the stranger you recognize - sharkie335 (2024)

"Hey, Joe. You're getting here awfully late," Nile said, glancing at the clock.

Joe was preoccupied with jamming his lunch into the staff refrigerator, trying his best not to swear at her. It wasn't her fault. "There was a damn mating on the bus this morning," he grumbled, finally giving up and slamming the door shut.

She co*cked her head in confusion. "And? That's not exactly unusual."

"It is when it's the f*cking bus driver," he swore. He headed to his office, trying not to swear again when he saw Copley hanging around outside his door. The man was nice enough, except that Merrick used him to assign all the crap work.

"It's good of you to come in," Copley said mildly. "Your calendar says that you're free until nine. I need to take a few minutes of your time."

It was all Joe could do to not just turn around. He wouldn't bother grabbing his lunch, or his favorite mug. Just turn around and leave the office, the building, possibly the city and the state. But Copley cleared his throat, and Joe folded, just like he always did. "Sure, great. Can I have five minutes first to get my computer woken up?" He didn't point out that he needed to have his calendar open so that he could excise any free time he had remaining to avoid these types of meetings.

"We can have the conversation while that happens," Copley said firmly, following Joe into his office and closing the door.

Joe flopped down into his chair. At the moment he hardly cared about his appearance or putting up a good show to represent Omegas everywhere. He just wanted to sit down and do his work and no one was willing to let him do that. "Fine. What is it?"

"How is the account coming for the di Genova campaign?" Copley asked, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands together.

"For the bakery chain? It's almost done. It's due in three days, but I could probably have it done by the end of tomorrow."

The look on Copley's face gave Joe a sense of dread, and his next words made the bottom drop out of his stomach. "You're going to be presenting it to his son today at two," he said, and he wasn't unsympathetic, but Joe knew better than to think that he was going to be able to postpone it. Not when Copley was the one sent down to deliver the news.

Not that Joe wasn't going to try. "You're f*cking kidding me," Joe said, having to fight the urge to scream. "It's not done yet. And before you say it, even if I'd gotten here a half hour ago, it still wouldn't be done. It's not due for three days!"

Copley grimaced. "The son is convinced that his father is being ripped off, that he doesn't need an actual advertising campaign. He thinks that Merrick put the idea in his father's head and is trying to steal his money."

"So what I'm hearing is that this presentation is going to be in front of an actual hostile audience, and without me having time to either complete the art or put together the slides. Great. Does Merrick plan to fire me as soon as the son demands his father's money back or do you think he'll wait until I pay this month's rent?"

"You're our best advertising manager, Joe, and the only one who is good enough to do his own artwork for the campaign. You can do this. I have complete faith in you." Copley didn't have to say that Merrick was well known for firing people if clients didn't like an advertising campaign, regardless of reason. Message delivered, Copley stood up. He paused, standing next to the chair. "You really are a better artist than Merrick deserves. I hope you know that," he said, and then he slipped out, closing the door as he went.

Taking a moment to breathe, Joe felt again the weight of his family's expectation that he do something practical with his fine arts degree. Advertising was just barely acceptable, but at least it produced something his parents understood, so it kept them off his back. They didn't need to know about the studio in his apartment or the way that he occasionally submitted pieces to galleries, hoping that one of them would be interested in showing his work. So far, none of them had, though two had said that they would consider it in their fall shows. That was enough to keep his hope alive.

But in the meantime, he had keep his job, and than meant wowing di Genova's son, Joe wanted to spend several minutes beating his head on the desk, but he did not have f*cking time. He finished booting up his computer, bringing up the di Genova files as soon as he could. The thing was, the son was both right and wrong. The cafes were great little spots - Joe had stopped by both of them to try and get a feel for the locations. There was no question that they got a lot of business, probably more than enough to keep them going.

But the senior di Genova was determined to grow the business into some of the financial areas of the city, places that already had coffee shops every fifty feet. It had the potential to fail, but it also had the potential to rake in the money hand over fist, and a good advertising campaign could mean the difference from one to the other.

Making a quick note to himself, he thought he might base the presentation around that, to make up for the fact that the campaign itself wasn't quite fully fleshed out.

Then he bowed his head and got to work.

When Nile knocked on his door at ten, he accepted her offer of a coffee run with a grateful smile, and when she returned with his spiced latte in hand he let himself take five minutes to catch his breath and fill her in on what he was doing.

Because she was Nile, and therefore too good for this world, she offered to take a look at either the campaign or the presentation to see if she could make any suggestions on quick tweaks that he could make to improve it, and he took her up on that as well, emailing her the files before he went back to poking at the presentation. He had the numbers from the research guys, and he needed to insert the projected graph into the page he was working on.

He had just finished a tricky bit of formatting when Nile knocked on his door. "I sent the files back," she said. "I made a few comments on it, but I think you're being too hard on yourself, honestly. I think the campaign is almost perfect, and the presentation is going to knock it out of the park."

"Thanks, Nile," he said. "I owe you, again. After Merrick fires me for losing this client, we'll go out for a drink so I can drown my woes. What do you say?"

She snickered, rolling her eyes. "You'll be fine, Joe," she said, wandering back to her desk.

He opened the email she had sent him, and went about integrating her comments as best he could. At one, he loaded his presentation on the network share drive and made his way to the conference room. Joe had had the system glitch one time too many to trust that it would work right off the bat without a little hand holding. But by ten till, it was ready to go.

Standing at the front of the room, he welcomed in di Genova Senior, as well as his General Manager, Andromache. "Shall we get started?" Joe asked. "I have everything all ready to go for you, sir."

"Where is Nicolò?" di Genova asked Andromache. "He is the one who insisted that this happen today, before he returned home." Then he glanced up. "I'm sorry, Mr. Al-Kaysani. Would you mind waiting a few minutes for my son?"

Joe swallowed down the retort that he wanted to make and glued a smile on his face. "Of course, Mr. di Genova. I'm happy to wait." He had to hope that no one could hear the way that he was grinding his teeth over his time being wasted.

Andromache and Mr. di Genova started having a conversation in something that almost sounded like Italian, but was just different enough that Joe couldn't quite make it out. It did a little to ease his conscience about not immediately volunteering that he spoke Italian.

Something caught his attention, something out in the hallway, and he couldn't help but raise his head, trying to pinpoint it. Joe wasn't even sure what it was that he'd noticed - a smell? a sound? Could have been either or something completely different.

Whatever it was, it was getting closer, and he straightened up to face the door just as the most handsome Alpha he'd ever seen opened the door. "Thank you," the man said to someone in the hall, stepped inside, and at that point, Joe stopped thinking.

He was aware of what was happening, but only in short flashes. The man had pulled Joe in for a hard, deep kiss, one that lasted long enough that Joe lost all of his air and had to push away to pant. "f*ck, f*ck, f*ck," he chanted, matched by the man.. "It's you!"

"Nicolò - " he heard someone say as if from far away, and the man holding him sobbed and bit Joe on the neck even as his hands scrabbled at Joe's belt.

"I'm Yusuf," he sighed as Nicolò's hands pushed his pants, baring his backside. When the air hit, he realized just how wet he was, and he sobbed as Nicolò's fingers teased around his entrance. "Yes, please, yes!"

"You're mine, Yusuf," Nicolò said. "Say it." The hand that wasn't busy with fingering Joe slid to the back of Joe's neck and then up into his hair, pulling it tight in his fist.

"God, yes. Yours!" Desperate for something in his hold, It was Joe's turn to try and get a fly undone, and he practically ripped the front of Nicolò's pants out trying to undo it. Then he had his hand wrapped around Nicky's co*ck, and it was huge. Joe's breath caught as he gave it a slow stroke, pausing over Nicolò's knot to give it a squeeze.

The fingers in his ass disappeared, and then Nicolò was using the grip he had on Joe's hair to make him turn and bend over the desk, showing Nicolò all of Joe's secret places. "This is mine?" Nicolò asked, and something much wider than a finger was teasing along the edge of Joe's hole.

"Yes, yes," Joe chanted. "Saved it for you, all my life. Please, Nicolò!"

And then there was no more waiting as Nicolò started to push inside. It burned as Joe stretched to take him, but there was pleasure in it, and as Nicolò started to move, he cried out, trying to push back.

"The next time I do this, it will be in our bed, and I'm going to mark you," Nicolò growled into his ear as he pounded into Joe's hole. "Mine, forever and ever."

And then he bit, just above where Joe could feel his mating gland already swollen and wanting. With no more than that, he started to come, all over the table. As he shook his way through his org*sm, Nicolò started to get impossibly thick, and then with one last bone rattling thrust, they were locked together.

The room was silent, as Joe tried to put everything together over the last few minutes. "f*ck," a low voice groaned from behind him. "Are you alright, Yusuf?" Nicolò asked.

"Uh, huh," Joe said. That was great, Joe, real articulate there. Try using some actual words. "You can call me Joe," was what came out of his mouth.

"And I'm Nicky," Nicky said. One of his hands smoothed through Joe's hair, and he could only imagine what a mess it looked like.

Then a cloth was pushed into his line of sight, and he looked up to see that Nile was standing there, a smile twitching up the corner of her mouth. "Congratulations, Joe," she said. "Do you think you can do the presentation when Mr. di Genova is finished?"

All Joe could think was that while he'd wanted to be mated - who didn't? - he couldn't have thought of a worse place or time than at work. Merrick had little to no patience with matings, and it was a well known fact that his mate had ultimately rejected him, leaving him at the altar. There was part of his brain that was already anticipating just how angry Merrick was going to be about this happening in an actual presentation. He couldn't say all of that, so he just took the cloth and shifted as much as he could to try and mop up the worst of the mess on the table.

As if that was some sort of cue, Nicky's knot subsided enough that he could slip out of Joe's body. His breath caught at the sensation of loss, and then he glanced back over his shoulder to meet Nicky's eyes, and it was like diving into the Mediterranean. It was warm and welcoming right now, but just like the Mediterranean, there was the potential for it to be overwhelming, even deadly. "God," he said, already twisting to reach for Nicky, only to have his hands caught in a gentle but firm grip. "I already said that the next time will be in my bed, Joe," he said. "And I would like to see your presentation. Do you need a moment to put yourself back together?"

Joe realized he had come slicking the inside of his thighs, dripping out of his hole, and while the sensation was strange, it was not unwanted. At the same time it was going to be a distraction, one he could hardly afford right now, not when he wanted to impress his mate.

He had a mate.

Now if he could keep from disappointing him. He could only imagine that someone like Nicky, whose father owned a business and was clearly well off in his own right if he could make Merrick jump like this, was someone with high standards and expectations for those around him. And of course, he could only imagine how those standards would apply to a mate. Or on the other hand, was he going to be the kind of Alpha who would want Joe to stay home, a pampered Omega whose primary job was to produce an heir and then to be available whenever Nicky was interested.

No, he was definitely getting ahead of himself. He had no reason to believe any of that about Nicky. Just because that described his parent's relationship, as well as his older brother's - this was the U.S. There was every reason to think that Nicky was going to be much more modern in what he wanted and needed from an Omega. But a lot depended on him being able to keep his job, so he needed to get this done.

"I need a minute. If you would excuse me?" he said, hitching up his pants and holding them closed with one hand. "Nile, can you help me to the Omega's bathroom?"

She nodded. Her face was doing something peculiar, moving between excited and worried, but Joe didn't have the time for it right now. The Omega's bathroom, as opposed to the standard single occupant bathrooms, were designed so that newly mated Omegas could have a minute to clean up. The contents of the room were dictated by law, and god forbid that Merrick do one thing in excess of what he was required.

Joe gave the small shower a longing look, but he didn't really have time for that right now. Instead he gave himself a quick sponge bath while Nile ran for his office to grab him the clean shirt and tie he kept in his desk. As he tied his tie, Nile asked him, "Are you okay, Joe?"

Joe wondered how much of his turmoil was showing on his face, and he tried to school it into something more pleasant. "I'm fine, Nile. Pretty pleased that Nicky is my mate - did you see how pretty he is?" He wondered if that was suitably shallow, or if he needed to try and come up with something else.

She snorted. "We both know that's not what's important. He'd better take good care of you."

It warmed Joe from the inside out, this care from someone who had started as a simple coworker and was now so much more. "Thanks, Nile," he said, unable to put into words what he was feeling, and having to trust that his expression and tone of voice would adequately convey it.

In less than ten minutes, Nile declared him presentable, and he took a deep breath. He was a professional. He'd been doing this for ten years. Just because his mate was in the room, it didn't mean that he was going to slack off.

"Okay, let's do this thing," he said.

The best that could be said about the presentation was that he managed to get through it without forgetting what any of his slides were about. The frown on Nicky's face grew deeper and deeper the longer that Joe talked. It made the knot of anxiety that always lived inside Joe when he was doing presentations wind itself tighter and tighter. That knot was worse knowing that he was disappointing his mate, knowing that Merrick was so going to fire his ass for f*cking this up. Finally, the last slide cleared and Joe said, "Any questions?"

"Yes, but not for you, Joe," Nicky said. He turned to his father and started to rattle something off in that almost-Italian at a blinding speed. His father responded, and then there was a full-blown argument going on, one that Joe couldn't understand.

He tried to be patient, he really did, but when the argument passed the five minute mark, he said, "Excuse me? Is there something I can help with?"

The senior di Genova spat one more thing before throwing up his hands in apparent frustration and falling silent. Nicky looked over at Joe. "I'm sure you have done the best you can for my father," he said, clearly picking his words carefully. "But whoever convinced my father that this course of action was necessary was completely out of line. We will be canceling the contract, and your salesman should be grateful that I will not be suing."

"Excuse me? Your father approached us!" Joe said, stung.

"I'm sure he did," Nicky said dismissively. "But he was promised that an ad campaign will guarantee success in this foolish plan to expand. Even with your best work, that cannot and should not have ever been said."

"No one in our company would have done any such thing as guarantee the outcome of an advertising campaign," Joe said. Why the hell would anyone think that some ads would guarantee - oh. Oh, no.

"I assure you that Mr. Merrick certainly did. And he sold my father an advertising campaign more in line with a large chain restaurant, not a small, local coffee shop."

Unfortunately that sounded exactly like something Merrick would have done. He would have seen di Genova senior as an easy target. It wouldn't have been the first time, it wouldn't be the last, and it made Joe livid. There wasn't much he could say to that besides, "I understand."

Nicky stood up. "Now that business is out of the way, do you have a few minutes to discuss... more personal things?"

It was about their mating, he was sure, but right now he wasn't sure that he wanted that. Nicky had just essentially reduced his work down to something that was overpriced and useless, and while Joe had felt the same multiple times over the years, it still wasn't something that he wanted to hear.

But when Nicky went and held the door open for everyone, Joe obediently headed out, letting Nicky follow him to his office. Once inside, he took a deep breath, trying to use Nicky's scent to remind himself that this was a good thing. And Nicky seemed to know that he was upset, and at least he didn't add to it by pretending that everything was alright. Instead, he apologized. "I'm sorry, Joe," he said. "I know that you aren't responsible for Merrick's actions. But I'm sure you understand that I can't just sit idly by and let my father be taken advantage of."

The hell of it was that Joe definitely could understand. It was just - Joe didn't particularly like his job, but he was good at it, and no one liked being told that they were doing something wrong. But there was no point in saying all of that. Instead he just gave Nicky a stiff nod. "Now what?" he asked.

"Now - " Nicky sighed. "I'm supposed to be on a plane to D.C. tomorrow, and return to my work in the afternoon. I can probably delay that a few days while we figure things out - do you have time after work today?"

Joe didn't even bother to glance at the clock. He was entitled to mating leave. He was going to take it. Besides, if he wasn't here, Merrick couldn't summon him to fire him. And he'd be able to tell his parents that he was mated while he was still employed, which would rub it in their faces. God knew that he deserved at least that much. "I can come with you now if you like. The sooner we work this out, the better," he said.

"I agree," Nicky said. He waited patiently by Joe's office door as Joe packed up a few things, and didn't argue as he detoured past the break room to grab his uneaten lunch. When Nicky realized the container was full, he frowned. "Have you eaten today?" he asked.

Joe shrugged. "I skip lunch more often than not," he admitted. "And today was... stressful."

"Ha, yes. That's an understatement if I've ever heard one," Nicky said. "Okay, I was going to suggest going to my hotel room - " Joe was instantly hit with another wave of lust, wanting to be with his mate, but he managed to hold it together as Nicky finished, "But I think we should go to dinner instead. There is an Italian restaurant about two blocks from here. They do pretty good food. Does that sound okay?"

Joe frowned. He knew the restaurant that Nicky was talking about, and they weren't halal. For just a second he thought about going just to keep the peace and finding something vegetarian on the menu. But he knew that Italians put wine in a lot of things as well, and that wouldn't be as easy to avoid.

Figuring he might as well rip that band aid off now, he shook his head. "I can't eat there," he said.

It was Nicky's turn to frown. "Is there a reason why?"

So Joe found himself explaining that he was Muslim and that he kept halal, halfway expecting that Nicky would tell him to suck it up and deal with it. But instead he simply nodded. "You will tell me how to identify the restaurants and foods that are safe for you," he said simply, his voice casually authoritative. "In the meantime, can you pick a restaurant nearby that you can eat at?"

The words were right, polite even. The tone of voice, on the other hand, was a bit annoying, as if Nicky was used to having people say "How high?" when he said "Jump."

And, well, that wasn't going to be Joe. So he turned to face Nicky directly. "You could try being polite," he said. "But if you can't be bothered, I would prefer not to share a meal with you. Let's go to my apartment. It will be more comfortable than an anonymous hotel room." Not to mention that he'd be on his home turf.

The expression on Nicky's face could only be described as surprise. Joe wondered if he was truly not used to being challenged, or if he was surprised that Joe had called him on it. Joe didn't much care. He was bound to Nicky, that was true, but it didn't change the fact that he had a successful career and had been living on his own for a decade. He didn't need an Alpha to come in and tell him what to do.

It was all he could do to not grind his teeth. He was not a child, nor was he helpless. And the sooner that Nicky realized that Joe wasn't just going to roll over and give up, the better. He'd left Europe when his parents had wanted nothing more than to wrap him up in cotton batting, aiming to preserve him for his soulmate, whether or not Joe actually wanted that. Just because all of the Omegas that his parents knew were most ornamental as opposed to doing anything useful didn't mean that Joe was sentenced to that role himself.

Of course, by running to the U.S., he'd apparently put himself right into Nicky's trajectory.

At least Nicky was hot, at least. But that wasn't going to make up for him being cruel or stupid.

Thankfully, Nicky didn't argue with him. He simply said, "Of course. I have a car service - can I call them to take us there?"

So Nicky was a rich Alpha. Joe's mother was going to be thrilled.

"Sure," Joe said. He would have been just as happy taking Nicky on the bus, but if Nicky wanted to flex his money by calling his car, then Joe was going to let him. He did wonder if Nicky was going to try to solve every problem the same way - by throwing cash at it until it went away? In the world that Joe inhabited, that frequently made things worse, but he was sure that little rich Alphas didn't know anything about those worlds.

