slowly backed away from the doorknob as if it might spin itself around and open without her intervention, one less obstacle standing between her and ruining two decades of friendship.

Some of the ache faded in the wake of her panic, and shifted to a burn behind her eyes. Eli paced back to the bed, stared down at the mussed blankets and the body-shaped dip.

Throat tight, she yanked her covers off and dragged them to the giant bean bag in the corner of her room. She couldn’t stand the thought of sleeping in the sheets, still wet from her slick, evidence of what she’d done.

The bean bag collapsed under her weight, like falling into a cloud, but it still wasn’t right and Eli feared nothing would be right without… an alpha.

If this was what heats were all about, Eli would be happy for someone to knock her out until it was over.

It’s time.

Tomorrow, she’d let Jack take her to the Omega Center, and she’d never have to speak of this night again.

Despite her shitty sleep, Eli woke just a little over an hour later feeling like a new person.

Silencing her alarm, she laid in the huge bean bag and just felt.

The heat from the previous night was gone. She didn’t feel like she was going to jump an alpha at first sight.

In fact, she felt great.

She’d be at the bakery alone anyway, if she chose to go in. There was a lot of stock to catch up on with the online orders in the next few days. Jack was going to have his work cut out for him while she was at the Omega Center.

Jack. Fuck.

That decided it.

Eli paid close attention to her body, the emotions bumbling around inside. Despite the shame she felt whenever she looked at the bed, there was no leftover heat-induced hysteria. She smelled a bit more… more. But again, no one would be there but her.

So she showered, dressed, and left for the bakery.

The morning went better than she imagined. She doubled the recipe for the ube brownies, Jack’s favorite, and managed to get everything else ready, too, checking off orders in her head as she added up the batches.

When the front bell dinged, signaling Jack’s arrival, she almost couldn’t believe it.

She’d almost forgotten her late-night insanity up until Jack appeared in the doorway to the kitchen area, dark hair ruffled and leather jacket hanging off his frame, helmet dangling from his hand. So he’d brought the bike today, just like she had.

“Morning,” Jack greeted, and she couldn’t stop herself from hearing his voice in her head, that little whimper she’d heard through the walls.

Hopefully he would brush her flaming cheeks off as exertion from the baking.

He sat two coffees on the prep station. Filling in for Beckett?

“Morning,” Eli managed, and turned back to face the last few cookies she had to ice. She’d saved them for last because she hated them. Why she picked such a cute, painstaking design, she’d never know. Maybe she should change it.

“Wow, you’ve been busy,” he said, glancing between her and the full front counter, as well as the papers she’d printed to help her count the orders.

---