“What if I annoy you? It’s been known to happen.”
Or as Will put it, “You’re always underfoot and talking.” You know, in my apartment. Ass.
“Same here. The house is plenty big enough for us to have our own corners to hide.”
“I still need to work.” Why was I acting like this was a done deal? His hazelnut and cardamom scent blasted into me as the door opened and the wind swirled into the cafe. Maybe that was why I was so ready to go play house with him. I could bask in that scent all night long. My already erect lower brain believed that was the best reason ever.
“And you can bank your paychecks for after the baby.”
A quick calculation told me I would be able to take a good two months paternity leave, set up a new apartment, and have a small cushion if I did that.
“You’re serious about all of this.”
“As a heart attack.” He leaned back in his chair, his false portrayal of nonchalance not fooling me. He was nervous I was going to say no.
“What about… you know… sex? I’m fairly certain it’ll be a little more than nine months until I care, but it seems ridiculous for you to have to go that long for no reason.” I could force myself to be okay with him having someone over, but that was one thing I couldn’t lie to myself about. It would be hard.
He laughed. “Somehow I don’t think that will be a problem.” At my confused look, he cleared his throat. “Ah, I think it’s safe to say I’m fairly obsessed with my work, so… there hasn’t been anyone in a long time.”
I had no right to be as pleased about that as I was. I grasped at my last straws. “The baby. Won’t they think it’s yours?”
“We’ll be honest and say you didn’t know you were pregnant until after we got together. How did that happen anyway?”
It took me a moment to figure out what he was actually asking. How did I become pregnant and not know it right away? Even my doctor called bullshit on it, so I guess it was a fair question, just not one I was overly comfortable sharing.
“When an alpha and an omega like each other…” I teased, hoping it would be the end of it.
“Really?” His mocking tone was somehow gentle.
“I don’t know.” And that was the freakiest part of it. “I must be extra fertile or something, because I never even went into heat and we were always careful. That should’ve been my hint to dump him long ago,” I mused the last part.
“What do you mean?” He seemed so interested in my words. I wanted to skootch my chair closer and spill all my secrets. But that would be bad. Right?
“When I had my heat… this is so embarrassing… I locked him out.” Both times. It turns out I was a slow learner in the romance department.
“You chose to go through your heat alone versus with him.” His voice held a compassionate tone I wasn’t expecting. Shock? Sure. Disgust? Quite possibly, but compassion? Not so much. Spending heat alone sucked. Big time. He must have spent someone’s heat with them if he understood so well.
“Yeah. You must think I was pretty stupid for staying with him.” I know I did.
“Or smart for getting rid of him,” he offered.
“So… how are we going to convince people we’re a couple?” My traitorous body had some ideas. I did some long division in my head trying to distract myself from that train of thought as Aiden seemed to think through his response. I liked that about him.
“Well, obviously we will need to hold hands and possibly kiss in front of people to make it seem real. That said, we will have your things in my bedroom so it looks real for my dads, but you can sleep in the guest room or I can.”
I found myself nodding in reply. He made sense and I got to kiss him. Was that even a good idea? Did I even care? Darn pregnancy hormones.
“We’ll work it out. I didn’t really think anything through when I asked.”
“Oh,” I conceded, the dream beginning to fade. “Do you want to take it back?”
I crossed my toes he’d say no, knowing my fingers were too obvious. Did toes even work?
“No.” He reached over, grabbing my hand which was idly playing with a napkin. The warmth of his body paired with his scent told me two things: I wanted this too much. And no matter what we said, sex was going to be hard to keep off of the table.
“I want to do this.” He gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “I think it will help us both and if I play my cards right, I might even be able to get some of those coffee beans.”
“I see how it is.” He was far from the first customer to ask. I smiled.
“Is that a yes?”
“That’s a no to the beans and a yes to the mating.”
He exhaled a deep breath.
“What now?”
“What time do you get off work?”
I glanced at the clock. “In about three hours.”
“Do you trust me enough to give me a key to your place so I can get movers over there?”
“Now?” Keys. Movers. This was happening. Did I trust him with that? I kind of had to if I was going to move in. “Just like that.” I was already beginning to write down my address.
“It was condemned and you’re pregnant. Not really a good place to be.” His logic was sound, not that I needed to be convinced.
I fished the keys out of my pocket.
“Here.” I placed the keys in his hand. “And here’s the address.”
“So we’re doing this.” His smiled beamed. I’m pretty sure mine mirrored his.
“We’re doing this. Can I ask you a favor?”
“Ask away.”
“This is embarrassing,” More than embarrassing but for some reason him touching my private supplies was far preferable to a stranger getting their germs on them. If that happened, I’d probably have to just throw them all away. I was weird like that. “But before the movers come, can you pack the things in my nightstand?”
I saw the moment what I was asking registered, his eyes darkening and his nostrils flaring slightly. I shouldn’t like getting that kind of reaction out of him. We weren’t even really friends. But goodness gracious, the feeling it gave me was heady.
“As in, me move them to our place.”
Down hormones, down. Our just meant common, not in the we are together way, no matter what my boner was thinking.
