9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Lachlan

I lay over Quinn, catching my breath. I was pretty sure he might have passed out. It would have worried me, but his breathing was even and steady. I wished we'd managed to find a more comfortable place to have sex, though.

Draped over the hard table wasn't the best place to wait out my knot. I kept shooting cum into him every few minutes, making even moving us down to the floor difficult, if not impossible.

I didn't know how long we'd be locked together. I'd never knotted anyone before. I knew the schematics of it, of course. I'd had sex-ed and the ‘sex talk' with my mom. People, friends, and brothers gossip. I'd watched plenty of porn.

I'd just never actually experienced the reality of it.

I was certain, thanks to the unexpected presence of my knot, that the condom had broken. I hadn't used a knotting condom – didn't even own one – and my knot had been more than the regular rubber could handle.

"Ung." Quinn made a noise, his eyes still closed. He was sprawled in a boneless heap over the table. I was still buried in his ass, my front draped over his back. He had let go of the grip he'd had on the table, his body lax beneath me.

I looked behind me, to our pile of clothes, and couldn't help the smug little smile. We'd managed to move the table about a foot across the floor. It was almost pushed up against the opposite wall. The remainder of the brownies and scones were scattered on the floor around us.

Quinn mumbled again, and I ran a hand over his warm flesh, soothing and massaging. He was going to have bruises from the table, and possibly my hands. I'd not been gentle, but I hadn't heard him complain. I smiled as I thought of the way he'd bossed me around, when I'd not been moving to his satisfaction or speed.

I'd never had blinding hot sex like this with anyone. I'd never been so rough. Never needed to bury my hard cock in someone like I'd needed to be in him. Buried in his wet, inviting ass, as fast as possible.

Quinn was stirring and I rubbed his shoulders gently, running my hands up into his wild curls, massaging.

"Wha' happened?" he slurred.

I chuckled, I couldn't help it. "I think you passed out. Only for about ten minutes. You okay?"

"Mmnnn." He moaned, stretching a little around me, my knot swelling back up at his movements. "Never better."

I looked over his shoulder at him, and he had a dreamy smile on his face. Goddess, he was beautiful. His cheeks were flushed rosy, his curls a tangled mess around his head. He looked relaxed, sated, and blissed out. He looked completely fucked out.

"Have dinner with me?" I blurted before my brain caught up with my tongue. "Tomorrow night?" I'd blow off my brothers for him in a heartbeat. Screw the family meeting .

Quinn slow-blinked, his glassy, green eyes open, his body tensing. "You don't need to take me to dinner, just because we fucked."

I huffed, annoyed. "It's not a pity dinner, for fuck sake. I find you intoxicating, and I think we might be fated --"

"Don't say those words!" he shouted, eyes closed. He lay back on the table, head resting on his crossed arms.

"So, we're just not going to talk about it?" That was the mature way to handle this problem .

His head rustled. "That was my plan. Ignore it and it will go away. Forget about it, like nothing happened when we touched. Until—"

He stopped and when he didn't continue, I nudged him. "Until?"

"Until you came in here, all sex moaning over my brownies." He sounded super annoyed.

I laughed then, straight from my gut, and I felt his ass tighten around my cock. My knot was never going to go down if he kept that wiggling up.

"Sex moaning over your brownies?" I repeated, my voice incredulous and tinged with the slightest hint of a smile. It startled me to realize that I was smiling. Truly smiling. I thought I'd smiled as much in the last few days, as I had the whole year. All because of Quinn. He made me smile, even when he was pissing me off. And he made me laugh. It was a warm, wonderful feeling.

"Yep." He popped the p. "I was being very professional, and then you started making those sounds ."

I leaned down and licked his earlobe.

"What sounds?" I asked, all innocence.

He shuddered against me, moving away a smidge. Not that he could go very far, with my knot still binding us together, and shooting mini loads of cum in his ass. "Sex sounds. "

I nibbled at his neck, feeling him tremble beneath me, a fine layer of goosebumps covering his arms. Screw my knot going down. "I can't help it if you make me sinfully delicious brownies."

