Getting Close to the Omega (10 page)

speaking. “But right now, in this moment, I need you to know,

that to me, any scars you have are a testament to your

strength and ability to survive. And you have no idea how

thankful I am that you did survive and that you feel

comfortable enough with me to sit here and touch me like

this.”

“You make me calm, like I have found my center,” Dean

explained. “I don’t know why, but when I’m around you I don’t

have any fear, of anything.” He looked up and Matthew was

blasted by the pure need in Dean’s eyes. “Could you, would

you mind maybe kissing me again, please?”

“As often as you like,” Matthew promised as he leaned over

and carefully brushed his lips over Dean’s mouth.

Dean felt himself tremble as Matthew softly kissed him. He

had never felt anything like the desire rushing through his body

in that moment. Fuck that. He had never felt desire full stop.

But just touching Matthew through his clothes was enough to

set his blood boiling, and his cock had never been so hard.

Struggling to cope with all of the unfamiliar feelings coursing

through him, he launched himself at Matthew, devouring his

mouth in clumsy kisses.

Matthew, bless his gigantic soul, seemed to understand Dean’s

need and cautiously matched it with his own. Dean decided

right then and there that he loved Matthew’s mouth. Loved it.

The smooth skin and shapely lips turned kissing into a carnal

adventure, one Dean was keen to go on. Dean had slipped his

hands into the collar of Matthew’s shirt, desperate to feel

Matthew’s skin. His fingers found a heated smooth wonderland

and he couldn’t stop himself tracing every inch he could reach.

Pulling his mouth up for long enough to say “Do you want me

to take my shirt off,” Matthew smiled when Dean nodded his

head quickly. With a confidence Dean envied, Matthew pulled

off his shirt in one easy moment and then sat there, his back

hard against the back of the couch, waiting to see what Dean

would do.

The first thing Dean realized he needed to do, was to stop

drooling. Literally stop drooling. Because if he had imagined

Matthew’s chest as a work of art, he had seriously

underestimated the type of painting the man would resemble.

He knew Matthew was muscled. Hell, a blind man would know

that Matthew was built as an example of body builder

perfection. But Matthew’s shape wasn’t gym forced. It was a

combination of wolf shifter genetics and years of hard work.

“Oh fuck,” Dean whispered mesmerized as he watched the light

from his windows play over Matthew’s pecs. Cautiously he

reached out with his hand, longing to touch, but almost afraid

to do so. As an artist he understood the need to respect

perfection. But Matthew’s easy smile encouraged him to break

past his own inbuilt barriers and carefully he laid one hand on

Matthew’s chest.

And that’s when Dean knew, in that instant, when flesh met

flesh, that he would never let this man go. Electricity raced up

his arm and sent a shiver down his spine. His blood, already

heated, reached boiling point and for one split second he

thought he might pass out. This desire, this need to crawl into

Matthew’s skin and never come out wasn’t something he was

used to. He didn’t know about desire, or lust – those were the

sorts of feelings other people had. He had seen it often enough

in the mated pairs in the Cloverleah pack, but now was the first

time he was experiencing it for himself. It was an intoxicating

sensation.

Checking that Matthew was still okay, Dean bought up his

other hand to join the first and carefully ran his hands over the

solid muscles of Matthew’s chest. Like most wolf shifters,

Matthew had no body hair, and the way his tanned skin

gleamed in the afternoon sun appealed to Dean both as a

painter and as a man.

“You are truly beautiful,” he breathed as he watched his own

hands on all of those acres of skin.

“You make me feel that way,” Matthew said, the light tone

letting Dean know that the man was pleased with his reaction.

Keeping his touch light and even, Dean traced over muscles he

had learned about in his art books – the top of the trapezius

and the slim stemocleidomastoid muscles of the neck; the

bulging deltoid, bicep brachii and extensor muscles in the arm

and the delightful pectoralis major, serratus anterior and rectus

abdominus muscles in his torso, which rippled under Dean’s

touch. Dean felt lightheaded with pleasure as his fingers

touched every square inch of skin that he could see.

“You’re quietly driving me crazy here,” Matthew said softly, but

Dean could hear the smile in his voice. Without thinking he

dropped his eyes to the significant bulge in Matthew’s jeans.

There was a wet patch over what must be the head of

Matthews cock and Dean took a deep breath at the obvious

sign of Matthew’s arousal.

Expressing a confidence he didn’t feel, with a desire he wanted

to explore, Dean asked quietly, “Do you think, if we went into

the bedroom, you would let me see you naked?”

“Look at me, little one.”

Dean raised his head and saw the intense hunger in Matthew’s

eyes. But the man’s face was kind and he still had a soft smile

on those lovely lips.

“I want nothing more than to be naked with you,” Matthew

said, his voice low and calm. “And I don’t want to do anything

that might upset you. But if we do this, can I ask a small

favor? For me, would you take off your shirt too, so that I can

at least look at you? I promise not to touch you, not unless

you say it’s okay. But please let me see just a bit of you at

least? Would you be comfortable doing that?”

/~/~/~/~/

Matthew held his breath, almost certain that Dean would say

no and if his little mate refused, then he would respect that.

But he believed that if he could get Dean to be comfortable

being at least semi-naked around him, then it would make the

physical side of things between them so much easier over time.