“Yeah. They are kind of personal and not something I want strangers to see.” Understatement of the year.
“I’m a stranger.” His fingers danced across the top of my hand. He was a playful one, this alpha.
“And you are also my… mate… so better option.”
“This is going to be great.”
He spoke more to himself than to me, but I couldn’t agree more. They day was looking up. From nearly homeless, pregnant, and alone, to living with a man who would take care of me without any expectations except I be his arm candy. I just needed to remind myself it as all pretend repeatedly before I accidentally gave him my heart.
He leaned forward and gave me a peck on the lips, saying, “I’ll pick you up in three hours.”
9
Aiden
I whistled as I unlocked my silver Maserati. Honestly, my dads would have thrown a fit, or I probably would have sold it for funding. But for a few months, it looked like my money troubles were over. I felt a little guilty over the idea of fooling my dads, but it would be fine in the end. Everyone goes through a break up at some point in their life, right? Mine just wouldn't necessarily leave me feeling broken...
I plugged Chris's address into my GPS and called Ethan.
"What can I do for you, Aiden?" he answered.
"Can you get a moving truck to this address ASAP?" I read off Chris's address.
"Did we purchase some new supplies?" Ethan asked, confused. I rarely handled orders or, well, really anything paperwork oriented other than signing my signature. I loved the experimentation part, but the paperwork I could do without.
All that said, I took enjoyment in Ethan's confusion. It was hard for me
to surprise him. He probably knew more about the business as a whole than I did. Which was why I'd recruited him. It helped that he'd been my roommate when I first started this crazy project, and he'd been in it from the first disgusting trial.
"Nope, this is something personal." I was having too much fun. I could practically hear the gerbils running in his brain.
"Ooh-kay," he said. "Is an hour soon enough?"
"Perfect." Would I be able to fool Ethan? He'd heard me mention Chris a time or two before. I didn't know if I'd be able to convince him of the whole story, though. I'd have to talk to Chris before I made any decisions on that.
Even though Chris had said his building was condemned, I hadn't expected it to be this bad. I could see broken windows from the street, and bags of reeking garbage were scattered along the wall of the building. The front door hung ajar, and when I tried to close it after me, it stuck, three inches open. After a few more tries I gave up, and after eyeing the ancient elevators dubiously, I took the equally ancient but decidedly more sturdy looking stairs to the fourth floor. I double checked Chris's directions when I reached his floor, and then wondered why he'd even given me a key. I was fairly certain I could have broken in with a firm push. I used the key anyway. Inside, at least, the area was tidy, with well-used but well-maintained furniture. I'll admit it, I'm a bit of a snoop. I beelined for his bookshelf which held some DVDs and a ragged assortment of paperbacks. Chris was a mystery fan, it appeared. His small collection of DVDs was almost all Sherlock Holmes—and I hadn't even realized they had made that many Sherlock Holmes movies. He had some of the books as well, as well as a few other names I recognized, like Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers. And a lot I had never heard of.
He didn't have much in the way of photos. But then again, neither did I. I kept pretty much everything online. For the first time, I wondered about his family. I pulled out my phone and started making a list of questions for things we needed to know about each other to pull this off.
Family members
Favorite childhood pets
Most embarrassing childhood story
College
Best friends
I jotted down anything I could think of my dads asking. That would do for now. I was sure I'd think of more later.
There was only one door leading from the open living room and kitchen area, and I headed for it, remembering what Chris had asked me to do. His bedroom was much the same as the other room: tidy. I pulled open the nightstand drawer, feeling like a voyeur, both intrigued and embarrassed. There were only three toys, and I couldn't stop my brain from imagining how Chris used them. There was a cock ring, silicone, black and stretchy. I'd used one a few times before, and could imagine using one again with Chris below me. I shook my head. That's not what this was about. I set it on the bed and picked up the two remaining toys, a fancy large, vibrating dildo with swirly pearl thingies and multiple settings and... it took me a moment to figure out what the last thing was. A knot plug. And now I couldn't get the thought of Chris, spending his heat alone, fucking his ass with the dildo and then switching it out for the knot, his tight channel holding it, giving him some relief. He'd said he had locked his ex out when he was in heat. I couldn't help but wonder if he'd ever taken a real knot.
Nope. I really needed to lock down on those kinds of thoughts, fast. Chris was in a vulnerable position, and as much as he was helping me, if he left before the birth of the baby, I wouldn't be in too much trouble. I could spin it to get my dads to give me even longer before threatening to pull my funding again, on account of my heartbreak. But for him, he'd be back to square one: homeless and pregnant. As tempted as it was, I couldn't do anything to put him in a situation that made him feel uncomfortable or unsafe.
And I really couldn't spend my time waiting on the movers fantasizing about him, his toys and me. Masturbating on his bed and fantasizing about that would take me to a whole new level of perversion. I needed to get this shit boxed up quick.
