Page 8 of Knotty New Year

I ran a tongue over my lower lip, slowly, then bit it, every bit as slowly, smirking internally at the fact that this alpha, who was trying to treat me like a child, now hadn’t blinked in over a minute. I sucked in a sharp breath, and his eyes fell to my boobs once more.

“Diapers are your thing, then? Age play isn’t one of my kinks,” I managed to say, then inhaled deeply, loving the slow slide of his Adam’s apple under his short beard as he stared at my tight nipples beneath the silk. “But I won’t shame you. A man of your advanced age probably needs whatever help he can muster to get the old juices flowing, am I right?”

Before he could answer, I slammed the door in his face, slapping a hand over my own mouth to keep from shrieking with laughter. Or sexual frustration. Or both.

Chapter4

Candy

After a quick shower, I wrapped myself in a pink bathrobe, then thumbed through the clothing in Lindyann’s closet, looking for something to wear. There was almost nothing: a few pairs of jeans at least two sizes too small for my generous hips, four t-shirts that were so tight they could work as compression bandages for my entire torso, a high school letter jacket, a puffy purple winter coat, what looked like a black, slinky-stretchy cocktail dress, and… “Oh, wow, what isthis?”

In the very back of the closet, I found what I hoped was a cosplay costume. Only this wasn’t any character I recognized. It was a pink furry kitten costume, like an enormous baby onesie, with a very significant flap in the back for… well, I’d leave it at “bathroom access.” But the matching buttonable flaps over both nipples and the front opening at the kitty’skitty areaput that theory to rest.

“Lindyann is a furry?” I giggled. Then the thought of wearing that outfit in front of Nicholas Paxson hit my funny bone just right. I started giggling so hard I thought I might pass out, and raced for my purse. I had to text Rain.

I pulled my phone out, suddenly realizing it had almost no battery life remaining.Crap.I called her twice in a row—our emergency signal, since she had a habit of leaving my texts on read for days when she was caught up in trying out new recipes.

“What’s happened?” she asked immediately, breathless.

“You will never believe this. I am stuck at the Paxson residence—”

She hissed out a long, whispered, “Yes... So you got in? He hired you as his PA?”

“No, a betasitter.” I fished around in my purse, looking for my charger cable as I filled her in on the whole debacle. “He thinks I’m a child. Calls me little girl, and not in a sexy, Daddy-dom way.” Although, I wasn’t a hundred percent sure that was true. The gleam in his eyes as he’d said it… I shook off the fantasy that flickered. Where was my damn charger?

“Listen, this could be exactly what you need,” Rain said soothingly. “It’s all over the news; this storm will last for days. They’re expecting massive snowfall, power outages. You’re stuck in the house with him. You can impress him with your professional persona, your skills, your—”

“My omega growl?” I interrupted.

“What?”

“I thought he was taking me to a lover’s room, not his sister’s. And I fuckinggrowled.”

“Oh, shit.” The line hummed between us as she considered my words. “Candy, omegas only growl for…”

“Yeah, I watched the video,” I muttered. “For compatible alphas.”

“No, babe. We only growl when another omega is physicallypresentaround a super compatible alpha. If you’re growling around him without anyone even there, at just the thought of him being near another omega…”

I fought to keep her words from triggering another growl right then. “You can’t think he’s my—”

The phone battery made the blooping sound of final death, and I sat there, staring at it in my hand. The last two unspoken words burned on my tongue.

True mate.

It couldn’t be. I racked my brain for everything I knew about the incredibly rare meetings of two people so compatible, it was as if nature had conspired to create an irresistible pairing. The alphas and omegas who had done interviews for training videos had all said the same thing: that when they first met their true mate, they justknew. They had been unable to keep any physical distance between them, and after consummating their love and exchanging mating bites, they shared a psychic emotional link as well as an off-the-charts physical attraction.

And they shared something else: true mated couples almost always had at least a dozen children. They were perfectly genetically compatible, and at least in the stories I’d heard, sometimes even when they used birth control, nature found a fucking way.

Oh shit. Shit shit shit.

I desperately needed to call Rain back, but I didn’t have my spare charger. It must be in the car. I peeked out the window. I’d never seen a blizzard this intense; there was no way I was going to be able to get to it now.

I dug in a chest of drawers and found a pair of pajama shorts, then threw them on with the biggest of the t-shirts. My bra was still soaked, so I left it off, grabbing the letter jacket to complete my ridiculous ensemble. It wasn’t the worst thing I could have chosen, and I had to get back downstairs. Then, once this storm was over, I had to get out of this house. Maybe even the state.

I wasn’t going to entertain the faintest notion of being Nicholas Paxson’s true mate. The guy couldn’t stand me. But I had to stay. This house was warm, safe, and I had a job. “And a ten-thousand-dollar bonus,” I breathed as I wandered back down the hall.

This wing was homier than the others I’d explored, with family photos on the walls. I stopped at one where two beaming parents were surrounded by six children. The mother was heavily pregnant. The dad was an older, silver-haired version of his eldest son, and he wore a smile I couldn’t imagine on Nicholas’s face.

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