had been living in his house for seven days now.
And she probably had no idea how astounding that was. Knox wondered what she'd make of the fact that he'd spent more time with her in the last week than he'd spent with any of his alpha brothers over the last decade.
Not only that, they had spent the time together doing very un-Knox-like things: talking and sharing and getting to know each other. Even when Knox was with other alphas—and he did enjoy their company, even if a little went a long way—it wasn't what anyone would consider deep conversation. No, a little bullshit, a few laughs, and a healthy dose of sarcasm were more his style.
Knox had to think all the way back to his adolescence to come up with anyone he'd felt as close to as he did to Josie. Who understood him as well as she did now. Who knew so many of his secrets.
The truth was that there wasn't a soul in the world who knew him better.
Which was a huge fucking problem.
Because given everything Josie knew about Knox, the fact that she gazed at him with her wide, shimmering emerald eyes full of admiration meant that what she saw was an illusion. She acted like he was some kind of hero, while anyone else who'd spent an hour in his company knew he wasn't. All Josie would have to do was ask any one of his alpha brothers about his character, and they'd be happy to tell her what an asshole he could be.
Knox Collier, they would be happy to let her know, was selfish. Uncaring. Deeply cynical, occasionally cruel, and sometimes even vicious.
And Knox would have to agree. Yes, he had unthinkingly done one good deed by taking in a stray beta to keep her from freezing and starving to death…but that didn't change a lifetime spent being a punk. And yet, when Josie looked at him, it was clear she didn't see him that way.
Knox needed it to stop.
He should have known that his one good deed would not go unpunished, that sooner or later they were going to have a problem. It was hard enough to have a beautiful, dormant omega living in his house—but the fact that she wanted him back was killing him. The flicker of attraction that he'd sensed that first night hadn't gone anywhere. If anything, it had grown, little by little, day by day, until that tiny flame threatened to become a roaring inferno that could heat his cabin without the help of the fire in the hearth.
The longer this went on, the more confusing things got. Knox was an alpha, so of course his cock went hard in the presence of unclaimed pussy. Any of his brothers would react the same way.
But the desire he felt for Josie had grown in ways it shouldn't have, like one of the misshapen bolls that sometimes grew on the rushes by the creek. Wanting to fuck a woman was one thing. Wanting to be around her all day and night, to know everything he could about her—more than just the shape of her nipples or the color of the hair on her snatch—was downright alarming.
A powerful libido was pretty standard for an alpha. Wanting to know what Josie was thinking…the nest of unfamiliar emotions that fogged his thoughts when she was near…the way he temporarily lost his balance whenever he caught a whiff of her scent…these were not standard at all. Knox had never felt anything of the sort with the beta sex workers who, until recently, had regularly serviced the local alphas, and he'd bet his last dollar that none of his brothers had, either.
No, Knox was acting like a total freak. Which made it all the more crucial that he not act on his desires…at least not with Josie.
Instead, for the past three nights, he'd waited until her breathing relaxed enough to signal she was asleep, and then he dipped his hand below the covers and rubbed his cock raw. And he would do the same again tonight…the minute Josie finally fell asleep.
If it ever happened, goddamnit. Knox had been lying in his bed for over an hour, and he could still hear her out there, shifting around on her pallet on the floor, trying to find a comfortable position.
A storm blowing outside. Josie tossing and turning in the other room. His cock so rigid it could probably bend steel. At this rate, Knox would never sleep again.
But