“Who was that guy?” Dustin asked now that he had finally calmed down. He still sat in my lap, tucked warmly against my chest. At this moment, Dustin was the most important man on earth. To see him suffering through such fury had nearly broken me, and I would give my all to make it right if he would but let me.
“I have many enemies.” I sighed into his hair. “He seems the one to push the hardest at my tenderest of soft spots.”
“Great. And I work for him,” Dustin groused.
“That is a choice you can remedy,” I reminded. “None would blame you for removing Erastus as your employer. Even if you do lose your job because of his appearance, he is not worthy of you.”
“I need the job, Cass.” He tucked his face deeper into the curve of my neck to block out the dimmed strobe of the passing street lights. Dustin, the poor thing, kept shaking as the adrenaline rush of such anger drained away. There were a few times I feared he would combust, but now that I’d spent so much time with Dustin, I would suffer almost anything.
“You do not need it that badly,” I murmured into Dustin’s ear. “I could help you. Even if you won’t let me give you the money, I could find you a safe job within one of the companies under my control.”
Dustin shifted and sighed. “I like to earn what I get, even if it’s just a job interview.”
I stiffened and tightened my hold for the first time in ten minutes. “And calling you a whore, reciting your personal information, and outright degrading you in public hasn’t earned you the right to an interview for my companies?”
I knew I sounded offended, and Dustin patted my chest to soothe away that offense. “I… I guess.”
“Dustin…” I teased Dustin’s face from the crook of my neck and tapped his cheek until he looked into my eyes. “I want you safe.”
“Changing my employer won’t keep me safe, Cass.” He gave me a weak smile. “He knows everything about me. The only way to make sure I’m safe from him is to put me in some kind of witness protection program or something. And I’m not a witness or a victim yet.”
“Yet,” I growled. “You would be safe with me, Dustin.” I held onto Dustin’s chin with a shaky hand. My eyes must have been wild and dark because Dustin softened in my arms. “He would not dare harm you with you so close to me. My security—”
“Is human—fallible.” Dustin stretched as much as he could while on my lap, then sat up straighter. “Would you keep me tucked against your side every moment of every day? And I thought you owned the whole city. How does he have enough power to hurt you?”
If only I could keep him tucked against my side. Always. How had this gorgeous young man burrowed under my skin so far in just a few short hours? I cleared my throat to reply, “Allies, Dustin.” I thudded my head back against the leather headrest. “Power is power until allies are involved. Then it becomes a game of chess. He has been frantic to unseat me for almost a decade.”
Dustin started at that and stared at me with furrowed brows. “How old are you, Cass?”
My head snapped up, and I fixed Dustin with a brittle stare. I couldn’t tell him. Not yet. But he was so perceptive. I had to ask, “How old do I seem?”
Eyes widening, Dustin’s breath hitched, and he squirmed. The question, “Why did he say seem instead of look or appear?” scrolled across his face. I could almost hear his mind shouting it. He scanned my face and frowned. I knew I appeared twenty-five at the oldest. But some of the things I said, the way I said others, must have made me seem much older.
I gave a minute nod, confirming his suspicions. “You are starting to understand, beauty. You do not have to answer.”
He snapped his mouth shut and tilted his head. “How old are you?” he asked again.
My sad smile returned. “In private, Dustin.”
Dustin heaved an explosive, frustrated sigh and thumped his forehead against the window behind him. “I’m getting really tired of hearing that.”
I hugged him tight again and chuckled ruefully. “As I am getting tired of keeping it from you. Just remember—the truth can hurt.” I shivered and closed my eyes. “This truth may hurt you greatly.”
Of course, Dustin had no compunction in using my words against me. “Lies and not knowing may hurt forever.”
“Yes, which is why I will not keep this from you,” I replied. “Though, if only you understood the true meaning of forever.”
Dustin shivered at the weight of my last word. It hung in the air as if it were the echoing ring of a nearby bell. I pressed my lips to Dustin’s brow fiercely, lingering there for long moments.
