Page 82 of Now Their Starlet

“That makes two of us,” Andi says, her lips quirking up. “And no need for you to apologize. It’s not your fault.”

Cameron opens and closes his mouth like he’s biting back another apology.

“It’s that whole journalist’s sense of justice thing going on, right? That’s the reason why you care so much?”

“No—” Cameron has to clear his throat before meeting Andi’s gaze like he’s imploring her to listen. “Well, that’s not the only reason I feel so strongly about this situation.”

“Well, then...” Andi tucks some of her hair behind her ear. “We did say we’d figure things out between us when I got out, right?”

“We did.”

“I’m... looking forward to that, then.”

“Me too.”

Andi leans back on her heels and waves at the rest of us. “You’ve got some stiff competition, though, so you better take this seriously or else you’ll be left in the dust.”

“There’s a competition, is there?” Eli growls, stepping up behind her and scent-marking her , rubbing his stubbled cheek against the column of her neck.

“Oh my God, of course the moment I mention a competition, you’re marking me like a dog.”

Eli flashes her a lascivious grin that’s more teeth than actual smile.

“I swear, if you say something stupid like ‘I’ve got that dog in me,’ I will smack you,” she huffs with a roll of her eyes.

“I’d like to see you try, Princess. Plus, you said it, not me.”

“You’re incorrigible!”

The two of them bickering like they did before everything went to shit makes something settle in my chest. I’ve been an emotional mess for the past month, but now, with Andi here with all of us, her chamomile scent sweet with the honey of her good mood, I know everything will be okay.

“We should probably head back soon. This is their version of flirting and I don’t know if we want the cleaning bill of them fucking on the table,” I joke.

“You saying you’d complain about the view?” Eli says, his voice low as he reaches out towards me.

His large hand grips me by the back of the neck as he tugs me into his chest. His blood orange scent is so thick in the air that when I take a breath through my mouth, it’s almost like I’ve just taken a bite straight from an orange— and it makes my mouth water.

Fuck, he smells delicious.

“N—no, but I—I—” My brain absolutely short-circuits as Eli rubs his stubble against the sensitive column of my neck, scent-marking me too.

“He’s totally like a dog!” Andi giggles.

“Beck is right, we should probably head back,” Everett murmurs, saving me from the onslaught of Eli’s competitive level of affection.

Part of my brain recognizes that he’s probably being this intense because he wants to show me that there’s enough of him to go around, even with Andi being back. Considering the awkward tension and confusion between the two of us a couple of months ago, when Andi and I were still in that strange fake-dating limbo, and Eli and I were... whatever the hell we were, it’s really sweet of Eli to make it clear where he stands.

The other part of my brain is too overwhelmed by the mix of Andi’s and Eli’s scents to really do any thinking at all. The last thing I want is to be struck stupid and expected to interact with paparazzi.

“Are we going to do anything to avoid the paps?” I ask, scrubbing a hand down my face and shaking my head, trying to shake the brain fog of being really fucking horny.

Curse these omega hormones.

I’m counting my lucky stars that it doesn’t seem like my hard-on is showing through my pants. I can see the headlines now.

Beckham Knight abandoning his pop star career to be a lawyer? His boner leaving the courthouse says so!

I don’t think the media would be stupid enough to actually print a headline like that, but they sure as hell know how to draw the wackiest conclusions.