4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

BLAKE

" H ey." I banged on Leo's door first thing in the morning, not bothering to be gentle about it. "I'm coming in."

He groaned, yanking the blanket over his head and rolling towards the wall as I opened the door.

"It stinks in here," I muttered, picking over the piles of laundry on the floor to pull open the curtains and throw open the window. Once upon a time, when I'd lived here alone, this room had been my office space. Leo had thoroughly ruined it with his stench now, and I mostly worked from the dining table when I remembered to do invoicing. "Come to work with me today."

"Fuck off," Leo mumbled, his voice muffled by his pillow.

"What's your excuse this time? You won the fight. You can work with a few bruises."

"Don't be a dick. You know it's more than a few bruises. I'm not getting out of bed."

The scaffolding had gone up, and the Dara project required minimal demolition, at least. When Inika— Ms Dara, I reminded myself—had the building team through to open up a covered-up staircase, they'd left the space nice and tidy. The only thing that had to come out was the false ceiling—complete with eighties-era plasterwork—that was hiding the cavity above where the arches would have once been.

I wasn't opposed to manual labour—far from it—but this was a task that Leo could easily help me with. Instead, he was laid up in bed, in the house that I paid for, while Dad and I had got Freya ready for school.

"This is ridiculous, Leo," I sighed. "You're no bloody help to anyone like this."

All I got in response was a grunting snore.

This wasn't how it was meant to be. When we'd finished our decade in the army, Leo and I had sworn we were going to make something of ourselves. Run our own business. Start families of our own. Take care of our parents in their old age. We'd managed half of everything, I supposed. It didn't feel particularly rewarding.

I slammed the door behind me, hoping it would wake him up again, before heading downstairs to shove my boots on and head out. Fortunately, Dad was already walking Freya to school, so neither of them were around to witness my bad mood or Leo's bullshit.

Not that they hadn't seen it before, but they deserved better. Dad was meant to be having a relaxing retirement. Freya was meant to be enjoying her childhood. They didn't need this shit.

By the time I'd ripped out the old ceiling at the Dara house, I was in a foul mood, but at least I'd been mostly left to my own devices by both the client and her retinue of staff. This staircase I was working over really only led to one room, and even that was accessible by going up the main stairs and through the corridors that formed a rectangle around the central courtyard. I imagined that the main reason for reopening it was to bring in natural light from the surrounding windows, rather than for any practical purpose as a pathway.

I cleaned up as best I could—loading the van up with rubbish to dispose of—and washed some of the dust off myself in the small, sleek bathroom down the hall. The one section of lath-and-plaster decorative arches was definitely going to stand out in a house of clean lines and LED pendant lights. But I was no interior decorator. I just did what I was paid to do.

By the time I emerged, it was to find a perfectly put-together omega standing on the dust-covered plastic sheet that protected the floor, peering up at the ceiling through the scaffolds.

"That already looks so much better."

I grunted in agreement, because it did look better. The original arched laths were in pretty good condition, though some would need replacing. If nothing else, the small space felt immediately grander and more interesting with the low false ceiling removed.

The contrast of Inika's expensive outfit and the dusty, plain surroundings and paint-splattered scaffolding was a jarring one. It was her house, but she didn't belong here. Not amongst all this filth.

"Is this going to be a regular occurrence?"

Inika tipped her chin up stubbornly, and I barely swallowed down an alpha growl of disapproval. Disapproval, and a little something more that I didn't want to acknowledge.

I should have jerked off this morning. Being in the presence of an unmated omega—a beautiful, confident, elegant omega, no less—was playing havoc with my libido. When was the last time I'd got laid? I couldn't even remember. I was too fucking tired to put in enough effort to make that happen.

"You mean, am I regularly going to be looking at the progress in my own house ?" she asked mildly, her shiny black heels already covered in a thin sheen of dust.

"It was just a question."

"It was a ludicrous question." She planted her hands on her hips, surveying the space with a critical eye as if she had any idea what she was looking for.

Fuck. There was no reason for this to feel like foreplay, and yet…

I exhaled heavily. Clearly unmated alphas and omegas shouldn't be alone together. It was a recipe for disaster.

"You're getting dirt all over your fancy outfit."