I rested our foreheads together. Dustin’s face was so close that we shared breath. The pain that radiated from us both when Dustin opened his eyes made him react. He wrapped his arms about my neck and tilted his head just enough that our lips met in our first chaste kiss.
It startled me. I stiffened and sucked in a sharp breath through my nose, but Dustin didn’t falter. He let it linger, seemingly sure that if I didn’t want it, I’d pull away. Gods, I didn’t want to pull away. Dustin was all I could have ever hoped for. As the kiss continued—just the press of closed lips—Dustin massaged the back of my neck slowly with one hand, managing to expertly find the pressure points to relax an anxious omega. He combed through my hair with the other until I relaxed further and let out a sultry purr.
My arms tightened, and I came alive. I licked against the seam of Dustin’s lips until they opened with his gasp. The first feel of Dustin’s tongue fluttering against my own had butterflies dancing in the pit of my stomach as my chest clenched. It felt so right. So very right to have him against me, to have his hands in my hair, to have his body pressed against my own.
Dustin moaned into our kiss and fisted his hand in my hair, gently tugging me closer with those strands. With just that one tug, slick gushed, wetting my ass cheeks for the second time that night. My cock hardened, pressing painfully against the zipper of my trousers, grinding against Dustin’s hip until the young man squirmed. I sucked the air from Dustin’s lungs and returned his moan. I swear I felt the reverberations of our kiss in my very soul.
I ravaged his mouth, our tongues tangling as we both fought for domination. Dustin shifted, rubbing his hip up and down against the bulge in my pants, grinning into our kiss when my breathing stuttered. I pulled away with another moan and nipped at Dustin’s lower lip until he whimpered, “Please… Cass…” He didn’t seem to care that we were still in the limo or that the driver might hear us. His lust hazed mind could only care about what I could do with my mouth and the scent of my slick perfuming the back of the limo.
Dustin’s arousal strained against the confines of his new, well-tailored pants. He untangled his fingers from my hair to palm it through the soft material. “Please…”
I wanted him to say the words, but I could see it in his eyes. Even with his pupils blown out with lust, he couldn’t say the words. It would make him a whore in his eyes and prove Erastus right. Oh, how I wished I could convince him otherwise.
I shuddered and sat back. Both of us panted for air. I tightened my arms around Dustin, crushing him to my chest. “No, beauty.” I sounded strangled and hoarse. Every word was a battle won. I trembled as I pressed another kiss to Dustin’s lips. “Not tonight.” With another shudder, I groaned and buried my face in Dustin’s throat, wishing I could continue what Dustin had started. But I couldn’t. Not in good conscience. “As much as I want to make you scream your joy, not tonight.”
Dustin whined low in his throat and squirmed again, but his voice came powerful and demanding, an alpha demanding answers from a disobedient omega. “Why?” I had to stifle my grin at his question. He was a natural alpha, and I would do anything to obey. But not tonight.
My heart fell, and my entire being ached. I fluttered my lashes against Dustin’s throat, trailed kisses to his ear, and murmured, “Because, after our private talk, you may not want me any longer.”
I could almost see my evasive statement scroll through Dustin’s mind on repeat the rest of the way to Oak Crest’s hilltop. Everything was right there in his eyes. I couldn’t bear to look at him straight on and settled for studying him in my peripheral vision as he stared at me. I had my cold mask back in place, hiding my true feelings, hiding my vulnerability. I hid everything, and it would all be revealed too soon for my comfort. But Dustin deserved to know the truth of his fate—his irreversible fate.
After I’d said those last words, I had disengaged Dustin from about my neck and carefully removed him from my lap to set him on the seat next to me. Now I felt cold and alone, even though he sat nearly pressed against my side. At that moment, he shivered and tucked closer to me, frowning. He sniffed the air and scooted a little closer, and I almost smiled. My young alpha was still trying to comfort me, even though he didn’t know why.
The silence between us, though, made my stomach crawl with anxiety, but I couldn’t find anything to say, couldn’t find the will to speak, knowing my voice would crack and give away my secrets.