The phone call to summon the car only took about thirty seconds. "It should be here soon." Nicky said. "Let's - " He stopped and took a breath. "I'm sorry," he continued stiffly. "Could we please go down to the street?"

Joe was surprised, While Nicky didn't sound natural when he forced himself to be polite, he was at least making the attempt. Joe decided that he was more than willing to meet Nicky half way. "Sure," he said. He tightened his grip on his lunch bag and briefcase. "This way."

The stairs were at the end of the hall, and he opted for them. He was still a little sore from the thorough railing that Nicky had given him, and he wanted to stretch out a bit. But before he could open the door to the stairs, the elevator opened, spitting out Mr. Merrick. Joe took one look at his face - bright red and ready to fight - and tried to open the door anyway.

"Al-Kaysani!" Merrick bellowed. "My office. Now!"

Joe did his best to stay calm. "I'm sorry, Mr. Merrick, but as you no doubt heard, Mr. di Genova proved to be my mate. We were just leaving to discuss how we were going to move forward."

"I don't care," Merrick said. "Jesus himself could have come down and announced he was your mate, and I would still want you in my office as of five minutes ago."

Joe was pretty sure that he was grinding his teeth hard enough to crack at least one. He turned to Nicky and said, "I'm sorry, but I need to - "

Nicky nodded. "Go on. I will wait in your office for you?"

"Please," Joe said. He handed Nicky his bags and turned to follow Merrick, who was glaring hard enough to set fire to Joe's tie. The two of them walked down the corridor, and Joe couldn't help but notice the way that people's heads would pop up long enough to see that Merrick already had a victim before ducking away. In their position he would have done the same.

Because Merrick never summoned someone to his office to praise them. God forbid he tell you that you did something right, because if he did he might get asked for a raise. He called people to his office to berate them and frequently to fire them. Joe was sure that he was going to hear about losing the di Genova campaign, even if it wasn't his fault that the older man had been overpromised. That was entirely on Merrick's shoulders. Not that he would ever admit it.

And given that he'd ended up being mated in that conference room, and everyone knew that Merrick was estranged from his own mate because he was an asshole of the first order, Joe figured that it was just a matter of time before he got fired. It might as well happen now.

He'd barely closed Merrick's door when the yelling started. He stood there, tuning it out as Merrick blamed him for losing the account, called him useless and boring, and then, in what Merrick clearly considered the coup de grâce, he said, "You're fired. Security will escort you out of the building." As if he'd given some sort of invisible signal, the door swung open, showing Keane standing there, hand on his hip as if he was trying to find a gun. Thank God that there was no reason for him to have one here. He was just the kind of asshole to brandish one.

Speaking of assholes, Merrick gave Joe a triumphant grin. "Get out of here. Don't bother to ever show your face again, and I'm going to make sure that the advertising world knows just how incompetent you are. You're never going to work again."

As if Nicky was going to allow him to keep working. He swallowed hard, trying to keep his stomach where it belonged. That was a problem for an hour for now. Right now, there were more important issues like his stuff. There was no way that he was going to be able to get his office cleaned out that fast, and he had several things that he didn't want to lose. "Can I have a few minutes to pack?" he asked.

"I'll have Freeman do it for you," Merrick said dismissively. "I want you out of the building," and that seemed to be that.

A little dazed, Joe followed Keane down the hall to his - the - office. Nicky was sitting in the visitor's chair, his phone in his hand. However, he didn't appear to be scrolling or even really looking at it, and as soon as Joe stepped inside his attention snapped up.

Joe had no idea what expression he had on his face but he guessed it wasn't good, because Nicky stood up immediately, hands reaching forward and coming up to cradle his cheeks. "Joe?" he asked.

But Joe didn't want to get into it, not right here and now, so he shook his head. His family would say that he had finally achieved his purpose - after all, what purpose did an unmated Omega have? - but as far as Joe was concerned, he'd failed. He'd been determined to succeed on his own terms, to rise or fall on his own skills, and just because he'd met his soulmate his life had fallen apart. "I'll tell you later," he said, proud that his voice wasn't choked up at all. "Can we go?"

"Yes, yes, of course," Nicky said. "My car is waiting downstairs. Let's go," and he took Joe's hand in his own and led him out to the stairs. Joe found himself a little touched that Nicky remembered that Joe had wanted to take them rather than the elevator before Merrick had found him. It was all that Joe could do to put one foot after another as they descended, and then went out into the afternoon sunlight.

There was no question which car was Nicky's - it was black and shiny and idling right at the curb. Nicky opened the door and let Joe get in, and then slid in next to him. "My driver needs your address?" Nicky prompted when Joe hadn't spoken for a minute.

Wasn't like Joe was going to be able to afford his apartment for long without working, but he might as well take advantage of the comfort of his things while he could. "Oh, sure," he said, leaning forward and passing it along.

It took a lot less time than normal to get home, mostly because he wasn't on a bus that stopped every fifty feet to pick up or drop off people. The car pulled up in front of Joe's building, letting the two of them off, and Nicky followed Joe quietly as they took the elevator up.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Joe leaned into Nicky. While he wasn't crazy about some of the things that had already happened between the two of them, Nicky was his mate. The least he could do was comfort Joe, especially since it was Nicky's fault that he'd been fired.

Nicky barely hesitated before wrapping him up in a warm grip, something that he deserved credit for. "Do you want to talk about it?" he asked.

No, Joe did not. But it wasn't going to change what they were going to do, so he simply said, "I don't have a job anymore."

He wasn't really surprised when Nicky stood there and blinked for a moment. Then he asked, "Because I fired the company?"

Joe knew that was probably simply the trigger for something that Merrick had surely been thinking about anyway. Because now that he was thinking and not just reacting, Joe knew he had been becoming far too popular with his clients, and that was the last thing that Merrick wanted. A popular ad manager was one who might quit and take his clients with him. By keeping him from spending any time in his office, Joe hadn't been able to grab a clone of his email box to poach his clients.

But that was too complicated to explain, and mostly speculation to boot, so Joe just shrugged. "That's the reason he gave, anyway," he said.

"Do you want me to sue them?" Nicky asked. Joe had no idea what his expression was at that thought, but whatever it was, Nicky smiled at him, looking suddenly a lot more boyish and less intimidating. "It wouldn't be a problem. I could get one of the other lawyers in my practice involved." And right there? Those were Joe's nerves coming roaring back at the idea of being married to attorneys. All the ones he'd ever met were total pricks - his mother included.

When he didn't answer right away, Nicky nodded. "Tell you what. Go ahead and go get comfortable, and I'll see what I can make from what you have in your kitchen."

It was Joe's turn to stand there and be confused. "Um, you cook?" he asked.

"My father taught me just as soon as I was tall enough to reach the kitchen counters," Nicky said. "And he taught me to be creative with what is in the kitchen. So, go change out of those clothes - I hate ties, I can't imagine you like them - and I'll figure out something."

None of this matched up with what Nicky had been like even a few moments earlier. He couldn't reconcile "I can sue them" with "I'll make you dinner". But regardless, there was a truth that was going to make cooking very difficult. "I haven't exactly been to the grocery store recently," Joe said. "I can just order in. It would be easier."

"Oh, good, a challenge," Nicky said, "Now, go on." He didn't wait to see if Joe had gone to change, just heading into the kitchen and opening the refrigerator.

Joe stared at him for a moment before he shrugged. He decided that he could afford ten minutes to shower, so he stripped off his clothes in the bedroom, stuffing them down in the hamper before tucking his hair up in a cap. The shower was one thing he was definitely going to miss about this apartment, large and with incredible water pressure, and he let the water pound into his shoulders, loosening the knots that he always carried there. For some reason, they were worse than usual.

He lost track of time, soaking in the heat and the moisture, only coming back to himself when there was a knock at the door. "Dinner will be ready in five," Nicky called out, and that got Joe moving. He soaped up quickly and rinsed off in under three minutes, wishing that he had time to wash his hair, but that would have to wait for later.

Drying off, he went back to the bedroom to pull on sweatpants and a disreputable t-shirt, washed so much it was nearly translucent and with holes at the neck and the armpit. But it was the single most comfortable thing he owned, and he needed that right now.

When Joe would have opened the door to go out to the other room, he found himself pressing his forehead against the door, taking deep breath after breath, trying to get centered.

The knock was so close to where he was leaning against the door that he felt the vibration. "Joe?" Nicky asked. "Are you okay?"

Joe opened the door. "I'm... I'm fine," he said, trying not to sound as choked as he felt. "It's just been a lot, you know?"

"I know, Joe," Nicky said. "Come on. You'll feel better with some food in your stomach, and then we'll figure the rest of it out."

Not knowing what else to do, Joe followed Nicky down the hall to the kitchen, realizing that what he was smelling as he got closer to the kitchen were some of the spices that he'd bought one of the last times he'd been determined to cook more often. "What in the world did you find to make in my kitchen?" he asked, peering around Nicky's shoulders to look.

There was a pan on the stove. "Get down two bowls?" Nicky asked, and when Joe obeyed, Nicky dished up eggs, poached in some sort of tomato based sauce. "This looks - and smells - amazing!" Joe said.

"I hope you enjoy it," Nicky said. "Do you want to go sit on the couch? Might as well be comfortable while we talk."

The last thing that Joe wanted to do was talk. Just the thought made him start to lose his appetite, but when he thought about pushing his bowl away, he let the thought that Nicky had cooked for him warm him back up. So he settled down on the couch before taking a bite.

Spices burst across his tongue - cumin and garlic and peppers - and he moaned quietly in delight. "This is amazing," he said, as he forced himself to eat politely as opposed to rushing it. "What is it?"

"Shakshuka," Nicky said. He took a bite before looking at the bowl critically. "You didn't have any fresh peppers or any paprika, but it's not bad for what I had to work with."

"It's much better than anything I could have made, so thank you." He ate quietly for a few more bites and then said, "So, how do we make this work?"

"Well, since you don't have a job," Nicky said, but it was clear that he was making an effort not to sound snide about it, "How tied are you to the New York area? There are advertising companies in D.C."

Right. He'd mentioned being based in D.C. "Most of my friends are here," Joe said. "But my family is all in Europe. I could relocate, I guess. But... it's not like you're going to let me continue to work, are you?" He stared into his bowl, drawing his spoon through what little remained of the sauce.

"Why wouldn't I?" Nicky asked, and he sounded... f*ck, he sounded actually curious about it.

Joe couldn't help but look up, staring at Nicky, flabbergasted. "Because you're an Alpha, and I'm... not?" he said. "Or is this a thing where I can work until I get pregnant, just to keep me busy?"

Nicky co*cked his head to the side, staring at him. "Because something about me screams that I'm going to keep you in a padded cage?" he asked, weirdly intense. "Joe, I don't mean to do that to you. We don't even need to have kids if you don't want them. I just thought that you must enjoy the work you do, so of course we would find you another firm to go to."

This was all a lot to wrap his head around. And to be honest, Joe wasn't sure what he actually believed. "We're mates," he said cautiously. "The law no longer sees me as my own person."

When Nicky rolled his eyes, Joe flinched away. "That's ridiculous," he said. "You had a career before I came into the picture. Why would a fact of biology take that away?"

Joe couldn't get over the feeling that Nicky was just f*cking with his head. Everyone knew that mated Omegas were less than useless in any sort of job that required actual skill. "You're the attorney," Joe said. "You could probably explain it better than I can."

"Stupid people," Nicky said, voice rough. "But you didn't answer, is that something you want to do? Or is there something else you've always wanted to try to do?" When Nicky took his hand, he couldn't help but jump, startled. "Look, I know no one asked you if you wanted to mate. And I know that society treats married Omegas shamefully. But I don't want to make this onerous on you. If you absolutely don't want to relocate, I can see if there's a way for my firm to open an office up here, thought I'd rather not."

He shook his head, not trusting his voice. This was some sort of cruel joke. He had to believe that, because if he let himself believe that Nicky meant the words he was saying and then he ripped them away, it would be even worse than not believing them in the first place. "I'll go wherever," he said. "But I'd like it if I could stay in contact with Nile and Booker, at least?"

"Nile, the young woman who was helping you at the ad agency?" Nicky asked. It was a nice courtesy, since so many Alphas didn't see past Nile's designation as a Beta to the human being that was there.

Joe nodded. "Yeah. She is - was - my best friend at Merrick's. And Booker is another ex-pat, we met at the bookstore and his name is Le Livre, so..." he shrugged.

"That is... too cute for words," Nicky said. "Another Beta? Or an Omega?"

"Oh." Joe hesitated, unsure if the truth about Booker would cause unbearable jealousy. But he wasn't going to lie, either. "No, Booker is an Alpha," he finally said, staring intently at the floor. His stomach twisted painfully as he waited for Nicky's reaction.

Nicky sucked in a sudden breath, but his voice was still even when he asked, "Is he mated?"

Knowing that what he was getting ready to say would probably make things worse, he still forced himself to answer the question. Better to tell the truth now than to get caught in a lie later. "No. Well, not anymore. His mate... couldn't bear being in the U.S. anymore, divorced him, and took their kids back to France. Booker has his reasons for why he can't go back, so..."

There was a long pause, and then Nicky's hand was on his chin. His grip was gentle, though, not painful. "I would appreciate it if you don't see him until you wear my mark, and that you don't see him alone."

Joe waited, knowing that there must be more to it than this. No Alpha was going to trust their mated Omega with another Alpha. But instead of castigating him, or ordering more restrictions, Nicky used that gentle grip to pull Joe close enough to kiss. It started gentle, not more than a brush of their lips together, but Nicky gradually became more demanding. He nibbled on Joe's lips, sucked on his tongue, even as his other hand stroked up and down Joe's back.

"You are mine," he said, but it wasn't forceful or dramatic, just a simple statement of fact. The sky was blue, the grass was green, and Joe belonged to Nicky. "I will not insist on owning all of your time - you have interests, you have needs, and I want to see you fulfilled and happy. But I will not let you be in a position where you might be hurt by another Alpha. So, you will not be alone with him. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

A bit breathless between the kisses and Nicky's words, it took Joe a second to react to his question, but then he nodded. "Ye-es, yes, I understand. Thank you. Thank you."

"You can thank me by continuing to be honest with me. Now, I think I have the beginnings of a plan. Would you like to hear it?" Nicky punctuated his question with a gentle kiss right below Joe's eye.

Joe nodded. "Yes, please, Nicky," he said. Plans. Plans were good.

"I am going to take you to bed, so that I can enjoy you without an audience. I want to learn all the things that make you squeal and make you squirm and make you scream. I am not going to mark you tonight. Instead, after we make love, we're going to sleep." There was a pause, during which Nicky was making intense eye contact. "Tomorrow, while I arrange for movers and storage, you will pack those things that you will need for the first few weeks you're in D.C. You may invite Nile over if you like, but you may only invite Booker if I'm also available to be in the room. Do you understand?"

He should have been getting upset. Nicky was essentially planning Joe's life for him, not giving him any options. But there was something about the way he was laying all this out that made it easier to accept. Maybe it was the fact that he said he was interested in Joe's pleasure. Maybe it was the fact that he was going to give Joe some say in the packing of his things. Regardless, he was actually enjoying Nicky's casual possessiveness. "Yes, sir," he said, barely able to catch his breath.

"Mmm, I like that. You sound good when you call me sir." Nicky's hand tightened, just a bit. "Though maybe you should save it for when we're in bed. I'd like to hear it when you're begging to be knotted. But at any rate, this is all temporary. Once we get to D.C., I have a few things that are hanging over my head at the office, and then I'll take mating leave so that we can go house hunting. My condo is nice, but it's going to be crowded with the two of us and your things."

Joe's mind was officially blown. NIcky was willing to do that? He'd kind of thought that his furniture was going to go to storage before Nicky sent it to be donated, and he had already been mourning his couch. He decided to continue to be agreeable, since it seemed to be working for Nicky as much as Nicky's kindness was working for Joe. "Yes, yes, to all of that," he said.

Nicky gave him one more kiss and then released him. It took Joe a second to make sure that he was going to be able to stay upright, but when he was certain of his balance, he looked up. Nicky was smiling, just a little tick up on one side. "Go to your bedroom," he said. "Naked and on the bed, on your back. Hands up on the pillow - do not touch yourself." Joe nodded and took off as instructed.

With everything else, Joe hadn't really thought about the physical part of the mating bond. As the Omega, he knew it was his duty to be available to the Alpha, but he'd never really thought about what that meant. If pressed, he probably would have said that he didn't believe that Alphas cared about Omega pleasure, and he certainly hadn't had any real expectation of having that be the point of sexual contact between him and Nicky.

But Nicky had been almost eager to disabuse him of his thoughts, and as he took off his sweats and laid back on the bed, he wondered if there was anything else that Nicky was going to do that was going to feel as good as that first time that he'd been knotted.

He hadn't really had time to think about what he looked like when Nicky strolled in, unbuttoning his shirt. "Well, look at you," he said, voice low and throaty. "So lovely. While I get undressed, I have a few questions for you."

"Go ahead and ask," Joe said, feeling a bit breathless.

"You told me this afternoon that I was the first to f*ck your sweet hole. I want to know what other experience you have," Nicky said. His fingers stilled on his buttons. "Have you had your pretty little co*ck sucked?"

Joe shook his head, keeping his eyes on Nicky. "No, sir," he said. "I've never had sex before at all."

His shirt fully undone, Nicky slipped it off his shoulders and folded it to the side. "Never?" he asked. "A pretty thing like you? I would have thought that you would have had to beat the suitors off with a stick."

Joe's stomach twisted uneasily, memories of his parents trying to arrange meeting after meeting with "appropriate" Alphas, certain that one of them would be Joe's mate. On his graduation day, his mother told him that it was time to give up on meeting his destined mate and allow them to set one up so as not to "waste his breeding years".

But he didn't know how to say all of that, not to Nicky, so he just shook his head. "No one that I wanted to go to bed with," he said. "Nothing beyond a few kisses." And even those given begrudgingly, he didn't say.

"Oh, hmm," Nicky was undoing his belt, stepping out of his pants and his boxer briefs. Joe couldn't help the way that his eyes locked on Nicky's co*ck. It was large, even half-hard as it was, and there was a slight bulge at the root, where his knot would form. "How about when you jerk off? You do jerk off, I assume?"

Why this was the thing that made Joe blush to the roots of his hair, he had no idea. His mouth went even drier as he nodded, and he had trouble forming words. "I do, yes," he finally choked out.

"Good," Nicky said firmly. "I know that there are some Alphas who prefer that all of their Omega's experience come from them, but I am not one of them." He sat down on the side of the bed, one of his hands on Joe's leg possessively. "That said, now that we have found each other, I expect you to keep your hands off unless I explicitly give you permission. Tell me you understand."

"I - I do, Nicky," Joe said. But he was unable to leave well enough alone, so he asked, "What if you have to travel? You know, without me?"