Inika glanced down in surprise. It probably wasn't a fancy outfit to her, but the navy trousers and silky blouse looked posh to me.

"My meeting is over. I don't have to look nice anymore." She flicked her hand dismissively, probably because a member of staff would see that the outfit was dry cleaned and she'd never have to think about it again. "Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?"

"No. I'm always this charming."

Inika let out a small laugh, and even that sounded expensive. "Could you walk me through what the next steps are in here?"

She truly was my least favourite kind of client.

"Repair what needs repairing. Plaster. Fancier plaster." If she wanted a contractor who'd hold her hand through the entire process, she should have hired someone else.

"Aren't you helpful?" Inika replied, rolling her eyes. The bratty gesture pushed me over the edge of professionalism and well and truly into alpha mode.

"Listen, princess, I'm busy. I've budgeted a set amount of hours to get this job done, and those hours don't include explaining what I'm doing to the client every step of the way."

Inika sucked in a breath, her eyes widening slightly. I hazarded that no one had ever spoken to her so plainly in her life, and she was probably going to crawl into her million-pound nest and cry about it for the rest of the afternoon.

How nice to be rich and unemployed enough for a workday breakdown in bed.

"You hired me because I'm the best," I continued. "So stay out of my way and let me do my job."

You're being an asshole , I told myself. I was sleep deprived from accompanying Leo to his fight, then Freya had woken up at three am after a bad dream. I'd been stuck working on my own all day because my brother was too useless to get out of bed, and that butler had definitely been spying on me from around the corner earlier.

"I can't believe you just spoke to me like that," Inika said in disbelief, though her voice had taken on a breathy quality that it hadn't had a moment ago.

And then I smelled it. The rich, syrupy scent of omega perfume. I inhaled deeply, not even trying to hide it.

Fuck.

She smelled so… off-limits.

A possessive growl rumbled up from my chest, my cock hardening so quickly, my head spun. Inika pressed her thighs together, her eyes hazy with desire. The air was thick with the scent of omega perfume and bad decisions.

"It smells like you're sick of alphas talking to you like you're made of glass if you're getting all hot and bothered over a few plain words, princess."

This is a highly inappropriate way to speak to a client , I attempted to remind myself.

"You might be right," Inika rasped, making me forget any and all warnings I'd been giving myself. "You're obscenely rude. I should hate it."

"But you don't."

"But I don't," she agreed breathlessly. The thin tether of self-control I'd been clinging onto snapped entirely.

"Does it make your pussy wet?"

Inika's face flamed at the crude question, but the scent of her slick only grew more potent as she nodded. What was I doing ? I'd gone far beyond the point of unprofessionalism that could be easily brushed off.

"Give me words, princess."

"Yes. Yes, it makes my pussy wet."

Fuck.

She's your client , the angel on my shoulder reminded me.

Fuck her anyway, said the devil.

"You should leave," I growled, my cock aching in my suddenly uncomfortable work trousers.

"I don't want to leave."

I exhaled heavily, my burgeoning knot already throbbing.

"Then get on your knees, omega." It was phrased as an order, but there was no alpha command in my voice. Aside from not wanting to get arrested for unlawfully using my bark on an omega I had no claim on, Inika held all the power here—even if it didn't look like it. The moment she wanted any of this to stop, it would stop.

Any minute now, she'd remember that we were in a hallway. That any of her staff could come across us. That I was who I was, and she was who she was.

Any minute now.

Inika dropped down on the plastic sheet with a light thud, white dust instantly coating her expensive-looking navy trousers.

I wanted to ruin her.

I wanted her begging and weeping around my knot. I wanted to see that perfect make-up smeared and messy, mascara running down her cheeks. I wanted her slick coating my skin.

It was the most primal, feral desire I'd ever experienced in my life.

"Are you going to fuck me?" she asked. The blunt question delivered in her crisp, posh accent made my knot ache.

"You haven't earned my cock yet." I took a step towards her, the potent scent of her slick drawing me in. "Undo your trousers."

Inika held my gaze as she complied, tugging down the zip and revealing a hint of silky black fabric underneath.

I was walking a dangerous line here—one that I shouldn't have been walking without a proper conversation first—based purely on Inika saying she liked how rude I was. Desires that I rarely got to indulge in rose sharply to the surface.

