7. Riley

Chapter 7

Riley

I crashed hard after Blake came in to save me. He might have called it sex, but that wasn’t what I called what he did. He one thousand percent saved me. I wouldn’t have survived another minute of that gnawing feeling inside me. It just wouldn’t let up, and then he came in.

My alpha.

I reached out without even opening my eyes and felt nothing but an empty bed beside me.

Disappointment was the first emotion I felt, but that quickly morphed into fear. Did he change his mind? Was all that just because he’s a doctor who was trying to help an omega in need? Was any of it real?

My heart started racing, and I wasn’t sure if I should get up or just hide in the covers a little bit longer until he kicked me out.

Just before I went into full-blown panic mode, the bedroom door cracked and my eyes popped open, relieved to see Blake standing in the doorway. “Good morning. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I think so.” I blew out a calming breath and pulled the covers tighter around me.

Blake cocked his head and looked at me. “Are you sure? You seemed a little upset.”

My jaw dropped as I pulled up on one elbow to look at him. “How did you know? Did I cry out?”

“No…” He hesitated as if not sure he wanted to be honest with me.

But we were beyond that.

I was ready to bare every moment of my life to him, if he wanted to hear it.

So he could at least tell me what was on his mind. “Please, Blake. I get that you might’ve said things you didn’t mean. I’m okay with that, and I’ll get out of your hair now. I just?—”

Before I could finish my thought, he was there, sitting beside me on the bed and wrapping his strong arms around my body. “No, Riley. Don’t say it. Please don’t say you wanna leave.”

My breath hitched as that fear inside me was replaced by hope. “I don’t want to. Do you want me to?”

“Fuck, no.” He turned and pressed his nose into the crook of my neck. “I meant everything I said. There are just some things we need to talk about, and I don’t want to frighten you if you’re not ready.”

Well, that was enough to frighten me. “Just please be honest with me, Blake. I can’t deal with lies and half truths and omissions of key information to ‘protect me.’ I’ve dealt with that with too many people before. Don’t be one of them.”

He sat back and held both my hands up in front of his chest. “I could sense that you were upset because there was a change in your…scent.”

My jaw dropped, and I could feel my face going beet red. “I smell that bad?” Self-consciously, I sniffed my armpits. I didn’t notice anything, but that probably meant it was so bad I was already used to it.

Blake chuckled and pulled my hand up to his mouth to kiss my knuckles. “No, not like that. I have an extra-keen sense of smell. I don’t know if we need to get into all the details before breakfast, but suffice it to say that when you have an adrenaline spike of fear or excitement, I’ll probably know about it before you do.”

“Oh.” In the back of my mind, I thought I understood what he meant, but it was still not quite clear. “How?”

“Okay, I guess we’re doing this now.” He chuckled and ran his hands down my shoulders. “Why don’t you get dressed in something warm, and I’ll make some eggs, and I have blueberry muffins in the oven.” Blake pointed to the dresser. “I washed your clothes last night, so you can put those on for now and we can get you whatever else you might need later.”

I took a deep breath and nodded. “Yeah, I think my hunger is officially back.” I placed my hand on my belly, wondering if anything was happening in there. “Now that I know the delicious aroma is coming from blueberry muffins, your story can wait until after we eat.”

Blake kissed me on the cheek and then stood up. “Sounds good. I’ll see you when you’re ready.”

I took a minute to just get my head around where we were and what we were doing before I went to the bathroom to get cleaned up. I was still covered in a layer of come because I didn’t let Blake leave me last night to get us cleaned.

The sticky mess I was covered in didn’t matter. I just wanted him to stay connected to me.

But now that I felt better physically, I realized how hungry I was, and those muffins smelled almost as good as my alpha.