Eva_Aft3r: Please god let him be hot to go along with being rich, I need a BOYFRIEND!
Jesse’s hand wrapped around my thigh, just below the hem of the sinfully short pleated skirt of my sundress.
I’d opted for dressing pretty casually at his insistence that Charlie was ‘no big deal’ and ‘wasn’t someone I needed to show off for,’ which meant I’d worn a fairly natural half-lash and my low-top Converse to balance out the cleavage-heavy dress.
Part of me was relieved that Jesse’s parents lived pretty far away, moving once he was old enough to live on his own. Getting ready today had made me realize that I didn’t own a single piece of clothing that would be appropriate for that sort of meeting. But, luckily for me, it wasn’t really that common to meet each other’s families. Now, if we were pack? That would be a different story.
Note to self, order a turtleneck.
“Nervous?” Jesse asked, looking at me sidelong at a red light.
“Yeah, a bit,” I admitted, even if it wasn’t easy. “But I’m not sure how much of that is like, real nerves or just that heat is getting close, and being in a loud arcade sounds sort of like torture.”
One of the things I loved the most about our relationship. We were always honest with each other. Even when it was a little uncomfortable.
“Do you need me to change up the plan?”
“No way, this is like, the ideal setting,” I assured them, reaching to the floor to hunt for my bag.
Jesse was everything that I’d dreamed of as a partner. Thoughtful. Caring. Incredibly comforting in a way that I’d only ever experienced in stuffed animals before I’d met him. And now that I had him, I wasn’t willing to let him go.
So, today had to go flawlessly. Even if that meant wincing at the bang of an air hockey table.
I knew it was either impress Charlie or I was going to find myself swiftly out the door with my relationship over faster than a game of OVWatch with no healer. Same deal if Jesse didn’t get on with Eva, they were our packs even if it wasn’t through bonds.
I wouldn’t let that happen. Not with me and Jesse. I loved him too much. Loved our life together too much.
Jesse’s hand found mine where I was digging around in my criminally small handbag for my mascara to apply yetanothercoat, a squeeze of his fingers drawing my eyes to his.
“Baby, you look perfect. Are you sure you wouldn’t be more comfortable in a quiet coffee shop?”
I offered him an anxious smile that didn’t quite meet my eyes. “I’m sure. Is the scent-cancelling body wash working? I feel like all I can smell is fruit gone off like alcohol.”
“I can’t smell anything, at least nothing unusual,” he said with a shrug of his shoulder, his other hand lazily resting over the steering wheel as he turned into the parking lot. “Besides, I’m sure he’ll think you're cool even if you’re smelly. Everything about you is kinda…”
“Please don’t say perfect, Jess. That’ssomuch pressure.” I sighed, narrowly keeping the omega whine out of my voice. God, heat wasclose. “I’m literally just a girl, he could hate me for all you know.”
“You aren’tjustanything,” the beta said with a roll of his sweet blue eyes. “And it’s impossible, Charlie loves me, I love you, it's basically a match made in heaven. No doubt in my mind that you’ll get along great.”
I took a deep breath, letting Jesse’s subtle citrusy scent calm me, half covered by my typical cherry and lime where he’d been so heavily scent-marked by me that a single shower wasn’t nearly enough to get it all off.
It wasn’t that I’d done it entirely on purpose.
Only partially on purpose.
I wanted, even if it was only for a few hours, for Charlie to understand what I already knew—that Jesse was as much mine as he was his.
And with my heat so close, yeah, I was feeling alittleterritorial.
Jesse and I had only been officially together about six months, but I’d become increasingly more attached to the beta as time went on. This whole friends-to-lovers pipeline was no joke, we already knew each other so well that it just felt natural to let our relationship move faster than if we’d just met.
Jesse parked the car, killing the engine before turning towards me. “He’s going to love you,” he said for about the hundredth time.
I pulled out my powder, eyes carefully on the mirror as I dabbed the sponge into the pan to press under my eyes and into my forehead. “I know.”
“Baby, put the makeup down,” they urged, flexing their fingers and jiggling my thigh.
I shook my head. “Just a little more…”
