Slightly Embarrassing

*Reece*

It had taken me forever to fall asleep the night before, but not because I wasn’t comfortable or happy, which was often the case when I couldn’t sleep. No, this time, it was the exact opposite. I simply didn’t want to take my eyes off Rose. I’ve slept with a lot of women in my life, but none as beautiful as her, none as graceful, intelligent, and kind.

In the morning, her bright eyes had locked onto mine, and all I could do was grin at her. I’d helped her get her gown back on and gotten dressed myself before offering to walk her back to her room.

I can tell Rose is a little flustered. “Do you think… anyone will see us?” she asks.

“I’m not sure,” I reply as we approach the bedroom door. “Will it bother you if someone does?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. It’s just… I’m wearing my gown. I’m pretty sure that makes this what some people call a walk of shame. Not that I'm ashamed of you or anything.”

I chuckle at her. “Well, I can see why that might be a concern under some circumstances, but in this case, darlin’, everyone already knows that you and I had sex last night. So… I wouldn’t worry about it.”

I’d meant to make her feel better, but her face is turning that pink color it changes to when she is embarrassed.

I lean down and press my lips to her temple. “Rose, if you’re embarrassed of me, that’s one thing, but I am certainly not embarrassed of you. I can’t wait for everyone in the world to know we made love. As a matter of fact, I’d go scream it from the top of the castle if I had the choice.”

She looks a little mortified. “I won’t do that,” I assure her. “My point is, I had an amazing time with you. That was the best sex I’ve ever had in my life, and I am proud to be walking out of this room with you right now.”

“Really?” she asks, her nose crinkling slightly as she questions my explanation.

“Yes! Absolutely!”

She blushes again, but this isn’t the same kind of embarrassment. I put my hand on the small of her back and guide her to the door. “Do you want me to stick my head out first?”

“No,” she says. “I’m not embarrassed by you, Reece. I just… didn’t know for sure how you felt.”

I pull her against my chest and stroke her cheek with my palm. “I feel like… you’re my sweet little darlin’, and I want to be with you every moment of every day.”

She melts against me, and I hold her tight. It’s hard to know that I’m going to have to hand her over to Eli soon. I hope this isn’t the last time I get to be with her. To think this could all be over soon, that she could be pregnant, and none of this will be necessary, makes my heart heavy.

As much as I would like to be king, I don’t want to marry Emily. Maybe, if I don’t win, I can keep Rose… forever. At the moment, I think that would make me the real winner.

When I can tell she’s all right, I open the bedroom door, and keeping her hand in mine, I step out. There’s no one in the hallway, and her room isn’t far away.

We only make it a few steps before the door next to mine creaks open, and Mark steps out, looking a little ragged, like maybe he didn’t sleep too well the night before.

“Oh, hi,” he says, and I can tell this is just bad timing. He isn’t trying to run into us. “Rose, good morning,” he says, smiling at her.

She swallows hard. “Hi, Mark,” she says, and I can tell she is upset at him. I know what Emily has told her. I also know it isn’t true. I should’ve mentioned it to her the night before when she was lying in my arms, and we were chatting about life, but Mark was the furthest thing from my mind, and I saw no reason to remind her of him.

He drops his eyes, and I can tell he’s in pain. She’s not happy either, so I pull her away, leading her to her room. He walks down the hallway in the other direction.

At her door, I say, “Rose, you need to talk to him. Emily… is a liar. He never said anything bad about you.”

She arches an eyebrow. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yes, I am,” I tell her. “It might be in my best interest to tell you otherwise, but… I don’t want anything to upset you, especially not Emily’s lies.”

She takes a deep breath and then says, “Thank you, Reece.”

I smile at her. “Of course. Now, you have a great day, and hopefully, I will see you soon.” I lean down and press my lips to hers, and she kisses me back.

Opening the door for her, I watch her go into her room, and when she closes the door behind her, I feel like I’ve lost a bit of my soul.

I head back to my room to shower and make myself presentable for breakfast with the other Alphas. I’m tired, but I’ll survive. I’ve been tired before. When I come out of the bathroom, my Beta, Wessley, is there, leaning against the table where I do most of my work, looking at me with his eyebrows raised.

He is a bit older than me. He was my father’s Beta before me, so he’s almost old enough to be my dad. Still, we get along fairly well.

That doesn’t mean I want to talk about sex with him, though.

He’s not concerned about whether or not I had a good time, anyway. He just wants to know one thing.

“Well? Did you take advantage of your try?”

If everyone is as concerned about my sperm as Wessley, it will have its own spot on the nightly news.

“I did, Wessley,” I assure him, finishing getting ready to go.

“And?”

“And what?” I ask him. “Does she look pregnant? Smell pregnant? Sound pregnant?”

He rolls his eyes at me. “I’m just wondering if you think you got a good one in her, that’s all.”

I scoff at him. “Yes, I do. I sent in my best men. All of ‘em.” I shake my head and walk out the door. I need to go or I’ll be late. “Don’t worry about it, Wessley. I gave it my all. My old man would be proud.”

He chuckles under his breath and leaves to go take care of some business while I’m socializing.

When I walk into the breakfast room, the other three Alphas are already there. Tristan is in the middle of one of his loud, outlandish stories, but he cuts it short as I take my seat.

“Well?” Mark asks.

“Well… what?” I say, spreading my napkin over my lap.

“Did she… is she… okay?”

I look at him for a moment. “I thought you were the one who said you didn’t want to talk about how we all did with her.”

“I don’t,” he clarifies. “I just want to make sure she’s okay. Some people didn’t manage to make her so happy afterward.” He glares at Tristan.

“Hey, I’m learning! We talked about this. I thought we were okay now.” Tristan narrows his eyes back at Mark.

“Let’s not fight!” Eli interjects. “Come on, guys. We need to try to get along. For Rose’s sake.”

I want to tell Eli that he doesn’t even know her, but I don’t think that’s helpful. Besides, Eli has a point.

We eat in near silence, and it’s clear that none of us are particularly happy with one another. I want to be the only one that gets to be with Rose, but I understand that she has feelings for all of these men, not just me. I can’t be selfish.

“Hey, do you guys wanna go play basketball after this?” I ask as we finish breakfast. “Just hang out like friends and stop being angry at one another for a little while?”

“I’m not angry at anyone,” Eli says with a shrug.

“Sure, I’ll play,” Tristan says, his tone conveying he might just want a chance to lord over us with his height and girth.

“I’m kind of busy,” Mark mutters.

“Come on,” Eli probes. “We can’t play without you. We need even teams.”

Mark grumbles a bit, but ultimately, he says, “Fine. I’ll play.”

I feel a bit lighter as we all stand up and head to our rooms to change clothes before we go outside. I was hoping I’d see Rose, but I don’t, even though I linger in the hallway for a while. I feel disappointed, but I have to go on like it doesn’t bother me, like I'm not missing her already.

I enter my room to grab some shorts and a T-shirt, but I choose to linger by the bed for a moment. It’s been made, and I would guess that the sheets have even been changed, but that doesn’t change the fact that I can remember how good it felt to be with her last night.

And if I breathe deeply enough… I can still smell her.