Chapter Seven
River
Forrest seemed pretty alpha to me. At least the good kind. In the testosterone-drenched world of athletics, most of the alphas I met were the overbearing, bullying, bossy kind. They were great at being in charge, at least as long as an omega had no opinions or spine of his own. That was why we didn’t get along. Why I was single. Usually after a few dates, they told me I was a crappy omega who didn’t know his place.
If under their boot was the place to which they referred, they were correct. But, in my heart, I knew I was an omega, despite the fact I wanted a say in my own destiny. And screw anyone who said different. I’d just about decided I’d be a loner for the rest of my life, at least where a relationship was concerned. I had good friends, family, and that wasn’t anything to be sad about.
Except, whenever I slowed down enough to think about it, I was very sad. I rubbed my tummy, filled up with hot dogs and eggs prepared for me by the first alpha I’d ever been this close to who deserved the title.
He’d put his own needs aside last night, hopped out of a warm bed to come scoop me off the floor, medicate me, and tuck me in bed. Hadn’t chastised me although I’d fallen only because I defied what he’d told me, with the results he’d predicted. Any of the previous alphas in my life would have yelled at me first then helped me grudgingly.
This alpha carried me in his arms and had been nothing but kind and caring. If anything, I felt guilty for disappointing him, for creating the situation he had to rescue me from.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted, “and if the snow would just stop, I’d gladly leave you in peace to do your work.”
“Really? Gladly?” He frowned, a line forming between his brows. I wanted to reach out and smooth it away. “I thought we were having a nice time here, for the most part. I am usually solitary so much of the time with my work, the company is nice, but you probably don’t feel that way.”
Could he be serious? My last alpha nicknamed me “the Pest.” “Well, not gladly, exactly. I mean…in my work, I—”
“In winter sports?”
Why didn’t I just tell him? Usually, I wore a T-shirt to tell people who I was. There were a couple in my duffel, in fact. For some reason, I didn’t want Forrest to like me for my skiing, for being a minor celebrity.
Now that I thought of it, Forrest might be a huge success in his own field. “Yeah. That. Hey, I was wondering if I might have read anything you wrote?”
“I doubt it. But if you want to, I can send you a digital copy of something to read on your eReader.”
“I don’t have one, but when I do, that would be great.”
“I’ll loan you one of mine. I never travel without a couple. I really want you to lie down with that leg up, and maybe my words will bore you right into a doze.”
No way. “I doubt that.” Certainly, his spoken words had the opposite effect. “What do you write?”
“Fiction. Suspense…you know, political stuff with things that occasionally go boom.”
“Spy thrillers?” I had read a few of those a while back.
“Nah, not exactly. I actually have them all loaded on my eReaders, so you can peek at them and see which you’d like to read.” He stood up and gathered the plates and silverware.
I bounced up. “Let me help.”
“Oh. No. You keep that leg up. In fact, go right now to the living room and prop it up.
I parted my lips to argue then realized the pointlessness. “Okay. Thanks.” For once, I could obey, since he never asked anything that wasn’t for my benefit. Big alpha quality. I made it to the sofa and used both hands to get the heavy boot up then leaned back, listening to the rattle of dishes as he washed up. Then he came in and handed me a glass of orange juice.
“Need anything else?”
“I need you to stop working so hard. It makes me feel guilty. You’re the alpha, and I should be waiting on you.”
He blinked. “Who told you that?”
Only at least a half-dozen alphas who had me bring them a snack after they had their way with me over the years. But I couldn’t bring myself to say that. “Oh, everyone knows that.”
Forrest leaned over, putting his face inches from mine. It was all I could do not to grab him and bring him in for a kiss. But he just shook his head. “Usually what ‘everyone’ knows is wrong. If I am ever lucky enough to find the omega I want to spend my life with, it won’t be because of his skills at washing dishes or bringing me a post-coital sandwich.” He straightened and took a step away.
“Don’t go.” The words emerged before I could stop them. “I’m sorry.”
He paused and looked at me over his shoulder. “I’m just going upstairs to get my laptop and my eReader. I thought I could build a fire and we could couch potato while I write and you read me. Although, it always makes me nervous to have someone read my books.”
He continued on his way.
“Forrest,” I called, stopping him three steps up.
“Yes?”
“You don’t need to bring me the reader if it makes you nervous. I’ll just watch you write.”
I had no idea why he roared with laughter the rest of the way up the stairs. But when he returned, he handed me the slim device. “Here, have you ever used one of these before?” When I shook my head, he showed me the few simple steps to get to his library of books.
“I suppose I could have read on my phone,” I said. “And not put you to so much trouble.”
“It’s not any trouble.” He knelt in front of the fireplace, stirring up the coals and adding kindling. “But I just tried my phone and there’s no connectivity. Yours is probably the same. It’s the storm, I suppose.”
I’d been so involved with Forrest, I’d almost forgotten about the blizzard that kept us in here. One of us was going to have to do a little shoveling when it let up or the door would be blocked. It should be me, but I knew that wouldn’t fly. Now that we were talking about it again, I became aware of the wind howling and the heavy snowfall outside.
“Yeah, the storm.” I flipped through the titles on the device. “You’ve written a lot of books. Any suggestion for where to start?”
“My series is my most popular. Book one is As He Lay Dying.” He stood and brushed his hands on his jeans then came back to the couch and settled beside me with his laptop. “And if you hate it, it’s okay.”
“I won’t hate it.” I found the title and went to the first page. “I’m sure I won’t hate it at all.”
Forrest flipped open his laptop and went to work. I had never read a book by someone I knew before, much less someone sitting right here…writing the next one. Awe washed over me as I drifted into the story.
“What do you want for lunch?”
I snapped back into the present. I’d been lost in sunny Rome, racing through the streets with his hero after the kidnapper of a mysterious stranger who had more than captured his fancy. “What?”
“Lunch…food?”
“We just had breakfast.” But the clock on the mantel showed nearly twelve thirty. I tried to remember what time we’d sat down. It had been at least three hours. “Wow, where did the time go?”
He grinned at me, warming my heart. “You couldn’t have paid me a better compliment. Unless you found my erotic book collection on there and have been perusing that.”
“You have porn on here?” I flipped back to the list of books.
“I didn’t say porn. I said erotic.”
As he headed into the kitchen to make us sandwiches, I opened one of the erotic books. My alpha wrote a hell of a story, but his taste in literature was giving me ideas.