by Bonnar King
Schmoozing and navigating through these industry events was no big deal to me. I was in my element, but I was still somewhat distracted by Leo’s absence. He had worked so hard for this and I wanted him here, to be part of the event.
An hour later, while the party was in full swing, Andrew and I were called onstage to give our speech. I invited Walter up, then scanned the crowd again— still no sign of Leo.
I stalled as I scanned the crowd one last time.
I finally found Leo.
He was standing with some employees. He was wearing a tight-fitting suit that highlighted his slim frame and round ass, with his hair slicked back like a stylish Italian runway model.
He looked absolutely delicious.
I would have loved to keep looking at him all night if I had my way, but unfortunately, it was time for my speech. I cleared my throat and announced the new Think Train to the crowd, introducing Walter and Andrew and going on with what we had in store for the future. Everyone listened intently, and I tried to keep my gaze off Leo in order to focus on what I was saying.
When I was done, cheers and applause rose through the crowd, and I knew the party was a success. I also knew by the end of the night, we’d be securing those investors in no time.
It definitely was a hit. Champagne was carried in trays by waiters roaming around, and the food was splendid and praised by many. I stuck to one glass and mingled, keeping my eyes locked on Leo almost the entire time. He was doing his best to mingle, too. Our eyes met once or twice, but all he did was give me a polite smile before breaking the eye contact.
This was torture.
He’d been giving me that politeness for a while now, and I wanted him with a passion unlike I’d ever felt in my entire life. I wanted him like I’d never wanted any omega before.
Shit. What the hell was wrong with me?
Was I in love?
“Lucas, this has been really great!” one of the guests, Simon exclaimed, giggling. He was the son of one of our potential investors and was flirting up a storm. Simon was a gorgeous omega, with toned body and a very sultry personality. Normally, I would have been all over that—but in the past few weeks, I hadn’t even looked at any of the omegas who tried to come onto me.
Because I was too preoccupied by looking at the omega who wasn’t coming onto me. I guess it was true what they said—you always want what you can’t have.
“Thank you,” I said. “I—”
Whatever I was about to utter next was cut off when I saw a sight that had something dark rushing inside me. Leo was with Max, and it was obvious from his body language that Max was flirting.
It was also obvious from Leo that he was uncomfortable with it.
I hadn’t really had much interaction with Max in the office, but during the few times I did, he seemed like an okay fellow alpha. It just went to show that looks could be deceiving, especially with what he’d put Leo through. Not that I was much better after all the stunts I’d pulled with Leo myself, so I couldn’t really judge him, could I?
Max kept trying to talk to him, and Leo looked like he was trying to be polite, but it was obvious from Max’s body language that he wanted Leo to be more than polite, and I had to stop myself from tightening my hand further around the champagne glass. It was already in danger of breaking.
“Lucas?”
Distracted, I continued what I was saying, though my eyes were glued on Leo. He excused himself shortly—but to my irritation, Max followed him.
Without thinking, I was already excusing myself from the crowd, too, and leaving a surprised Simon behind. Then I was following them, too, keeping some distance as I passed by hallways and searched. Eventually, I heard voices nearby, which happened to be an empty waiting lounge. The voices grew louder as I drew nearer, and I could hear a certain tense quality there.
Then Leo yelped.
Quickening my steps, I arrived just in time to see Max standing in front of Leo in a very intimidating manner.
Irritation turned to fury in the split of a second when I saw what was happening. I began seeing red.
Max had his hand tight on Leo’s arm, hurting him. And he was pushing Leo forcefully toward the nearest wall.
How dare that son of a bitch hurt my Leo.
My sweet omega, Leo.
17
Leo
There was something to be said about annoying exes and their persistence. Sure, Max wasn’t officially my ex, but his persistence was definitely an annoyance.
And it was surprising.
He hadn’t really tried to talk to me after seeing me pretend-flirting with Lucas, something that relieved me thoroughly. But now he was back for some reason and coming on stronger than he’d come on in the past.
It had to be the new suit I was wearing. I never really wore fancy stuff like this before at work, where there was tight-fitting material around my chest and ass. But I knew this event was going to be big and fancy, so I had to go all out and put my best foot forward. And If I was being honest, it was most likely because I wanted Lucas to notice me.
I took the effort to go to the Armani store to have my suit perfectly tailored to my body. I chose the color that seemed to pop the most, which was unlike me—I normally liked to have a low profile and not bring attention to myself. The suit had the added benefit of making my eye color pop, too, and what started out as nervousness on my part ended with pleasantness as people complimented me for what I was wearing and how good I looked.
Apparently, Max noticed it, too.
He’d been easy to handle in the crowd, but I was getting uncomfortable. That was when I decided to ditch him and excuse myself to take a breather, with the waiting area as the only private place I could find, other than the restroom.
Imagine my surprise when Max showed up a few seconds later.
Then, further surprise when he started to become really aggressive.
I was getting sick and tired of it. He hadn’t even tried to apologize for what he’d done before, only made up excuses that I was weary of hearing. Then his hand was grabbing my arm, and he was forcing me to the wall as if that was going to get me to listen. Well, he had another thought coming.
