“You know you don’t need to stay and clean my kitchen,” I insisted.
If I had more strength, I would’ve been standing up and physically pushing him out of the room, but I still felt shaky on my feet, despite the delicious food. This separation shit was getting so old.
Merrick shrugged, smirking. “I would just be cleaning the kitchen at the firehouse. Let's face it, those idiots are far messier. This is practically a vacation.”
I snorted. “Have you been smoking something? I don't think any sane human being would refer to cleaning a kitchen as a vacation.”
Merrick laughed, drying his hands on the towel slung over his shoulder. “I never claimed to be sane.”
My eyes trailed over those broad shoulders. I didn't think I’d met a single firefighter in my age range who wasn't annoyingly handsome. They all had these perfectlyrealbodies from all the exercise they did. Being in shape was a necessity, not vanity, but it still looked damn good on them.
Then again, the appeal of firefighters was waning somewhat, considering I’d had a brush with a convict firefighter and wound up bonding with him.
What would it have been like if I had bonded with Merrick instead?
I swallowed, nearly choking on my food. The thought had popped into my mind before I could quickly shake it out. I hardly knew the guy. I shouldn't have been thinking aboutbondingwith him. I mean, sure, I was attracted to him. I had been for a while, but I needed to remind myself about the oh-so-important permanent nature of bonding. My current predicament was entirely my fault for getting ahead of myself with the attraction.
Still, he’d fed me, which was more than the alpha in the alleyway had done, even if what hehaddone was… Nope, I couldn’t go there.
Merrick’s smile dropped as he looked me over. “You really are looking rough, Hails.”
Hails. Nicknames usually infuriated me, but there was something about the way he said it that made me feel warm and mushy. I wanted to hear him say it again and again. But that was probably just the separation sickness talking. My omega neededsomethingto make her feel better.
“I'll get over it in no time,” I assured him, but my words rang false.
He faced me, leaning back against the counter as he held intense eye contact. “If you're in trouble, you know I'll help you.”
“Me? Trouble?” I waved off his concern. “I never get in trouble.”
He raised a brow. “I seem to recall an instance where you got in the face of a husband who was on the warpath and ended up with a broken rib.”
“Andheended up with a broken nose. Thank you very much for that, by the way.”
The man in question had been a piece of shit who was beating his wife. A neighbor had called an ambulance when they realized what’d happened to her, and the piece-of-shit guy had tried to stop us from giving her medical attention.
I’d taken far too much pleasure in breaking his nose.
On the upside, the wife had moved far away with her kids and was living her best life now. She still sent me text updates every now and again. Sometimes we really helped people.Best part of the job.
“Yes, but you jumped in instead of waiting for the police or one of the firefighters to step in. I would callthattrouble.”
“I would call that simply being a decent human. Wouldn’t you have done the same?”
“Of course, I would have, but we have something of a size difference, now, don’t we?” Merrick gestured between us, looking at me pointedly.
“You don't have to remind me. I know you're a big boy.” I smirked, popping another green bean into my mouth.
Merrick’s eyes narrowed, and his smoky oak scent intensified. Without intending to, I’d done something, and my insides quivered. Not in fear, but in anticipation.
Down, girl!
All of a sudden, my kitten was horny and wanted attention. Had bonding made me even more susceptible to hunky alphas? Maybe I was trying to seek out a connection because my mate was a piece of shit who was incarcerated and ran away.
Yeah, it was totally that and not the fact that Merrick was handsome as fuck, caring for me, and even cooking for me.
Real convincing, Hailey.
Despite the nature of my job, I was still an omega through and through, and having someone care for me… It made my omega preen with happiness. I wanted to help people and do mywork during the day, but at night, the idea of having a pack to pamper me?