22. Twenty Two - Rebel

twenty two - rebel

. . .

"Mmm… that was delicious, and now I'm harboring a small food baby in here." A chuckle slips free from between my lips as I rub my stomach like it's a Buddha belly. A flash of desire zings through Tate's eyes before it's gone. "Seriously, though. I am so dang full. All I want to do is sit on the couch and veg out."

Tate drapes his arm around the back of my chair and leans in, his breath making my hair dance on my shoulders. "No can do, little firebrand. I have plans for you tonight." His words send a spark of delight skittering up my spine just thinking about what his plans entail.

"Is that so?" I tease, a smirk blooming on my lips as I meet eyes that speak of naughty things.

"Okay, seriously?" The pitch of Nova's voice catches my attention, and I look over at her. Her nose is scrunched like she's disgusted, but there's a hint of laughter in her eyes. "I'm going to vomit from all the sickening lovey dovey bullshit happening right now."

Something must have happened. No one believes in love and romance more than Nova does, and the fact that she's not all about it right now tells me something definitely happened with Gunnar. I remind myself that I'll get to the bottom of it later.

Nova slides her chair away from the table, taking her plate to the sink. Before she leaves, she takes one look at Tate. "Not too bad for an alpha."

His laughter rumbles his chest. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"Don't let it go to that already inflated ego of yours." Before he can respond, she's turned on her heel and is heading down the hallway and out of sight. I wait, listening for the door to close, but a throat clears, and I look up to find her standing on the outskirts of the kitchen again. "I just want to remind you that the walls in this place are not soundproof, and despite what you two think, some of us enjoy the precious commodity also known as sleep."

"Duly noted. I will make sure she is thoroughly ravaged before I bring her back."

"The toilet is calling my name again…. I can feel the vomit." She puts her hand over her mouth as if she's truly going to hurl but then laughs. "Just kidding. Just be safe out there, you two."

With that, she leaves, and Tate catches my gaze. He smirks and winks at me, and I swear to everything holy, my core clenches at the mere thought of what that look may mean.

He grabs my plate as he gets up and takes it to the kitchen. Running water over the plates quickly, he puts them in the dishwasher. Who the hell is this alpha? He actually puts plates in the dishwasher. Not even Brad used to do that. He just expected me to come behind him and clean up everything.

"Done and done. Let's go. I can't wait a second longer. But real quick…" I'm wondering what he means when, all of a sudden, I'm pushed up against the closest wall, and then he's devouring my lips with his own, fully consuming me.

His tongue begs for access, passing through my lips immediately as I slowly open to him. My eyes close as I focus on every sensation. Lust pours down our bond, and it's almost overwhelming, rattling the part of my brain that says he's just going to leave like everyone else does one day.

Everything around us fades away, and I'm trapped in this moment with him. My omega purrs. My heart is screaming yes. My brain is on the outside peeping in, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"Stop thinking. Or I'll make you." He whispers it softly, almost inaudibly, and his breath shadows my lips with each word.

"It's hard not to." The words are out of my mouth before I even realize I've said it. Here I am pouring secrets. Why is it that every single time we're together, he manages to drag things from me that I'm not ready to hand over just yet.

"Then I'm not doing a good enough job to shut it off." With that, he refocuses his attention on my lips. Each nip and lick against my lips draws me in, leaving me sinking into the quicksand yet again.

His grin is wide as he pulls back, allowing his eyes to travel over my face. "Let's go." Reaching over, he grabs my hand. When I try to pull it back, he tightens, but only lightly. "Let me." He says it in a brusque manner that has me recoiling. I have a feeling he's attempting to be kind, but instead it's coming out abrasive. I don't want to fight him on it, so I allow him to lead me out the front door and to the passenger side of the matte silver Audi I was admiring earlier tonight.

Only now it's darker. I wonder where he's taking me. I know asking won't provide me with any information.

The landscape surrounding us goes from city-like to rugged forest the farther into our drive we venture. I peek over and catch a glimpse of his corded forearm resting against the door, his sleeve pressed up to his elbow. I'm attempting to be inconspicuous, but I think I'm probably failing given the smirk creasing those perfectly kissable lips.

His jawline is chiseled like he was etched from clay with precision.

I clear my throat and look away, but curiosity niggles at my conscience. What is it about him that lures me in? Why him ?

It's unholy for someone to be that attractive, seriously.

Unable to help myself, I glance at him again, and my omega practically purrs her pleasure at how handsome our mate is. My mouth waters thinking of all the dark and delicious things he could do to me wherever he's taking me. The anticipation has my heart racing, and I've found myself squirming twice now at the ideas running rampant in my brain.

He's lost the sunglasses he was wearing when we left the house and now just squints if the sun pops up. His hair has dried since earlier, but it still looks like he's been running his fingers through it.

His skin is tanned, and I have to wonder when he has time to spend that much time out in the sun because, from what I can tell, all he does is play hockey and throw weird ass house parties.

We've been driving for the last hour, and the day turns into night before my eyes.

"Still not going to tell me where we're going?"

Silence continues to stand between us as he drives us to wherever we're going.

A few minutes later, he's pulling onto gravel, and the car dips with each divet in the road before us. My breasts jump, and my body jerks with each movement. I didn't notice it initially, but his eyes have been watching my tits with each dip. His mouth quirks into a grin, and I turn away; caught staring at him yet again.

The car crawls to a stop, and I can't see anything before us.