I opened my mouth, prepared to give him a piece of his mind and burn him like an inferno.
But the words died in my throat when he was suddenly gone from hovering over me, and a familiar alpha voice penetrated the air.
“If you do that to him again, I will fucking end you,” growled Lucas.
I froze. Then I stared as Lucas grabbed Max’s shirt collars, pulling him closer until they were eye to eye. Max glared, but he seemed to suddenly realize who he was glaring at. He wavered. He stammered an apology. Then he was out of there before anyone could say another word.
Me? I was furious.
“What right did you think you had doing that?” I asked, pushing myself off the wall and approaching Lucas. There was a cool expression on his face that further infuriated me, and I let it show.
“It’s not about rights,” he said. “He was hurting you.”
“And I could have handled it.”
Lucas’ eyes narrowed. “By being polite and smiling at him like that?”
“By being calm and civil because I still have to deal with him in the office. And there will be consequences!”
“There won’t be any consequences,” Lucas said, with confidence.
“Stop handling things for me!” I practically yelled at him. Then I walked out on him before he could say another word, knowing it wouldn’t be anything good. I was highly emotional at the moment, and it wasn’t even because of what Max did. Lucas’ presence was getting to me, but for all the wrong reasons.
It was impossible to be objective and professional when he was around, because all I wanted was to be taken in his arms. Even when I was mad at him like I was at that very moment, part of me still wanted him.
Was that just my omega nature or was I being pathetic?
I was halfway down the hall when I hear
d footsteps following me. Knowing he wouldn’t have any qualms about arguing in front of a crowd, I ducked inside the nearest room, which turned out to be the closet. Then I waited for him to come in. I opened my mouth to yell at him again—
“I’m sorry.”
His words had me blinking. I could hear the sincerity in them, and it surprised me. Suddenly all the fight raging inside me was gone, replaced only by a certain weariness. And hurt.
It hurt to even look at Lucas. Along with the hurt was an ache that just never went away, even when I tried my best not to feel it.
I missed him. I missed talking to him and teasing him, and generally just being with him. We’d turned from strangers, to semi-enemies, and back to friends in the space of a few weeks—things were becoming complicated. Now, we treated each other as nothing but work colleagues.
I wanted the old Lucas back—and I wanted more than friendship.
Unfortunately, he didn’t want the same based on the fact he hadn’t mentioned our time together. If he had mentioned it, I would have let me know how I felt about him by now. It seemed obvious to me that the dressing room incident would just be the one-time thing, probably due to the circumstances we were in at the time. That was why I just didn’t want to put myself out there like that without knowing he felt the same way. I don’t think my heart could take that sort of rejection.
“I’m sorry for taking that away from you. I knew you could have dealt with it. It just made me so angry,” Lucas said.
“I know. I was angry, too.”
Lucas sighed and ran a hand through his hair. Then he stepped forward until there was not much space between us anymore. “I’m sorry for hurting you, Leo.”
Something pierced my heart at the words. I nodded my head, at a loss for words.
“I’m sorry for shutting you out like that.”
My mouth was dry now. “There’s no need for you to apologize, Lucas.”
“Yes, there is,” he said firmly. He shut the door and turned on the light bulb, giving us some dim lighting. “I’ve been a complete jerk to you. You didn’t deserve that. And… I hurt you. Emotionally.”
I shook my head. “No. No. There were two parties to that incident, Lucas, and one of them was me. I was willing. You didn’t hurt me.” My heart beat fast, and I had to swallow before saying my next words. “You… you pleasured me. Thoroughly. And it was a wonderful experience.”
Silence filled the room. Something shifted in the air and surrounded us, turning it thick. I watched his eyes darken as he stepped even closer, his mouth inches away from mine.
“You pleasured me, too,” he murmured in a low voice that sent my stomach skittering in a flutter. “I couldn’t stop thinking about it… and sure as hell tried my best to.”
My face turned hot. “I… I couldn’t stop thinking about it, either.”
“Where does that leave us, then?”
It was a loaded question. Despite our nearness, Lucas didn’t make any moves, instead standing in place and just looking down at me with that contained heat in his gaze. His hands were tight fists at his sides, and it spoke of how much effort it took for him not to come any closer.
God, even just looking at him standing before me made me ache.
He was waiting. He wanted this to be my decision, respected me enough to turn away if I said no—and I knew he would turn away when I told him I didn’t want it.
But did I want him to turn away?
I knew the answer to that. It was practically shouting in my face. And I knew I had to make a decision about it. Now.
I stood on tiptoes, because even in my new shoes, Lucas still had a good number of inches on me. I had the pleasure of hearing his breath sharpen for a bit, of seeing his gaze darken even further. Then all that was forgotten as I pressed my lips against his, soft and willing lips.
It was the only invitation he needed. Like a dam that had been broken, Lucas’ arms banded around me, hauling me up to him until our bodies were pressed against each other. The heat from his huge body seeped into me, and my chilled skin suddenly felt oh-so-hot, like it could melt ice. He opened his mouth and so did I, and we kissed like that—with all the pent-up passion we had for one another, the hunger that threatened to drive us crazy as the need grew and grew.
