“You think of me as a someday.” I wasn’t asking, just absorbing it all. He was so forward with how he felt. It was both refreshing and a wee bit scary.
“No. I think of you as from now on, but I did then.”
“Here you go, boys.” Marsha placed two plates of steaming food in front of us. I swore she lay in wait, hoping to catch us at the worst possible moment. “Fresh from—not us. Enjoy.”
Jay looked at her as she walked away, a quizzical look upon his face.
“My mom’s pot roast with cranberries.” I pointed to his plate with my fork.
It near pained me to pull my hand away so I could eat. Mom picked my favorite meal and one that would go down easily. She was a keeper.
“I’m guessing that means I’m in like Flynn.” He wore a shit-eating grin as he took his first forkful.
“Something like that.” Probably exactly that.
We ate in silence for a few minutes, enjoying her home-cooked goodness.
“So, I need to finish school,” I blurted out just as he had put a forkful of potatoes into his mouth. “That’s not a question.”
I sat there, waiting for his response. Kayson had told me once that he and Reid worked because they didn’t let things grow and fester inside them, and the going-to-school thing would be one of them, so out it came.
“I assumed you would,” he replied when he finally swallowed his mouthful. “But tell me this, why did you say it that way?”
Because I was scared.
“Because I’m a pregnant omega,” I said instead. It was also true. I didn’t want to be one of those omegas who forever wished they had buckled down and finished their class or their degree or their internship.
“That doesn’t make your dreams float away. How much more school do you have?” And just like that, my fears fell away. He was being all pragmatic and fabulous, and I knew instantly, my worries were for naught. “Because fall might be hard for you with the baby coming. You would need to miss some classes.”
“I’m done in May.” I had thought about going another year and seeing if I could add an endorsement for school leadership, but that was my fallback if I didn’t get a decent job, not the main plan.
“Then, easy-peasy done.” He took a drink of his ginger ale as I picked at my peas. Mom knew they weren’t my favorite but never tired of trying to convince me of their awesomeness. “What do you want to do then?”
“Teach.” Or stay home being a dad. But I kept that part to myself. Daring not to dream such a thing. “Not in the fall because that would be too hard. But maybe subbing second semester?”
“You don’t need to decide now.”
But I kind of did. Babies didn’t feed themselves. Nor buy themselves diapers.
“Do you know where you’ll be working then? Maybe—”
“I will be working where you are.” He cut me off.
Jay was working where I was. But I was in Mapleville, and he was an important big shot in his field. How was that going to work?
Instead of asking, for fear of the answer, I shoveled a fork of peas into my mouth. Most of a forkful, anyway. A few that fell right off, one rolling toward Jay and earning me one of his glorious laughs.
Chapter Sixteen
Joaquim
#anoldiebutagoodie
The meal was spent in a whirl of awkward silence. I had to convey to Brent what I wanted and why I wanted it.
There was no other choice for me.
After dinner, we decided to go to the movies and see whatever was playing.
“A Walk in the Park. I love that movie.”
“Me, too. The old movies are the best.” Brent had eaten almost all of his food at the diner, and it made me happy. Seeing my mate full of nourishing food for him and our babe satisfied me like nothing else.
“Wanna sit in the back and make out?” I put my arm around his shoulder, followed by a nibble on his earlobe.
“You have no idea.”
We passed the snack bar and even though I’d just eaten, the aroma of popcorn filled my nose and stirred my already-full stomach.
“Do you want popcorn?” I asked. “Anything? I can’t believe we are here, and you’re pregnant, and I don’t even know what you like to eat at the movies. We moved a little backward, didn’t we?”
Brent frowned. “I’m sorry.”
My alpha instinct was to take him by the shoulders and make him know in every way possible that he’d given me everything that night and didn’t even know it. There was no reason in the wide world for him to be sorry—ever.
“Let’s go sit down. We have a few minutes before the movie starts.”
The theater smelled like stale popcorn and maybe a little like nacho cheese, but that’s what theaters were supposed to smell like, in my opinion.
“Come on, Brent, all the way in the back.”
While we walked up the stairs, I stayed behind him. Even the stairs were a danger to my mate and child.
I was a walking, talking, protective mess.
We sat in red seats that folded down with a creak. The before-movie commercials hadn’t even started.
“Brent, can we talk or more to the point, can I talk?”
He nodded, that frown in full force again.
“You’ve said you were sorry and some other things today that have made me think you’re confused or frustrated.. I want to straighten things out before feelings get hurt. That’s the way I am, by the way, I face things head-on before they get out of control.”
I waited to finish until a teen with a goofy hat on came in, decided he wasn’t sweeping up the mess from the last movie, and leave again.
