Page 81 of Knot For A Moment

He picked the bottle right up after me and put it on the tacos he made, and the groan that came out of my Alpha sent a burst of perfume swirling through the room. “Damn, baby girl. You’re right.”

“See?” I smirked before carrying my plate over to the bar and sitting beside Ash. “I have good taste.”

He snorted. “You forget that I’ve seen you mainline almost an entire box of Twinkies at three in the morning.”

That had been anight. Punch drunk from exhausting rehearsals and classes. The two of us and our other friends had completely let loose. “And you love me anyway.”

His eyes warmed, and he nearly pulled me off my stool to kiss my cheek. “Yes, I do.”

It was a good thing too, because there was nothing graceful about the way I demolished the plate in front of me.

“I think I would enjoy seeing someone your size consuming that many Twinkies,” Roman said from the table in the breakfast nook.

“I won’t pretend it was agoodidea. But you know… memories and all that.”

Normally I was careful about what I ate, simply because, as a dancer, I needed food as fuel more than comfort. What Craig said about me only eating Indian food and candy wasn’t true, and he could go fuck himself for that.

I’d just had my heat. No way was I going to restrict myself right now, and I didn’t need to.

But when the plate was empty I was pleasantly and contentedly full. “Where’s Gabriel?”

“In his office,” Jace said. “It’s across from the gym.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s a workaholic,” Roman muttered.

“No,” Jace laughed. “I think he’s working on untangling the rehearsal mess.”

“Oh.” I looked at the rest of the taco buffet. “Does he know there’s food?”

“I told him, but he probably forgot.”

I slipped off the stool and Jace intercepted me to take my plate before I went to go find him. Roman caught me before I left the kitchen, pressing me to the wall. The way he looked down at me, I saw the rawness in his gaze. Theprotectionthere… I loved every bit. “You okay?” I asked him.

He brushed a stray hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear. “Maybe.”

I smiled. “Do you need to carry me up to Gabe’s office?”

Roman’s face cracked into a smile. “No, firefly. I’ll be fine.”

“I don’t mind if you do.”

“That’s why I’ll be fine.” He leaned down and kissed me, both of us having to work for it. So tall and so short, it made me smile.

“If that changes, you know where I am.” I left him with a wink and climbed up to the second floor. Gabriel’s office was open, and it felt like him. Light, sandy walls and sparse furniture. Yet he sat in front of a set of monitors that took up a big part of the desk in front of him. A white t-shirt and sweats made him look adorably casual, along with the glasses he had on.

He was so absorbed by what was in front of him, he didn’t notice as I came up behind his chair and pulled it back away from the desk.

“What—”

I climbed into his lap, draping my legs over the arms of the chair before I kissed him. He smiled. “You turning into a koala, little one?”

“If I have to. There’s dinner downstairs.”

“Right.” One of his hands ran through his hair, leaving it sticking up in funny ways. “I forgot.”

I hugged him further, just holding him. He typed a few things around my body, not remotely bothered by the fact I was pinning him to the chair. I liked it. “I didn’t know you had reading glasses.”

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