His hands slid inside my pants, and he touched me like a whisper through my underwear. I moaned into his mouth, feeling it deep in my body.
“You’re hard already,” he groaned out.
“Yes,” I whimpered. “My ass is hungry too. Please touch me. Please fuck me.”
He groaned even louder, and I bit his lower lip to keep him quiet. This got him chuckling, even while his hand kept rubbing my dick and making me feel so, so good. His other hand was squeezing my ass tightly.
I knew a few more minutes of this and we’d be taking our clothes off. I knew we wouldn’t be able to control ourselves, not when there was this much chemistry and heat between us. It was going to be explosive, and the closet wouldn’t be able to contain it.
But God, it was so tempting to just give into him right there, right then.
Lucas knew how to touch me. He knew the exact buttons to push to have me vibrating in his arms, and he was using it now as he made me melt deeper into his touch. I was weak and powerless against his alpha powers, and I loved it. I was being dominated, and all I wanted to do was to give myself to him completely.
And to have that cock inside my—
With another stifled moan, I took hold of his collar and abruptly pushed him off. His mouth disentangled from mine, only to settle on my throat.
My mind was incoherent, but I tried to talk, anyway.
“If we do this here, we wouldn’t last five minutes.”
Something hardened in him, and it wasn’t his bulge—no, that was already hard and pressing against my stomach to begin with. It was his resolve. Lucas kissed me one more time, making me helpless as I throbbed all over.
Then he was pulling us both out of the closet.
“Come with me,” was all he said.
Dazed, aroused, he lead the way, and I followed.
I’d follow that alpha anywhere he’d ask me to.
18
Lucas
It was highly unprofessional to leave an event that I organized, but at this point I didn’t care. My mind was filled with Leo and what we were about to do and damn if I was going to wait any longer. I had already waited too long to have to finally him, completely. Nothing was going to get in the way this time.
It was risky to go back to the party and to the entrance without the possibility of people stopping us, so I settled for pulling him to the back, where we used the stairs to go down. Then we were inside my car and driving off to my place, the silence strained with excitement and my cock as hard as a rock with excitement.
Belatedly, I remembered Andrew and dialed using the car’s voice activated phone.
“Lucas? Where the hell are you?”
“Take care of things there. I need to do something important.”
“What? What the hell?”
“And don’t come home tonight,” I said firmly. “I’ll have your stuff sent to a separate suite.”
There was a brooding silence on the other end before Andrew spoke again. “Why am I not seeing Leo around, too?”
I smiled at the question and suspected he’d be able to put two and two together at some point without me having to spell it out. Then I hung up before he could say another word. A quick glance at Leo let me know he was horny as I was—looking at me coyly with his big, beautiful eyes and inviting lips. God, this little omega was doing a number on my heart.
“So how have you been?”
“Horny,” he muttered.
The answer caught me by surprise, making me laugh out loud. I shot him a look, watching the twinkle in those green eyes and realizing how much I’d missed him. We began to tease each other just like before, the camaraderie back between us. But with it was an arousal so intense that I couldn’t have w
alked straight even if I tried. My dick was stiff as a board, and it wasn’t going down anytime soon. I reached over and began to grope Leo’s groin and thigh, while he moaned seductively.
Music to my ears.
Before we knew it, I was parking the car, and we were both walking toward the elevator. Inside, the tension was up, thick and palpable as we both remembered exactly what happened when we were in an elevator together for the first time.
I just about managed to keep my hands off him, though, bringing him up to the suite and stepping out of the elevator quickly. He was slower, eyes widening in fascination as he took everything in. Then he gave me a disbelieving look.
“What?” I asked.
“How many condos do you own?”
I shrugged. “This one isn’t mine. I’m just renting it.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know. More than ten across the world, I guess.”
Leo gasped, but managed to catch himself as he finally followed me. I asked him to sit on the couch, but he just stood in place, looking at me with those swollen lips and wide eyes.
With a groan, I pulled him in for a kiss. There was no point in offering drinks or food, because that wasn’t what we both needed. Instead, I guided him toward the bedroom, never taking my mouth off his as I explored every inch and cavern. He was so, so warm, and I couldn’t get enough. I slid my tongue in and tasted the champagne on his tongue.
My hands started roaming, and so did his. I pressed him against the wall as we started removing each other’s clothes, our movements hurried. He laughed when I had trouble with the zipper on his pants, and I chuckled when his hands shook as he tried to unbutton my pants. Then we were down to our underwear, and I took his delicate chin in my hand to angle the kiss deeper.
But Leo had other plans.
He firmly pushed me off him. Then he tugged me around until it was my back that was pressed to the wall.
I stalled when Leo suddenly knelt in front of me. He saw the bulge in my underwear and smiled, cupping through the boxer briefs and rubbing. I stifled a groan, more turned on than ever. Then he was sliding my underwear down until my cock jutted up and was mere inches from his sweet mouth.