"I don't travel a lot for work," Nicky said, his hand moving up Joe's thigh. "But if I do, and you're unable to come with me, I will expect you to go without. You can do it by will alone, or I can buy a cage and lock this little one up while I'm gone." His hand came to cup Joe's balls, as if he was weighing them on his palm. "Your org*sms belong to me, and while I plan for you to have a lot of them, they will only happen when I'm there. Is that clear?"

Joe had no idea how he was going to get his brain jumpstarted in the morning without jerking off in the shower, but when Nicky tightened his hand just to the point of discomfort he whimpered and agreed. "Yes, sir."

"Good boy," Nicky said, lightly, and Joe had to suck in a breath. He had no idea that being called such a condescending thing would make him feel good, but it did.

Nicky didn't seem to notice his reaction. Instead, he was staring at his hand, still playing with Joe's balls. "Here's the rules for this evening," he said softly. "I am going to explore your body. If something feels good, you can tell me so. If something doesn't feel good, but also doesn't feel bad, I want you to say, 'I'm not sure'. That will be my cue to keep going, perhaps changing things slightly to help you decide. Clear so far?"

Joe's head was spinning with all of this and he wasn't sure that he was going to be able to remember. Still, it sounded good so far. But he had one question. "What if I don't like something?"

Nicky got a little evil smile. "Then you may say, 'No, thank you', unless it actually hurts, and in a bad way. In that case, I want you to say, "Red'. If it's the first, I may stop, or I may continue because it's something I enjoy. The second, I will stop immediately, regardless of how I feel about it, so be very sure that's what you mean." Nicky's gaze had moved up to his face, and Joe wasn't sure what he was looking for. He nodded anyway.

Appearing satisfied, Nicky leaned over and gave Joe a soft, sweet kiss, "I want you to enjoy our mating bed, Joe. I want you to never be afraid to ask for something, or to try something. Within our relationship, there is no 'wrong' way to enjoy each other's bodies." As he spoke, he was shifting so that he ended up propped up over Joe, his large body caging Joe in and making him feel safer than he thought he'd ever felt.

There were far too many thoughts swirling through Joe's head. But they all came to be focused on Nicky's mouth, so close and yet too far away. "Kiss me?" he whispered. "Please, Nicky, kiss - " And before he could finish the sentence, Nicky's mouth came down on his.

This was not a soft or gentle kiss. This was a kiss that demonstrated just how much Joe belonged to Nicky, and Joe surrendered to it happily. He was distracted enough by the way that Nicky was f*cking Joe's mouth with his tongue that the feeling of Nicky's fingers on his nipple were a surprise.

It started with a gentle brush across the tip, causing him to suck in a breath. "Oh," he said. He'd never much played with his nipples, but even that fleeting touch was enough to make him wonder why not. When Nicky brushed over them again, Joe lifted his chest, offering himself up. "That feels good," he said, sighing in pleasure.

"Oh, you like that, do you?" Nicky asked, with a happy little grin. "That's good, because you have beautiful tit*. I can think of all sorts of things to do to them."

"Y-you can?" Joe asked. He was already having trouble thinking and Nicky was just getting started. This didn't bode well for being able to follow Nicky's instructions.

"Mm, yes," Nicky said. He ducked his head, and as he dragged his tongue across Joe's nipple, Joe couldn't help but cry out. "Things like that," he said, lifting his head back up. And then his fingers were back, but instead of just brushing across the tip of Joe's nipple, they squeezed down firmly, and then even harder.

It should have hurt. It did hurt, and saying red was on the tip of Joe's tongue. And then he heard the echo of Nicky saying in a bad way, and this wasn't bad. Weird, strange, but not bad. "I'm not sure," he said, hoping that he got it right.

"Really?" Nicky's voice was low and seductive. "What about if I do this?" and on "this" he twisted Joe's nipple sharply.

Joe's immediate response was to gasp and try to reach for a response. "Red" is what came out of his mouth, and Nicky immediately released his hold on Joe's nipple.

"Too much, too fast?" Nicky asked.

"I - " Joe stalled out for a second. "I don't know?"

Nicky tipped his head to the side, his blue-green eyes studying Joe carefully. "Joe, did you mean to say that that was hurting in a bad way and you wanted me to stop? Or that you just didn't like it?"

Joe twisted his gaze away, unable to meet it any longer. "I don't know," he repeated, but this time it was because the sense of defeat was so deep in his brain he didn't know how to get it out. Nicky had given very specific instructions, and Joe still hadn't managed to get it right.

"Okay," Nicky said. He shifted to the side, and Joe looked up in a panic. "I didn't mean for you to stop everything!" he said hurriedly.

"I'm not," Nicky said. "I just want to hold you for a minute first." He pushed up so that he was half lying down, half sitting against the headboard. "Come here, Joe. Rest your head on my shoulder."

It should have been awkward - he was actually taller than Nicky, and almost as broad. He was sure that if someone had looked in, it would have appeared ridiculous. But at the same time, it felt so good. Joe hadn't really been touched by very many people since he'd gotten out of college, and he'd felt the lack keenly. This - this was almost better than sex, and he found himself confessing as much to Nicky.

Nicky's chest vibrated as he chuckled. "I'm glad if it feels good, Joe," he said. "Now, I want you to stay here, nice and relaxed, and we're going to talk."

Joe frowned, but he didn't move away. "If I have to," he said.

"We're both going to talk," Nicky said, the emphasis making Joe blink a little. "Joe, did you think I gave you those instructions just to trip you up? Or that I was going to be mad if you didn't get them right from the very beginning?"

Since there was no point in denying that he'd messed up, Joe didn't even know why they were having this discussion. Shrugging, he said, "Doesn't matter what you meant. It's what happened."

"You didn't mess up," Nicky said. When Joe scoffed in disbelief, Nicky said, "You may not have gotten it exactly right from the start, but what were you trying to tell me? Did what I was doing feel good?"

He shook his head. "No, but it didn't hurt that badly, either."

"So, you were asking me to stop but not telling me that it needed to happen immediately, right?" Nicky lifted Joe's chin with two fingers, meeting his eyes with such understanding and compassion that it could have made Joe cry, which was ridiculous. Who cried just because their Alpha was nice to them? "Joe, you had the basic concept correct. I am definitely not upset that you made a mistake about the details."

As tears sprang up to Joe's eyes, Joe blinked furiously, trying to chase them away. "Sorry," he whispered. He wasn't even sure what he was apologizing for, just that it was something he had to do.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Nicky's voice was firm. "Now, I think we're going to lie here and face each other, and maybe kiss for a while. Does that sound good?"

"Does that mean - " Joe swallowed hard. He wasn't sure about his next words, but Nicky had said that he wanted Joe to ask for what he wanted. "Does that mean that we're not having sex after all?" He didn't even try to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

The corner of Nicky's mouth ticked up. "I guess that's not what you want?" he asked, and when Joe shook his head, he said, "Well, then. I guess we're still going to have sex. But I'd like to make out for a while first. Is that acceptable?"

"Yes," Joe said, and then he followed Nicky's lead in rearranging so that they were both lying on their sides, facing each other, Nicky's hand cupping his cheek. And when Nicky pulled him in for a kiss, Joe went willingly.

They kissed for a long time, to the point that Joe lost track of how long they'd been like this. He wasn't so far gone that he didn't notice Nicky's hand sliding down his back, and onto his ass. "You have a great ass," Nicky whispered into Joe's ear. "Do you work out?"

"Mmm, yes," Joe answered. "There's a gym for Omegas and Betas around the corner."

"I'll have to look for a place for you to go in D.C.," Nicky said. "Unless you'd like me to build you a home gym so that I can watch you use it."

Before Joe could respond to that, Nicky took his mouth in another deep kiss. Joe wanted to lose himself in it, but he was distracted by Nicky urging Joe to lift his leg up, hooking it over Nicky's hip. He could only imagine how he looked like this, open and available for Nicky to touch and play with any of his most private places. And Nicky wasn't shy about doing just that, his fingers trailing down Joe's crack and then a finger slowly but inexorably sliding in deep. "You are so wet and hot," Nicky said. "You're going to feel so good wrapped around my co*ck again."

"Yes, yes, please!" Joe panted as they continued to kiss. He was loving the sensation of Nicky f*cking him slowly with what felt like two fingers, but Joe had felt his co*ck, his knot, and he wanted it again. "Please, sir, f*ck me," he whined, his hips rocking so that he could try and get Nicky to f*ck him harder and deeper with his fingers. When he pushed forward, the head of his co*ck rubbed against the hollow of Nicky's hip, leaving a little more wetness on each thrust.

When Nicky pulled his fingers out, he sighed happily, assuming that he was going to finally get the co*ck that he wanted so badly, but instead Nicky took a tight grip on his balls and then gave a sharp tug. "On my time," Nicky said firmly. "You don't get to dictate how fast we go."

Joe whimpered but stilled. "Yes, sir," he said, trying to be good. He wanted Nicky to like him, to reward him. He'd heard that it could be like this between mates, but he'd never really believed the hype. Joe had always thought that it was just Alpha propaganda, that Omegas would become so desperate to please, so desperate to be f*cked, especially if it was with someone they had just met.

But all he could think was that if he did what Nicky wanted, that Nicky would f*ck Joe, would knot him. Maybe, if he did really well, Nicky would call him a good boy again, and he nearly came on the spot at the thought.

Nicky pushed Joe over, and before Joe could do more than huff a breath in surprise he started to slide down. And as Joe watched in surprised bafflement, he opened his mouth and sucked the head of Joe's co*ck in.

All Joe could do was lock his muscles as his body screamed for him to move, to thrust. He'd never felt anything like this. Being f*cked by Nicky earlier in the day had felt good, Nicky's fingers inside him had felt good. But both of those things were also, ultimately, about Nicky's pleasure just as much as his own. He couldn't think of anything that Nicky was getting out of him sucking on Joe's co*ck.

He'd heard of blowj*bs, of course he had. He hadn't been living under a rock. But they were something that Betas did between each other, or that Omegas did to Alphas to demonstrate their submission. Maybe an Omega would get one on an anniversary or a birthday.

This wasn't for either of those things, and it didn't seem to be about trying to soften Joe up to agree to something. Joe already knew that he'd at least try anything that Nicky wanted, and he was pretty sure that Nicky knew that. So this was just about giving Joe pleasure.

And what pleasure it was! Nicky's mouth was hot as a furnace, wet, tight around the head of his co*ck. When he added suction, Joe thought that he was ready to die and go to heaven.

Far faster than he liked, he realized that if he didn't stop Nicky he was going to come. "Nicky, Nicky," he said urgently. "You need to stop, I'm going to, going to - " Even though he'd been the one to tell Nicky to stop, he still wanted to cry when his co*ck slid out of Nicky's mouth, and he couldn't help but thrust up into the empty air a handful of times before he was able to rein himself in.

"You taste fantastic," Nicky said. His hair was in disarray, and Joe realized that he had to have been grabbing at it. "I look forward to tasting it when you come in my mouth and I drink it down."

Joe bit into the heel of his hand as he groaned. "Please, Nicky, mercy."

Nicky chuckled. "I'll go easy on you - this time," he said. "I had big plans to tease you some more, but I need to have you. Are you ready?"

"God, yes," Joe said. "I can turn over?"

"I don't think so," Nicky said. "I want to see your face this time." He went up on his knees, grabbing for one of the spare pillows on the bed. "Lift your hips," he instructed, and when Joe complied, he crammed it under his ass. Then Nicky slid his hands down the inside of Joe's legs, urging him to spread as wide as he could, tipping his pelvis up.

Once he was satisfied with Joe's position, one of Nicky's hands dropped to his own co*ck. The wide, broad pressure at his hole made him whimper, pushing up as Nicky pushed in, and then Nicky was filling him up, filling him to overflowing. "Yes, yes," Joe chanted, still trying to lift up, to take Nicky deeper.

But Nicky stopped him with a tight grip on his hip. "Stop," he ordered. "My pace, not yours." And what was Joe going to do? Argue? So he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to keep from going right out of his mind as he waited for Nicky to start to move.

When he did, though, it made it all worthwhile. His co*ck was hard and thick and long, and it filled him perfectly. Each teeth-rattling thrust drove Joe closer to coming, and when Nicky wrapped his hand around Joe's co*ck, stroking it in time, he couldn't make any sound at all, his breath catching in his throat.

"Close?" Nicky asked, and some part of Joe noticed that he was gritting his teeth.

"Uh, huh," Joe managed to force out, just in time for Nicky to tighten his hand.

"So am I," he said. "When I come, you can come."

Joe nodded, locking his gaze on Nicky's face. He needed some sort of distance or he was going to disobey a direct order. While Nicky had been far more generous than Joe had had any right to expect, he didn't want to know what would happen if he just outright disobeyed by coming before Nicky said. So he chewed his lip, counted his breaths, and did his best to keep control of his body.

It could have been five thrusts or fifty when Nicky finally groaned, long and low, and they locked together. "You can come now," Nicky said, stroking his co*ck harder, faster, and it seemed like no time at all before Joe was coming all over his own stomach.

"Gorgeous," Nicky said, finally releasing his co*ck. He leaned down to give Joe a deep and devastating kiss, one that Joe felt right down to his toes. Joe reached up, wrapping his arms around Nicky's back, and held him close.

"How do you feel?" Nicky asked. He was flexing his hips slightly, just enough to tug his knot against Joe's entrance. Joe wasn't even sure he knew he was doing it.

"So good," Joe said. "Sleepy, though."

"Mmm, I'm sure. It's been a busy day." Nicky lowered himself down to kiss Joe again, and this time his knot pulled even harder. There was no way he didn't realize what he was doing.

Joe clutched even harder at Nicky, trying to hold him still. While taking his knot felt better than it had any right to, having it pull like that was really f*cking uncomfortable. "Stop that," he said, scolding without thinking about it.

Nicky laughed. "Sorry, sorry. I'm sure that doesn't feel good, but the sooner I can get loose, the sooner you can go to sleep."

"It's okay. I like being this close," Joe said, and he realized that he meant it.

Nicky's smile was soft as he looked down at Joe. "You are really very sweet," he said. "I hadn't planned to end today mated, but I'm glad if it was going to happen that it happened with you."

Warmth washed through Joe at Nicky's affectionate words, followed by the memory of being fired because he had finally found his mate. He bit his tongue, wanting to stay in that soft, sweet spot, but Nicky must have caught something in his expression. "Joe, what is it?" he asked, and his smile was becoming a frown.

"Can we not talk about it right now?" Joe asked. He couldn't turn away, not with Nicky's knot locked inside of him, but he turned his head so that he didn't have to meet Nicky's gentle gaze.

"I really think we should," Nicky said. "I won't order you to tell me what has you upset, but we both know..." He let his voice trail off.

The hell of it was, Joe wanted to tell him. Now that he had remembered the vicious look on Merrick's face when he fired Joe, he wanted to confide in someone about how it made him feel. But they'd been mates for less than twelve hours. Had it really only been that long? He tried to maneuver his wrist so he could see his watch.

"Joe - " Nicky's voice was low and quiet. He didn't need to be shrill or demanding. They both knew that Joe was ultimately going to comply.

"Please, Nicky. Let me enjoy your knot first?" Joe couldn't help but sound pleading. Every time they'd seemed to be having a good time all afternoon and evening, he'd manage to torpedo it.

Thankfully, Nicky didn't continue to argue. He just caged Joe in with his arms and shoulders, kissing him and kissing him and kissing him, until Joe was lost in the pleasure of his mouth. It was so good, good enough that he hadn't even realized that Nicky's knot was slowly deflating until his co*ck slid out of Joe's hole.

Without a word, Nicky turned them, getting them arranged so that Joe's head was once again pillowed on his shoulder, in such a way that Joe wouldn't have to meet Nicky's eyes if he didn't want to. And so Joe said, "Does it make you happy, that I'm going to be completely dependent on you? I don't have a job, and from the sound of it, I won't have my own apartment after the next day or two. I have savings, but not that much. And they became yours the moment we mated anyway. But it doesn't look like I'll be adding to them any time soon."

"Oh, Joe," Nicky said softly. "You don't have to work if you don't want to. I make more than enough for us both."

Joe couldn't help stiffening at Nicky's words. They didn't sound condescending or pitying, but he couldn't help but take them that way. "I know that I probably don't make as much as you, Alpha," he said tiredly. "But I'm damn good at what I do."

When he would have pulled away, though, Nicky's arm tightened around him. "Wait. Just, wait," Nicky said. "You think I'm looking down on you and your skills?" Nodding stiffly, he braced himself for Nicky's reaction - anything from laughter to pity. He was completely unprepared for Nicky to sigh.

Nicky gripped Joe's chin lightly and used that to turn him so that they were looking at each other. "Joe, from what I saw, you are an incredibly talented artist. Those sketches and graphics were amazing. My opinion of the necessity of the ad campaign had nothing to do with the quality of what you put together, I swear."

Hearing Nicky's praise of his skills seemed to activate some deeply buried part of Joe's brain, bathing him in pleasure and making him melt right into the bed. "Really?" he asked, unable to stop himself from sounding pathetic but not really caring all that much.

"Really," Nicky said. He slid to the side, gathering Joe up in his arms. "Have you ever thought about art as a career? Or we could find you another ad company, if that's the kind of art you want to do."

"Ad campaigns aren't really art, though," Joe said with a frown. "And it's been years since I've been able to pick up a pencil or a brush. I'm probably no good at it anymore."

"Hmm," Nicky said. His face was screwed up in thought, and Joe found himself holding his breath, waiting to hear what sort of idea he might come up with. "You didn't answer my question about whether you enjoyed doing advertising work?"

"It paid well," Joe admitted. "That was the most important factor in picking it. It paid me well enough that I didn't have to be dependent on my family." He slammed his mouth shut. The last thing that Nicky needed to hear about was Joe's money-hungry mother and his apathetic father. Then he'd really regret being mated to Joe.

Nicky co*cked his head to the side, but thankfully didn't ask. Instead, he said, "If you could have done anything, money no object, would you have gone into being an artist instead?"

Joe found himself blinking away tears, thinking about all the fights he'd had with his parents about how art was useless. "It's not very logical," he said. "Most people don't manage to make a living with their art unless they get very, very lucky. Or they paint schlock specifically for a commercial audience, and that's really no different than doing ad work."

"I'm not actually worried about whether it's logical. I would like to see you happy," Nicky said. "And that means finding you something that you enjoy doing. How about this - you take at least a year to work on your art. If you want, I'll put you in touch with some gallery owners once you have some stuff to show them. And if, after a year, you want to go back to the ad business, you can."

The tears that he'd been trying to resist started to drip down his face. "Oh, my God," he said, trying not to sob outright. "You're kidding. Please, tell me if you're kidding, because teasing is really mean."

"Now why would I do that?" Nicky asked. He ducked in for a kiss. "But you don't have to give me an answer now. It's late, and we should sleep. Today was more than a little exhausting, and tomorrow is going to be extremely busy."