I barely waited for Charles to open the door before I fled the limo at the front doors of my estate. I did, however, retain enough control to wait and offer my hand to help Dustin out. Even though I still had that cold mask in place, Dustin looked at me as if he could see the pain in my eyes—pain that I did my best to hide from the world each and every day, made exponentially worse with Dustin’s existence. If he refused me…
Dustin took my hand and squeezed it as he got out of the limo. He held onto it as Charles closed the door behind him and frowned at me as I tried to shutter the rest of my emotion from him, even from my traitorous eyes.
“It’s not going to work, Cass,” he said softly. I closed my eyes and sighed. Dustin squeezed my hand tighter. “Don’t shut me out. Please.”
We both glanced over when Charles started taking garment bags full of Dustin’s clothes out of the trunk and into the house without a word. My housekeeper-slash-household-mother-hen, Beth, held the door open for him and gave us the stink eye. She put her hands on her ample hips and called out, “Casersis, you bring that boy out of the cold this instant. I have dinner waiting for you in the north parlor.”
I cringed as if I’d just been slapped and gave Dustin a sheepish grin before tugging him toward the house. “Yes, Beth. Of course.” I couldn’t deny that woman. If I did, she’d just throw a rolling pin at my head. Tough love was her motto, and she lived by it.
“Don’t you use that tone with me, young man.” She huffed at me. “Charles told me the boy skipped lunch and you ran out on dinner. I ought to tan both your hides. Yours for being thoughtless, and his for being irresponsible.”
Dustin’s eyes went wide, and he instantly melded against my side. “I’m, um… sorry?”
“You should be,” she said, wagging a finger at him. “Working construction, and can’t be bothered to eat? Get in here and eat before you pass out. You’re too pale.” She turned to face me then. “And you. You have four messages from Bradley. He’s been relentless since you left Anatole’s. Call him the moment you’re done eating. I’ll keep him off until you’re both full and have rested a moment.”
With each word, I felt more and more like a chastened child. I’m sure I looked the part, as well. I ducked my head and drooped my shoulders, even as I took Dustin’s coat gently and handed it to the matronly woman. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Uh-huh.” She sighed and squeezed my arm, letting me know that she still loved me, even when I exasperated her. “Get on it.” She turned back to Dustin with a warm smile. “What would you like to drink, darling.”
Caught like a deer in headlights, Dustin stammered a moment before I saw his mind start working again. “Um, orange juice, please. I am starting to feel a little lightheaded.”
Beth nodded and pursed her lips in that approving fashion I loved about her. “I like you already.” Her warm smile returned, and she patted his cheek before that look went stern, and she focused it on me. “Get this poor darling comfortable. I’ll deal with you later.”
Without waiting for a reply, Beth bustled off, leaving us alone in the ornate foyer. With the doors closing out the chill of the evening, Dustin warmed from the fires in the twin hearths that flanked the front entry just a few yards down the hall, evidenced by the pleasant flush to his cheeks as he held his chilled hands out toward the flames of the hearth on the right-hand wall. I had them placed there for just this reason, though I never imagined it would please me to have them warm someone so very special.
I loved my home. It was a throwback to times long gone. Rather than a modern home, this place remained much as it was when I built it thousands of years ago with the exception of modern plumbing, central heat and air, and some of the furnishings and wall-treatments. As such, warm teak paneled the walls. Creamy colored, ornate, hand-carved moldings edged the ceiling boasting fantastic scenes of fairies and flowers. Art hung strategically on the walls, showing nature scenes that brought the brightly lit hall to life. Dustin smiled at everything and did his best to keep up with me while still taking everything in as I led us through the castle’s interior to the north parlor.
When we reached it, the room wrapped me in warmth. The north parlor was actually my study and my favorite room in the entire estate. The moment we stepped in and the door closed behind us, everything about me relaxed at once as if someone pulled my plug and allowed me to power down. My hand went lax in Dustin’s, and I turned a faint smile on him.
Dustin bumped shoulders with me. “This is your favorite room, isn’t it?”
Surprised, I barked a laugh and nodded. “How could you tell?”
Dustin grinned and let me guide him to the window with a hand at the small of his back to sit down at the table filled with covered plates. “It screams you and smells more like you than the rest of the place.”
