Playing You (Omega's Luck #3) - Claire Cullen Page 0,50
each other’s bodies; every thrust, every kiss, tied them closer together. Riley's grip on him grew firmer, the only sign of how close the omega was. Brendan was right on the edge as the omega’s body tightened around him. It was enough to bring him to orgasm, with Riley only seconds behind. He pressed the omega’s face to his neck, holding him tightly through the aftershocks, murmuring nonsense as Riley lay boneless against him.
The omega’s palm pressed against his chest a few minutes later as he slowly roused, his voice a soft whisper. “I’m glad I’m here, with you.”
“Me too.”
The words weren’t enough to convey how right it all felt to Brendan. How right it had felt since the moment they’d met, and on their weekend away, and during every hour they spent together in the office. Riley slotted into Brendan’s life like a missing piece, completing a picture he hadn’t even realized was unfinished. Now that he knew how it could feel, how could he let Riley go?
Chapter Twenty-Six
Riley finally got a chance to meet Mateo for lunch two weeks after the end of his heat. The filming schedule for the show Mateo was working on had kept him busy for almost eight weeks straight. His friend looked tired but happy.
“So, what’s next in the world of show business?”
Mateo grimaced. “Being an assistant on set isn’t really show business. It’s just advanced fetching and carrying.”
“But you’re enjoying it, right?” Sometimes he worried about Mateo.
“I’m learning a lot. But it’s not as easy as I’d hoped to get a foot on the ladder. It’s more about who you know than what you know.”
“I think that might be life, not just show business.”
“Maybe. Anyway, enough about me and my sixteen-hour days. What’s new with you? You’re looking bright-eyed.”
“Nothing much. Still working away.”
“With that hunky alpha detective?”
“He’s a private investigator.”
“Same difference. You still think he’s hunky though, right? You seemed to think so the last time we spoke.”
“Yeah, Brendan is very handsome,” Riley said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
Mateo’s gaze narrowed. “Okay, what aren’t you telling me?”
Riley feigned ignorance. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yeah, you do. Whatever it is, out with it.”
He sighed and hid his face behind his hands. “Things kind of got away from me.”
“What kind of things?”
“The roleplaying.”
He’d told Mateo about how he and Brendan had pretended to be a couple for the murder mystery weekend. Of course, he’d left out the part where they slept together.
When he peeked out from behind his hands, Mateo looked like he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or console him.
“What happened?”
“He asked me to pretend to be his boyfriend when he had to visit his family. His grandmother kept setting him up with random omegas, and he didn’t want to have to skip out on the weekend just to avoid it.”
“Okay, that’s weird but I get it. You went along with it?”
“Uh-huh. But, um, I went into heat.”
Mateo’s eyes went wide, and he tugged Riley’s hands away from his face. “While you were with his family?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, that sounds awkward.”
“Tell me about it.” He paused, trying to work out how to tell the rest of the story.
“Why do I get the feeling there’s a lot more to this?”
“They were so nice about it, Mattie. They let us have a cottage for a few days, plied us with so much food, and…”
“Wait, you actually spent your heat with the hunky detective?” Mateo stared at him open-mouthed.
“Um… yes?”
“That might be taking roleplaying a bit too far,” he said faintly.
“Well, we had slept together before, so it didn’t seem like that much of a leap.”
Mateo raised an eyebrow. “You’d already slept together? Why am I only hearing this now?”
“It was just a casual, one-night thing.”
“With your alpha boss? Sure. Casual.”
“It was.” His protests fell on deaf ears.
“And sharing your heat? That was casual too?”
That point was where Riley kept getting stuck. “We said nothing would change, and it hasn’t…”
“But…”
“Before, that’s what I wanted. Things to stay the same. But now… now I want them to change.”
“You have feelings for him.”
Riley let his shoulders rise and fall. “Big ones. I can’t stop thinking about him and daydreaming about him and…”
Mateo snorted. “You’ve fallen in love with the hunky detective.”
“No! Of course, I haven’t…” Yet his heart kept doing that skipped-beat thing anytime Brendan was near.
“Right. Because you and he are just casual, yeah?”
“No, we’re not anything. He’s my boss.”
“Who you’re in love with.”
“Stop saying that.” He tried to come up with a coherent argument