Heat for sale

The massive wooden front doors, shaped like those on a medieval castle, opened, and Adrien’s breath stuttered as Heath stepped outside. He was smoothly shaved, wore a dark suit and sleek tie, polished black shoes, and a serious expression that turned Adrien’s guts inside out and his heart upside down. He tried to breathe but found he couldn’t grab a full breath as he worked to unbuckle his seat belt.

Where was the gruff man from the woods? Where were his beard and his soft T-shirt and blue jeans? Who was this man? Adrien’s fingers froze on the door handle, and he had to talk himself into getting out. This was what he’d agreed to, what he’d wanted up until this very moment. He took a deep breath and let it out. As he climbed from the car, two servants darted forward from the shadows of the house and began to collect his things. Adrien blinked at them, resettled his glasses, and stared up at the house again.

He was supposed to live here? Until the baby came?

All around them the woods sang with birdsong. It was hard to imagine that the sparkling city, with all its people and cars, all its stores and shows, was just a short drive away. Clearwood Castle felt completely isolated. And that, at least, was familiar to Adrien. That felt right. It was the imposing nature of the place, the darkness of the stone, and the smooth presentation of its master that had him undone and unsure.

He wiped his hands against his jeans and wished he’d worn something

other than a rock ’n’ roll T-shirt he’d purchased at a very loud stadium concert last autumn.

Once the servants were back inside, taking all of Adrien’s luggage with them, Heath stepped forward. The intent expression in his gray eyes was so like the one he’d worn when Adrien had arrived at the heat cabin that Adrien’s hands went to the button on his jeans, anticipating that Heat would command him to bend over and show his hole again.

“It’s intimidating, I know,” Heath said finally. The rasp of his voice shivered up and down Adrien’s spine, and he felt his nipples harden in response. Was he trained to react to this man now? Or was it what Lance had said? Pregnancy hormones making him horny?

Adrien tried to concentrate. “This is your home?”

“Ancestral, yes,” Heath said. “My great-great-great-grandfather Clearwood built it when Wellport was simply ‘the port’ and barely a skyscraper blemished the sky.”

Adrien’s hand still lingered on his jeans button. Heath’s gaze strayed down to it, and his mouth, no longer hidden behind a beard, smirked slightly.

“Come inside,” he said, turning on his heel without touching Adrien at all

—no welcoming hug or handshake. No kiss. A stab of disappointment pierced him. What had he expected though? Just like at the heat cabin, he was out of his depth. “I’ve prepared an area for your stay. It’s roomy but cozy at the same time. You’ll be safe there.”

Adrien followed Heath up the great stone stairs and into a massive, shadowy hall adorned with marble statues, oil paintings, and a large, ornate, and somehow terrifying clock made from giant slabs of carved wood and sharp metal pieces. The hands showed it to be midafternoon. He’d spent more time puking on the side of the road than he’d thought.

“This way,” Heath said, his shoulders stiff and his gait rapid. Adrien had to hurry to keep up.

His glasses slipped again and again as anxious perspiration slid down the side of his face. They rushed through wide hallways, bypassing open doors that led to rooms that seemed to serve various functions for the household.

Then, suddenly, they passed through a door that partitioned the front of the house off from the back, and immediately all was different. They’d entered into a concrete tu

every angle.

Adrien looked around in wonder and risked reaching out to touch the concrete, finding it cool to the touch.

“In the winter, the walls are warm,” Heath said without turning, as though he’d somehow sensed Adrien’s curiosity. “There is an oven for this part of the house, and the heat from it follows paths through the concrete, warming them from the inside out.”

“They’re cold now.”

“In the summer, the same paths are co

“Impressive.”

“Thank you.”

Then nothing more was said as Heath led them deeper. Eventually, Heath stopped in front of a door and gestured down the tu

The bedroom was made entirely of glass walls. The brown and green of the woods from the park seemed to encroach, and yet the skylights brought sunlight in from above. It felt like being outside and inside all at once. Adrien stared around in amazement.

“I hope you like it,” Heath said quietly, his voice still doing something to Adrien’s insides that he didn’t understand. “Make yourself comfortable.”

Just outside one of the massive glass walls was a bubbling brook, and next to the brook were swaying trees and a view that fu

“This is…”

“Private,” Heath said. “There is a kitchen and living room down the hall.

