10. Steve

After the bath, Leo showers downstairs. While I wait for him, I retrieve my phone from a pocket in the pants to text my alpha dad. I promised him I'd let him know how my meeting with my match went as soon as humanly possible.

I met him.

He sends a response immediately.

How did it go?

I smile.

He's amazing. Everything I could ask for and more.

Dad sends five heart emojis and three party hat emojis. There is no such thing as too many emojis as far as he's concerned. At least I know what those emojis mean. Sometimes I have to look them up.

We talked about Batman during our first conversation. It was very awkward. I blame you.

He sends a collection of laughing emojis. Some of them have tears, others don't.

I stand there for a moment in my towel, not sure if I should tell Dad who Leo is or that I'm in a rut. It all seems like sensitive information for the time being. I settle for a portion of the truth.

I won't be coming to work this coming week. I have some things I need to sort out.

There's a long pause before Dad responds.

Is everything okay?

I have to give him more information than that. I search for an article on the biological reactions of an alpha and omega who have abnormally high pheromone compatibilities, then text him the link.

He sends me a winky face. Ohhhh, I see. Have fun!

I roll my eyes. He's such a goofball sometimes.

While I have a minute alone, I send a quick email to a few of my employees, letting them know I'll be gone. I finish just as the water stops running downstairs. For a moment, I consider bringing my phone with me. Ruts come in waves, and I should probably stay reachable for as long as I can before I descend into the next wave. But I want to savor this first rut with Leo. Enough people know I won't be coming back to the office until next week.

I jog downstairs, almost losing the towel tucked around my hips in the process.

Leo emerges from the bathroom with wet hair and water droplets all over his chest and arms. He's wearing a towel of his own around his waist, but low enough that I can see the muscular V lining the inside of his hips. His scent hits me all at once. The heady, sweet intensity of it overwhelms me. I take a step forward, ready to wrap my arms around him and claim his mouth with my own.

He holds up his hand. "Wait. You need to take a shower too. That bath we shared was all cuddles and conversation. We didn't even touch the soap."

Something primal within me rages at the idea of waiting. I need Leo now. But I'm not a mindless meathead. I can control myself.

My erection that has pushed past the towel and is now proudly on display in front of me suggests otherwise, but I'm in a rut. That's perfectly normal.

What's not perfectly normal is my overwhelming desire to push Leo against the wall and plow into him all in one go, knowing he isn't prepped.

"If we're not having sex now, I need us to be far away from each other," I grind out.

He considers me for a moment, his lips quirking up on one side. "You could always have a shower afterward."

"But I thought—"

He untucks his towel and reveals his own erection. "When you look at me like that, things like showers feel less important." He folds his towel in half and drops it right in front of me. "And there are so many things we haven't tried yet." He kneels down on the towel, his mouth now at the same level as my cock.

"Oh," I say.

This man reduces to me a neanderthal only capable of monosyllabic words and grunts.

He wraps his wet fingers around my cock and just stares at it for a moment. "This is the kind of cock that an omega can't come back from."

"What do you mean?"

He sticks out his tongue and gives my tip a lick. The heat of his mouth along with his scent is too much. My cock drools precum from all the stimulation.

"You're going to ruin me for other men." He sticks out his tongue again and licks my cock from the base to the head. When he gets to the precum, he lathes his tongue over it and pulls off, creating a string of cum from my cock to his mouth.

"You are…" I start, but because I'm in neanderthal mode, I don't know how to finish that sentence.

"A cum slut?" he guesses, flashing me a shameless smile.

"No. You're…" I still can't come up with the right word.

He takes the head of my cock into his mouth and sucks. I close my eyes and moan from the pressure.

"Do you know what I like?" he asks, circling both his hands around the base of my cock and gliding them up and down.

I shake my head, now completely incapable of speech.

"To make a man fall apart with my mouth." He leans forward, engulfing my cock in his mouth again, but this time he takes me deeper—so deep that I feel the pressure of his throat around my tip. He gags, and his throat squeezes me, but he doesn't pull off. He just stays there, tears leaking from his eyes while he looks up at me. God, he's beautiful.

I cup his jaw gently. "You don't have to do that."

He takes me in deeper, somehow relaxing his throat muscles until the entire head of my penis is lodged down his throat. His eyes glaze over into this blissed-out expression that reminds me of when he was riding my dick. My body desperately wants to thrust forward, but I hold still, letting him take exactly how much he wants and nothing more.

He pulls back with a pop and smiles up at me. "Can we go to your bed? I'll be able to enjoy you from more angles there."

I nod. I think I'd say yes to anything he suggested right now.

He stands up and takes my hand. Instead of waiting for me to guide him to my room, he takes me to my bedroom door and walks inside. "I noticed your room on my way upstairs. You have quite the comic book collection." He jumps onto my bed, dragging me with him.

I lie down on my back. "Uh, yeah. My alpha dad and I went out to breakfast every Saturday when I was a kid. Afterwards, he'd take me to the comic book store and let me pick out whatever I wanted."

