33. Ivy

33

IVY

Logan’s chest was such a nice pillow.

Was it sacrilege to feel good on a Monday morning? I felt wonderful. I carefully untangled my legs from Rome’s behind me. He was the little spoon to James’ haphazard embrace. They were so perfect together I found myself biting down on James’ bare forearm out of sheer affection. I pulled back with a breathy squeak.

Still asleep. Whew.

I slithered as slowly as I could out of the nest so I didn’t disturb my sleeping pack. One last lingering glance — Logan’s butt was partially on display and just lovely — before I slid on my slippers and made my way to the kitchen.

My breakfasts were usually something quick like toast but I actually had proper groceries in my fridge after we shopped over the weekend together. I got to whisking eggs and frying up some bacon. Breakfast wraps sounded good, especially since Logan could take it to go as he had to leave earlier than the rest of us.

“What are you doing?”

I shrieked and nearly sent scrambled eggs flying over my shoulder.

Logan only found my lack of awareness funny. “Not used to having people around your home?” he asked, hugging me from behind and helping me set the pan back in the middle of the burner.

My heart was beating a million miles an hour. “Not big alphas who are much stealthier than they appear,” I grumbled.

He started to kiss my neck and I was instantly putty. “Why are you cooking breakfast for us?” he murmured.

“Well, it was supposed to be a surprise for all three of you,” I said, feeling reluctant to leave his arms to go fetch wraps from the pantry. “But help me surprise Rome and James instead?”

One last lingering, scent-marking kiss. “That I can do,” Logan rumbled before pulling away.

I liked the newness. This break in my routine. The domesticity of wondering if we should add some garlicky sautéed mushrooms along with the spinach and cheese. But old habits die hard and Logan did not miss my repeated glances at the TV. He gave me a questioning look and I tucked my hair behind my ear self-consciously.

“I usually have my baking show on in the background when I cook or do chores,” I admitted sheepishly.

Logan flicked his chin at the screen. “Put it on. It won’t wake them.”

Rome made fun of James for sleeping through anything and was oblivious to the fact that he was just as bad.

It was an episode I had watched many times before, washing over me like comforting white noise. Logan, however, almost burnt the bacon because he was so transfixed.

“God, how are they going to turn this around? There’s fifteen minutes on the clock and the cake needs twenty .”

I giggled and took the spatula from him.

Logan and I folded wraps together, one of us a little more efficient than the other.

“Can we watch this later tonight? After dinner?” he asked once we were done. “I can’t believe I have to leave for work in ten minutes.”

He looked so forlorn I had to kiss that downturned mouth.

James and Rome were finally up, rubbing sleep out of their eyes as they stumbled into the kitchen. I finished off my wrap and held the plate out to them.

“You made breakfast?” Rome asked, a little line forming between his brows.

“ We did,” I corrected, pointing at Logan disappearing down the hallway to get dressed.

“Wake us next time so we can help.”

“Mmmm…no,” I said and earned myself a pinch on my butt followed by a sizable grope.

James had no such qualms, already midway through his wrap. “We slept in. Gotta get into the shower,” he said before devouring the rest in one gigantic bite.

Ooh. The first hurdle in trying to streamline four individual morning routines. “ I need to shower,” I said.

Rome’s mouth flattened. “Me too.”

“Not me.” Logan was back and ready for work. “I shower at night. Can’t be getting in the nest covered in dust and grime or whatever I’ve picked up that day.”

He was so dreamy.

Logan kissed me goodbye, cradling my face in both his hands and leaving me with enough of his brisk evergreen scent that I got a little head rush.

“So…all three of us need to shower?” I asked, trying to pat my hair back into place.

James licked his bottom lip. Slowly.

“We can’t have sex in the shower. We’ll be late,” I said, putting my foot down.

He blinked so innocently like I was the perverted one. “I don’t know where you got that idea from, Ivy. All I was going to ask was if you needed to wash your hair today.”

Incorrigible, up-to-no-good deviant.

“I do.”

James turned to Rome. “Rock paper scissors. Whoever wins gets to pick soap or hair.”

My hands flew to my hips. “Excuse me?”

Rome already had his fist in his palm. “Rock, paper, scissors, shoot .” He won, crushing James’ scissors with his rock. “I want soap.”

James laughed. “I wanted hair anyway.”

“Look at that, we didn’t need to play at all,” Rome chuckled before turning to me. “Come on, Ivy. Let’s go.”

My shower was extra long that morning. James jumped in first, shampooing my hair with the most spine-tingling head massage before conditioning my ends. He cleaned himself in a minute flat, before swapping with Rome. I was soaped so thoroughly I was starting to wonder why on earth I said we weren’t allowed to have sex.

“Because we have work,” Rome said, kissing the tip of my nose.

Right. That.

I was in the middle of applying my makeup but went to see James off at the front door. He gave me an amused smile as I zipped his coat up for him over his scrubs.

“Send me cute pics?” I requested, rising on my tiptoes to kiss him. Fingers crossed for a huge bunny or a litter of puppies he would struggle to hold all at once.

“You got it.” James winked. “Selfies all day long.”

He was such a— “Get out of here!” I scolded him, pushing him out the door.

Rome was waiting for me on the couch to finish getting dressed. “Ready?” he asked, looking up from his phone. Our bags were already neatly lined up by the door.

“Yes.” I smiled. Only one car today. The thought set off a flutter of wings in my stomach. We drove in a comfortable silence and walked into school hand-in-hand in plain sight of the few giggling students milling in the schoolyard.

“Ivy!”