"You can't just drop that on me and expect me to sleep," Joe complained, even though now that Nicky had mentioned it, he could feel the exhaustion spreading through his body. "We have to talk about it."

"And we will," Nicky said, only to be interrupted by a yawn. "Come on, come here," he said, rolling off of Joe and tugging and pushing until Joe had his head pillowed on Nicky's arm and the covers pulled up around them. "Relax, sleep. We can talk about it more in the morning."

Joe would have argued, but he was warm and he was comfortable and now that Nicky had pointed it out, he was tired, so maybe he'd rest his eyes, just a moment.

Between one breath and the next, he fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

When Nicky woke the next morning, it was with his normal disorientation at not being in his own bed. And the warmth of another body curled up behind him was also different - he'd never let someone sleep in the -

Memory slammed into him with the force of a sledgehammer, and he found himself flailing, trying to turn over and see if Joe was as pretty as he remembered. The answer was no, he was gorgeous. Unable to resist, he reached out to touch Joe's face, only to have him jerk away suddenly. When his eyes opened, he looked confused and then pleased. "It wasn't a dream," he said, his voice low and rough. "It really did happen?"

"It did," Nicky said. He let his hand slide from Joe's cheek to the back of his neck, pulling him in for a slow, wet kiss. He could feel Joe's co*ck poking him in the hip, his own co*ck hardening as well, and the temptation to lay here and see how many times he could make Joe come was real.

But there were a lot of things he needed to do today, and things Joe needed to do. So he gave one slow, filthy roll of his hips, a groan breaking free from his lips, before he pulled away. "Not now," he forced himself to say. "We need to get you organized to move."

Before he could say anything more, he heard an unfamiliar ring tone. Joe stiffened, sitting up, and then freezing. "Do you need to get that?" Nicky asked, resting his head on his hand as he watched his mate.

Joe was biting his lip, and he nodded. "That's my mother's ring," he said. "Give me a second." The phone stopped ringing while Joe was digging it out of his pants, only to have it restart immediately. He answered the phone in some language that wasn't English - maybe German? Sounded German, anyway. The conversation hadn't gone on for more than a few sentences before Joe glanced his way, took a breath, and shifted to English. "I haven't called you because it just happened yesterday and we haven't had a chance to figure anything out!"

He could just barely hear that there was a response, but none of the words. Joe snorted, hung up the phone, and tossed it down to rest on his pants. "Sorry about that," he said, looking more than a little shame-faced. "My mother never met her true mate, and so she doesn't really understand the complexities involved."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Nicky said. "Is there anything - "

Joe cut him off. "No. Nothing. My mother is - I want to put off having you have to deal with her as long as possible. Can we do that?" His hands were twisting together as he stared down at the blanket still covering Nicky's legs.

There was only one way to respond to that as far as Nicky was concerned. He reached out and laid his hand on top of Joe's, stopping their restless motion. "Families are difficult," he said with a small smile. "I won't force you to deal with her today. And if she calls back, I'll handle her."

"Oh, I didn't mean - You don't have to - " Joe's words said one thing, but the look of relief on his face said something very completely different. And in this, that was what Nicky was going to listen to. "I'm happy to."

They sat there staring at each for another few seconds, only to be interrupted again, this time by Nicky's phone. "Sorry, that's my father," he said, grabbing after his cell. Given the obvious strained relationship that Joe had with his mother, he was a little self-conscious about how well he and his father got along. "Papa, now is not a good time - " he started. Mirroring Joe, he said it in English.

"What, a man can't congratulate his son on finding his true mate?" his father asked. "That is not an everyday occurrence, you know, and I think I was more than restrained in waiting till today to call you."

Nicky rolled his eyes at the fondness in his father's tone. "Yes, Papa, you can. But then I really must get busy. We're just waking up and - "

His father made the same disgusted snort that he'd been making every time Nicky had tried to sleep in since he was fourteen. "You will come to the apartment for dinner," he said, and when Nicky would have argued, he would hear none of it. "I want to meet the man who was destined by God to be your helpmeet, Nicolò. Seven P.M. - you will both be there."

Knowing that he would have more luck arguing with the tides than his father, Nicky sighed. "Yes, Papa. Let me know if I can bring anything."

His father made another noise and hung up the phone, leaving Nicky standing there naked, holding his silent phone to his ear. Slowly, he lowered it and turned to look at Joe. "So, that was my father - " he started.

"Sounds like you're on better terms with your father than I am with my mother," Joe said, his voice neutral. There wasn't much point in arguing - it was true - so Nicky just dropped his phone on top of his clothes and crawled up the length of the bed, until he was perched on Joe's thighs, looking down at the absolute beauty who was his mate.

His mate! He had to keep from laughing in pure joy. "I would love to kiss you all over," Nicky said, giving Joe a significant look, "But I really do have to be back in D.C.. I've asked one of my partners to reschedule the meeting I had today, but I'm not sure when it's going to be moved to. Can you call your friend - Nile - and ask if she's available to come help you at least sort out what you need to take with you right now? We can come back in a week or two and figure everything else out."

"Yes, yes, of course," Joe said. But before Nicky could shift to one side or the other, he said, "I know that being mates doesn't guarantee us happiness. But I wanted to thank you for the chance to try something that I've always wanted to do."

Nicky couldn't do anything but smile at Joe. He got the feeling that there was a lot that Joe wasn't telling him, but the last thing Nicky wanted to do was force the issue. He wanted Joe to learn that he was safe, that Nicky could be trusted. And that wasn't going to happen if Nicky forced him to open up about his secrets before he was ready. So instead, he leaned forward to give Joe a short, sweet kiss, and then he rolled to the side. "I'm going to shower," he said. "Go ahead and call your friend and then come in with me?"

Joe nodded, already reaching down to grab his phone, and Nicky forced himself to walk away, not wanting to eavesdrop on Joe's call with his friend. He managed to find a clean towel in the closet in the bathroom, and set it on the toilet before turning on the water as hot as he could stand it.

The shower here was pretty good, and he was enjoying the pounding pressure when the door opened. "Do you still want me to come in?" Joe asked, peeking around the curtain.

"Yes, of course," Nicky said. He moved further into the spray, turning down the heat a little so as not to scald all of Joe's skin off. "Did you reach your friend?"

Joe laughed. "She was getting ready to call me," he said. "She's got a box of my stuff from my old office and she wanted to know if we wanted breakfast." He looked a little distant. "She wasn't going to take a no about coming by, so it was a good thing that you had already said that should be the plan. She'll be here in about twenty minutes."

Good. Enough time to take a decent shower and still be dressed when she got here. Nicky started to make a mental list of places that he needed to call and things he needed to arrange fo. He could only hope that everything for his current workload could be resolved within the next week to two weeks. Just as he was trying to figure out if it would make more sense to rent a car to get them back home so that Joe could bring everything he wanted right away, he got poked in the ribs.

Grunting, he opened his eyes (when had he closed them?) to realize that Joe was glaring at him. "You're hogging the water," he grumbled.

Nicky noted to himself that it was a good thing that Joe was able to stand up for himself, at least a little, and figured that he couldn't exactly blame the other man for being annoyed. He had been in the way. They were going to have to get used to doing things like showering together, since his current apartment only had the one. But for now, he apologized, sliding past Joe so that he could watch as Joe got under the water, his hair up in a cap.

Feeling a little clumsy and off balance, he asked, "Isn't there enough time to wash your hair?"

Joe shook his head. "It's just going to get dirty during the day while we pack. I'll wash it tonight when I have more time."

That seemed very reasonable to Nicky. The two of them got clean quickly without any more distractions. Out in the bedroom, Nicky was looking at his dirty clothes with a faint air of disgust when Joe said, "Here. These should fit," and handed over a small pile of clothes.

There was a clean pair of boxer briefs on the top, and as weird as it was to put on someone else's underwear, if he put on the offered sweats without them, he was sure he would give everyone a show. So he pulled everything on, noticing as he did so that he could catch the scent of what he assumed was Joe's laundry detergent. He had to will away the erection that started from that, and he knew that for the rest of his life, he was going to get turned on by that smell.

They had just gotten out to the main room, with Joe going to the kitchen to start coffee, when there was a knock at the door. Nicky went to open it, finding the lovely young Beta holding a box, with a bag clenched in one hand. "Let me take that for you," he said, already reaching out as she came in.

The box was surprisingly heavy, and he reminded himself to see if Quynh would let her assistant help him check for a rental just as soon as possible. There was a good chance that there were a lot of things here that Joe would want with him as soon as possible, if not immediately.

He bumped the door shut as the woman came in. "Nile, right?" he asked, giving her the slightly innocent smile that usually got women to melt.

She just stared at him, impassive. "You may be Joe's mate," she said. "But if I find out you're mistreating him, I'm going to find you and kick your ass. And before you think I can't, I was a Marine, Mr. di Genova. Are we clear?"

"Nile," Joe said from behind her. He sounded a bit strangled, and Nicky's first instinct was to look at him, to make sure he was okay. But he didn't dare look away from Nile.

"If I mistreat anyone, but especially him, I'll deserve it," he said seriously. "I'm an Alpha, but I try very hard not to be an asshole, Nile."

She snorted in response to that and turned to look at her friend. "Joe, you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, and now that Nicky was free to look at him, he couldn't help but note the way that his cheeks had gone faintly pink, the way that his scent had sharpened, and he filed these things away as ways to tell when Joe was embarrassed. "You didn't have to - "

"I know I didn't have to. That's why I did. Besides, Booker figured he wasn't going to be allowed to issue threats of his own, so I promised to do it for both of us."

Nicky couldn't help but growl a little at the idea of being lectured by another Alpha on how to treat his Omega, especially one who couldn't keep his own mate happy. But he worked on keeping his jaw clenched - these people were Joe's friends and he was going to respect that, even if it killed him.

"So, what's the plan?" Nile asked. She handed Joe an everything bagel with cream cheese, and then handed over a plain one to Nicky. He knew better than to object that his breakfast was boring - she hadn't had to bring him anything. He wasn't her friend, not yet, anyway. So he quietly ate his bagel as Joe explained that he was going to be moving to D.C.

It was only when he looked to Nicky for information that Nicky spoke up, saying that he was going to try and rent the biggest SUV his assistant could find for him, and for today they needed to pack those things that either would need or want in New York for the next few weeks. Then he excused himself, going to do what he did best.

"Hello, Nicky," Quynh answered the phone. "I got your message, and notified your clients that you'd met your mate and needed to delay their mediation for another twenty-four hours. They agreed, but requested not more than that." All traces of formality dropped away. "Is that possible, Nicky? I can see if they'll accept Andromache or me sitting in for you if you want."

"No, I'll be home tonight, but only if you can get Jess on the phone to make some arrangements for me. I know I'd said that I was going to look for a new assistant when I got back to D.C., but I'm really regretting waiting now."

She chuckled, low and rich. "Give me the list, and I'm sure that Jess will be happy to help. She'll be thrilled to be part of helping you make your mate happy. What have you got?"

So Nicky ran down the list - boxes and packing supplies first, to be delivered as soon as possible. A rental - a Suburban or equivalent if Jess could get one for them. Notifying the doorman on his building that they were going to need access to the loading dock for a little while so as to unload the rental car, as well as reserving one of the visitor spaces so there was somewhere to put the rental until he could return it. Quotes for responsible movers who could be trusted to pack up all of the rest of Joe's things and put them in storage until they were able to find a better place to live.

When he finally ran out of words, Quynh laughed again. "You just gave my note-taking abilities a workout. I'll get Jess on this stuff, don't worry. I'm going to have her use my card - you and I can work it out later."

He sagged against the counter, some of the stress finally leaving him. If Quynh said it was going to be handled, then it was definitely going to be handled, and he could let it go. "Thanks, Quynh - you and Jess are lifesavers."

"I'll remember you said that the next time one of my asshole clients calls in," she said cheerfully. "Can't wait to meet your new mate. Now, let me go," and without another word she hung up the phone.

He finished his bagel and coffee, and then went looking for Joe, hoping to help. Maybe if he let Joe put him to work, he would relax a bit. An image of Joe's face when he came flashed across his thoughts and he forced it away. He wanted Joe to relax out of bed as well.

Joe and Nile were in the bedroom, two large suitcases on the bed, filling them with the contents of his closet and dresser. "Will I need all these dress shirts?" Joe asked, opening the door to the closet wider so that Nicky could see what appeared to be an endless row of pastel colored button downs.

"Maybe a handful for now, and one or two pairs of dress pants and ties," Nicky said after a moment of thought. "You might not need them for work, but we might go to a nice restaurant when I introduce you to my partners."

"You're not going to let Joe work?" Nile said. Her face was screwed up like she smelled something bad. "That's pretty damn condescending. What, going to keep him locked up until he gives you babies?" The way she drew out the last word made it clear exactly what she thought of that.

He pushed down his irritation again. "No, he's going to take a year off to make good art, see if he can break into that world. I can afford to support him while he tries," he said patiently. "But I assumed he didn't want to get paint all over those shirts." Turning to Joe he said, "If I'm mistaken, feel free to bring those as cover ups for while you're painting."

Turning on his heel, he left the room, not wanting to yell at Nile. She's his friend. I'm moving him away. She's upset. The words spun through his head, not that they were doing much good. He was used to pacifying upset clients, but when it was directed at him personally he wasn't good at handling it.

A heavy footfall caused him to jerk his head up, but he was surprised to see Nile instead of Joe. "I'm really not the bad guy here, Nile," he said. He tried to will her to understand that he was limited as well. "But I have a legal practice that I can't just walk away from. So that means I have to go back to D.C.. Joe no longer has a job because of Merrick, so instead of making him crazy trying to job hunt when I can afford for him not to work, I thought he might get to try to do something that he's wanted for a long time."

"He said." Her voice was low and steady. "Do you understand that he and I are best friends? And you're moving him away, and I only have your word to him that you aren't going to keep him tied up in an attic somewhere." She smiled wryly at him, clearly aware that her words were total hyperbole. No one did that to Omegas anymore. They didn't have quite the same rights as Alphas or even Betas, but everyone knew that they'd made great strides -

"It's exactly what his parents wanted for him, you see." Maybe he'd been wrong about no one thinking that anymore. She continued like there hadn't been any sort of break for him to think, like she wasn't shaking up his worldview. "His father was an Omega, and he was only worthwhile when he was pregnant. Joe's mother has been after him for almost fifteen years to give up on the world and let her marry him off to an Alpha that was going to keep him pregnant all the time."

"I'm not going to do that to him," Nicky said, fighting the urge to raise his voice. And losing. Badly. At this rate he was going to be pleased if he could keep from outright yelling. "Joe is not someone who needs to be taken care of like a child, and I wouldn't be interested if he did need that. If he decides that staying home isn't working out, I'm not going to lock the door and throw away the key. I promise."

The look on her face spoke eloquently about how little she believed him about that. But she gave him a curt nod. "I need to go help him finish packing his room. Do you have packing supplies coming?"

Just then there was a knock on the door. "Let me just grab that," Nicky said, fairly certain who was on the other side. He opened it up, to find a young delivery driver so weighed down with moving boxes that he could barely move. Nile was right there, helping Nicky bring them in. Before Nicky could ask, the kid produced a backpack crammed full of packing paper and tape, and Nicky slipped him a tip and sent him on his way.

"Let's do this," Nicky said.

"Oorah," Nile said, and he couldn't tell if she was joking or serious.

It didn't take long for them to get into a good rhythm. Nicky would put a box together while Joe pulled out stuff he wanted to take and piled it on the bed with Nile's help. Then the three of them would pack until that box was full, taping it up and setting it aside.

As they moved out to the living room, Nicky caught the looks that Joe was giving his bedroom. "I promise it's just going to storage," he said, trying to be reassuring. "As soon as we find a bigger place that we both like, I'll have it brought out."

Joe's nod was sharp, and he didn't voice the clear doubt that he was having about Nicky's word. Nicky thought that was probably the best he was going to get, so he just kept his resigned sighs inside, and continued to smile at Joe.

Jess called to tell him that she'd arranged for someone from UHaul to come get him. She informed him that she thought that was more logical than an SUV that might not be big enough. She'd also arranged for his hotel to pack up his stuff and send it to UHaul, as well as checking him out, and he realized that he was going to have to fight the urge to try and poach her. He was going to need a lot of goodwill from Quynh as he got used to mated life, and attempting to steal her beloved assistant would likely result in him being castrated, if not worse.

"How much more stuff do you think you'll need?" he asked Joe, trying very hard to be patient and understanding. It was clear that Joe had a lot of well cared for stuff, and that he didn't want to leave any of it behind. Still, even a UHaul van only had a finite amount of space, as did his apartment.

Looking up from the box that he was currently taping shut, Joe looked a little confused. "What?" he asked.

"Do you have a lot left to pack?" Nicky repeated patiently.

He could feel the anxiety rising in Joe as he took in the apartment, the open spaces on the shelves as well as the stuff still there. It was surprising that instead of bargaining for more time or boxes or space, Joe took a deep breath. "I've got everything I need," he said. "As long as I'll get the rest of my stuff sooner or later."

"As soon as I can make it happen, Joe, I swear," Nicky said again. He was going to repeat as often as Joe needed to hear it, and without complaint. He was the one with the perceived power in this relationship, and he needed to remember that. He would have to make a point of not using that power - he wanted Joe to trust him, not just obey him because of biology and society.

"Then I guess we're... done?" Joe sounded so uncertain that it made Nicky's heart ache for him. Matings were supposed to be joyful, the way the one for his parents had been. But from the sound of it, he was going to have his work cut out for him to convince Joe of that.

Well, they had nothing but time, he supposed.

Nile asked, "Joe, did you pack your toiletries?"

The look on Joe's face told him that this wasn't the first time in their relationship that Nile had reminded him of something. "Not yet, and I'm going to want them tonight," he said. He looked between the two of them before turning his attention entirely on Nile. "There isn't room for both of us in there, but you're not going to leave while I'm doing this, are you?"

He was twisting his hands together, his eyes huge, and she shook her head. "I wouldn't do that to you," she said.

As Joe went off to get the last of his stuff together, he twisted to look over his shoulder at her. Nicky was distracted watching Joe, since there was still a little voice at the back of his mind running around going He's your mate! You have a mate! He's your mate! and it was drowning everything else out, so he thought he could be forgiven that he didn't quite hear what Nile said.

He caught just enough to know she'd been speaking, and he looked over. She wasn't looking at him, a stiff smile on her face as she stared at the door to the bathroom. "Remember what I said, di Genova. I hear one word about you treating Joe as a thing, and I will make you regret it."

Biting down on his tongue so hard that he could swear he tasted blood, he managed not to say something harsh to her. Instead he took a deep breath before sighing in exasperation. "Look, I get it. You think I'm going to lock him up and throw away the key. How about I invite you now to come stay with us for a few days? Just let me get him settled in first, and then I will have a f*cking open door policy for you." He then walked away, planning to make himself a cup of coffee before he said something else that he'd regret.