Leo's smile falters. He looks over at my bookcases filled with the little mementos of all the time my alpha dad and I spent together.

"So these are all from your breakfasts together?" he asks.

"Yeah." I tug him forward until his body collapses on top of mine. His wet, naked skin makes my body light up with excitement.

"You have thousands of comic books. That's a lot of breakfasts," he says.

I shrug. "The man loves his eggs benedict."

"And you, it seems."

I am too aroused for a conversation about my parents, but I understand why Leo is bringing them up. We haven't had a chance to properly get to know each other yet.

"Yes. And me. He's probably my favorite person in the whole world."

Leo searches my eyes, the playfulness from earlier forgotten. "You're a really good guy, aren't you?"

"I'm all right. Unless I'm expected to keep my hands off you. Then I'm no good at all." I run my fingers down his back, pausing when I get to the curve of his ass. I'm not sure he's ready to get back to messing around yet, and I don't want to rush him.

"What if the agency only paired you with me because I'm famous, and they wanted the good publicity? You deserve someone better."

I roll on top of him, careful not to put too much of my weight on his body. "Leo, that's bullshit. They paired us together because we have a 92% compatibility." I kiss him, letting him feel the power of our attraction to each other. Then I grab his hand and place it on my hard cock. "Does it feel like I'm disappointed to you? I'm thrilled to have you in my bed. You're smart and talented and successful, not to mention beautiful. Besides, you know Batman."

That finally makes him smile. "It's true."

I kiss him again. He threads his hands through my hair and kisses me back. Our bodies writhe against each other, slippery from the water of Leo's bath and gloriously naked. The last time we had sex there was far too much fabric separating us. I cup Leo's ass and grind against him. The smooth heat of his cock glides against my abdomen, then brushes against my own.

"Fuck," I whisper.

He slips his hand between us, gripping our cocks together. I look down at us clutched between his fingers. My cock is easily twice as thick as his and several inches longer. The size difference is strangely erotic. My cock pulses, more precum pearling at the tip.

I always have more precum than normal during a rut, but this is ridiculous.

Leo tightens his grip and drags his fingers up our lengths. I take in a sharp breath. "Leo, it isn't…" How do I tell him that I need more without sounding like a jerk? We're still getting to know each other. He should be able to explore my body as much as he wants without me demanding to dick him down.

He pauses, his fingers loosening on our cocks. "It isn't what?"

My breath is labored now, which is embarrassing because his isn't. I squeeze my eyes shut and force myself to calm down. "I'm sorry. It's the rut."

"Why are you sorry? Tell me what you need, Steve."

I open my eyes. Leo is lying underneath me in my bed, looking up at me with heat in his eyes.

"If it's too soon to have sex again, I could get some lube and maybe fuck you between your thighs? I don't think I have enough control for oral right now. I'll want to fuck your face, and I'm too big for that."

Leo smirks. "You aren't too big for that."

"You don't understand. I'll be rough." Hell, I was too rough when I fucked him earlier. I could have really hurt him, and his throat is a much more delicate part of his body.

He slips out from underneath me and crawls to the top of my bed. "We can make it safe for me." He grabs one of my pillows and yanks the pillowcase off. Then he grabs another one and takes the pillowcase off that one too. "Lie on your back with your arms out."

My heart races as I do what he says. Truth be told, I'm not that creative in bed. I tend to be too focused on not hurting my partner to add anything unusual to the mix. So when Leo ties both my wrists to the bedposts, I'm not prepared for how exposed and helpless I feel.

"Is this a kink thing? Because I don't know if I'm into that," I say.

"No. I'm just restraining you to keep you from holding my head down during oral. I've had an alpha in rut do that before, and I didn't like it." He crawls between my legs and rests his hands on my upper thighs. "If you want me to untie you, I will." He keeps eye contact with me as he lowers his head and takes my cock into his mouth.

"No," I say. "I'm good."

The corners of his lips turn up as he takes my cock deeper. Not all the way to his throat, but deep enough that my eyes roll back, and I let out a groan. The wet heat of his mouth is different than his ass, obviously. It's not quite as tight. But the pressure concentrated on the head of my cock while he sucks makes my hips jerk up, seeking more. I worry that will be too much. I don't want to be like that alpha who held his head down, but he moves with me, like when we were fucking before, eager for my thrusts.

Fuck, that's hot.

His hands grip the lower part of my cock that he can't get to with his mouth and starts stroking me in time with his mouth. The combination of the sensations drives me wild. I buck up, desperate for more friction. His hands grip me tighter, and he bobs his head up and down. Drool drips down his chin and my cock as he chokes on my tip.

"Oh, God. That's it."

Leo hums, the vibration buzzing against my skin. I continue to thrust up, able to lose myself in his mouth and hands without worrying about hurting him. My hands are tied, and he's on top, able to pull away if he needs to. The freedom of being able to move however I want during sex is completely foreign to me. I close my eyes and let the pleasure wash over me—let myself feel everything without any guilt or restrictions. My orgasm comes fast and hard, surging through my body with a force that makes me shake. It keeps going and going, and I don't have to stop it. I don't need to pull back or apologize.

