Page 16 of All Packed Up

Nic cocked his head to the side, surprise in his expression. “What?”

Wendy’s heart pounded, but the words just kept coming. “Just because you’re helping me. You know, taking me in and burning breakfast and buying me all this stuff. It doesn’t mean I owe you something.”

A shadow passed over his gaze, something that was too quick to study, but when it was gone, it left his eyes sadder. “I know. I understand.”

Wendy didn’t know what to say. She felt guilty and relieved at the same time. But also super fucking horny because her stupid heat was nearing. The whole time Nic was gone, she’d been in her bedroom trying to find some relief by herself.

Sure, she could get herself an orgasm, and it felt good. Like, really fucking good. Just like everything did during a heat. But it could feel better. A whole lot better.

“Okay. Okay,” she said, chickening out.

“Wendy,” Nic said, and she glanced up at him.

Very up. Because Nic was tall. He stared down at her with his five o’clock shadow and his amber eyes and his beautiful Asian features.

She didn’t get nervous. Not around betas. They were safe.

They couldn’t bite, they couldn’t bond or bark.

But this stunning god of a man who’d opened his home to her stared down at her and left her almost speechless. It had to be her heat, the needy, whiny omega inside her that made her weak under his intense gaze.

“Ask me.”

Amber eyes sparkled down at her, and another prickle of heat warmed the back of her neck.

“What if you didn’t go? Stayed to help,” she asked.

Nic’s nostrils flared, and she couldn’t control the way her scent swelled around them.

“What about your nest?”

Wendy’s pounding heart tripped over its own beat at the considerate question. She eyed the blankets and the new pillows, the items that held no scent… yet.

Her gaze must have been telling, or maybe Nic knew more about omegas than she thought, because Nic chuckled. “Okay. I’ll let you do that in private, and just… you can open the door when you’re settled, okay?”

“Okay,” she agreed, a little breathless.

Moments ago, Nic had seemed in over his head, but now he was telling her how to get comfy, allowing her boundaries even when she didn’t recognize she needed it until she had it.

Nic left the room, closing the door behind him, and it was like Wendy blinked herself awake from a dream in the beta’s absence.

“Well,” she told Knuckles, who was sniffing at the upside-down cat bed. “That was easy.”

Although, what person was going to turn down an omega in heat? Even a beta couldn’t resist that kind of lure.

A bitter chuckle spilled out.

There’s not anything special about you. You’re lucky you have us, you know that, right?

Knuckles meowed, interrupting the painfully familiar voice, and she lifted the cat bed before tossing it in the corner of the room. The cat chased after it and began making biscuits on the fluffy interior before she’d even grabbed the first blanket, a forest green color.

Nesting took a while.

Much longer than it had ever taken her before.

In the Sterlings’ home, everything was neat and tidy and perfectly coordinated, one room to the next, even her nest. There hadn’t been room for much nesting since it had already been decorated. She’d learned to accept it, and eventually once her scent had permeated everything, it felt a little more comfortable.

But Nic had given her a bed and everything she’d need and left her to it. Wendy… loved it. Loved organizing the pillows and the blankets and making it a perfectly comfy spot with all the mismatched colors he’d bought.