"You're blaming the brownies for this?" He waved a limp hand in the air.

"Absolutely," I told him, feeling my cum begin to leak out of him, despite me still filling him up.

Dammit. My knot was never going to go down, but it reminded me of what I feared had happened.

"Uh, not sure what the best time to bring this up is, but I think the condom may have broken."

Quinn sighed. "I know it did. I'm on birth control, so no worries."

I leaned against his back, relieved yet slightly disappointed. How I could even be a little happy at the thought of knocking him up escaped me, but I was. Something primal in me wanted Quinn growing round with our pup.

A pup I had put in him.

"We're good then?" I asked before I said anything stupid like "Please have my babies".

"Should be. They don't call it birth control for nothing. You might want to invest in some knotting condoms for next time."

Did that mean he thought we'd need them? We were going to be doing this in the future? I was stopping at the drug store on my way home.

"It's never been an issue before," I told him.

"You've never knotted anyone?" His voice was incredulous.

"Nope. You're the first." I nibbled on his neck again, breathing in his scent. I couldn't get enough of him. His scent, his taste, all of him. Warm, gooey cookies and cinnamon.

He side-eyed me, assessing the truth of my statement.

"Huh." He finally must have decided I was telling him the truth.

"So," I broached again, "dinner tomorrow? "

"I don't need a thank you fuck dinner. We had sex. It was great, now it's done, no need to go out on a date."

Was he for real right now?

I was angry, and mystified by him, at once.

"I want to take you out," I argued, sounding harsher than I'd meant to. I'd never had to work so hard to get someone to eat dinner with me. "I'd planned to ask you out tonight, after the tasting."

"No," he mumbled into his crossed arms, eyes closed.

"No?" I couldn't believe I was having to beg. He was my mate – my fated mate – I shouldn't have to work this hard to buy him a steak. "You won't even let me buy you dinner?"

I wasn't going to give up that easily. Why was he making everything so hard? I stretched my back – I was too old to be fucking on random furniture – and he hissed when my knot caught on his rim roughly. "Sorry."

"Not tomorrow night. Saturday works better for me," he clarified. "We're closed on Sunday. I can stay out later."

It took me a minute to catch up with his brain. Was he saying yes to dinner? To an actual date? Had I heard him correctly? Thankfully, while we'd gone back and forth about me feeding him, my knot deflated. I slipped from his body in a squelching rush of slick and cum.

His knees trembled, and I scooped him up in my arms bridal style, and he let out an unmanly squawk. I shifted him a little because while he was thin, there was a lot of him, and he wasn't as light as he looked.

Quinn glared at me fiercely, even as his arms wrapped around my neck tightly.

"Put me down," he ordered. I swooped down and stole a quick kiss instead.

"Nope. You're very bossy for an omega," I observed .

He glared at me, and it was too cute. He was adorable when he was being bossy. It was probably safer if I kept that thought to myself.

"Bathroom?" I asked instead, spinning with him in my arms, looking around. We both needed to clean up. He pointed with his head, still glaring at me with his green eyes. I hid a grin, because man, did he look gorgeous all riled up. I might have to push his buttons just for the fun of it.

It was a tiny bathroom he'd pointed me to, and we both barely fit, even with the door open. It contained only a toilet, small vanity, and a sink. I cleaned up with the hand towels he'd pointed to, and backed off when he bared his teeth at me when I tried to help clean him up. I knew when to pick my battles.

When we were clean enough, we made our way back to the kitchen, where our clothes were in discarded piles.

I felt a bit awkward as we dressed, neither of us speaking. He yawned, and I glanced at my watch. It was close to nine.

"Can I take you home?" I offered.

He shook his head, glancing over at the mess on the floor. "I need to clean up first. Good thing I locked the door when you came in."

"I'll help." I didn't want the night to end, and I didn't want to leave him. "I made the mess."

I started to pick up what remained of the brownies, contemplating tossing one into my mouth.

"The five-second rule has passed," Quinn smirked, using a broom and dustpan to gather most of the mess off the floor.

