“Freeballing?” Valentin asked.
“I like to air dry after a shower.” Valentin chuckled as Wes added, “I’ll see if there’s something we can scrounge up for dinner. But since Ryde is gone, maybe we should just get takeout.”
“Shoot!” Valentin exclaimed.
“What?”
“My underwear is still in the dryer. I forgot to bring the laundry up this morning.”
“Are you sure you’re grown?” Wes teased.
“Hey, don’t blame me. I spent six years in prison being told what to do practically every minute of the day. I like having the freedom to be a sloth when it comes to chores.”
Wes hated thinking of Valentin being locked up. All those years stolen from him. Wes had watched Valentin find joy in so many simple things that he and Assa took for granted, including the ability to be lazy sometimes.
“Lucky for you, there are no wardens here. The only place I want to boss you around is this bedroom.”
Valentin cinched the towel around his waist and walked over to Wes with a feral gleam in his eyes.
“You don’t always get to be the boss,” he said in hisalpha voice.
Wes shivered. Thatvoicemight be the best thing about having an alpha partner.
He and Valentin were at the bottom of the stairs when the front door opened. Great. Now Assa could weigh in on whether they should get takeout.
But it wasn’t Assa who walked in. It was Zinn.
Assa was a few steps behind him, carrying Lachie.
“It must have fallen out of my pocket when I was sitting here earlier.” Zinn made a beeline for the easy chair in the living room before looking up to see Wes, shirtless in gray sweatpants, and Valentin, towel around his waist, moisture clinging to the dark hair on his chest. “Oh,” Zinn squeaked, his cheeks flushing.
“Ohis right.” Assa laughed as he hefted the baby higher on his shoulder. “You should have texted me it was naked living room time.”
“We’re hardly naked,” Wes said, smiling as he walked over to kiss Lachie on the head. “Ryde’s out, and we thought Zinn would just drop you off.” He tilted his head toward Valentin. “And someone left all his clean laundry downstairs.”
Valentin shifted on his feet. “I…uh…forgot to bring it up last night.”
A minute ago, Valentin had been a full-on sex beast, using hisalpha voicelike he was trying to start a fire. Wes couldn’t tell if he was acting oddly now because Lachie was in their house or because Zinn was.
The omega was clearly trying very hard not to stare at Valentin. But the heat in his eyes was unmistakable.
Wes cleared his throat. It was one thing to know that Valentin and Zinn still had complicated feelings for each other, they allunderstood that, but it was another to see them so blatantly on display.
A swallow worked its way down Zinn’s throat. “I didn’t mean to interrupt,” he said. “I wouldn’t have come in at all except that I misplaced Lachie’s favorite binky.” He held up the green pacifier he’d rescued from the cushions.
Zinn spoke politely, benignly, yet his intense expression told a different story.
Wes shared a glance with Assa that signaled he saw it too.
But why was Zinn so affected? It wasn’t as if he hadn’t seen Valentin without a shirt before. They’d been on family outings to the pool.
Then he realized. The alpha and the omega could smell one another.
Zinn would know by Valentin’s scent that he and Wes had just had sex.
And Valentin would know by Zinn’s scent that the thought turned him on.
Because it did. That much was obvious. Zinn’s face wasn’t hot with jealousy over his ex having new partners. That had been a non-factor between them from the start. No. The omega was hot with desire.