“Brent, this may be too soon for you, but I have to say my piece. I’ve traveled as a nurse for three reasons. One, I’m pretty damned good at it, and I love helping people. Two, I had nothing else anchoring me to one place. And that’s why, when I finally found you, even before I knew about our baby...Brent, you already had me anchored that night. I am anchored to you, heart and soul. So, staying here and helping you through school and finding work wherever I can, well, that still satisfies my desire to be a nurse, but more importantly…” I took his hands and gave him a peck on the lips just because I could. “I’m staying here because this is where my family is. You, this baby, we are a family now, at least, we are for me. When I called Kayson and told him who I was, he asked me one question. Do you know what that was?”
He shook his head, tears welling in the corners of his eyes.
“He asked me if I was in love with you. And my answer came without hesitation and without knowing about this absolute treasure that you have in your belly. I think I’ve loved you since I saw you up on that balcony in New Orleans. You took my breath away then, and I don’t feel like I’ve breathed since. I want this. I want this baby. I want Mapleville or wherever you decide to live because my home is you. Wherever you are, there I am, too.”
I hadn’t meant to give him a sermon on my love, but after I’d said my piece, I didn’t regret a word.
I took my heart out and gave it to him.
Now it was his decision what to do with it.
“I don’t…” Brent sputtered but then the lights went out and the movie started after the heavy red curtains moved out of the way.
“Don’t say anything. Let’s just watch the movie. Also, if you don’t want me to cop a feel, speak your piece now.”
He said nothing, but a smile grew on his face while a few tears escaped. After sniffing a little, he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek, letting his lips linger.
I only lasted about ten minutes before I couldn’t stand not to be touching him. My hand trailed along his thigh, softly exploring all his curves and valleys. I moved the armrest between us so nothing stood between his body and mine as the lust built in my core, demanding to be quenched by my mate’s touch.
“Are you watching?” I asked, whispering in his ear.
“Nope. Not a single second,” he whispere
d back.
“Then get over here.”
In the flickering light from the black-and-white movie, his lips met mine. The last two times I’d really kissed Brent, we were desperate, on the edge of needful with our lips and our physical movements. But, this time was different. Our first touch was gentle, barely a feather of a touch of his lips on mine. When he kissed me again, he allowed me to lead, increasing and decreasing pressure according to the sounds coming from my mate. They fueled me on. I reveled in kissing him like this, learning what he liked—what made him moan or thread his fingers through the back of my hair.
Learning Brent was the one journey I’d been denied of.
We slowed down and settled back tin our seats after a while, but our hands were still tangled.
“Jay?” he loud-whispered.
“Yeah?”
“I want this, too.”
Chapter Seventeen
Brent
#DidYouBringAToothbrush
The movie ended far too soon or not soon enough. I wasn’t sure just which.
There was something magical about that first love, all hormones, kind of making out like teenagers. The steady fueling of our desire with the understanding there was nothing coming next. We weren’t building to a blow job or even a hand job. We were enjoying exactly what we were doing.
It was hotter than hot.
We didn’t even know the movie was over until the lights clicked on to help guide us from the theater. We were the last show of the night and they wanted us out. At least we came on a weekday so we could be alone. If we waited until the weekend, it would be new movie night and the place would be packed-ish. And by new movie, the owners meant less than three months old, but for three bucks and a night out, that was new enough.
But yay for us going on Classics Night where we could make out without the peanut gallery whistling at us. Not that I was sure we were alone. We were making out before the movie started and frankly, I had more important things to worry about than who surrounded us.
“My place?” I asked trying to remember if I had even made the bed in my tiny apartment.
“Which is closer?” Jay’s arms wrapped around me, and I almost forgot the question.
“Ummm, the hotel I think. You are making me math,” I teased.
“Says the hot math TA. The hotel it is. Do you want to stop and get anything along the way? Maybe a toothbrush?” The innuendo in his tone let me know instantly he was asking me to stay over and not implying anything about my hygiene, but I couldn’t resist razzing him a little bit.
“Are you saying I stink, or that you want me to spend the night?” I nibbled on his neck to incentivize him to answer correctly.
“I wasn’t going to say anything—”
I playfully smacked his chest, and we both giggled, yes giggled. We were quite the pair, and now that I knew he wanted to be a pair and was all-in, the guilt started to settle in. We were in Mapleville. His silly request for me to get a toothbrush was nearly impossible. He was a world traveler and gifted in his field. Staying here was giving up more than he could begin to imagine.
“We’ll have to get one from the hotel lobby. This is Mapleville. Everything closed well before the movie was over.” Not that there was much to be open in the first place.
“Hotel it is.” He grabbed my hand and all but dragged me out of there. I was down with that plan.
We were back at his suite, complimentary toothbrush in hand, within fifteen minutes. That was one of the benefits of a small town. If you lived or were doing things within the town limits, everything was super close. It was a huge part of why so many people liked it. It was also a huge part of the reason people hated it.
“I have a confession for you.” He led me to the couch, where he took off my shoes one by one, which somehow was the sexiest of things he could’ve done right then. It was far too early in my pregnancy for my feet to be swollen, but my body didn’t seem to get that memo.