Before Joe made it back out to the living room, there was another knock on the apartment door, and when Nicky went to check it, there was a young man with a shirt embroidered with the UHaul logo. "Mr. di Genova?" he asked, and when Nicky nodded, he said, "If you'll come with me, we can go do the paperwork so you can take the van."

"Of course. Let me just go grab my wallet," Nicky said. It only took him thirty seconds, and then he followed the man out to the large white panel van idling at the curb.

Jess had already done most of the paperwork, so after they'd made a copy of Nicky's license and he'd signed a small mountain of forms, he was handed the keys. But when he went to call Joe on the way back to let him know that he was going to be there soon, he realized that he not only didn't have Joe's phone number, he didn't have his own phone. "Well, that was a special kind of dumb," he said out loud, grateful that there wasn't anyone else in the car with him.

He managed to find a short term parking spot around the corner. Joe's building was secured, and he was scouring his brain trying to remember the apartment number when the door opened, letting a woman out, walking her tiny dog. She looked at him curiously, and Nicky couldn't blame her. He hardly looked put together or professional at the moment.

But that got him into the building, and he was sure that Joe's apartment was on the eighth floor - or was it the ninth? His seeming inability to remember a damn thing, when normally he forgot nothing, didn't exactly say that he was going to be able to keep a clear head around his new mate.

It was the eighth floor - Nicky remembered the hideous carpeting - and within a few moments, he was standing in front of the door that he was almost certain was Joe's. He'd barely knocked once when the door was yanked open, Nile standing on the other side. "Forget something?" she asked, her voice full of annoyance. She shoved his phone in his hand. "It hasn't stopped ringing for the last ten minutes."

True to her word, it immediately started ringing again, and when he looked at the screen, it was Andromache. "sh*t," he said eloquently. "I'd hoped to have a day or two before I had this conversation." Putting it off wasn't going to make it any better, so he thumbed the phone on as he entered Joe's apartment, letting the door swing shut. "Andy!" he said, forcing as much cheer into his voice as he could. "What can I do for you, my oldest and wisest friend?"

"You can cut the crap," Andy said into the phone. "Quynh told me that our little Nicky has gone and mated." She paused as he tried to figure out what she was calling about. "And from the fact that you didn't immediately interrupt me to tell me that she was mistaken tells me everything I need to know."

"What can I say?" Nicky said. "But as you can guess, we're really busy, getting his stuff ready so we can drive back to D.C. after dinner with my father, so is there something you need from me?"

"I'll start working on a prenup," she said.

He rolled his eyes, safe in the knowledge that even if she guessed that he'd done so, there was currently more than two hundred miles between them. Not that was going to be a long term solution. "I don't need one," he said.

"What did we do to pay the bills when we started this practice?" she asked impatiently.

With a sigh, he said, "Wrote up divorces for rich people," he said, back up against the wall both literally and metaphorically.

"Right, and at least half of those were between fated mates. You know as well as I do that fate is a fickle, fickle bitch who doesn't know sh*t. You will sign the damn agreement, and you will get Joe to do so. Or you can just wait until he's alone with me, and then I'll get him to sign."

The last thing that he was going to do was let Joe be alone with Andy in a room. She'd chew him up like a rawhide bone. "Fine, fine. You can make sure that the practice is protected." He was willing to go that far.

"You have assets too, you idiot," she said. From her, that was an outright statement of affection, and he took it as such.

"Andy, you haven't met him," he said instead of trying to argue from a logical point of view. She'd just rightly point out that this wasn't logical at all. "He's so sweet and tries so hard. And his art - I only saw what he'd done for my father's shops and - "

"That's where you met him? He's an ad executive?" Her voice was full of consternation, not that Nicky could really blame her. They had dealt with a few terrible executives over the years. "Jesus, no wonder you've already got your head turned around. They're all manipulative sons of bitches."

"Andy - " he said again, this time putting as much warning as he could into his voice. He was willing to hear her out, but he wasn't going to just let his mate be insulted. Even if he knew that Andy meant well.

She sighed at the other end of the phone. "I want you to note right now that if he f*cks you over, I warned you. You got that?" As soon as he agreed, she said, "I'm writing up the contract that states he owns no share of the partnership. You will get him to sign it." She didn't even wait for his answer before hanging up the call.

Great. Everything was going just great.

There was a soft cough, and he looked up. Both Joe and Nile were standing a few feet away. Nile looked puzzled, which he put out of his head because Joe looked absolutely gutted. "Who was that?" Joe asked.

There was no point in lying about this, because as hard as he tried he wouldn't be able to keep Andy and Joe away from each other forever. "That was one of my best friends. She and her wife are the other partners in our firm."

"And she already doesn't like me, huh?" Joe said. He bit his lip, looking a bit lost, and Nicky silently cursed Andy to get pebbles in her socks the next time she went hiking. He was sure that under normal circ*mstances, Joe would probably have taken the news that there was someone who didn't like him with a certain amount of relaxed resignation But with all the emotional upheaval of the last twenty-four hours, it was no mystery why Joe was so unable to deal with one more thing going wrong.

"It'll be fine, Joe. She's just very protective of me." He very deliberately did not look at Nile. There was no point in making the obvious comparison.

Joe frowned but then shook his head as if trying to clear his thoughts. "I guess you have the van?" he asked, making a clear effort to change the subject.

"It's more like a small tank," Nicky said, seizing on the change of subject hard and refusing to let go. "But yes, I do. We just need to get everything downstairs and loaded up."

Joe looked at the small mountain of boxes and suitcases, and then back at Nicky. "I have a suggestion for getting all of that out of here, but you're not going to like it much."

Before Nicky could say anything, Nile asked, "You want to call Booker?"

Joe didn't look away from Nicky's face as he nodded, so Nicky fought to control his expression. He definitely recognized the name - that was Joe's divorced Alpha friend, and he hated the idea of spending any time in the man's company, especially so close to their mating and before Joe was marked. But on the other hand - he looked back at the mountain of boxes.

"It would go faster with more help," he agreed. "If you want to call him, you can. Just make sure that you aren't alone with him, alright?"

Joe nodded, already pulling his phone out. In the meantime, Nile came over. Her voice was quiet when she said, "Thank you for defending him from your friend."

She was making an effort. The least he could do was make one back. "I haven't had a chance to get to know him well," he said. "But I look forward to learning everything about him. I can only think that he's a great person, if he inspires this much loyalty from his friends."

"He really is wonderful," she said. "And he'll tell you that he was happy to be single, but he's a romantic at heart. One of the reasons he refused to marry even though his mother was demanding it was that he wanted to meet his true mate." She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry," she said, the words sounding like they were being dragged out of her.

Since they were literally getting ready to load Joe's stuff up so that Nicky could take him away, the least he could do was be gracious. "I don't blame you, and my invitation stands," he said. "My condo has two guest rooms. You are welcome to one of them whenever you'd like to come stay with us."

"I might just take you up on that offer," she said.

Before she could say anything else, Joe came back. "Booker said he could be here in about twenty minutes - he was getting ready to send for an Uber when we hung up." Joe looked over at Nicky, eyes wide and miles deep. "Thank you. I really didn't want to leave without at least getting to see him for at least few minutes."

Nicky nodded stiffly. "Just remember, don't be alone with him."

"I won't be," Joe said without hesitation.

They decided to wait until Booker got there to start hauling everything down. Nicky found himself grateful that at least this building had an elevator. There were a lot of New York buildings that didn't, or where they didn't work.

Booker wasn't anything like Nicky had pictured in his head. He'd thought with a name like Booker that he was probably a weedy little guy, even if he was an Alpha. But no - he was taller than Nicky, and broader in the shoulders. When he shook Nicky's hand, his grip was firm and dry, though he didn't try to turn it into a competition.

"Nice to meet you," he said. "I'm glad to see that Joe finally met the Alpha he was supposed to be with." There was nothing but sincerity and good humor in Booker's eyes, and when he looked over at Joe, they softened in a way that Nicky could only read as familial. It was clear that Booker was no threat.

Nicky went to get the van, while the other three got everything out of the apartment and next to the elevator. By the time he got back with it, they'd managed to send a load and were in the process of unloading the boxes into the lobby. "Is this everything?" Nicky asked, surprised. He didn't think he'd been gone that long.

"Not quite - one more trip," Nile said. "And I need to empty Joe's refrigerator or the next tenant is going to have to deal with his science experiments."

As they worked to load the first stack of boxes into the van, Nicky kept his mouth shut and listened as the three friends talked to each other. He thought he'd have to fight his instincts to keep from interfering with Booker as he talked to Joe, but he had to admit that the other Alpha was being every bit as respectful as Nicky could have asked.

"Before I forget, Joe, I wanted to tell you that Jean-Pierre called me last night," Booker said. Joe's interest in the statement was obvious, but before Nicky could worry about it too much, he realized that Booker was talking about his son, who was angry at Booker for not accompanying his mother back to France.

"f*ck, Book," Joe said sympathetically. "He's only twelve. You can't blame him for being angry, but you also can't tell him the truth - "

Cutting Nicky a glance, Booker shifted to French. Unfortunately, Nicky couldn't speak it, especially at the speed that Booker raced through his words.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked, inserting himself politely but firmly back into the conversation.

"Book?" Joe asked, raising one eyebrow at him.

Booker sighed and nodded. "Go ahead and tell him," he said, before he turned away to go to the elevator. "I'm going to start moving the rest of your stuff out."

"I'll go with you," Nile said, shooting an indecipherable look at the two of them.

Nicky loaded the box in his hands and then leaned back, stretching his back. "Tell me what?" he asked.

"Booker's ex-wife has told their sons that Booker chose not to go back to France and is refusing to pay child support. The first is... complicated. Booker has a criminal record in France for forgery, and while he served his time before he even met his ex, finding work in France was almost impossible. She went back knowing that he wouldn't really be able to follow. And I know for a fact that he's been paying her child support because I helped him set up the direct deposit when Booker changed banks last time."

Well, that was some bullsh*t, and Nicky didn't hesitate to say as much to Joe. "Has he seen his sons since they went back?"

Joe shook his head. "She refuses to let them leave the country, and he can't afford to fly there, mostly because he's paying more than the court ordered for their support."

"Did she have his permission to take them to France in the first place?" he asked. "Parental alienation is a real thing that he could sue her for, and a good attorney could use it to at least make her bring them for visits, if not move them back to the U.S. permanently. That assumes that her employment prospects in this country are equitable with France, though."

Joe's laugh was low and rough. "That's the other reason I know that Booker is paying his child support. She's not working, and using his money to cover her living expenses."

"Well, hell. Has he consulted an attorney? He really does have a case," Nicky said.

But Joe shook his head no. "He barely has enough after paying her to cover his own living expenses," he said. "Certainly not enough to pay an attorney with experience in international child custody law."

That gave Nicky a thought. He started to voice it immediately, and then changed his mind. He needed to talk to Quynh first. "That really is a tragedy," Nicky said instead. "I haven't exactly spent a lot of time around him, but he certainly seems respectful enough."

"Thanks, Nicky," Joe said. He leaned in and gave Nicky a one-armed hug, making Nicky flush with pleasure. It felt almost as good as sex, much better than any simple hug had the right to feel.

"You're welcome, Joe," Nicky said. "Now, let's go help them finish, right? We need to be at my dad's in a little less than two hours and I'm going to want to at least rinse off and change into some of the clothes in my suitcase."

The rest of the packing was certainly straightforward, and when they had finished with everything but Nicky's suitcase, Joe's toiletries, a change of clothes for him, and towels for both of them, Nile gave Joe a hard hug goodbye. She went to the door, and Joe and Booker just stared at each other for a moment. Nicky realized that they usually hugged, probably, but Nicky's requirements had brought a change to their behavior.

So, feeling decidedly more settled about Joe's relationship with the other man, Nicky nudged Joe in the shoulder. 'Go ahead and hug him. But not goodbye - if nothing else, we'll have to come up frequently to see my father, and we will always make time for your friends."

Joe whipped around at his words, but when Nicky nodded, he didn't wait another second, leaning in and giving Booker a hard hug. "Take care of yourself, my brother," Joe said, softly enough that Nicky wondered if he thought he couldn't be heard.

"And you, as well," Booker said. And then they were gone, and it was time to run for the shower. While Nicky wanted to shower again with Joe, he knew that at least part of that impulse was a desire to claim Joe after his hug, but knowing that it had been completely innocent, and with Nicky's permission, he tamped down hard on that.

His shower felt amazing, and he'd not realized just how sweaty he'd gotten over the last few hours. Nicky had barely dried off when Joe ducked into the shower. "Sorry," Joe called over the sound of the water. "I have got to wash my hair, and that's a little more involved than yours."

Nicky thought to himself that he was looking forward to Joe teaching him how it was different and how to help him, and then he shoved down the desire to do that right now, instead grabbing his stuff and leaving the bathroom to get dressed.

Even with the last minute delay caused by Joe realizing what time it was and needing to pray, they were ready to pull away much sooner than Nicky would have predicted, but later than he would have preferred. They were going to cut it close getting to his father's house for dinner.

"Tell me about your father?" Joe said as Nicky threaded his way through the city streets.

"My family came here from Italy when I was twelve," Nicky said, watching the crazed delivery drivers who were weaving around the cars that made up the evening traffic. "Both of my parents were Betas, so things were really different for them compared to us, but they were so in love. It was easy to see, looking back, but I was a kid, so what did I know?"

"He worked all sorts of jobs when they got here - my mother was in graduate school, but they didn't have much money. She eventually got a job at Sloan Kettering, but my father - well, he never went to college, put all of his effort into seeing my mother succeed."

The light changed and they started moving again, if slowly. "My mother died when I was in my twenties, and my father... well, he didn't quite know what to do with himself. I was out and on my own, and my father's entire world had disappeared when she died." Nicky's throat felt thick and tight, and he cleared it several times, trying to keep going.

Joe's hand on his thigh was surprising, though not unwelcome. He patted it, taking a deep breath. "So, not knowing what else to do with himself, he took a job in the neighborhood coffee shop, and it turned out that he loved it. More than that, he was good at it. So when the previous owner was ready to retire, she sold it to him."

"I've been to both shops. They're delightful," Joe said. "I have to confess, I wasn't quite sure why he was interested in an expensive advertising campaign. Both shops were swamped when I was there, and it certainly didn't appear that he was suffering from a lack of business." Joe's laugh was a little bitter. "But you didn't argue with Merrick, and so when he gave me my marching orders and the details of the contract, I did the best I could to fulfill them."

Nicky glanced at Joe out of the corner of his eye. Somehow he was completely unsurprised to see that Joe was sitting stiffly, facing forward, chewing on his lip. Turning his hand over, he took Joe's in a firm grip. "I'd get it if you blamed me for you losing your job, you know," Nicky said after a second of thought. "Not only did I come in and upend your life with an unasked for mating, I rejected an expensive contract. Merrick was angry, I'm sure."

"Probably more about the mating than the contract," Joe said with a little laugh. Nicky listened, incredulous, as Joe laid out a man who had established a completely toxic environment to anyone who became part of a mated pairing. He was not shocked in the least to find out that Merrick's Omega had dumped him, claiming emotional abuse, and positively raked the man over the coals in the court of public opinion.

"You know that's illegal, right?" Nicky said. "Mating status is a protected class. You are describing the very definition of a hostile work environment."

Joe shrugged. "I know, but really, you live in D.C., and so I would have had to quit anyway. I'm sure you wouldn't want your mate two hundred miles away." His words were saying one thing but his voice was saying something completely different, and Nicky made a mental note to raise the issue again at a later date.

Before they could really talk about anything else, they were turning down the street that the first coffee shop was on. "Does your dad live nearby?" Joe asked, looking around.

"You could say that. He's got an apartment above the shop," Nicky said. The alley in the back was a tight fit for the large van, but he managed to get in. He wasn't completely sure he was going to be able to get out, though. Throwing it into park and turning it off, he said, "Let's go do this."

"You've got it," Joe said, and the two of them got out. Nicky led the way up the narrow stairs to the door to his father's apartment, which opened just as he got close enough to knock. "About time," his father said with a laugh. "I hope you two weren't too busy to come see an old man."

His father was waggling his eyebrows in a completely over the top attempt to make his innuendo clear, and Nicky could feel his face heat. His father had always teased him about his Alpha ruts, and then he goes and has mating sex right in front of the man. He was never going to live it down.

"Never too busy for you, Papa," Nicky said instead, giving him a hug. "Now, I know you've met Joe before, but not as my mate, so..."

"Mr. di Genova," Joe said, sticking out his hand to take Papa's. Nicky could have told him that was the wrong thing to do, but instead decided to squash the impulse. Joe was a grown man, and didn't need Nicky to hold his hand constantly.

"You are my son's mate," Papa said, brushing Joe's hand aside and going in for a hug. "That means you absolutely do not shake my hand!"

Joe surprised Nicky, returning the hug without hesitation. "I like hugs," he said with a grin. With one last squeeze, he let go, still smiling widely. "Mr. di Gen - "

"Ah, ah, ah," Papa said, holding up one finger. "You will not call me Mister. You may call me Alphonse, or you may call me Papa. But not Mister!"

"Okay, Alphonse," Joe said, and now he looked positively delighted. "I am very happy to meet you under different circ*mstances."

"Yes, of course," Papa gave Nicky a slightly annoyed look. "I know the last time we met was not exactly ideal."

"Nicky was right, though," Joe said with a shrug. "You have a great business, and I'd hate to see you have to change it to make it fit in downtown."

Papa made an annoyed noise. "I hadn't thought to expand until that Mr. Merrick suggested it. I was just looking for some new signs, maybe to put in the windows or down at the curb to show some of the seasonal baking."

"Well, now you have me in the family and I'm happy to work with you to give you exactly what you're looking for." Joe's voice was firm but full of good humor. "I have to say that whatever you're cooking smells absolutely amazing."

"It's lasagna," Papa said, and Nicky rolled his eyes, knowing exactly what that meant.

"How much did you make for me to take home?" he asked.

"Just two half trays, and a couple of containers of pasta sauce." His father bopped him on the nose. "Don't make that face at me. I know what your kitchen looks like at home, and these will go right into your freezer."

"Of course. How about we get out of the front hallway?" Nicky asked, already moving deeper into the apartment. It was going to be a long evening and a long drive to D.C., but it was absolutely going to be worth it to see how Joe interacted with his father over a meal.

Everything was actually working out much better than he had any right to expect.

Dinner had been a whole lot less stressful than Joe had expected. Alphonse was nothing like his own parents, at least not on first appearance. It was very clear that he was pleased that Nicky had mated, but he didn't seem particularly stressed over the fact that Joe had had a career, or that Nicky didn't seem to be in any hurry to have children.

He cracked a lot of jokes, including a fair amount of innuendos, but none of it was crude or cruel, and Joe had definitely enjoyed himself, once he'd finally let himself relax.

After they left, he'd ended up drowsing in the passenger seat of the UHaul as Nicky drove down 95 towards D.C.. According to Nicky, it was going to take about four hours, and after he'd put on a soft rock station, he'd encouraged Joe to take a nap.

