Page 39 of Knot Only For One Night

“This is quite forward,” I mutter with a chuckle, and he slides me off his lap back into my spot next to him.

“I’m sorry. I just… It not being a good idea doesn’t mean I don’t want to go out with you.” He speaks as if he’s breathless, having hardly moved from the bench. I watch his eyes. Waiting for a but, another change in course. He remains completely focused on me.

“Do you like my gift?” I mutter.

He smiles for the second time and nods. “Though I’m not a coaster guy, to be honest.”

“Just use it as decoration.”

A little amused huff passes through his lips, and he looks down at it again. “What interest does an omega have in a beta?”

The question, the cautious tone…they twist my heart like a corkscrew. His rejection isn’t about me, it’s about him, being a beta. He’s afraid.

“At first, your scent. Then…. I don’t know. Your bike?” I laugh and he laughs with me. I finally relax, letting my leg touch his.

He shares his number, and I add it into my phone, texting him immediately and hearing the ding. I look over to his phone to see him save my number as “Trouble.”

Has anyone ever described me as “trouble” before?

My brow furrows, and I shake my head. Going to his contact in my phone to change him from Soren to …

When I glance over at him, he’s watching expectantly, waiting to see what I come up with.

Oh man, the pressure is on now.

After a moment of thought, I retype out the name and a warm happiness washes through me as he chuckles.

“‘Accomplice’?”

“If I'm in trouble, well, I'm bringing you along with me.”

“Alright, Trouble, what shall you and your accomplice do next?”

The time on my phone catches my eye, and I slump a little in my seat.

“I actually have class soon. I should get back.” Judging by how I barely scraped through on that last essay, color theory is not a class I can skip. Even for a super hot beta.

“How’d you get here?” he asks, looking around the parking lot.

“I walked.” I shrug as I stand and shoulder my bag again. This time, he lets me, but stands as well.

“You don’t have a car?”

“Yeah, it’s not that far.” It’s really not, a few blocks from campus at most.

“Well, let me walk you,” he says and I shake my head no.

“Your bike?” I nod toward the shiny gorgeous black motorcycle I somehow missed him riding in on.

"I’ll come back.”

“Soren, you don’t have to do that.”

“What kind of man would I be if I let you walk to class alone?” His words are flirty, suave even, but he looks anywhere but at me.

“You were just playing hard to get, huh? That’s okay. If you want to be chased⁠—”

“I’ll do the chasing from here on out, Trouble,” he grumbles and grabs my bookbag. I let him slide it off my shoulders and sling it onto his. What a gentleman.