When it's over, I open my eyes. Leo is watching me with cum running down his chin.

"That was the hottest thing I've ever seen," he says.

"Thank you."

He still has my cock in his hands. It's rock-hard, and already aching again. "Someone looks like they could go again."

"I'm sorry."

He bites his lip and does this cute smile that scrunches up his nose. "I'm not. Can I ride you this time? With your hands still tied?"

"Yes." I want that more than anything. Leo doesn't understand what he's given me. I've always loved sex, but it comes with a lot of stress. That's why I can't enter into it casually. And he's taken all that stress away.

A cheesy thought surfaces in my mind. My dads believe in soulmates. They're hopeless romantics who were lucky enough to find each other. I'm a little more skeptical, in general. Especially after having such a hard time with dating.

But maybe soulmates are real. Is there any other way to explain my body's reaction to Leo? Not just the pheromones, but the intense emotional connection I feel to him?

He makes me want to believe in fate.

"Are you okay?" he asks. "You look like you're deep in thought."

"I'm fine. I just… really, really like you."

He stares into my eyes like he understands all the things I can't say yet because it's too soon. Then he crawls up and kisses me. His mouth is sloppy with my cum. I'm not usually into that, but tasting my cum in his mouth is perfect. Our tongues tangle, dragging against each other, and God. That's almost as good as sex with him.

He lifts himself up and stares into my eyes again. "This is too good. It's almost scary."

"Yeah, I agree."

He brushes his lips against mine gently, then sits up. "Promise me you won't forget how good this is?"

I hate how fragile his confidence is. He shouldn't be worried that I'll leave him at the drop of a hat, especially not when we've barely met and everything is going so well. But if reassurance is what Leo needs, that's what I'll give him. I'll give it to him every damn day if it will help him feel safe with me.

"I promise. There's no way I could ever forget this, Leo."

He sits on my chest and leans back, giving me a close-up view of his hole, which is now glistening with slick. He locks eyes with me as he reaches between his legs and presses two fingers inside himself. They go in easily. I'm sure he's still stretched out after the way I fucked him earlier.

"I have these dildos that are almost as wide as your dick," he says, adding a third finger. His slick squelches as he pushes them in and out of his hole.

"Yeah? Do you like them?" I ask, not sure where he's going with this.

He nods, slipping in a fourth finger. There's resistance this time, but not much. "I like to stretch myself. It's always been something different than sex, though. Something I enjoyed on my own." He slowly slides his fingers out, leaving his hole open. It contracts around nothing, still gaping slightly. "Sex with you is special for me. It's like the fantasies I explore on my own, but it's real."

His voice is so genuine and raw, it speaks to my core. I don't even question whether what he's saying is true. I can feel it in my bones.

He crawls backwards and crouches over my cock. Ever so slowly, he lowers himself onto me. The pressure of his body closing around me, inch by inch, is like the connection I feel with him in my soul. This is what I've always wanted with an omega—to feel tied and whole with him. It's the kind of thing I didn't completely understand until this moment because I hadn't felt it before. I just knew that what I was experiencing with the other guys I dated wasn't enough.

He pauses halfway, his body trembling. I worry if he's okay, but his eyes are still locked with mine, and he seems better than okay—he seems just as tapped into this as I am. I wait as he stays there, giving his body time to fully accept mine, and that pause makes everything okay. Leo is only taking as much of me as he can. He's not pushing himself too far. We're both safe in this moment because he isn't in a hurry.

Then he relaxes the rest of the way down, melting into me like he's made of liquid. I can see the outline of my cock in his lower abdomen. He places his hands there and closes his eyes, like he's savoring the sensation—like he's savoring me.

I've never felt so accepted in bed.

The tightness of his body all around my cock is bliss and home all at the same time. I am safe, and I am transported. He lowers his hand to his cock, circling his hand around it, and then he rolls his hips. Sparks of pleasure shoot through me. I can't help but move my own hips, which is okay. Leo is still in control, which means he can pull off me if he needs to. Our hips move together, the momentum building and building. He cries out and spurts cum on my stomach, but he doesn't stop. He keeps riding me, the friction between our bodies lighting me up like a firework.

I roar as my orgasm overtakes me, my whole body taut, my hips thrusting up into him. He screams with me, our voices guttural and primal. He reaches forward and sinks his fingernails into my skin, clawing at my stomach with a feral intensity that matches what I feel in my chest.

Our orgasms last so long, my body almost panics from all the energy coursing through me. The drop happens suddenly and just as intensely.

"Please untie me," I beg. "I need to hold you."

He scrambles forward, disconnecting the tie between our bodies. The loss of him around my cock is only brief. After he unties my hands, he sinks himself back onto me. I wrap my arms around him and hold him tightly to my chest.

"I take back what I said before. That was the best sex of my life," I say.

I can feel his smile against my skin. "Yeah."

We fall asleep intertwined on my bed.

That shower will have to wait.