It should have been easy to sleep - Joe had every reason to be exhausted. But he'd found himself unable to actually close his eyes, instead staring out of the window at the lights of the other cars. Joe had been out of the city, but he'd never driven anywhere - he didn't even have a license. Why would he in NYC? It wasn't like he had a car.

And that made him ask, "Do you have a car?"

"Hmm?" Nicky asked, turning the music down.

"Do you have a car?" he repeated.

"I do," Nicky said. "It's parked at my condo building. I took a taxi to the airport so that I wouldn't have to pay to leave it at the airport. That worked out well for me, after all."

"I guess." Joe thought for a minute. "Do you think you could teach me to drive?"

He could feel Nicky looking at him, but he didn't turn to meet his eyes.

"I can," Nicky said. "Depending on where we find a house, we may be far enough out that you'll need a car, actually, so we'll put that on the list of things to take into account. Have you never driven?"

Joe shook his head. "Before I lived in New York, I lived in Amsterdam. It has a great public transportation system, and otherwise I rode a bike."

"Hmm," Nicky said. "Certainly explains your amazing ass."

It felt like his face had been set on fire, it was so hot. "Thank you," he managed to get out, but he knew that he sounded more than a little bit strangled.

"If you're not going to sleep, we could talk about what I'll need from you tomorrow. Is that okay?" Nicky asked.

"Of course." Being needed Joe could deal with, so he turned to face Nicky. "What can I do?"

"We're not going to bother to unpack the van when we get home," Nicky said. "Even if we weren't going to be exhausted, it wouldn't be fair to my neighbors. So I'll park it in visitor parking overnight. I have to go into the office tomorrow - I have a meeting that was already rescheduled once - so if I leave you keys, can you work with the building manager to get the van offloaded? I'm sure that he would let the maintenance guys load the stuff on the building dollies and take it up. And then you can start getting your stuff out of boxes, so you have it close at hand."

Joe thought that the maintenance guys probably were going to be less than thrilled to be volunteered to act as moving crew, but what did he know about Nicky's building? Maybe this was a service offered as part of living in a rich person building.

Either way, it wasn't like he had anything else to do tomorrow. "Sure, I can do that," he said. Not wanting to get lost in his thoughts again, he asked, "How much farther?"

"About another two hours," Nicky said. "Really, you should sleep. You've got to be exhausted."

Joe didn't think it was going to be that easy, but his eyes were dry and burning, so he thought that he might close them for just a few minutes to give them a break.

The next thing he knew, Nicky was shaking him. "Joe, we're here," he said quietly. "I need you to wake up a little."

"I'm awake," Joe said, but his eyes didn't want to open. He was ready to go right back to sleep, in fact. It wasn't exactly comfortable in the van seat, but it wasn't any worse than flying coach.

Nicky chuckled. "You really do have to wake up, tesoro. You'll be much more comfortable in a real bed, I promise."

Joe grumbled, but ultimately stretched and looked around. They were parked in what looked like an underground garage, and when he got out, he realized that they were in a spot for visitors. He ended up waiting by the back of the van while Nicky got out the cooler bag that his father had given them, full of assorted Italian foods, and the duffel bag that Nicky had had Joe pack in his apartment with a few changes of clothes and his toothbrush.

Handing Joe the duffle, Nicky kept the cooler bag. "Let's go," he said, and then he hesitantly reached out a hand.

Stomach twisting with nerves, Joe was grateful for the invitation of contact and took it, giving it a squeeze. He followed Nicky to the elevator bay and into one of the elevators. Compared to the ones in his building, this one was quiet and fast, depositing them on the tenth floor far too fast for Joe to be ready to see where he was going to be living for now.

The condo was at the opposite end of the building from the elevators, and Joe could see why Nicky hadn't wanted to try to move things in at two in the morning. They would have woken the whole floor. "Ready?" Nicky asked, inserting his key into the door lock, but he didn't actually wait until Joe had said yes, swinging the door open and standing back so that Joe could go in first.

The very first thing that Joe noticed was that he could see the Washington Monument all lit up through the large window in the living room. "Wow," he said, walking carefully towards it, wanting to get a better look at the view. "This is one hell of a view, Nicky," he said.

"It's pretty good, isn't it?" Nicky said. "Give me a minute to put the food away and then I'll show you around." Before Joe could say yes or no, Nicky hit the light switch with his elbow, turning on the lights in the living room and then disappeared off to the side, presumably into the kitchen.

The living room wasn't the biggest that Joe had ever seen. In fact, other than the view, it was a pretty normal looking apartment. But he was sure that the view accounted for the condo being very expensive.

There was banging around coming from the kitchen and Joe followed the sounds. Nicky was standing in front of the refrigerator, trying to get the lasagna pans into the freezer. "Can I help?" Joe asked, already moving forward.

Nicky sighed and stepped aside. "It's been a bit since I've had time to clean out my freezer. And I don't really want to deal with it right now." It was obvious what he was referring to - there were a lot of iced over instant meals and unlabeled containers. But there was actually space. It just wasn't all together, so Joe spent a few minutes rearranging, and then he managed to slide in the two pans.

"We'll put the rest of this in the fridge," Nicky said, suiting actions to words. In addition to the pasta sauce, Alphonse had sent several bags of baked goods and two bags of coffee beans, and Nicky swiftly got all of that put away.

By the time he was finished, Joe was ready to just curl up on the comfortable looking sofa and go to sleep. Nicky seemed to realize just how exhausted Joe was, because he took his hand and guided him back to the master bedroom. Under other circ*mstances, Joe would have been curious about the furnishings and the things arranged on the tops of the dressers, but right now he only had eyes for the king sized bed.

Nicky had to help him get undressed, and then he fell forward onto the bed, curling around a pillow and immediately drifting off to sleep.

The next thing he knew, there was light in the room, and he could hear the sounds of the shower coming from the en suite. Stretching, he rolled over to look at the ceiling. He was in D.C., in his mate's apartment, and he was going to be starting a new life.

He felt so out of his depth. Here in D.C. he knew one person - Nicky - and he didn't even have the distraction of going into a job. He knew his mother would say that his job now was to make Nicky happy now that he was mated. Plus, even if he wasn't sure about anything else, it was that he needed some reassurance, and touch would be fantastic for that. And what man would turn down a blowj*b? From everything he'd ever heard, Alphas loved them. So he forced himself out of the bed and towards the bathroom on shaky legs. Knocking on the door, he called out, "Nicky? Can I come in?"

The door opened and Nicky peeked out, half of his face covered in shaving cream, a razor in his hand. "Joe? You don't need to be up. Go on back to sleep."

But that wasn't right, and Joe knew it. So he shook his head. "Can I come in?" he asked again. This time, Nicky stepped back, opening the door wide, letting him in.

"Do you need something?" he asked, but his voice cracked when Joe went to his knees. "Joe? Yusuf? What are you doing?"

"I thought it would be obvious," Joe said, proud that his voice only shook a little bit. "I thought you might like me to suck you off." Good, he had words. They were hopefully words that Nicky would like.

Except that Nicky hooked his hand under Joe's arm and pulled him right back up. "I appreciate the thought, Joe," he said. "But I have to go into the office as soon as I get cleaned up. Can I ask for a raincheck? We'll be able to do anything you like when I get home."

Joe's face was red hot as he reeled in shame. Apparently he'd misjudged or maybe Nicky really just wanted to be able to set Joe aside when he was busy. Regardless, there really wasn't anything he could do but nod and step back out of the bathroom. He kept his head high, not wanting to show that he knew just how badly he'd f*cked up.

Not knowing what else to do with himself, he climbed back into the bed, turning his back towards the bathroom so that Nicky wouldn't be able to see his face when he came out. It was only a few minutes before he heard the water turn off and the door to the bathroom open. "Joe?" Nicky said from that direction. "Joe, are you okay?"

He didn't know how to answer that question. He was pretty sure that Nicky wasn't interested in hearing that Joe felt completely humiliated right now. Instead, he shrugged. "I'm fine," he said, proud of how even he was able to keep his voice. So what if was only two words.

"I'll leave the keys to the van and my spares for the condo on the dining room table, and I've already spoken to the concierge. When you're ready, just go down to his desk in the lobby and he'll help you move it and send a couple of guys to unload it for us." The bed dipped and there was a cool, fleeting touch to Joe's shoulder. "I'll try to finish as soon as I can, and when I get home, I'll make dinner and we can talk. Is that alright?"

"Sure, whatever," Joe said. He found himself resisting the urge to turn over and beg Nicky to stay, to talk now, to touch Joe and reassure him that he hadn't made a mistake in uprooting his life to be with his mate. But he didn't do any of that, and the weight on the bed disappeared.

A few minutes later, he heard the unmistakable sounds of the front door closing.

"So you found your mate," Quynh said, leaning against the door to Nicky's office. "And you must like him, because Andy said you're refusing to force him into a prenup."

"He's - I don't have words," Nicky said, flailing his hands, trying to demonstrate all that Joe was. "He's an artist, and so smart, and so sweet. I just want - I want to cup him in my hands and keep him safe at the same time I give him room to be everything he wants to be."

Quynh's face softened. "You have it bad, little brother."

"Tell me something I don't know," he said. He glanced at the clock. He had another half hour before his clients would be here for their mediation. Nicky knew that he really should crack open the thick file on his desk to refresh his memory of all of the little details, but he couldn't bring himself to think of anything but Joe on his knees, offering his mouth. f*ck.

"Get your f*cking head in the game, di Genova," Andy said, stepping into view. "You can't let your mate, no matter how pretty or smart he is, lead you around by your f*cking dick."

Nicky couldn't help it, he recoiled like he'd been slapped. He knew that Andy wasn't much of a fan of the biological imperative that people felt when they met their mate. She'd somehow managed to resist when she met hers, and then made friends with him instead. Lykon still sometimes joined them on group outings.

The mate of her heart was Quynh, another Alpha who'd been widowed young. She had been expected by her family to not mate again, using her career to feed into the family coffers as she had no family of her own,

Instead she'd struck out on her own, and the three of them had managed to come together to form this law practice. They took - and won - cases that no one else would touch. They had fought for Omega rights, they had helped people who were utterly incompatible with their true mates, they had taken on big corporations and won for people who had nothing on their side.

There were those who would have said they were idealists. Andy had on more than one occasion corrected someone who said that. "Not idealists. We're realists. We're just operating from a reality where people are able to stand up and fight for themselves."

Nicky loved both of them like the sisters he'd never had, and he didn't blame Andy for her caution about Joe. They did know of cases where instinct had gone wildly haywire, throwing people's lives into utter disarray. Like you did to Joe a little voice in his head spoke up. He wanted to force it back down and ignore it but that was a recipe for disaster.

Instead, he said, "My clients are going to be here any minute. Can we go to lunch after? And then you both can yell at me all you want."

"I'll place an order for delivery," Quynh said, pushing away from the door. "The yelling Andy wants to do doesn't belong in public."

Well, f*ck. That was not the thought he wanted to be having when he was getting ready to meet with a client, but he didn't have much choice. As he flipped open the file, finally, the intercom on his phone buzzed. "Your clients are here, Nicky," Jess said. "Should I send them to the conference room?"

"Please," he said. Okay, time to pull it together and do the job he was here to do.

By the time his clients shook his hand and left, pleased with the outcome of the mediation, he'd forgotten all about the fact that he was going to get flattened by the combined bulldozing of Andy and Quynh. But when they showed up at his office door, bags of Thai food in their hands, he remembered.

"I'm not saying send him back to New York," Andy said. "I'm not even saying that you should encourage him to find his own place - which you should. I'm just saying that it is foolish not to at least take precautions. From the sound of it, you have a lot more money in this relationship, which means that you have a lot more to lose. Especially if you encourage him to stay home and he has a couple of brats right away."

"Andy!" Quynh smacked her on the arm. "We don't know that Joe is some kind of golddigger. It's not like either of them planned this. From what Nicky said, Joe has a comfortable life in New York, so it's not like he was destitute."

"It's okay, Quynh," he said with a laugh. "I know that Andy has all the social grace of a honey badger, especially when she thinks she's protecting someone she cares about." Then he sobered and met Andy's eyes fully. "But you need to remember that I do actually know something about marriage law, and more importantly, I have actually met Joe. He might have been an advertising manager, but the man's feelings are written so clearly on his face. I doubt he could tell a lie if he tried."

When Andy went to interrupt, he held up a hand. "I will ask him to sign off on not having rights to the practice. That much is logical and fair. But that's as far as I'm willing to go. Take it or leave it."

He could practically see the smoke coming out of Andy's ears, but after a moment, she bobbed a nod. "Fine. You'll ask him tonight."

Nicky winced. He'd left Joe alone, his first day in D.C., and he was pretty sure that Joe hadn't been going back to sleep when he'd left to go to the office. He was hopeful that Joe wasn't going to make him grovel too much over being left alone, but that wasn't certain. "Before the weekend," he counter-offered.

Andy started to puff up like she was going to push the issue, but Quynh put her hand on Andy's arm, and that seemed to short-circuit her complaints. "This weekend will work," Quynh said. "In the meantime, are your clients satisfied with the results of their mediation?"

"Yeah," Nicky said. He glanced at his watch and realized that it was going on three. "And I don't have anything else urgent going on. So, I'm going to take the rest of the week to get Joe settled and maybe start looking for a place big enough for both us and all of our stuff."

It was fascinating, seeing Andy visibly bite her tongue. Nicky was almost surprised that he couldn't see blood on her lips. But she didn't say anything, just starting to bag up the trash from their lunch. It was Quynh who said, "If you want help looking, let us know. And maybe we can plan dinner for one night next week."

"Sounds good." Nicky tossed his fork and empty container into Andy's bag of stuff. "I should probably place an ad for an assistant next week as well. I certainly can't keep borrowing Jess to bail me out when I get in over my head."

"No, you certainly can't," Quynh said with a laugh. It only took a few more moments to finish cleaning up everything, and then the two women let themselves out. He took a second to stare off into space, wondering if there was something special he could do to help ease Joe's transition into the D.C. area.

After a second, he realized that the best thing he could do was go the f*ck home, and so, laughing at his own meandering thoughts, he took himself out of the office. Jess waved to him as he sailed out of the office, headed for his car.

Traffic was terrible, just like it always was on Wednesday afternoons, and so it was getting close to dinner time when he pulled into the parking garage under the building. He noted absently that the van was moved to a different visitor space, so he guessed that Joe had managed to get it unpacked, and he couldn't help but wonder what kind of chaos he was going to walk into when he got upstairs.

"Joe?" he called out, pushing the door open. He could see piles of boxes in the living room, but all of the lights were off, and that worried him a little. It wasn't dark out, but there should have been at least a lamp or something turned on. "Joe, are you here?"

There was a faint sound from the living room, and since he was headed that way, he just kept going, flicking on the kitchen light as he passed by. When he got to the living room, his heart dropped into his shoes -

No, that would imply that it was still above ground. It dropped into Dante's inferno, rather. Was there a circle for those who made their true mates miserable? Because Joe was uncurling from the couch, his eyes red and raw looking, and Nicky realized that he'd clearly been crying. "Joe, tesoro - are you alright?"

Joe shrugged. "I didn't hurt myself if that's what you're asking," he said carefully. "The maintenance guys wouldn't even let me lift a sheet of paper, much less a whole box."

And while that was good to know, it wasn't quite what Nicky had been asking. From the look on Joe's face, he realized it, but was going to brazen it through anyway. Nicky had two choices. He could call Joe on it, or he could let him skate by with that bullsh*t answer.

Before he could second-guess himself, he said, "I'm glad of that, but I'm asking why you're crying."

To his dismay, Joe simply wiped his eyes and shook his head. "No reason," he said. Lied. Semantics, really, which it was.

Nicky wanted to shake him, force Joe to tell him what was wrong. But he could only imagine that Joe would just clam up even further. Besides, Joe was allowed his privacy, and right now the only privacy he had was his own thoughts. He burned a little with shame when he remembered telling Joe that he wasn't even allowed to jerk off. And then when Joe had tried to initiate sex that morning, Nicky had brushed him off.

He was a lousy Alpha.

The least he could do was make sure that Joe knew that NIcky was aware of his own shortcomings and that he was going to try to do better. "I owe you an apology, Joe," he said as settled on the end of the couch, keeping his eyes on Joe's face. "I failed to honor the offer you were making this morning with the respect it deserved, and I'm sorry."

Joe's jaw dropped, his eyes going wide. "You don't - you don't have to explain anything to me," he said, sounding a bit strangled. "You don't have to tell me anything."

"After all the personal questions I've asked you?" Nicky said, more than a little surprised at Joe's words. "I'd think that letting you know that I've never had an offer that I've had such a hard time walking away from would be the least of it."

"Really?" Joe's voice squeaked, and under other circ*mstances, Nicky might have gently teased him. But instead he nodded. "But I've never given a blowj*b before. It probably would have been terrible," Joe continued, and no, while Nicky didn't want to tell Joe what to think about himself, he couldn't let that stand.

"Joe, it would have been the best blowj*b I have ever gotten, just because it was coming from you," Nicky said gently. "I want to be all of your firsts - your onlies! I am never going to judge you for your lack of experience. Instead, I'm going to kiss you and let you do whatever you want in the moment." Then he thought about the fact that he'd shut Joe down just that morning, and added, "Usually, anyway. I just had a commitment at work I absolutely could not reschedule again."

It was obvious that Joe was relaxing a little bit at his words, and that made Nicky feel a bit better about the way he'd left things that morning. "Now, do you want to tell me how you're really feeling?"

"I don't actually know," Joe said, and that did have the ring of truth. "Everything has happened so fast, and then today - well, you know. And then Nile called, and well - " His hands flailed, as if indicating just how big it all seemed.

"Was Nile just checking in?" Nicky though that was very nice of the young Beta, but not exactly unexpected. She'd certainly been protective of Joe over the last few days.

But Joe shook his head, looking even more distressed. "Merrick let her go," he said, biting his lip. From the look of it, he'd been chewing on it a lot. "Said that without me there, there was no need for him to pay her. No one else needed an assistant, which is bullsh*t. He's just getting even with me for mating, and so publicly."

That seemed all too likely unfortunately. And Nicky was sure that Merrick was probably clever enough to cover his tracks as far as letting her go, giving her no room to sue him for wrongful termination. Wait -

"Did you say that Nile was your assistant? Do you mean in a graphic design capacity?"

Joe's eyes went wide and startled, and Nicky realized that he might have come off a bit intense. "No, she's in the process of getting a degree in graphic design, but she was my administrative assistant. And better at it than anyone else that Merrick has!"

It was so good to see how impassioned Joe got in Nile's defense that Nicky nearly danced in joy. He found that he wanted Joe to be happy with an intensity that was almost painful. Hopefully his next words would help with that. "Do you think she'd be willing to relocate? I'm looking for a new admin, and if you're willing to vouch for her, then I'll hire her."

It was nearly funny how Joe's mouth gaped in shock. "Really? I mean, yes, of course I'll vouch for her, but - really?"

