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I grin, so charmed by this omega, I’m like a happier alternate version of myself. Then he smiles, and my dick twitches at the idea of those berry-tinted lips wrapping around my cock.
Great, now I’m hard. For fuck’s sake. His blush deepens like he scents my arousal too. Maybe he does. He averts his gaze to the board, and the broken eye contact lifts the spell.
I steer us toward shore, keeping a watchful eye on the omega as he grows quiet and rests his head on the board. A few seconds later, he gasps, then grimaces.
“Cramp. Leg cramp,” he says briskly before I can ask if he’s okay.
I kick faster, the caveman inside me chanting Must get omega to shore. Can’t knot omega if he drowns. Thankfully, sanity prevails.
A decent wave gathers.
“If we get separated again, don’t fight the riptide. Just paddle parallel to the shore like I did, then go in. And don’t try to rescue me. I’m a strong swimmer when I’m not distracted by a cute omega.” I cringe bodily. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I said that.”
He laughs. “That’s okay, alpha.”
My cock twitches. “Please don’t call me that.”
“What should I call you then?”
“My name. Tyler.”
“Okay, alpha.”
5 ELLIOTT
My alpha escorts me to shore without incident or shark sightings. What’s his name again? He’s definitely not Alden. That was the shock of a lifetime. Guilt twists in my stomach. Why does it feel like I’m cheating on Alden when we haven’t agreed to spend a heat together yet?
Another cramp nearly sweeps me off my feet, and the alpha tightens his hold on me.
As soon as the cramp passes, I say, “I’m Elliott.”
“Elliott,” he repeats, and it sounds so perfect from his lips I don’t want anyone else to say my name ever again. “Here.” He kneels at my feet and unfastens the leash from my ankle. It’s an oddly intimate gesture, or maybe everything is when I’m on the verge of heat.
His hand on my calf sends simmering pleasure to my center, and I feel myself getting wet. His nostrils flare. His eyes darken. He licks his bottom lip absently, not in that way some alphas do when they’re trying to manipulate you into kissing them. He looks like he wants to eat me, and I’ll gladly spread myself out like a damn picnic blanket, but a stronger cramp sends me swaying.
He stands quickly and stabilizes me with an arm curled around my waist. Each speck of sand beneath my feet feels like a shard of glass, and my panties are wet and sticky. I hate my body.
This is getting kind of ridiculous. Heat spikes aren’t supposed to stack like this. Even my heat spikes. Maybe I do need to be studied.
“Are you okay?” He abandons his board and carries me to the towel that I left rumpled when I nuzzled against it. I emit a pathetic whimper at the sand that immediately sticks to my ankles. God, this is humiliating as hell.
He takes the towel and turns away from me.
“Where are you—”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he says. “Just shaking out the towel.” He walks a few steps, then turns, blocking the sand with his body, then he lays it down for me.
Sitting down helps, but the sand between my toes feels all wrong and my blood feels too hot now that we’re out of the water.
He squats in front of me, knees flared. “Is there someone I can call?”
My brain cycles sluggishly through my contacts. I could call Noel, but then I’d have to go home.
“An alpha, maybe?” he presses.
“Oh. Right.” I cringe. “I was supposed to meet an alpha for a date.”
His jaw tightens.
