Heat Haven (Heat Haven Omegaverse, #1)(9)

“That's different.”

I should have kept those words bottled up in my throat, but I stupidly did not. Griffin doesn’t feel like a stranger. He comforted me instantly when the elevator shut down. He knew what I needed before I even did. I’m certainly no prude, but I’m not usually one to dive headfirst into a sexual encounter either. What I did with Griffin, though, it felt natural; it felt right.

Griffin doesn’t push me on what I just said, thank goodness. The elevator door creaks open inch by inch. The face of a weathered old man appears. He’s wearing greyish-blue coveralls peeking through the crack of the door.

“Thanks for your patience, you guys. Got stuck on the pike. Friggin’ assholes don’t know how to drive in bad weatha’.”

The old man opens the door wide enough that I know I could fit, but looking at Griff, there’s no way his wide shoulders are going through that.

“Sir, I think we're going to need to open the door a little wider for my friend here.”

“Yeah, just gimme a sec,” the old man grumbles.

I look over at Griffin, and he is slightly rolling his eyes. The maintenance man opens the door by another six inches or so. I’m kinda suspicious that the elevator is only partially on level five. What if I’m halfway through the doors and the thing starts moving again?

“So, do I have to climb up, or is there any way to have the elevator be level with the floor?”

“Sorry kid, gonna have to climb up here,” he tells me.

I’m never getting on an elevator ever again.

Griffin looks over at me, and his eyes are full of compassion. “It’s okay. I’ll toss you through so fast you won't even have to think about it.”

He’s been so patient with me through this entire ordeal while I’ve acted like a frightened child. I swear I need to prove to him that I’m not some incompetent, scared of her shadow type girl. I feel like I offered nothing to Griffin, while he has given me confidence, respect. Oh, and let’s not forget two orgasms.

I just nod my head as he grabs me by the hips and pushes me through the doors. It’s like I’m being shot out from the pits of hell. Like Griffin said, it went by super fast. Fortunately, I wasn’t cut in half like those girls at the magic shows. I let out a sigh of relief and quickly get to my feet. I fully intend to help Griffin get out of the elevator, but the man just pulls himself up like he weighs nothing.

Once he crawls out of the shaft, he rises to his full height and brushes off his slacks. Standing next to him, I barely reach his sternum. Bringing one of his large, very talented hands to the nape of my neck, he looks at me. “You okay?”

I smile at him. I probably look like a psychopath, looking at this man I just met like he hung the moon. I’ve only known him for under an hour for Christmas’s sake. It must be my heat riding me, it must. This kind of instant connection is for fairy tales and reality dating shows. Surely this type of thing doesn’t happen to little country girl Emily, who has next to nothing to show for herself. Crap, stop putting yourself down. I stop my negative train of thinking and nod my head at Griffin. At this point, I realize that we have a bit of an audience waiting outside the elevator for us.

This stocky man clasps Griffin on the shoulder, Griffin grimaces. I get the impression he wants this man's grimy hands off of him.

“Looks like you got a freebie, my guy. Should have let you take my spot on the elevator,” the man directs his gross comment to Griffin.

Griffin looks down at the man with pure heat in his eyes. Not the good kind of heat. “Fuck off, and don’t touch me.”

I never really thought I’d be into a possessive or assertive Alpha, but if his tone didn’t just send electricity right to my clit. Griffin senses it immediately and looks over at me. Omega perfume really is some bull. Can’t a girl get turned on without the entire world knowing?

Griffin grabs my hand and starts ushering me down the hallway. “Where is Omega services?”

“Down on level two.”

“Let’s take the stairs, yeah?”

I nod my head. Elevators and I are on a certified break. Not that I didn’t love everything that went down on that elevator, literally. A girl can only take so much trauma in a day, so stairs it is.

Griffin holds my hand in his the whole time as we make our way to Omega services. I try to mentally prepare for when he eventually lets go. Once we have made our way down to level two, Griffin opens the door for me and we walk down the hallway to Omega Services. This floor is a lot more office building looking than the luxurious feel of the other floors at Heat Haven.

A woman with pale blonde hair greets us at the service desk, “Welcome, how can I assist you today?”

Griffin looks at me, placing his hand on my back, encouraging me to speak to the lady at the desk.

“Hi, I’m Emily Collins. I have my heat scheduled for later this week. I have already selected my Alphas, but I just met Griffin here and I need to make some adjustments.”

She gives me a gentle smile and starts typing away on her computer. “No problem at all. It happens more than you think. With the flexibility of our fraternization policy, a lot of Omegas and Alphas meet at the last minute,” she scrolls through something on the monitor.

“Okay Ms. Collins, were you looking to adjust your heat to have four Alphas, or would you like to remove one that you currently have listed and replace them with Mr.—” she glances over to Griffin, and a spark twinkles in her eye. Back off, lady, he’s spoken for.