I was able to find a small, used shipping box and hurriedly packed the toys away. If we'd known each other longer, if we'd had any hint of relationship beyond him serving me coffee nearly every day, I might have thought he was teasing me. But that's not where we were. The next thirty minutes were torture before the movers arrived. I tried to catch up on emails to distract myself and do something useful, but mostly it was a continual cycle of trying to rein in my unruly thoughts. As soon as I could, I tossed the movers the keys and practically ran away from the apartment, taking the tiny box with me. I checked my phone for the time. Two hours until I could pick Chris up. Just enough time to run home and get some things set up for him.
10
Chris
Glancing up at the clock, I checked the time…again. Fine, for the five hundredth time. My heart was pounding in my chest knowing that he would be here soon and everything would change. I would be in a safe home, which would set me up to save adequate funds to do right by my child who was currently the size of a bean. I’d still have my job, which made the scary venture before me far less so. A job meant I wasn’t stuck, something Aiden seemed to value as much as I did.
If I were to be completely honest with myself, I had been only days away from giving up and telling Will I would be his and we were going to be a family. Family. What a joke. Will wasn’t the family type. He was an alpha in name only. He had none of the strength and instincts of a good alpha. And as much as I might disagree with my parents on some of their beliefs, my dad was a good alpha, and I’d had a good role model. Gut instinct told me Aiden had those qualities too.
Aiden. Strong, sexy alpha. I knew he picked me because I needed him as much as he needed me. It didn’t hurt that his alpha instincts to protect had probably kicked in hard at my predicament. He still picked me. Me. Underemployed, overly pregnant me. My chest puffed up a little at that. So did my cock. It was going to be a long pregnancy living with Aiden if even the thought of him had me at attention.
“Chris?” Marcus, my coworker called into the office I was “doing ordering” in. I hadn’t actually gotten anything done in the past half hour. My mind was too busy elsewhere.
“Yeah, Marcus?” I called back, putting the order forms on top of the “to be done” pile for the next shift leader. My brain was just not with it enough, and if I kept trying, we’d wind up with four thousand extra bottles of cream or not enough cup lids.
“That sexy alpha is back.” Marcus fanned himself. He had been harassing me about Aiden all afternoon. If it hadn’t been for that quick kiss Aiden had dropped on me, I probably could have derailed him, but just the hint of sex and Marcus started whirling like a windmill. “That man is sizzling. I know you’re kinda honeys now, but if you get tired, I can always take him off your hands for a while. Or go halfsies.” He shrugged. “I’m not opposed to a little rotisserie if you know what I’m saying…” He made an obscene gesture, and if I’d had any confusion to what he meant, I didn’t anymore.
I ignored Marcus, my breath quickening. Aiden was four minutes early. Yes, I had been keeping that close an eye on the time. I brushed the wrinkles out of my uniform, not that it made me look any more appealing. Polyester was polyester.
I ran my hand through my hair, hoping to give it that tussled on purpose sexy look. It probably just looked messy, but it was the best I could do. It wasn’t like this was a real mating, or even a date. It was the two of us helping each other out, like any friend would, only without the actual friendship. At least, not yet. I could easily see us becoming good friends, if I could convince my lower brain to simmer down, anyway.
His scent bombarded me as I walked through the swinging doors leading to the front counter. He was here. For real, and not just in my wishful thinking. I blushed before I even saw him. He was leaning on the wall and, at first glance, appeared almost relaxed. Almost. His jaw painted a very different picture. He was as nervous as I was.
“Marcus?” I called.
“Yes…” He drawled the word out and sauntered over, en
joying what he, I was sure, believed was the show of a lifetime. Rich young alpha saves omega in need. Marcus dreamed of finding his alpha and being swooped off his feet. His method of getting that to happen included Omega Nights at the local clubs and tasting all the merchandise. Unsurprisingly, that wasn’t quite panning out for him. Too bad, because underneath his façade he was a pretty cool dude.
“I’m done for the day.” My eyes locked with Aiden’s and I reached for the counter to steady myself. I couldn’t tear my eyes away as I talked to Marcus. I swore I hear a small giggle escape Marcus’s lips like a teenage girl. Oh, Marcus. “Betty called and said she’d be a bit late. Are you good?”
“Absolutely.” He walked behind me, his towel snapping at my head playfully. That got Aiden’s attention and he broke eye contact and strode over to me, taking my hand in an overt sign of possessiveness. I sighed contentedly, even though I knew this was only part of the game; it’s what I signed up for. The warmth of his hand traveled up my arm and he gave me a gentle squeeze. It had been so long since someone had made me feel…wanted. What had I gotten myself into?
“Please tell her the ordering still needs to be done and apologize for me.” My voice dropped into the rougher tone I used when I was truly into the moment, but I couldn’t help it. I was a dead man.
“Sure thing. Have a nice night,” he taunted, knowing I wouldn’t be willing to come back at him. Not with my new beau by my side. If only he was my beau, my anything real. If we had met before I had made the bad life decision that was Wil, if had we connected out of desire instead of need.
“Ready, darling?” Aiden asked, his lips grazing my cheek. They felt far too good on my body even in this very chaste way.
“Darling?” I challenged. I didn’t hate it… but he didn’t need to know that.
His Pretend Omega: M/M Non-Shifter Alpha/Omega MPREG (Cafe Om Book 2) Page 4