Damn, it’s not fair. He’s so handsome. All I can do is stare at his face, so close I could just lean forward and kiss his mouth.
“You still haven’t given me any excuses,” I whisper and swallow hard, trying to break the spell he has on me, the warmth from his body so close to mine, practically between my legs, and the warmth his apology is bringing. “I’m waiting.”
He puffs out a breath. “Come down.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Come on.” He grabs my hand, tugs on it. “Get down.”
Frowning at him, I let him pull me down to the rug beside him. “What are we doing down here?”
He moves my hand to his crotch. “Can you feel this?”
“Zach!” My face is burning, and my core is clenching. I can’t believe my hand is on his cock. “It’s… hard?” I offer.
He snorts. “Most definitely.”
“And…” I slide my hand down toward the base. “Your knot is swollen.”
He winces and I snatch my hand away. “Yeah.”
“Sorry,” I breathe.
“Don’t be.”
“Does it hurt?” I ask.
“Yeah, because every time I meet you, I pop a knot. Like clockwork.” His eyes crinkle at the corners with his smile. “You see, I’ve always known that I want you. That I like you. More than like you. But my body decided to prove to me I actually need you. That it agrees with my mind and decided to shove my face into it. Stop waffling about, it says. She is the one. This is the time. Stop being a coward. You’re an adult. Stop being fucking afraid of commitment.”
Aw, my heart. “Zach…”
“Look,” Zach says, eyes blue like the sky and just as wide, “I never had a real relationship, never thought I needed one, but when I met you… that changed.”
Here is the speech, I think, similar to the speech the other two gave me, but looking into Zach’s pretty eyes, I feel again that tug, that note of sincerity, that hope.
But can I trust it?
“All three of them, coming to beg forgiveness?” Brinlee’s eyes are wide. “Wow.”
“One after the other, too,” Gigi mutters. “In a matter of days.”
“This is sus,” Ruby says. “Girl.”
Sophie, Sawyer’s alpha friend, takes a delicate sip of her black coffee. “And what did you decide? I mean, in my humble opinion, one out of three crawling on their knees isn’t enough. You need them all crawling.”
“True, that,” Gigi agrees. “That wasn’t enough crawling and begging, in my opinion.”
“Let them grovel,” Brinlee says. “Let them weep.”
She and Gigi clink coffee mugs and giggle.
I haven’t told them about Ryder’s tragic story or Atticus’ sad one, of course. Not even Zach’s embarrassing one. That one… I hide a smile. An alpha in a rut for me. I never thought it possible.
A vestigial body function, which, however, means he wants to knot me.
My frilly, pink omega heart is bursting at the seams.
“What should I do?” I ask the girls. “Make them grovel—and? Can I believe them? Can I trust them? And how can I choose?”