"Really, Joe," Nicky said. "I should probably ask her a few questions, and I'd need her to relocate as soon as possible, but if you want to get her on the phone, we can take care of those things right now."

He was unsurprised when Joe fumbled his phone, getting it out of his pocket, especially since he didn't seem to be able to look down at his hands. But eventually he managed to dial the call and hand his phone over to Nicky.

"Joe?" Nile answered the phone. "What's wrong?"

"Hello, Nile," Nicky said. He heard the swift intake of breath on the other side and realized that with him calling on Joe's phone that she could possibly be fearful of his reaction to them talking earlier in the day. "Joe tells me that you've had a change in employment status. He also says that you're an amazing assistant."

There was a pause, and then Nile said, "Yes," slowly, dragging the word out.

"Well, it just so happens that I'm looking for a new assistant. If you'd like to take a few minutes to answer some questions and assuming that you're willing to relocate to D.C., I'm pretty sure that I can offer you a job."

There was silence for so long that Nicky that he might have misstepped, that she'd taken his job offer for pity. Then she said, "Put me on camera. I need to see your face." It was Nicky's turn to fumble with the phone, since Joe had it set up slightly differently than Nicky's own, but then he was looking at her, and she looked just as startled as Joe had.

"Ms. Freeman," he said formally. "Would you like to interview as my administrative assistant?"

"I don't have any savings to break my lease, much less relocate four hours away," she said, clearly still suspicious.

"Conveniently enough, I do," Nicky said. "Or if you prefer not to be paid from my personal funds, I'm sure that my practice can pay relocation expenses. Now, may I ask you a few questions? Assuming that I've told you enough to be interested in the position?"

"Yes, of course," she said, and he finally saw some excitement coming through. Ah, the freedom to be so young.

He asked her some basic questions about her education and experience. Unsurprisingly, when she wasn't busy threatening the Alpha who had claimed her best friend, she was well-spoken and cheerful, and there was no doubting the intelligence that bled through at her every word. "I have a question for you," she said, when he'd finished with his own.

"Of course," he answered.

"Why aren't you hiring a paralegal for this job? Wouldn't it be more useful?"

He grinned. "We prefer to train from within," he said. "After you've been in the job for six months, we'll get you set up to get your paralegal certification. That comes with a substantial raise, of course."

Nile was looking suspicious again. "This all sounds too good to be true. If you're so good to your employees, why are you having to hire someone new?"

The answer to this question made Nicky swell with pride. He was so glad to have worked with Alicia, even if she had had to move on. "Where do you think my last assistant went? We paid for her go into a pre-law track at American University, and she's gone off to law school. If you prove to have aptitude for the job, we can see about doing the same for you."

"You're joking," Nile said flatly. "No one treats admins like that. At best we're respected, but we're usually viewed as disposable. That's how I ended up unemployed, remember?"

"Merrick is a fool," Nicky said bluntly. "And he's going to get exactly the kind of employee loyalty that he's earned. Our practice is small, but we believe that it runs on a backbone made of support staff, and without that, just like a skeleton, we'd fall apart. Based on that, doesn't it make sense to treat them well?"

She nodded slowly. "If you want me, I'll come," she said.

"Excellent," Nicky said. "I'll put you in contact with Jess in our practice first thing in the morning, and she'll help you arrange everything. Now, while you start figuring out what you want to pack, I need to go spend some time with my mate." Just saying the words made pleasure curl in his chest, and hopefully, hiring Nile would go towards helping settle Joe about the hurt Nicky had caused earlier in the day.

No, it wasn't the only reason to hire her, but it was a good one, he'd admit.

They got off the phone, but before he could set it down, Joe crashed into him, pushing him back into the couch cushions. "Thank you," he breathed out before he started kissing Nicky's face and neck. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

Nicky laughed out loud, delighted at Joe's reaction. This was the most joy that Joe had shown since he'd met his mate, and it thrilled him to no end. "If you want to encourage me to be nice to your friends, this is an excellent step," he said, cupping Joe's face in the palm of his hand.

"You're not going to regret it," Joe promised. "Nile is amazing and you're definitely going to get your money's worth out of her."

"I'm sure I am," Nicky said. Gently, he guided Joe's mouth close enough for him to give him a soft kiss. "But if you don't mind, I'd like to just be with you for a while. Can we do that?"

Joe nodded seriously. "I could - I could give you that blow j*b I offered this morning?" Joe asked. He was back to chewing on his lip, but he looked much less anxious than he had earlier in the day.

"Only if you'll let me lick you all over right after," Nicky said firmly. "Now that we're in our home, I want to take you apart for me, see if I can make you scream for me."

Before he'd even finished speaking, Joe was nodding. "Yes, yes, of course," he said. Nicky thought that they were going to go to the bedroom, but instead Joe slipped from his lap and straight to his knees in front of Nicky, looking up at him.

Nicky's mouth went dry, and it only got worse when Joe's hands came up to rest on his fly. "Yes?" he asked.

"Yes, of course," Nicky said, and he could only groan when Joe unzipped him, relieving the pressure on his co*ck. He had no idea when he'd gotten hard, but by now it felt like he'd been that way forever.

"Tell me what you like?" Joe asked, breaking Nicky out his thoughts. "Teach me how you want this."

"However you do it will be perfect," Nicky said without hesitation. "Because it'll be you."

He couldn't help but notice the way that Joe's hand was shaking as he wrapped it around Nicky's co*ck. Trying to be reassuring, Nicky said, "Joe, you don't have to do this if you don't want to. You don't ever have to do something you don't want to do."

Rather than say something in response, Joe took a deep breath before licking up the side of Nicky's co*ck, one long stripe from Nicky's balls to the tip of his co*ck. Nicky couldn't help but yell out in response, his free hand slamming down on the couch cushion. "f*ck!"

Joe paused, and Nicky couldn't almost read his thoughts, that he was trying to decide if he liked the flavor of Nicky's skin. Before Nicky could ask him again if he was sure, though, Joe slipped his mouth down over the head of his co*ck, and Nicky couldn't do anything but make a high pitched squeak.

It wasn't the first blow j*b that he'd received, and it wasn't what he would have called skilled. But none of that mattered, not when stacked up against the look of surrender on Joe's face and the way that he made soft little sounds of pleasure as he f*cked his mouth down over Nicky's co*ck.

Nicky had no desire to take control of what Joe was doing, nor did he want to push Joe past his own comfort level, but he had to touch. Had to. It was a physical imperative. So he slid his hand around the back of Joe's head, letting it curve around his skull. "So good," he murmured. "Joe, you're doing so good."

Joe groaned, taking Nicky just a little deeper, and the vibrations made Nicky want nothing more than to f*ck up into his mouth. But he didn't want to hurt Joe, didn't want to scare him off or make him even the slightest bit uncomfortable, so he forced himself to hold back. Even with that, it didn't take long for him to realize that if Joe didn't stop, he was going to come, and soon.

"I'm going to come," Nicky groaned, his hand tightening just a little. "Joe, you don't have to swallow - " But instead of pulling away, Joe just sucked him even harder. That was more than Nicky could take, and with a cry he started to come, pumping his completion over Joe's tongue.

By the time he was able to open his eyes, Joe had his forehead pressed against Nicky's inner thigh, small whimpers coming from him. Suddenly worried that he'd managed to hurt Joe somehow, Nicky reached down to encourage Joe to look up. "Tesoro, are you injured?" he asked anxiously.

Joe shook his head. "I didn't expect to like it so much," he said. He gave Nicky a shy half-smile. "I'm really turned on."

Nicky slid his thumb along Joe's chin, wiping away the come that had leaked from Joe's mouth. "We can't have you left wanting," Nicky said. He sucked his thumb clean, noting the way that Joe's eyes were locked on his hand. He'd never cared for the taste of his own come, but if it got Joe this hot, Nicky would do a lot more than lick up a little come. "What do you want? I could return the favor right here, or I could spread you out over our bed. Whatever you want."

"Bed, please," Joe said, and there was no mistaking his eagerness for anything else. It didn't take long for them to move to the bedroom, where Nicky pulled Joe in for a deep, wet kiss. "Let me undress you?" Nicky asked him.

"Yes. Yes, please," Joe said, which Nicky had to reward with another kiss. He tugged the back of Joe's t-shirt up, sliding his hand underneath so that he could feel the soft, warm skin of his back.

For several minutes, that was all they did. Nicky thought that they could have possibly done it for hours, but he was eager to bring Joe as much pleasure as Joe had brought him, so he tugged the shirt up and off, and then turned his attention to Joe's pants, undoing them and letting them drop to the floor. Joe was already barefoot, so it was a simple matter for him to step out of them and then he was naked.

"If I haven't said already," Nicky said, holding Joe's hands up and away from his sides so that he could look at every part of Joe, especially his hard co*ck. "I am the luckiest Alpha on the planet. You are a beautiful, beautiful man, and I look forward to showing you just how much I want you."

"I'm hearing a lot of talk," Joe said, and then he looked shocked, like he hadn't meant to say that.

Nicky laughed. He enjoyed these flashes of spirit he kept seeing from his mate, and he looked forward to seeing more of them as Joe relaxed around him.

"Sorry," Joe said. "Disrespectful, I know."

"Don't be sorry. Don't ever be sorry," Nicky said. Still holding Joe's hands, he leaned in to kiss him quickly. "I think I like your sass. Now, if you don't mind, go lie down on the bed and wait for me while I take my own clothes off."

He'd meant for Joe to lie down on his back, but instead, he propped himself on his side, watching with hot eyes as Nicky got rid of his clothes. "Do you like what you see?" Nicky asked. He was aiming for flirty, but instead he found himself desperate to know whether Joe liked how he looked as much as Nicky did.

"You're f*cking hot," Joe said. "And I think you know it."

Nicky sat down on the side of the bed, meeting Joe's eyes seriously. "I know that I'm not ugly," he said. "But I don't care what the man on the street thinks of me. I care about whether or not you're attracted to me."

"Well, I am." Then Joe flashed him a nervous grin. "Now that that's settled, could you please kiss me?"

"Always," Nicky said. He shifted around so that he could lie down facing Joe, cradling Joe's face in his palm and pulling him in for a soft kiss. It started soft, anyway, but it certainly didn't stay that way. When Nicky realized that he was tasting the faint remains of his own come in Joe's mouth, it made him a little crazy.

He pushed Joe over onto his back, following him so that Nicky could feel Joe's hard co*ck pressing against his belly as they kissed and kissed and kissed. When Joe started to whimper, rocking up and rubbing off against Nicky, he broke off the kiss and started to work his way down Joe's body.

Nicky knew that he was leaving marks, bruises dark against the skin of Joe's neck, his chest, but he didn't care. Not when Joe was making those perfect little sounds that were driving him mad. When even the highest turtlenecks wouldn't hide the marks, he worked his way further down.

Sucking on Joe's nipple earned him a moan, and when he combined it with his fingers pinching the other one, Joe cried out. "Please, Nicky, please," he begged.

"God, you sound good," Nicky said, lifting his head. "What do you want, tesoro? If it's in my power, it'll be yours. Want me to suck you off again? Want my hand?" Joe shook his head mutely, and Nicky couldn't help but leer a little. "Want my co*ck? My knot?"

"f*ck," Joe groaned. "Please, sir, that!" His hand came down to grip at the base of his co*ck, and Nicky took a moment to admire it. His co*ck was beautiful - just big enough to fill Nicky's mouth, or the palm of Nicky's hand, and he looked forward to many years of playing with it. But in the meantime, Joe had made a request.

"I really like it when you call me sir," Nicky said. He reached for a pillow only to find Joe handing him one. "You liked it on your back, didn't you?" he asked.

"Mm, yes," Joe agreed happily as Nicky shoved the pillow under his ass, spreading his legs without any prompting. NIcky reached between his cheeks, needing to make sure that he was wet enough to take Nicky's co*ck without pain, but found that he was dripping, so slick with it that one finger slid in with barely any resistance. Pulling his hand back out, he lined up his co*ck and started to press in.

"Yes, yes, please, sir," Joe begged. "Please!"

"My speed, not yours," Nicky reminded him gently. "That said, you can always beg," and in reward for how open and honest Joe was being with all of his reactions, Nicky started to f*ck into him fast and steady.

When he wrapped his hand around Joe's co*ck, Joe cried out, his hips lifting so suddenly that Nicky's co*ck slipped out of his ass. As he came back down, it resulted in Nicky poking him unpleasantly in the taint, and Joe grunted in pain. "Sorry, sorry," Nicky said. "You okay?"

Joe opened his eyes, which were so dilated that they looked pure black. "I will be if you don't stop," he said. There was a whine under his words, and Nicky was pleased to know that not even this had put him off having sex. So he slid back inside. This time, he grabbed Joe's hip with his free hand before he took Joe's co*ck in hand again, jerking him in time to Nicky's thrusts.

The timber of Joe's moans changed,sweat breaking out along his hairline and the curve of his neck. "Are you getting close?" Nicky asked.

"Yes, f*ck, yes." Joe's hip was flexing as if he was trying to rise up, only being stopped by Nicky's grip. "Please, can I come?"

"Let me feel it," Nicky ordered, stripping his co*ck fast and hard until Joe gave an inarticulate cry and started to shoot up over his belly, his hole clenching down around Nicky's co*ck. That set off Nicky's org*sm, and he shoved in deep so that they could lock together.

Joe had come all over his hand, and before Nicky thought about it too much, he put it up to Joe's mouth for him to lick clean. He was a little surprised at the sour face that Joe made at that. "What? You swallowed mine," he said, rocking in place a little, chasing the little shivers that caused to go down his spine.

"But - " Joe started to protest. "It's just weird, to taste your own come."

Nicky shrugged. "I've done it. Besides, I'll probably lick my own come out of you sometimes. Or are you going to tell me that you don't want to feel that?"

Joe's surprise was obvious. "You want to lick me there?" he asked, fairly scandalized. "Why would you do that?"

"Why not?" Nicky asked. "It feels good to you, and if I get you hot and bothered, I can give us both more pleasure. And pleasure is always a good thing."

Not wanting to wait any longer for Joe to lick up the come, he brought his hand to his own mouth, licking it away. He had to laugh at the face that Joe made. "Didn't your mother ever tell you that if you keep making faces it'll stick that way?" Nicky asked.

Instead of the laugh he expected, Joe frowned and sighed.

"What's wrong?" Nicky asked immediately, not liking that look.

Joe moved restlessly, like he was trying to get away. When he realized that Nicky was still knotted in him firmly, he sighed and subsided. "I guess I should call my mother," he said. "I can't keep her away for too much longer or she's likely to show up on the next flight."

"Hmm," Nicky said. "That's a subject we should talk about, but not right now, I think. Instead, we should kiss until I can slide out, yes?"

"Yes, please," Joe said eagerly.

He didn't even have to think about it. Bracing himself up just above Joe, he kissed him, trying out all the different kinds of kisses that he knew, checking to see which ones Joe reacted best to. There was plenty of time for other things later.

Joe's phone started to ring shrilly early the next morning. "Gah," Nicky grunted. "Make it stop!"

As reluctant as he was to have this conversation, Joe knew that he needed to answer the call. He dug his phone out of his pants pocket, and before he could overthink things too much, he pressed "accept" on the screen. "Good morning, Mother," he said.

"It's about time you took my call," his mother snapped. It wasn't even very hard to bring to mind the exact look that he was sure was on her face. "I heard more from that little weasel Merrick than I heard from you, my own son!"

Well, that was interesting that his mother was getting information fed to her from his old boss. At least that was going to stop now. "Did he tell you he fired me because I had the temerity to find my mate?" he asked.

"Oh, what does it matter? You're respectably mated now, and from what I have been able to find, you've done quite well for yourself. I wouldn't have picked an attorney - they're all workaholics - but he should be able to support you in a reasonable fashion."

"I don't need to be supported, Mother," he said, already fuming. "If you weren't aware, I was doing just fine on my own."

She made a dismissive noise, but before he could respond, Nicky caught his eye. "Do you want me to say hello?" he whispered.

Figuring that it would hardly make the situation worse, Joe switched the phone to speaker. "Say hello to my mate, Nicolò did Genova. You're on speaker with him, Mother."

"So nice to speak with the Alpha who has mated my son," Mother said. Joe frowned. She sounded nothing like herself, as she practically simpered at Nicky. "I hope he's behaving appropriately for you. His father and I did our best, of course, but Yusuf has always been headstrong. I'm sure he'll benefit from a strong Alpha hand."

God, this was the worst idea ever. As his mother continued to do everything but say directly that she thought Joe would be better off with an Alpha willing to beat him, Joe stared fiercely at the floor, biting his lips so hard that he drew blood.

He had no evidence that Nicky was anything like his mother was implying, and in fact a great deal of evidence telling him that he was not. Yes, okay, Nicky had been very stereotypically Alpha like in bed a few times, but otherwise he'd been nothing but kind and generous.

When he realized that his mother had gone quiet, Joe tuned back in.

"Mrs. Al-Kaysani," Nicky was saying. "I am sure that you have a well-run household, but I have other priorities in mine. I would appreciate it if you never say such a thing again, especially about your own son."

"But - " Mother sputtered. "He's an Omega! And your mate!"

"And he is a person, first and foremost," Nicky shot back without hesitation. "And as such, I will let him decide if he wants to continue to have any contact with you. But I am telling you now, that without a demonstration that you've had a change of heart, you will not be allowed in our home. Is that clear?"

Joe couldn't help but wonder what in the world his mother had said that pissed Nicky off so badly. Not that it really mattered. He was certainly not going to go behind Nicky's back and undermine him, especially not with his mother. "I will talk to you later," he managed to choke out when his mother appealed to him. Reaching out, he disconnected the call and threw his phone down on the pile of his clothes.

"What did she say?" Joe said, turning to look at Nicky. "She - she's an Alpha and my Mother, she's allowed to transfer responsibility for me to you."

Nicky frowned. "You think - that explains a lot," he said, confusing Joe. He was even more confused when Nicky tugged on him until they were both sitting cross legged on the bed, so close that their knees were touching. "Joe, you are my mate. But I do not own you. If I ever tell you to do something that you don't agree with, you can tell me to f*ck right off."

Joe said the first thing that came to mind. "What about not being allowed to come when you're not here?"

Nicky sighed. "That was said in the heat of the moment, and you agreed when you were too turned on to give meaningful consent to that kind of kink. If you don't like that idea, I'm certainly not going to force it on you. I think it would be really hot, but I am not going to force you to do anything."

There was no question that he was telling the complete and unvarnished truth. Joe wasn't sure why he was having such an easy time believing what Nicky was saying, but he could feel in his gut the way that he trusted that Nicky was telling him the plain and unvarnished truth. "I - I like that idea too," he admitted slowly. "At least until I'm wearing your mark."