“Do tell.” I snuggled into him as he sat beside me.
“I didn’t want to leave this room earlier and was a bit pissed at your cousin.”
“Me, too.” Leaving had been the absolute last thing I had on my mind. Especially when I knew Jay was in the shower all naked and wet and soapy. Nope, I’d been pissed—then. Now, not so much.
“There’s more.” He bopped my nose. I loved how comfortable we were together, as if we’d known each other for years and not nanoseconds.
“Scandalous.” I burrowed in deeper, loving the feeling of being surrounded by his warmth and strength. I had it bad.
“I’m glad we did. I feel like tonight was more.” His arm tightened around me as he kissed the top of my head. “More than a date. More than a reconnecting. More than making out like a couple of frisky teens.” He tipped my head up to meet his eyes, “I admit it. I was a little afraid I’d built up what we had up too much in my head. As if, it was amazing, but I was putting more into it somehow.”
Relief filled me, knowing I hadn’t been alone in that.
“I was, too.” I reached up to cup his cheek, loving the rough feel of his whiskers against my palm. “But now that you are here—really here, I see that I was silly to be worried.”
“My mom used to say worry is a waste of life.” He rubbed into my hand a little before encouraging me to snuggle back into his side. “I miss her. She and my dad had the perfect love story. Love at first sight, engaged on the second date, and married so fast it caused whiplash and lots of gossip. You know, surely he’d knocked her up and was doing right by her. It couldn’t be love.”
“People are idiots.”
“They are,” he agreed as he brought my legs up and onto his lap. It was nice, like that, just a ball of affection on the crappy hotel sofa. “It was, the gossips insisted, never going to last, but four years later they had me. They loved each other until the day she died. Papa still loves her, but he is dating now. I can’t wait for you to meet him.”
“I would be honored.” I inhaled deeply. I rarely talked about my father, but it felt like the time to share. “My mom and dad were the same way, only with a little less velocity. They waited four whole months to get engaged.” I wasn’t giving details about what made me miss my dad so, but it still brought up the feels.
“The willpower.” Jay’s lips graced the top of my head again.
“Thanks.” I was such a lucky omega.
“For?”
“For sharing that with me. For helping me to see that as much as I was thinking this was all crazy, we both come from families who did exactly this—jumped in with both feet. Although in our case, we did start with a baby so not exactly the same.
We’re not crazy. I’m not even sure if impulsive is the word. Maybe we are just decisive?”
“Yeah, let’s go with that.” He chuckled as I inadvertently let out a yawn. I hadn’t been awake for this length of time for a couple of weeks. I’d assumed I was sick, but now that I knew pregnant, I just accepted it.
“You’re exhausted.”
“I’m kind of growing a human.” Our baby.
“Yes, you are.” He guided my feet to the floor, and I scooched back as he stood, holding his hand out for me. “Let’s get you to bed.”
I accepted his help and got to my feet.
“Not going to help the tiredness, but I’m more than game.” I raised my eyebrows up and down a couple of times for good measure.
“I meant to sleep. I want to spend the night holding you, listening to you breathe, feeling your warmth, knowing you are back with me.”
And, somehow, that sounded even better.
Chapter Eighteen
Joaquim
#HeartbeatMeltyness
For the last three weeks, I’d been living in the apartment above Vivian’s garage. It wasn’t the ideal situation, but Brent hadn’t brought up moving in with him, and truth be told, we were still two people getting to know each other, yet having a baby together.
Like maybe he wanted the baby, but not me as his partner.
I shook that nudging off at least three times a day.
I went to the hospice center to see if they had any jobs available. The place was running, but barely, putting out fires instead of running the place like it should be. Let’s face it, these people came here to live out the rest of their lives peacefully, not be forgotten in a stack of paperwork.
“You want to know the truth, Joaquim?” the plump older nursing supervisor, Jeanette, told me after giving me a tour.
I nodded, already sensing what she was going to say.
“We need someone to run this place the way it deserves to be run, but the other managers haven’t been in the medical field before. They were fresh out of business school, but they don’t understand patients. I need someone who understands both. Someone who can work out the spreadsheets and pay the bills but also put in an IV if needed.”
Without hesitation, I answered. “I understand. My only problem is that I live an hour from here.”
“No weekends. No nights,” she almost sang, trying to taunt me.
“Let me think about it, okay, Jeanette?”
She nodded and shook my hand. At least I had a good starting point.
That was yesterday, and today was baby doctor day.
It might be the best day ever.
I’d rented a car to get myself around town, and as soon as I pulled up in front of Brent’s apartment, I texted him to let him know I was there.
Two minutes later, he came out, looking like a different person than when I’d first gotten here. The first trimester had nearly passed and, with it, most of the sickness. He was eating better and sleeping like the dead at night. His studies and work kept him busy, and I made sure to fill the time between.
Mardi Gras with His Omega Page 7