CHAPTER ELEVEN
Diana stiffens under my comforting arm, and I will every atom of my body not to do the same. I’ve been fighting my instincts ever since she sprang from the tub like a wet dream made flesh, and my hard-on still hasn’t gone down from having her come all over my lap. As if her scent wasn’t alluring enough, she’s all sweet curves and silky skin, with eyes like a stormy sea and tawny waves of hair shot through with sunlit caramel. If she was in the film business, she’d be cast as the seductive siren sunning herself on a rock. Or maybe the sweet damsel in distress, waiting for her hunky alpha to swing past on a vine and save her.
But if Diana is looking to be rescued, it’s because assholes have deliberately put her in danger by withholding the truth from her. I don’t know if it’s trauma or how long she’s been at the slick factory, but it’s like she’s looking at the world through the eyes of a child, discovering things for the first time. Which means I refuse to make her uncomfortable during this conversation. Because it’s just dawning on me that this beautiful omega – who is twenty-five by my calculations –has never hada heat before.
“Um, I don’t really know.” Her graceful throat flutters as she turns to look at me with wide eyes. “Is a heat like a big deposit?”
I’m glad I’m sitting down, or her answer would put me on my knees. “It’s a bit more than that, sweetheart.” Kennedy’s gaze is burning into the side of my face, but I know if I catch her eye, I’ll lose it. I’ve been acting since I was in diapers, but pretending in front of my twin is impossible. Instead, I brush my fingers through Diana’s soft curls, my voice low and soothing. “You didn’t have heats at the center?”
I hate calling it that. In fact, I want to invite every reporter I know to a press conference and scream the truth about The Serenity Center into their cameras. But it won’t help Diana to give into my rage, especially when I can taste the first tingles of her heat on my tongue.
“We were told they only happen when you meet your perfect match.”
More likely, they didn’t want to interrupt their slick supply by dealing with needy omegas every few months. I don’t know what pisses me off most, that they denied Diana her most fundamental biological rights for nearly a decade, or that they tied her heat to the myth of one perfect alpha mate. I’ve never bonded with any of my heat partners, and I’ve still managed to have my share of sinfully delicious orgasms.
“Okay, we can talk about that some more, but Kennedy’s right. The safest place for us right now is at a hotel.”
Not to mention the safest place for Luscious, since I’m a second away from hunting her down and slapping her stupid.
I take a deep, calming breath and out of the corner of my eye, I catch my sister’s shoulders relaxing an inch.Poor Kennedy.Little did she know what she was signing up for when she became my personal security at seventeen.
I look around the room, thinking through the next few days. From a practical point of view, The Eyrie is going to put a sizable hole in my nest egg, but what other choice do I have? My trailer isn’t set up for my own heats, let alone someone else’s, and if we stay here any longer, Diana’s scent is going to become difficult to hide. In fact, I’m curious why Marcus and his gang of meatheads haven’t already come knocking…
As if summoned like the devil, a fist thumps on the door, and my gaze snaps to my sister. “Who the hell is that?”
“I’ll check. Go turn on the shower and wait in the bathroom.” Diana has gone so pale she looks like she’s about to collapse, and Kennedy reaches out to gently cup her shoulder. “Don’t worry,” she says in her big sister voice. “No one is getting in here. I promise.”
Diana nods, like I do every time my twin vows to dig me out of a bad spot, and then we jump off the sofa and hurry into the bathroom. I turn on the shower, as instructed, and dump half a bottle of shower gel into the steaming water. It’s my signature scent – cookies and cream, with a little zing of spice – and will warn any unwanted visitors not to get too close. I’ve been in this business so long, a certain amount of privacy is hard-wired into my contract, including access to my trailer. Luscious might have a stranglehold on my career, but her goons are prohibited from ever stepping foot over the threshold.
Diana watches me with wide eyes, then grabs my descenter power off my vanity. She furiously reads the labels on the bottle, her plump bottom lip caught between her teeth. I have a violent urge to bite it instead, and I have to screw my hands into fists to keep myself from scooping her up. “You don’t have to,” I tell her as she pops the cap. “Kennedy won’t let them get close enough to smell you.”
But she shakes her head, quickly filling her palm with powder. There’s a fierce glint in her eyes as she starts covering herself init, and while my nose wrinkles at the way it smothers her perfect honey and peach perfume, my heart soars at her bravery. “At least use a powder puff,” I mumble, tearing my gaze away as her hand dips under her shirt.
I grab a feather-soft applicator from my drawer, and before I can stop myself, dust it across her shoulders, spreading the powder. She giggles as it tickles her skin, and I can’t help but think of the soft smile on her face as she basked in the afterglow of her orgasm. As innocent as it was,Igave her that, and the memory is worth more than all the fawning fans and pretty accolades I’ve received in my long career.
Which is why I can’t help but drop to my knees, to worship her as she deserves…
“Ro?” Kennedy calls from the front room. “They’re gone. You can come out now.”
Diana giggles again at the sour look on my face, and I huff as I get back to my feet, tossing the puff on the counter. “Well,someoneshould get to come…” I mutter, turning off the shower and adjusting my jeans at the same time.
“When we’re safe,” Diana says, her gaze fixed on the fabric stretched over my straining cock. “I’d like to make you come, if that’s okay.”
I’m pretty sure I’ve never received a more seductive offer in my life, so I don’t blame myself for grabbing her again. She melts into me, rubbing against my bulge, and I grip her face, staring down into her hooded eyes. “We’ll both come. Over and over, until we’re covered in our slick.”
She huffs in anticipation, her heat-laden breath coating my face. As much as I want to lift her onto the counter and bury myself between her thighs, her safety comes first.
A decade as a porn star andnowyou become a boy scout?
But I’m grinning as we return to the front room, Diana tucked tight under my arm. Kennedy is busy shoving my scatteredbelongings into a tote on the counter, but she pauses to look at us. I can feel her assess our body language from every angle, her brain circling through potential threats and issues. “Just one of the rent-a-cops doing his rounds.” Her voice is mild, but her brow is furrowed, and I can read her better than the cookbook on my counter. Most likely it was one of Marcus’ crew at the door, looking for some sign of Diana. “Why don’t you go grab what you need from your room, Ro?” She pauses, before adding in her big sister voice, “Just the essentials, okay? We need to travel light.”
I roll my eyes at the jab at my packing skills, but I’m halfway to my bedroom before I realize Diana’s still cuddled under my arm. “Uh, are you okay with this?” I ask, because for once,I’mthe one doing the clinging. “I just want to keep you close right now, but if it’s too much…”
“No,” she says quickly, her scent swirling under the layer of powder as she looks up at me through her lashes. “I like it.”
“Great.” And it is, my gut doing one of the plunge-and-roll maneuvers I thought I outgrew years ago. Clearing my throat, I open my closet door. “Pick out anything you want and add it to the pile.”
Her eyes light up as she runs a hand over the racks of clothes. “You have so many pretty things.”