Our administrative assistant Cora had her head stuck out the office door, waving frantically at me. The sweet but bumbly lady only had two settings — calm and sheer panic.

“Cora? What is it?”

She sighed defeatedly. “Lord, just come and see. It’s like a gosh darn warehouse threw up in here.”

Rome and I exchanged a glance and followed her into the building. Boxes. Piled at least three high and barricading the way for anyone larger than a field mouse.

“The deliveries started this morning and they have not stopped.”

A UPS man chose that moment to appear and Cora wailed like he’d brought her a severed head.

Rome tried to look for a label. “Who are they for?”

“Heyyy, Mr. C.”

A nervous Robbie popped up out of the box mountain. “Half of these have my name on them,” he said, scratching his head sheepishly.

“The donations are here already? That was quick. I can take it from here.” Rome patted a relieved Robbie who was very happy to scamper off.

I hadn’t quite believed it when Rome told me what he and Robbie had done. But I couldn’t deny the literal mountain of evidence before me. It wasn’t like we’d only received boxes of crayons either. There were some serious tech and sports brands who had contributed. A notable publishing house. I had a feeling there was still more to come.

“I want to make sure you get everything you need,” Rome said quietly, his arm around my waist and squeezing my hip.

Getting even a small portion of these donations was beyond what I could hope for. “Let the department heads catalog this and decide how to divide it up. I don’t need more than my share, Rome.”

A couple of the boxes had been opened, perhaps by a nosy Cora before she realized she could not keep up with the influx. I spied a fancy ergonomic chair cushion that my omega was very interested in.

“Except this. This is mine.” I grabbed it and held it to my chest.

Rome tucked my hair behind my ear and kissed me. “You deserve it. Best teacher ever.”

“Ok, let’s not get carried away now.”

His hug was frighteningly smushy. “Say you’re the best,” he teased me.

“No!”

“Rome!”

For once I was grateful for Jeff’s flustered appearance. “Why am I getting emails from the Future Fitness program? The Brighter Paths Project?” Jeff waved his phone in Rome’s face. “SGS has been on the waitlist on some of these programs for months and suddenly they’re emailing me and mentioning you of all people!”

Rome for some reason thought it was a good time to ignore Jeff completely and tilt his head towards me. “Did I tell you Robbie made a second video for me?” he said out of the corner of his mouth.

“I-I don’t really keep up with that sort of thing,” I said faintly.

Jeff cleared his throat impatiently.

“This is a good thing. Isn’t it, Jeff?” Rome said sternly.

“Well yes, but there’s protocols and?—”

“You’re welcome,” Rome said briskly. “You’ll reply to those emails today? I’m looking forward to being more supported from now on.”

All semblance of fight and authority drained from Jeff like the slow wheeze of a deflating balloon.

“You two are a menace,” Jeff muttered before storming off.

Rome turned to me. “Did you hear that?” He closed the gap between us, the air between us igniting with his indulgent wine scent. “We’re a menace, Ivy.”

“That is… entirely you,” I said, trying not to breathe him in. “Now let me go to class before you make me perfume.” I swatted at him, using my cushion as a shield from his alphaness .

“Alright,” Rome said mildly. He stepped back and waved at me.

Next moment I was in his arms giving him a proper goodbye.

“Um…bye,” I whispered. My face was a furnace. We were not alone and my omega had strong opinions about leaving him.

He laughed affectionately. “Have a good day, baby.” He stole one more kiss before sending me on my way, staying back to help Cora figure out how to best get the donations out of the office.

I got six selfies from James throughout my day. Smiling ones, slightly coy behind his hand ones, mirror ones. After opening the seventh one that was clearly a thirst trap designed purely for me (his arm took up half the image!) and decided enough was enough. I crouched down in front of the tank and got a photo with Fish James.

he’s cuter

JAMES

hmm maybe spanking is my new kink

I hastily reapplied my deodorant and decided not to make the mistake of texting James during school hours again.

It felt unnatural to close my laptop at the end of the day rather than gearing up for more work. I tidied my classroom, prepared the materials for tomorrow’s lessons and nothing more. There was still a part of me that felt guilty, that insidious little voice telling me all the ways this was going to backfire for myself and my students.

I breathed it in and let it go. As much I could anyway. Baby steps.

Rome said he’d come by once school was out but there was no sign of him. Rather than sit around and chance being lured into doing more work, I made my way to the music room. The slowly descending sun cast an encore of golden light across the snow, a familiar evening chill starting to creep into the wind swirling around me.

Even peeking at Rome through the little window in his doorway was enough to make me smile. He was moving chairs around and I could see the seating arrangement for a band taking shape. New instruments gleamed from their racks lined up neatly along the wall. He’d put the grant money to good use and I was so proud of him.

I knocked lightly. His face brightened and then dropped like the swoop of a rollercoaster.

“Sorry, Ivy. I forgot I moved band practice to tomorrow morning. It always takes me more time to set everything up,” he apologized with a sweep of his hand at a pile of still collapsed music stands.

My bag dropped from my shoulder. “Tell me where things go. Then we can get home faster.”

The way he made me feel with a single look was radiant. Rome was in front of me, drinking me in, leaning in like he was going to kiss me and?—

“No. We can’t.” His outstretched hand curled into a fist instead. All control mixed with regret that he could not ravish me in his classroom. I giggled and he coughed, embarrassed by his momentary lapse into instincts. “Help me sort this sheet music out into different parts?” he asked, pointing at a stack on his desk.

“Of course.”

We made it home before the sun set. It felt like a win and I nursed the glow it gave me secretly in my chest.