When Nicky's eyes went dark, Joe squirmed. He had come so hard the night before that he'd gotten light-headed. But that didn't mean that he wasn't willing to do it again. Nicky licked his lips and Joe paused, distracted by that tiny motion. Unfortunately the break was long enough for Nicky to pull back. "I want to take you apart, and do it over and over again until I run out of mating leave. But we need to find a new place to live, and we need to make the arrangements to get Nile down here. If we can move soon enough, she can set up in this apartment as a sub-let."

Joe looked around at the gorgeous apartment, so close to downtown D.C. "You're kidding, right? There's no way that she'd be able to afford this place on an admin assistant salary."

"You'd be surprised at how well we pay our admins," Nicky said. "But yes, this would be a bit much. I'm willing to prop her up for a few months while she gets settled, though, but that will only happen if we can find something today."

"I'm sure that we could just help Nile find something," Joe said, a little confused on why Nicky was so pressed about moving. "I don't want you to have to move from an apartment you like."

Nicky shrugged. "I've been thinking about looking for a house anyway," he said. "And this place, while nice, isn't big enough for you to have a decent studio or to move your stuff in. So, house shopping. Do you have anything you'd like to look for?"

Joe blinked at him in confusion. "Like what?" he asked. "Three days ago I had a standard New York City sized apartment. I certainly haven't been planning to buy a house!"

"Oh, hmm," Nicky said. He stood up and stretched, and Joe's mouth went dry. "Well, I've got a few things that I'd like to have in a house, and a few things that I don't want. But first off, let's get cleaned up and dressed, and I'll make you some breakfast. My partners bought a house last year, maybe their realtor can help us."

Still more than a little confused, Joe decided that it was easier to go along with what Nicky wanted than to try and push for more clarification. So he showered and dressed and ate the omelet that Nicky made for him.

He couldn't help but see that Nicky had already pulled out the bacon and sausage that he'd noticed in the fridge the day before and set it aside in a bag. "You don't have to get rid of your food," he said. "Just because I won't eat it doesn't mean that you can't."

Nicky shrugged. "I'll drop it off with my neighbor down the hall. She has two kids, and I'm sure she can use it." With that, Nicky pivoted to talking about the realtor that they were meeting with in an hour, and how he'd prefer that if they were going to move out of the city that they move to the Maryland side instead of the Virginia side, and through it all, Joe nodded and smiled and kept his mouth shut. It wasn't his money that was going to be buying this house, so he didn't really feel like he had room to protest anything.

The realtor was a very nice woman named Dolores. She asked a lot of questions, most of which Nicky answered. He could tell that she was trying to figure out if they were planning to have kids, but that was a conversation that he and Nicky hadn't even broached yet. He'd assumed that of course Nicky would want them, but his reaction to Dolores's questions wasn't the eager yes that he'd expected.

When Dolores turned to her computer and started putting in all of the requirements that Nicky had given her, Joe leaned in and whispered, "You aren't sure about a nursery?"

The sidelong glance that Nicky gave him was full of heat. "Maybe eventually. But I'd really like to spend a few years with my mate, first." That made Joe's belly squirm as he thought about the kinds of things they might do without a child in the house. Some of his thoughts must have appeared on his face, because Nicky got the dirtiest grin that Joe had ever seen.

Before the conversation could go too much further, Dolores coughed quietly, pulling their attention back. She had a list of eight houses that were move-in ready, that met all of Nicky's requirements, and that they could go look at today. She gave Nicky the address to the first, and they set off.

It took seven hours to make it through all eight of them, but at the end of it, Nicky had a clear favorite. Joe had to admit that it was a nice house, and there was a room that had great light for art. It even had a large fenced yard, because apparently Nicky had always wanted a dog.

"What do you think?" Nicky asked as they drove back to the realtor's office to discuss if they were going to make an offer. "Do you think you could be happy there?"

Joe shrugged. "I go where you go," he said simply. "I think, though, that we might be moving a bit fast - that house isn't on a bus line, and a car would be expensive..."

"I'd be getting you a car whether we move or we stay," Nicky replied. "And driving lessons to go with it. Too much of this area isn't really metro-accessible, unfortunately. But if you don't like it, we can try again tomorrow with different houses."

Joe stared at the world moving by the window as he thought about it. "I think I would be happy wherever you are," he finally said. "But if you're insistent that we need a new place, then yes, I like that one. I have some savings - can I contribute towards the down payment?"

Nicky shook his head. "Hold on to them. I'm sure art supplies are expensive. We'll give Dolores the earnest money today, and I'll set up a call with my banker in the morning to set up the preapproval for the mortgage. Hopefully, we can push everything through fast enough that your apartment can just be moved directly to the house."

"That would be good," Joe said. He didn't know what else to say, so he resumed looking out of the windows, noting the way everything was so much more spread out than New York, and that was in the city. The houses that they'd looked at - including the one that they were going to make an offer on - were in the suburbs, and that was going to be so different for Joe. He'd never lived outside a city, even in Europe.

Before he could go too far down that rabbit hole, his phone rang with Nile's ringtone. Giving Nicky a quick glance, he answered it. "Hello?" he said.

"Jess in Nicky's office is a little terrifying," Nile said instead of hello. "By noon today, all of the arrangements were made for me to move down there next week, though she was a little cagey about where I'm moving to. Just said that I should plan to bring my clothes with me on the train and that she'd be taking care of the rest."

"I think Nicky plans for you to stay with us, at least to start with," Joe said. "And for you to sublet his place after we move."

"You're moving? What do you mean you're moving?" Nile asked. "You literally have been there for like two days. Why are you moving already?"

So Joe attempted to explain to Nile something that he was still confused about himself, though by the end he thought he might have started to understand it. "So, you guys are going to buy a house," Nile said slowly. "And when you move there, I'm going to live in this super nice apartment of Nicky's?"

"That's it," Joe said. "Clear as mud?"

"You don't do anything by halves, do you?" she asked, and after a little more chatting, they got off the call.

Joe tried to pay attention when Nicky did the paperwork with Delores to put in a bid on the house, but a lot of it just went over his head. He'd never even contemplated owning property, so he just hadn't paid attention to how it all worked. So he signed what Nicky told him to sign, and otherwise stayed out of it.

As they left Delores's office, Joe's stomach rumbled unpleasantly. "Hungry?" Nicky asked, looking a little amused.

Joe would have been embarrassed, but that omelet had been a long time ago, and the muffin and coffee they'd had at lunch hadn't exactly been filling. "A little, yeah," Joe said.

"Go into Yelp or whatever and find a restaurant nearby that you can eat at," Nicky suggested. "We're in Chevy Chase if it needs a location."

Joe did as Nicky asked, and after scrolling a bit found a nearby Thai place. Nicky nodded when Joe read off the location, taking them there with a minimum of fuss. As they settled into the warm booth in the restaurant, Nicky pulled out the notebook he'd used all day to keep track of the houses that they'd viewed.

It was funny, such a lawyer thing to do, Joe thought, and he grinned widely at it. Nicky caught the expression on his face and tipped his head. "Something funny?" he asked.

"Every attorney I've met has always had a notebook with them," Joe said. "They're as bad as artists with their sketchbooks."

Nicky looked at his notebook like he'd never seen it before, making Joe wonder how much time he spent with people who weren't attorneys. The topic got swiftly dropped in favor of making lists - what furniture Joe had and wanted to keep, what Nicky was unwilling to give up, what Joe would need to outfit a studio.

Joe couldn't help but feel like they were circling round and round a subject that neither of them were ready to address head on. But eventually, Nicky capped his pen, setting it down and folding his hands on the table. "So, kids," he said gravely. "I have to admit that I've never really thought about them."

That was such a weird thing for an Alpha to say that Joe was left speechless. He'd never heard of one who wasn't eager to have kids, sooner rather than later, and he had to admit that when Nicky had encouraged him to take a year off from looking from a job that it was a way for him to ease Joe into being a house-husband, an Omega to a handful of kids.

Nicky seemed to understand his confusion, waiting patiently for Joe to be able to articulate his thoughts. Unfortunately for him, Joe wasn't having any that he could put to words, leaving them staring at each other uncomfortably for several minutes. They were only interrupted by the waitress bringing the plates of their food, piled high.

They waited for her to set everything down before thanking her. Then Nicky said, "You seem surprised?"

"I am, a little," Joe managed to get out. "Aren't Alphas all supposed to be about passing their genes on?"

"The same way that all Omegas are about being taken care of and unable to problem-solve for themselves?" Nicky asked in return.

Joe had to admit that he had a point. "True. So are you saying you don't want them at all?"

"No, I'm saying I meant exactly what I said in Delores's office. I would like a few years with you, first, before we consider adding children to the mix."

"You are aware that we should never have sex when I'm in heat then, right?" Joe tipped his head to the side. "You haven't exactly given me a reason to think that you'd be able to not do that."

"Oh, hmm," Nicky said. "I guess I didn't think about it. But Omegas only go into heat every six months or so, right? I can always get a hotel room if - " The horror of the thought must have been obvious on his face, because Nicky stopped talking. "No?" he asked.

"I've been doing heats on my own since I was twelve," Joe bit out. "While I'm willing to go without sex if you're adamant about no children, or even to go on birth control, I am not particularly eager to continue to face it alone, not when I'm mated. Otherwise, what is the f*cking point of being mated in the first place?"

"Joe, hey, hey," Nicky said, reaching out and taking Joe's hand. "I won't do that to you if you don't want me to. I promise."

Some of the tension creeping down Joe's back relaxed at that, at knowing that he wasn't going to be abandoned right when he needed Nicky most. "Okay," he said, then took a deep breath and let it out slowly. This time, when he said, "Okay," he almost sounded like he meant it.

Without any further discussion, they dropped the topic, turning their attention to eating the food that had been cooling on the table. It was really good, and Joe had to admit he was impressed. He hadn't thought that he'd have much luck getting good food outside of New York. Then again, this was just one restaurant and one cuisine. He'd have to wait and see what else was available that was halal before he made a decision.

By the time they finished and drove back to Nicky's apartment, Joe felt his anxiety building once again. Was Nicky going to be willing to have sex? Did Joe want to have sex with Nicky after the revelations of earlier in the day? It all seemed like so much to deal with, enough that when Nicky took his hand in the elevator, he didn't raise any of the issues playing in his head. He just tipped his head down, resting his forehead on Nicky's shoulder and letting him hold him as they ascended in the elevator.

Nicky wanted nothing more than to take Joe to bed and wear them both out. But there was one \ thing that he needed to talk to Joe about, something he'd been avoiding all day. So when they were in the apartment, he tugged Joe towards the couch. "We have one more thing to talk about," Nicky said, sitting down and waiting until Joe joined him.

"What is it?" Joe asked. He rubbed at one eye with his fist, and something warm and sweet clenched in Nicky's chest.

"You know that I'm a partner in a law practice - " Nicky said. The look on Joe's face did not give away how he must have felt about Nicky repeating something so obvious. "So when we were getting the practice off the ground, one of the types of cases we took were divorce cases."

Joe just looked at him with no particular reaction to his words.

Nicky took a deep breath and said in a rush, "Divorces between mated pairs."

That got a reaction, but not the horror he'd expected. Instead Joe looked curious. "I expected that you got there by kicking puppies from the way you were acting," he said when Nicky couldn't find the words to fill in more.

"To a lot of people, kicking puppies would be more forgivable," Nicky said after a moment.

"Ah, but you've met Booker," Joe said. "I know that just because God has picked someone for you doesn't actually mean that you're truly compatible." He smiled small and fleeting. "And I'm sure you have a reason for telling me besides trying to alienate me."

"Well, yeah." Nicky blew out a harsh breath. "Andy - that's one of my partners, and you'll meet her and Quynh sometime soon - wants me to have you sign something stating that you don't have rights to the practice."

"Okay, and?" Joe asked. He was so laid back about it that Nicky was almost tempted to ask him if he understood what he'd asked for. Before he could, though, Joe said thoughtfully, "Though I think it might be fair to have you sign something saying that I own my own art. In case I do actually succeed."

Nicky's immediate response was to agree. That did seem fair. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure that it would be enforceable. Ultimately, the law viewed anything Joe owned or did as property of Nicky's. "Oh, hmm," he hummed as he thought about it. "I'll set you up for an appointment with Quynh. She's much more up-to-date on marital property laws than I am. She'll be able to write something up that's fair to both of us."

Joe tipped his head to the side in thought. "Should I trust her?" he asked. "She's your partner, won't she be biased towards you?"

It was a good question. Unfortunately, there really wasn't a good answer. "We're about the only practice in the Washington area that works on Omega rights," Nicky said regretfully. "If you were independently wealthy, you might be able to convince an attorney to write a prenup for you, but something concerning work performed after you're mated? Not likely."

"You are aware of what that says about attorneys, right?" Joe said. Then he heaved a sigh. "Fine, set up an appointment for me. And of course I'll sign whatever you ask for regarding your practice. I don't want to take the results of your hard work any more than I want you to take mine."

Before Nicky could say something in response, Joe leaned in close. "Can we just be done with all this heavy stuff for the night?" he asked. "We've been running all day, and I'm tired. And assuming that the house comes through, we're going to be busy packing all of your stuff up to move, and we still have to deal with my apartment, and Nile is going to be here in a few days..." He sighed and leaned his head against Nicky's shoulder. "It's an awful lot, you know?"

"I know, tesoro," Nicky said. "Do you want to go lie down and get some sleep?"

Without lifting his head, Joe asked, "Are you going to be there?"

Oh. Oh. "Do you want me to?"

"I'll sleep better if I come," Joe said. There was no question about it, he was flirting. And it was working on Nicky better than it had any right to. "And you said I can only come if you're there."

"I did say that, didn't I?" Nicky tapped his finger against his lip, pretending like there was a chance in hell that he might actually say no. "I supposed I can see my way to f*cking you until you scream in pleasure. Does that sound good to you?"

The only giveaway that Joe was intrigued was the tiniest little hitch in his breathing. "Yes, if it's not too much work," he said, and Nicky was pretty sure that if he could see Joe's face, Joe would have been grinning from ear to ear.

"So go clean up and head to bed, and I'll be in to kiss you goodnight in a few minutes," he said.

Joe pushed himself off the couch, and yep, there was the grin that Nicky was already coming to lo - like an awful lot. "Planning to kiss anywhere in particular?" he asked, licking his lips.

"Depends on just what comes up," Nicky said. He swatted Joe gently on the hip. "Now, go."

Joe went.

Nicky listened as Joe stopped in the bathroom and ran the water for a few minutes. Then out into the hallway and all the way back to the bedroom, and Nicky noted that the bed creaked, just a little. He'd never realized it before. He forced himself to count, slowly, to fifty, and then he went to join his mate in their bed.

Joe was naked, yes. Joe was also on his knees, his head resting on his folded arms, his ass lifted as he presented it for Nicky to see. "Oh, that's a nice invitation," Nicky said. There was already a little slick dripping from Joe's hole. He could smell it as well as see it, salty and thick, and all he could think of was to get his mouth right there to taste it.

He hesitated just long enough to get his clothes off, and then he hurriedly climbed up on the bed, hands seeking out the cheeks of Joe's ass, spreading him wide, and he dove in mouth first.

"What the - " Joe exclaimed as he bucked a little. "Nicky! That's dirty!"

Nicky had expected as much, though, and he tightened his hands hard enough that he was probably leaving bruises. "Don't care. I could eat you out for like an hour," he said, lifting away from his target just far enough for Joe to be able to hear him. "Now, hold still."

Joe tasted just as good as he smelled, and Nicky licked and sucked on his hole, until Joe started groaning and pushing back into his mouth. "God, Nicky," he moaned. "What - I don't know -- f*ck!"

Time to up the ante, Nicky decided, pulling back and slowly sinking his thumb into Joe's hole, all the way up to the second joint. "You have the prettiest hole I've ever seen," Nicky said as he slowly f*cked Joe with just his thumb. "So pretty and sweet. After the house and everything are settled, I'm going to take a week off so that I can tie you to the bed and do all the things I can think of to you."

"Yes," Joe said, already breathing hard. "Yes, please, sir, please."

And holy f*ck, did that sound good to him. Nicky knew that he was going to become addicted to Joe calling him sir. Out of bed, he was going to encourage Joe to be as independent as possible, but in their marriage bed? He was going to be absolutely in charge.

And that meant that when he needed to feel Joe's ass around his co*ck, he could. He shifted so he was kneeling upright. "You can come as much as you want," Nicky said. "But you're not to touch your co*ck, and if you don't come from being f*cked, you'll have to wait. Tell me you understand."

Joe nodded against the bedding. "Yes, yes, sir," he said - babbling, really. And as Nicky pushed in on one long stroke, Joe whimpered. "So good. So f*cking good!"

Not giving him a moment to adjust, Nicky started to thrust. He wasn't chasing his own org*sm, not quite yet. He did want to give Joe a chance to come, after all, even if it was unlikely. Joe was just too new to sex to come untouched, Nicky figured.

But it didn't take very long for each push in to elicit a cry or a moan, Joe bucking up into Nicky's grip. The way that he gave the loudest cry yet, the way that his hole tightened down around him, was a surprise. "Co- coming!" Joe gasped out, and then there was no mistaking the tight flutters of the ring of muscle for anything else.

Nicky could have been kind and stopped, or at least offered to stop. He was sure that Joe was probably over-sensitive. But Joe knew what to say if it hurt, and so he continued to move. Now he was trying to come, and each thrust pushed him higher, faster. "God, you feel so good," Nicky cried as his org*sm finally rolled over him, carrying him over the line into pleasure.

His knot went down relatively quickly and he slowly pulled out, keeping Joe spread wide so that he could see his hole. It was red and puffy, a trail of come dripping out, and Nicky used two fingers to push it back in.

Joe hissed. "A little sore?" Nicky asked.

"A little bit," Joe agreed. "But that isn't really the problem."

There was something a little odd in his voice, a little choked. And when Nicky asked what was wrong, Joe reached down to grab his hand, dragging it between his thighs, where he was as hard as if he hadn't come at all. But Nicky had known better, or at least he'd thought he did. "Didn't you come?" he asked.

"I did," Joe said. "But apparently my co*ck is hoping for round two, sir."

Nicky chuckled. "I'm too old to go two rounds, at least when I'm not in rut," he said. "So your greedy co*ck is just going to have to wait until tomorrow."

Joe whimpered a little but didn't argue. Just in case, Nicky said, "You remember what to say if something is too much for you, right?"

"Uh, huh," Joe said, but instead of using it, he just sighed gustily. "You're mean," he said instead.

Nicky couldn't stop the grin that he knew was on his face. "Yeah, I am. But you'll learn to enjoy it."

"I think I already do," Joe said, pressing back into Nicky's touch.

Before Nicky could think of anything else to say, Joe yawned hard enough that his jaw cracked. Taking that as a hint, he helped Joe rearrange himself so that he was lying behind Nicky, plastered up against his back with Nicky facing the door. "Sleep, Joe," he said. "Tomorrow is probably going to be just as busy as today was."

When Nicky fell asleep, it was with the sensation of Joe at his back, and he'd never fallen asleep so fast in his life.