You’ll see one servant and me. Otherwise, you’ll be safe and alone here to grow the baby.”

“Alone?” Adrien frowned. “I’m a prisoner?”

Heath tilted his head, concern flashing over his face. “Even after you were confirmed pregnant, did no one explain to you how it will be, Adrien?

How you will be?”

“I…” Adrien trailed off.

“You felt it would be impolite to ask?” Heath’s voice held a note of

teasing, but exasperation too.

“No. Yes. I…don’t know a lot about pregnancy. The conservative religious school my father sent me to when he was still alive preached that heat and pregnancy was for the alpha to understand and the omega to experience. I never rectified that gap when I was in university for reasons I already explained to you.”

Heath snorted softly.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know there were things I should know.” Adrien closed his eyes. He sounded like an idiot. How could he have just assumed that once he was with Heath everything would make sense again? He must seem so foolish.

“No one told you anything at all? Not the university matcher?”

“He probably assumed I already knew. My friend Lance said that I would be…” He cleared his throat. “Horny.”

Heath’s smirk returned. “It’s not like heat. But you’ll desperately want me to take you.”

Adrien’s cock twitched and his asshole spasmed. Truth be told, he wanted Heath to take him now. Take him and make him forget everything about the pregnancy, about this ‘castle,’ and every single question and fear that now grew steadily inside him.

“You’re close to begging already,” Heath said, nodding. “I sense how you want me.”

Adrien raised his gaze to Heath’s face. “No one told me how it would be,” he confessed. “But I trust you to do what’s best for me.” He didn’t know why, couldn’t explain it, but the words tumbled out of him honest and strange.

Heath went very still, and Adrien almost thought he’d said something wrong. Then he ordered, “Then take off your clothes. You’ll be naked for the rest of your stay.”

Adrien blinked. “But—”

“Do as I say.” Heath’s eyes shone with authority. “Now.”

“My glasses, too?”

“You can keep the glasses on while you’re here. Or leave them off.

Whatever makes you most comfortable.”

Adrien’s hands shook, but he didn’t know if it was with fear or lust. He tugged off his T-shirt and unbuttoned his jeans, toed off his te

socks, and got naked quickly. He hesitated, considering his glasses. Without them he wouldn’t see as clearly, but he set them aside for now anyway. When he straightened, his cock bobbed up against his stomach.

An urge to cover his abdomen with his hands, to protect the baby inside, passed over him, but he didn’t. Instead, he stood with shaking limbs as Heath gazed at him and then motioned for him to turn around. “Slowly,” Heath said.

“Let me see you.”

Adrien spun, taking in the blurry bed with white sheets, the entertainment unit with a TV, laptop, and what looked like gaming consoles, and the shelves and shelves of books against the wall. There was another smaller door that seemed to lead to a bathroom. His heart was pounding when he faced Heath again.

“Have you been eating? You look thi

“I’ve been sick, sir. Vomiting. Because of the baby.”

Heath’s hard expression softened, and he stepped closer. The rustle of his suit, and the stark contrast between Adrien’s nakedness and Heath’s layers of clothing, appealed in a sensual way, and he wanted more than anything for Heath to take him into his arms, so he could rub his body all over his alpha’s expensive suit.

“You’ll feel better now that you’re with me,” Heath said firmly.

Adrien didn’t know if that was a fact, something to do with alpha pheromones and their effect on omegas, or simply an unreasonable alpha command from Heath, so he only nodded. Adrien’s hips arched forward as Heath drew near enough to smell—vetiver and whiskey—so warm, earthy, and right. His cock flexed hard and dribbled pre-cum onto the hardwood floor between them. Heath gazed at where it puddled on the ground.

“Get on your knees,” Heath said, his voice gravelly and rough.

Adrien didn’t need to be told twice. His mouth was already watering with the desire to pleasure Heath, to taste his cock and swallow his cum. He shivered as Heath ran his fingers into Adrien’s hair and gazed down at him.

The hardwood floor dug into Adrien’s knees, but he didn’t care. His cock didn’t care either, tensing again, and leaving more goo on the floor.

He felt his asshole leak slick. Not gush, like when he was in heat, but a dribble that left no room for pretending he didn’t want Heath to slide his fat, wide alpha cock up there and make him come on his dick.

“You’re beautiful,” Heath said calmly. “So trusting. So delicious. And

mine.”