“Mm,” I hummed, “what about it screams ‘me?’”
Dustin didn’t bother looking around. Instead, he uncovered his plate and whimpered as he found a medium-well steak, hand-whipped mashed potatoes with a rich brown gravy, asparagus tips, and, lifting another, smaller cover, found a chilled romaine salad. Purring, he started in on the salad, speaking between mouthfuls. “First, the couch by the fire. Your butt indent is on the left side. The blanket seems worn as if you use it all the time.”
It surprised me that he could tell it was my “butt indent,” but I should have known better. This young man surprised me at nearly every turn.
With the end of his fork, Dustin continued by pointing to the window at his left without looking, his eyes staring at his steak as if daring someone to take it. “The windows look away from the city and the street. You seem like the nature type, especially since you smell of pine. I take it you spend a lot of time in the woods behind the estate.”
“How very observant of you,” I remarked. “Anything else?” I leaned in, picking at my own meal, though my eyes rarely left Dustin.
He grinned. “Handprint on the window. You spend a lot of time looking outside when you can’t be out there. Then, there are the bookshelves. Almost every book looks like you’ve read it dozens of times. The oils of your hands have made parts of the spines darker than the rest.”
“How do you know the oils come from my hands?” I asked.
“Because every single book has the same oil patterns on the spines.” Dustin laughed. “You hold all the books the same way.”
“Your attention to detail is stunning,” I murmured. “You would be invaluable in many areas. You barely glanced around the room when you came in, and yet you deduced that much of me already.”
Dustin shrugged. “Joe—my boss—gave me a pay raise because my attention to detail’s cut his losses a bit the last two years. He says that if I keep it up, I’ll be foreman in less than a year when Greg retires.”
Nodding, I regarded him for a moment as we went on with our meals. Beth hustled in quietly and set a pitcher of orange juice on a towel on the table after filling a glass for Dustin. She poured me a glass of wine and set the bottle in a bucket of ice next to the table. Once she left, I nodded again. “I search far and wide for people with your skill, Dustin. That kind of eye and memory coordination is worth investing in. Some of my head operatives do not even possess skills to that degree, and their salaries are some of the highest in Shadetree.”
Dustin shrugged again. “Construction is all I know. I want to go to college, but that will take more saving.” With a wry chuckle, Dustin picked up his orange juice and took a few sips. “Then again, you already know that since Erastus decided to air my dirty laundry.”
“I do. Though, I dare say, there is nothing dirty about striving to acquire more knowledge.” I smiled and motioned to him with a tip of my wine glass. “I also know that you can work and attend university at the same time, earning money while you receive whatever education you wish to possess.”
Dustin frowned, set down his fork, and narrowed his eyes at me. “With your money, you mean.”
I had to tread carefully. With a perked brow, I nodded slowly. “Yes, but in the long run, it would benefit me as much as you if you remained with the company I placed you in.”
Dustin’s frown deepened a moment, and he returned his focus to what was left of his juicy steak and the few bites of mashed potatoes that still graced his plate. “I think it’s time to have that private talk.”
With a sharp inhale, I stilled. A waft of irritated alpha washed over me, and I swallowed hard. The omega in me wanted to do anything I could to appease him, but I wanted to make sure I parsed out the information gently. After a brief pause, I nodded, set my fork down, and plucked the napkin out of my lap to dab at my mouth. “As you wish. What did you wish to know first?”
“Everything.” He pinned me where I sat with a hard stare. “I don’t care where you start.”
My eyes widened, and I sat back. “Where did this vehemence come from?”
“It may explain why you’re trying to push your money and resources on me when we’ve only known each other for less than a few hours.” He frowned at me a moment, then went back to cutting up his steak. “I’m young, Cass, and I may be naïve about some things, but even I know you’re up to something, and I have a feeling that the shit you’ve been hinting at all evening is going to blow a hole in it a mile wide.”
Gods, no. He was right, but I wished he wasn’t. It was finally time to tell the truth, and all I wanted to do was hide it.
It was time, but I wanted to keep him here forever.
Would my perfect young alpha try to leave me?
