They ate breakfast together a bit later, and Danai peppered Everitt with questions about how long her heat had lasted, exactly what happened, and what their jobs had said. She smiled when he told her about the excuses he gave, and was surprised to learn that they’d been holed up in his penthouse condo for four days.

“Well, I left to buy some things a couple times, but I could never go out for very long,” he told her, looking off into the distance like he was watching the past take place right before his eyes.

Nai glanced over at the invisible scene, then looked back at Ev, “Why not? You said I fell asleep.”

He nodded, considering that point, “Yeah, but it was like you could sense when I left. If I didn’t time it well, which happened the first time I left to pick up some pizza downstairs cause the delivery guy couldn’t come up—he was in a rush, apparently—you would freak out when I came back. Your...”

Everitt’s eyes fell to the area that he couldn’t actually see underneath the wooden table, but Nai felt her face get hot knowing exactly what he was trying to say. He snaked a hand under her sweater, “You became more tender, and sometimes a little swollen, when you were anxious, which would cause you a little pain when we mated afterwards, when I tried to calm you down. Just took some time, no big deal.”

She buried her head in her hands, “I’m so sorry, that must have been exhausting.”

He shrugged, smiling while he lifted his mug to his lips, “I mean, I had fun.” Everitt took a sip of his coffee, and his eyes were practically sparkling when he looked at Danai. She decided to take a page out of his book and stop worrying so much about the things she did during her heat. Nai took a sip of her tea, then let the conversation drift into other things, like the movies they’d  seen together over the past few days and Everitt’s newfound love for film.

“By the way,” Everitt said in between sips, “I like this look on you.” He showed his appreciation by letting his hand explore Nai’s skin underneath the crew neck and sweats. Everitt seemed to be enjoying her reaction, grinning while she pressed her knees together and sat up perfectly in her chair. She slapped his hand away after a while, sure that interaction would end with them in bed together otherwise.

After being together for days on end, Danai thought Everitt would be happy to have some time away from her. Taking care of a person, whether an alpha or an omega, during their rut or heat seemed taxing and she didn’t want to make him feel like he needed to do more. He’d done enough. However, even after spending a few hours together on Saturday, and a phone call on Sunday, Danai still found Everitt smiling at her door on Monday morning. He had the same order in his hands that he did on the day her heat hit, except this time the anxiety of an all-important interview wasn’t making her stomach churn.

“How’ve you been?” Everitt asked before he took a bite of his bagel. 

Nai downed some of her Chai latte, then with a smile teased, “You mean, since the last time we talked, which was yesterday?”

Everitt rolled his eyes, “You know what I mean. How’s your body, how’s your mind, how do you feel-?”

“I’m good, okay?” Her tone was sharper than she intended, and she immediately added, “Sorry. Thanks for checking. I’m just not...”

Nai let her words trail off, but Ev’s nod let her know he could at least guess what she wanted to say. She was not used to this, someone taking such obvious interest in her and making sure she was fine. A part of her was waiting for the other shoe to drop and, considering she still didn’t know where they stood in their “relationship,” she felt like it was hanging right above her head.

Everitt swallowed, cleared his throat, then asked, “Are you free tonight? Or tomorrow night?”

She looked up at the ceiling, looking at the calendar in her mind, “Yeah, I have some time. Why?”

“Well,” Ev started, using a napkin to wipe the crumbs off his hands, “I wanted to take you out. On a date.”

Danai furrowed her brows, thinking he’d tell her he was joking when she met his eyes. Instead of the shoe dropping, it was like it had disappeared and she was now being told to relax and actually hope for the best. Everitt seemed amused, as though her reaction was entertaining somehow. 

“A date? Really?” She asked, as though she hadn’t heard him the first time.

He laughed, “Yeah, why not?”

Nai shrugged. She took a bite of her bagel, then a sip of her drink as they sat there looking at each other. Danai watched Everitt sigh, shake his head, all while the smile never left his face. He’d seemed so pleased these last few days that she had a hard time remembering how he’d been before. They could barely stand to be near each other, and now he was actively trying to spend time with her.

Everitt poked the inside of his cheek with his tongue, “Well, I thought it would be nice to do something outside of work and our places. But, if you’re sick of me then-”

“I never said that.” Nai leaned back in her chair, watching him to be sure this really wasn’t a joke. After a few moments of Everitt looking back at her with raised eyebrows, she decided, “Okay, fine. I hope you picked a place with good food and lighting.”