Dean needed to learn that Matthew wasn’t going to be put off

by any scarring he had, and Matthew was almost desperate to

see what Dean had hidden under that baggy t-shirt of his.

Dean had dropped his eyes to where his hands lay stroking

Matthew’s smooth bulging pectoral muscles. “I’m not going to

look anything like you,” he said hesitantly.

Matthew laughed. “I’m glad about that,” he said, pleased that

Dean was at least considering his request seriously. “I’m not

attracted to me, I’m attracted to you. Could you imagine what

it would be like if someone like Damien and I went to bed

together?”

“No I couldn’t,” Dean snapped and Matthew hid his smirk. The

jealousy was a good sign.

“Neither can I,” Matthew said soothed. “Big muscle bound

jocks don’t do anything for me. Cute, slim little Omegas with

pale skin on the other hand, send every cell in my body into

quivering lust.”

“You’re an idiot,” Dean said as he climbed off Matthew’s lap.

For a moment, Matthew thought that Dean was going to run

away, but his little mate surprised him when he said, “Come on

then, let’s do this.”

Okay, that wasn’t the most encouraging tone in his mate’s

voice, but it was a yes, and Matthew wasn’t stupid enough to

give up the opportunity to get closer to and learn more about

Dean’s tight body. Standing up with a fluid grace that was only

slightly hampered by his raging erection, watching as Dean

pulled his shirt over his head, Matthew followed his mate from

the living room, down a short hallway into the master

bedroom.

Stepping into Dean’s personal space, Matthew dismissed the

room with barely a glance. He had already noted the California

King size bed which was useful given his tall frame, and the

two beautifully sensual paintings Dean had on the wall, when

Dean had given him permission to roam the house earlier. But

for now all he wanted to feast his eyes on was the gorgeously

toned back in front of him.

Dean’s shoulders were not huge, like most shifters were, but

they were big enough to give the man some shape. There

wasn’t one ounce of fat on Dean’s slim frame, and Matthew

reminded himself that he had to encourage his mate to eat

more often. But every muscle in Dean’s back and arms were

lightly defined and they rippled with the grace of Dean’s

movements. God, how he wanted to run his tongue down

every little bump in his mate’s spine, to nibble that delicious

spot where the lower back swelled out to meet his ass.

Reining in his errant thoughts, Matthew slipped off his jeans

and climbed onto the bed, laying himself face up, so he could

watch his mate’s reaction to his nakedness. He was not

disappointed. When Dean turned and saw him lying there, like

a buffet ready for the taking, the man visibly swallowed and

heat swamped his face. Too overcome with his own lust to be

nervous Dean hopped onto the bed, sitting at Matthew’s side,

his eyes roving over every inch of the body laid out in front of

him.

“Magnificent. Amazing. Perfection,” Dean breathed as the little

man’s hands seem to move of their own volition wandering

down Matthew’s thigh and dancing around his knee cap. Okay,

not the direction Matthew was hoping for, as Dean continued

his quest down his leg, smoothing muscles, and caressing

around the bones of his ankle. But Dean was touching him at

least, and that was a lot more than Matthew had thought he

would get when he woke up that morning.

As Matthew looked down the bed, he could see his own cock

rampant, hot and leaking like a sieve, jerking against his

abdomen as though begging for attention. There was no way

Dean could be oblivious to it, but the man seemed to be fixated

on his feet at the moment, stroking over his toes and running

his fingers down each tendon. Matthew took in the intense way

Dean caressed him with both his eyes and his fingers and

Matthew struggled to remember the last time he had been the

focus of such avid attention.

With Dean pleasantly occupied in the exploration of his body,

Matthew took the time to let his eyes do some wandering of

their own. As he expected, Dean’s torso showed evidence that

the man had not been eating properly, but his muscle structure

was still clearly evident. Dean’s pale skin gleamed like marble

under the sunlight streaming in through the large windows that

almost took up one full wall of the room. Matthew longed to

touch it, to run his fingers over every inch, but he remembered

his promise. He could not let his mate down if he wanted Dean

to trust him.

Matthew had to look really carefully to find evidence of the

scars his little mate was so worried about. He doubted a

human would even notice them, but Matthew’s keen wolf eyes

picked out deliberately straight lines of silver that crisscrossed

over Dean’s pectoral muscles, and down his arms. It wasn’t

until Dean turned his attention to Matthew’s other leg, that

Matthew noticed a thick jagged pink line that ran almost the

full length from elbow to wrist on one arm.

That wasn’t self-inflicted by a knife. That scar was caused by

someone’s claws. That had been the arm that Dean was

rubbing when he was thinking about his past, and Matthew

guessed Dean’s previous Alpha was responsible. Determined to

ignore it for now, because in Matthew’s eyes it didn’t make

Dean any less beautiful, Matthew decided that Dean needed to

know that.

“Your skin is like polished marble,” he said in a deliberately

deep husky voice. Dean had moved closer to him and was

running his hands up the insides of Matthew’s thighs. Feeling

his cock jump in anticipation Matthew closed his eyes and

continued talking softly, just focusing on Dean’s touch. “I look

at your lovely definition and want to run my tongue over every

dip and groove. I’m looking forward to the time when you will

trust me with your nakedness, so I can worship every inch of