"What's your safe word?" I asked gruffly, battling the alpha instinct to tell her to bend over and present her pussy for me.

"Audit."

"Audit," I repeated firmly. "You say it and everything stops. Pull your knickers aside. Touch yourself. I want to see that slick seeping through your trousers."

Inika shuddered, doing what I asked. I couldn't see anything beyond her hand moving, but I didn't need to. The moment was plenty erotic enough, and I was trying to maintain some semblance of restraint. We didn't have the luxury of getting carried away—not when someone could come across us at any moment.

"Look at you," I murmured, savouring the sound of her fingers playing with her wet pussy. "Absolutely filthy. Do you do this for all your contractors, hm? Kneel down in the dust with your cunt out?"

"No," she rasped. "Just you."

"You would say that, though. Wouldn't you?" I tutted in disapproval. "And here was me thinking you were such a classy omega."

"I am," Inika whined, her hand moving faster now.

"Are you? I'm not making you fuck your fingers on the ground for me, Inika. There was no alpha command in my voice. I told you that you should leave."

"I chose this," Inika insisted breathily, justifying herself. It would be just my luck that she was perfect at this. "I want this."

I hummed in agreement. "Tell me why that is, princess."

She was getting close now. I could feel it. I grabbed my cock through my trousers, giving it a rough squeeze. How I was going to function after this was a mystery I had yet to solve.

Though, there was always the chance that Inika would fire me right after she orgasmed. At least then I could go home and fuck my hand for a few hours.

"Answer me, omega," I pressed, wanting her to say it. Wanting her to sink to the level of depravity that I was already wallowing in.

"I'm usually good. So good."

"But right now?"

"I don't feel like a good girl."

"You don't look like one either, kneeling in the dust with your pussy out. What do you look like?"

"I look like a slut," Inika rasped, her voice cracking on a breathy moan as she found her release. A shudder ran down my spine.

"That's right," I soothed, closing the distance between us but not touching her. She was eye-level with the outline of my hard cock in my jeans, her gaze hazy as she stared at it. "You do. A beautiful, perfect, needy little slut. Isn't that right?"

Inika nodded, dragging her eyes up to my face. Considering the submissive position she was in and the fact that our alpha-omega instincts were entirely in the driver's seat, it was impressive that she maintained such steady eye contact.

"Get up, princess. Let me taste those fingers."

Inika climbed up on shaky legs, her dust-covered trousers still unbuttoned. Her lips were parted as she raised her fingers to mine, and I grasped her wrist, pulling her in to close the distance, and groaning aloud at the first taste of her slick on my tongue.

Absolutely fucking decadent . I wanted nothing more than to rip her clothes off and get a taste directly from the source. But we'd pushed our luck already. I'd opened the hallway windows for the dust, but we'd need a lot more than a faint breeze to carry away the scent of omega slick.

Reluctantly, I pulled away, dropping my hands to zip up her trousers, my knuckles brushing at the soaked fabric of her knickers in the process.

"You're not going to fuck me?" Inika asked, sounding gratifyingly disappointed.

My dick was so heavy, it was going to be a challenging walk just to get back to the van.

"Sleep on that idea, princess. Let me know what you think of it tomorrow."

She'd either take me up on it, or fire me. Either way, it was probably best that she gave the idea some thought first. I didn't want her having regrets.

To be completely honest, Inika Dara was a wealthy omega from a powerful family, and she absolutely had the ability to ruin my life. Getting involved with her at all was foolish on my part, but apparently my dick was in the driver's seat and wouldn't be convinced otherwise.

Inika nodded, looking suddenly sheepish. "I don't usually… you know. That was very out of character for me."

"Likewise," I assured her. "I've never crossed that line with a client before."

"I'm guessing most of your clients aren't unmated omegas," Inika said wryly.

"No, they're not."

Some of the tension eased from my shoulders that at least we were on the same page. That was all this was. An unmated alpha and an unmated omega with surprisingly compatible kinks getting carried away in the heat of the moment. It happened. We were horny beings by nature. It didn't have to be a disaster.

"Message me tomorrow," I reiterated, taking a step back. "When you've had time to think. Until then, Inika."

"Until then, Blake," she repeated faintly.

The lingering scent of her perfume haunted me the entire drive home.