I felt my face flush at being caught, tossing the brownie onto the pile he had swept up. "I wasn't going to eat it."

I was sooo going to eat it.

Quinn laughed, a sound that I was quickly becoming addicted to .

"You so were!" He cackled at that, calling me out. I stared at his head thrown back, Adam's apple bobbing, and the long, sleek line of his neck. "Lachlan Sinclair was going to eat floor brownies."

"Wasn't," I protested, then couldn't help joining in his laughter. God, it felt good to laugh. "Okay, I may have been tempted. They're good brownies!" I defended. "You got the job by the way, for the brunch."

Quinn scooped the mess of scones and brownies up and dumped them in the trash.

"I'd better have, after all that." He stretched his long frame, popping his back loudly. I saw him wince. "I'm going to feel you for days."

I grinned, knowing I probably looked like a lunatic, but a little proud and full of myself. "Sorry, not sorry."

"Yeah, me neither. You're kind of a dick, but damn, you fuck like a champ."

My face fell. "Wow, way to ruin a moment."

"I gave you a compliment," he argued.

"Did you?" Sarcasm hung in the air.

"Yes. Your cock is truly a work of art." He smirked. "See, I did it again."

I narrowed my blue eyes at him. "You're a regular poet."

"I've been told." His eyes were full of laughter, which made me laugh with him.

"Wait. Go back." I paused. "You think I'm a dick?"

"I said kind of. Not like, a one hundred percent, all the time dick. Just a little bit of a dick. Like you can have occasional dick moments, but are still generally a good guy."

I was at a loss for words, trying to decide if he was teasing me. I didn't think he was, and something inside me tightened with a stab of pain. That hurt. I realized that his opinion of me mattered. Really mattered. I wanted him to like me. I opened my mouth, closed it, sputtered a little. I couldn't seem to find the words I wanted to say, to defend myself, to tell him he was all wrong about me.

"Don't get your panties in a wad about it." He shooed me towards the front door with his hands, throwing the lock. "You're starting to grow on me. Just a little." To emphasize his point, he held up a little space between his thumb and finger.

"I guess I'll take it." I bent for another kiss, and he opened his mouth to me. I loved the taste of him, it was intoxicating. I never wanted to stop kissing him. It was late, and he should have been in bed hours ago.

I just didn't want the night to end.

I wanted to take him home or go home with him, I didn't care which. Wrap myself around him and hold him all night.

"Dinner Saturday?" I confirmed, because I wouldn't be surprised if he'd already changed his mind.

"Yes, Saturday," he agreed, licking his lips, chasing the taste of me on him. "Text me the restaurant name and address, I'll meet you there."

I started to bristle and tell him I would pick him up but stopped myself. Quinn was like no omega I'd ever dated before, and it was part of what I was starting to admire about him.

"I'll see you Saturday then. Lock this after me, and text me when you get home." I ordered because all my protective alpha instincts were front and center. My wolf was pacing, not happy about leaving our mate here alone. Without us.

He rolled his eyes, annoyed and not trying to hide it.

"Please, just so I know you get home safely," I urged him softly.

I couldn't turn off my alpha tendencies to protect and care for him, especially since I was more and more convinced we were fated mates. I'd never felt anything like I'd felt the first time our hands had touched. Never been consumed by the scent of someone, the way I was with his smell. Never felt the all-possessing need to be inside someone, like I had with him.

Never felt my knot swell and lock me to another body.

He was going to have to learn to live with my concern for his well-being.

He huffed, a sound I was growing accustomed to. He huffed a lot.

"Fine. But it's late and I need to sleep. Don't do anything crazy, like text me back. We aren't going to have a conversation tonight or anything."

I ducked my head, hiding my grin at his sass. He was something else with that mouth of his, and his snarky attitude. "I wouldn't dare dream of it."

I did wait for the sound of him throwing the lock into place after he ushered me through the doorway, though.

And I may have waited in the parking lot, watching as the lights went off in the bakery, until a car pulled out from the back alley, the streetlight illuminating Quinn's silhouette. And I may have waited for his text telling me he was home, before I turned the ignition in my SUV and made my way home.