Amusing You - Claire Cullen Page 0,25

sees something in you. And he’s not like those other guys you’ve dated. He looks before he leaps.”

Harper sighed and changed the subject, knowing there was no way to explain right then that William’s interest in him was on another level entirely.

He paused outside the door to William’s apartment that evening, hemming and hawing over what he was about to do. The sensible option was to simply tell William that he was unavailable for the next week, and they’d have to postpone their sessions. But sensible wasn’t really his style. And the idea of muddling through a heat all alone, of the darkness waiting to swallow him in the aftermath, was not appealing in the slightest. He had a handful of alpha friends that he could call, but somehow it seemed wrong to do that without at least broaching the topic with William.

As soon as he knocked, he heard footsteps within. The door was thrown open, and William smiled at him. It was far more genuine than their first few meetings, without the strain and tension that came with feeling awkward but being polite.

“Hey, come on in. I got all the ingredients for the stir fry. Some of them look a little… weird.”

“Totally normal,” Harper said. “As a rule, the weirder the food looks, the better it tastes.”

“Somehow, I don’t think that’s a rule.”

Harper followed William into the kitchen but hesitated in the doorway. In his experience, tense conversations should happen with an open escape route. Just in case.

“Um, before we get started, we need to have a talk. It’s nothing bad, just… time-sensitive.”

William turned around and folded his arms, leaning against the kitchen counter. He was wearing a long-sleeved sweater and looked so attentive and open, Harper wanted to cry.

“Sure, go ahead.”

“So, my heat’s coming up next week. Zac knows—Beckett might have said something to you already. But anyway, I guess I just wanted to know if you were interested.”

William straightened. “Interested?”

“In sharing my heat.”

The alpha flushed, dropping his gaze to the floor. One hand reached back, rubbing over the nape of his neck.

“Uh, well, I mean… I know we’re pretending, for Zac and Beckett’s sake, but we’re not that kind of couple.”

Harper swallowed down the bitterness. “No, of course not. Forget I said anything. Let’s get started.”

Cooking was a strained affair, neither of them saying more than was necessary.

Harper was dishing up the food when the alpha finally spoke.

“Is that… something you’d want? Me sharing your heat?”

Harper carefully set the wok down and turned, meeting William’s gaze. “I don’t say things I don’t mean. I wouldn’t have offered if the idea didn’t appeal to me.”

William nodded slowly. “Can I think on it?”

“Sure. Um, but if you’re going to say no, try not to take too long. It can be a pain to find someone else if it’s last-minute.” He had his small group of alphas that he could call on in his time of need, no strings attached. But that number grew smaller each year as people settled down.

“Someone else? So, you have, like, a list?”

William looked almost hurt.

“More like emergency contacts. I don’t do so good weathering heats alone. Emotionally, I mean. Some people’s hormones leave them crabby or weepy or happy. Mine drop me in a black hole and forget about me.”

“Oh, I see.” William’s hurt turned to concern. “Wouldn’t you prefer to see it through with someone you already know? Familiarity can be comforting, yes?”

This was harder than he’d expected. He’d thought the alpha would turn him down, and he’d spend the evening making overtures to his alpha friends until he found someone who could spare the time.

“Ordinarily, I spend my heat with whichever alpha I’m emotionally closest to at the time. That’s usually whoever I’m seeing, casually or not. But right now, that’s you. I know it’s against the muse rules, but we’re already breaking so many of them. You can say no. Or you can say yes, and we’ll go back to being muse and client right after. I’m not clingy, not like that. I just don’t like to ride out my heat by myself, that’s all.”

Feeling like he’d said too much, he turned back to their food and carried the plates to the table. As he set them down, William came to stand next to him, a light hand resting on his shoulder.

“Harper?”

He turned to look at the alpha, letting out a quiet breath as he did. William smiled at him, squeezing his shoulder gently. “I would like to share your heat