He smiled at her comment, “I’ll be sure to do the exact opposite.”

The rest of their breakfast was spent laughing over their drinks, and Everitt headed back to work once they were done. Danai watched as he left, a soft smile playing on her lips as she stared at the empty doorway. She would’ve stared into the distance forever if it wasn’t for Patrick coming into it after the elevator chimed. He stood there with a clipboard and phone in-hand, waiting for Danai to notice him. When she just continued to stare, he walked into her office and cleared his throat.

She blinked, surprised to find that her assistant seemingly appeared spontaneously in her office. “When did you get here?”

Patrick squinted at Danai, “You didn’t see me walk in?”

Nai looked up at him blankly, “when?”

Her assistant sighed, “Well, I’m glad to see you back at work and...” He looked up, like he was searching for the words he needed to appropriately express himself. Patrick met her eyes with a knowing look, “...feeling better.”

While she didn’t explicitly confirm her heat--partly because she didn’t want to admit that it was happening--it was pretty obvious to both of them that Patrick knew that’s why she was out. She also had it on good authority that he heard about her “sickness” straight from the horse’s mouth, also known as Everitt. What she wasn’t sure of was how to broach, or avoid, this conversation.

“Thanks.” She nodded at his clipboard, choosing to proceed with business-as-usual for the time being. “What’s on the docket today?”

Patrick walked over to Danai’s side of the desk as he held out the board, and he mentioned each item on the list as she looked over them. It wasn’t a very busy day, mostly just things she had to catch up on that she’d missed while she was away. Paperwork, filming her show, a meeting, and submitting some scripts for edits. She poked her cheek with a pen while she listened to Patrick go over every item. Nai lifted her pen into the air, “Wait, this meeting’s for what?”

He looked at the paper, “The Nano Awards.”

Nai’s heart pounded, but she willed herself to take deep breaths. The meeting could have been about anything regarding the awards, and she didn’t want to get her hopes up that maybe, just maybe, she had a chance of getting one that year. That award had been on her New Year’s Resolutions since university, when she learned that she might have a chance to someday win one. 

She asked, “What about the awards?” The question was posed as though she could care less, like the last thing on her mind was an award that would signify her having arrived as a broadcast journalist, all her hard work paying off. The pinnacle, the mountaintop. Just thinking about it made her toes tingle.

“I’m not sure, actually,” he said, looking at his phone. “Maybe you’re getting invited to go as part of the company this year?”

The response did nothing to settle Danai’s anxiety. She nodded, “maybe.”

While she tried to convince herself that even just going to the award show would be an honour, she felt a presence behind her. Nai looked up at Patrick, only to see him looking at something on her back? She turned suddenly, then pointed at him.

“What are you doing?”

He sighed, exasperated, as though a plan of his had been foiled. “Well, I didn’t get a chance to see anything if that’s what your concern is.”

She squinted at him for a few moments before her eyes widened, realisation crossing her mind, and a hand flew to the sensitive skin on the back of her neck. It was smooth, as if untouched, and Danai felt herself relax. She glared up at Patrick.

“You didn’t seem like you wanted to talk about, and I got curious. I shouldn’t have, though, I apologise.” He looked down at the floor as she looked at him.

Danai rolled her eyes, “What makes you think he’d claim me?”

Pat lifted his head, this time with an incredulous look on his face. “With the way he was looking at you, I’m surprised you even made it out of the building with your clothes on.”

Danai closed her mouth, thinking back to the heated moments after their segment; the way he touched her, kissed her, the low growl to keep others away. She felt her face flush, then heard the tall omega nearby gasp.

“Did you-?” Patrick started, but Danai waved her hands in front of her.

“No! He just...” Her mind went to the time they spent together in his apartment, and she quickly shook the memory away. “Anyway, it’s over now. It happened.”

She leaned forward on her desk, her elbows pressed against the glass, as she thought about Patrick’s words. This was the furthest things had gone for her with any man, let alone an alpha like Everitt. Maybe it was a good thing that Patrick noticed, because everything that was going on with Everitt was being considered and reasoned in Danai’s mind alone. The only experience she was considering was her own, as limited as that was. Patrick was mated, and smart enough to even check for a claim mark, which Nai hadn’t even thought of. At every turn, her lack of knowledge and experience were made abundantly clear to her, and the thought threw her into a slight panic.