Roommate. Wasn’t that the depressing reality.
“We can make them both try all the dishes like when kings had royal tasters.” His tongue returned the gesture and my pervy mind wandered to what it would be like to have him lick me from head to toe and I quickly did some long division in my head to get my dumb cock to simmer down. Aiden was going to be the death of me.
“I think I’m more of a prince than a king, but the plan is solid.”
“And what a handsome prince you are at that.”
I knew he was playing, but it didn’t stop my blush which, being the ever gentleman, he ignored.
“Flattery won’t get you out of tasting my food before me if you’re too cheap to get a taster or at least offer your dads up as tribute.”
“Foiled again.” He offered his arm which I greedily took. “Shall we go?” I nodded and off we went.
The restaurant was a short drive and before I knew it, I was sitting with both of his dads in a restaurant without any prices on the menu. I was so out of my element. I quickly ordered a glass of water and read my menu repeatedly as a form of avoidance. I needed to get comfortable in my environment before I engaged too fully in conversation.
My plan was destroyed when I heard his father exclaim, “Congratulations, Aiden!” Followed by, “Honey, we’re going to be grandfathers.”
19
Aiden
In that moment, everything Chris and I had planned flew out of my mind. My dads hadn't been this excited even when I had graduated. The pride and yearning on their faces wiped clean my planned approach and stirred up something deep inside me. I wanted this. I wanted a mate and a family. I'd always known that, but now I felt it. I took Chris's hand and, with a desperate smile, begging him to go along with me, I smiled back at my dads and said, "Surprise!"
My dad stood up and came around the table to hug Chris, who shot me a slightly panicked look. Damn it. I should correct their assumption now but...when Chris sat down he scooted his chair closer to me and squeezed my thigh before saying, "We're very excited."
I flashed him a grateful look and took his hand, twining our fingers together.
"This certainly calls for a celebration!" my dad exclaimed and waved the waiter over to order some champagne.
I tilted my head to whisper in Chris's ear, "I'm so sorry, I'd just lost it a little."
He smiled and turned to respond. "It might be better this way, honestly."
He was probably right, as much as I hated deceiving my dads even more than I already was. For a moment, I let myself pretend this was real, this was mine. I let myself imagine my dads spoiling our child rotten. It was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. I looked into Chris's understanding eyes and acted on instinct. I leaned forward and kissed him.
For a split second, he didn't move and I started to pull back, but then his soft lips moved on mine and I forgot where we were and who was watching. Until my father tapped his wine glass with a clink and my dad let out a whistle. I pulled back, looking for something in Chris's eyes that would tell me how he felt. He was dazed, and I couldn't tell if it was a good daze or a bad daze, but I had to turn away to respond to my dad's teasing and the moment faded into a buzzing tension on my lips and where our fingers were twined together.
We'd talked about kissing. It would be weird if we never kissed in front of people. But I hadn't expected it to be so...real. I thought I could separate my crush emotions from our pretend relationship. That might have been a naive expectation. And now that I'd kissed Chris for the first time, all I could think about was doing it again. Somewhere more private, where I could take my time and explore his mouth, drift down his jawline, his neck, his collarbone...
I shifted uncomfortably against my growing erection. This was definitely going to be harder than I had thought. Pun not intended. I wanted to ask Chris, oh, a million things. Was the kiss just for show on his part? Yet tangled with the excitement of having him close and the possibility of future kisses, pretend or not, was tangled with the guilt of my dads' excitement. Maybe this thing with Chris could develop into something more, and I'd never have to tell them. I'd never have to face their disappointment.
But that wasn't any way to build a relationship. I liked Chris, absolutely, and I was growing to like him even more the more I got to know him. But I couldn't, I wouldn't pursue any kind of relationship when he was in such a vulnerable state. We'd follow through on the original plan: after the baby was born, and Chris was able to stand on his own two feet, maybe we could try then. I was such a mess, torn between wanting to pursue something with Chris now, while the moment was here, and waiting for the time to be right, for him to be secure so that he'd never feel like his safety and security was dependent on pleasing me. Just the thought of him feeling like that made me feel sick to my stomach.
Champagne glasses appeared on the table and drinks were poured, sparkling water for Chris, at his request, and my dads each offered a toast to us. Then Chris raised his glass and said, "To Aiden, the sweetest alpha I know."
My heart exploded, the reverberations shaking me down to my fingers and toes. "To Chris and the beautiful life he carries in him."
I wanted to say so much more, but nothing seemed appropriate. If I said something meant for Chris, I might reveal everything to our dads, and if I said something meant for my dads, it wouldn't be real.
What had I been thinking when I had come up with this scheme? I had said I knew it was crazy, but I really hadn't understood how crazy it would be. I was torn between pursuing the dream I'd been building for the past two and a half years, which meant securing my dads' money, and pursuing the possibility of what might be between Chris and me.
We placed our orders, and I followed Chris's lead by ordering a salad. He'd not been feeling like eating much other than greens lately, and I was certainly feeling the difference in my body with eating more cooked food with Chris making breakfast every morning. I couldn't turn down a celebration dinner, but I could keep my eating clean. Both my dads tried to encourage us to eat something heartier but backed down as soon as I told them that was what Chris was craving. And I was joining him in solidarity. This baby thing was certainly one of the easiest ways to get my dads to back off.
That didn't help me sort out my internal dilemma. I knew what Ethan would say. Go after the sure thing. And while no startup was sure, it was closer to sure than anything with Chris was right now. I tried to clear my brain and refocus my priorities. Business first. Romance...someday.
20
Chris
Life was going beautifully except for my perpetually blue balls. I was worse than a teenager discovering masturbation the way I went at it the moment I was alone each night. Every single image in my head featured Aiden. Aiden taking me in the shower, over the couch, in his mouth. I had no idea how creative I could be sexually until I moved in to his home. Heck, I probably could become a profitable screenwriter for porn with all the ideas floating in my head.
Now that my baby bump was actually looking baby bump-esque and not like a beer belly, the cravings for Aiden’s touch only became worse. I envisioned him kissing my belly, talking to the baby, and taking me slowly as he proclaimed his love for us both. That kind of thinking belonged on the Hallmark channel, and only held the power to hurt me. It was the times when my mind wandered that path that I turned the fantasy kinky, complete with using my knotting toys on Aiden. In my fantasies, he loved to be taken by me when my belly got too big for other positions and then knotted with my toy as I sucked him off. I was getting flipping depraved as my hormones took over.
I headed into the shower, knowing today had just turned into a two-fer. I’d get clean after I got even dirtier. I set the water extra hot, somehow feeling less naughty when the steam filled the room and made it more difficult to see, not that anyone was watching. Dropping my robe to the floor as a lazy man’s bath mat, I climbed in and grabbed my favorite bath gel. It smelled like Aiden with a slight hint of lavender.
My cock was at at
tention before I even touched it, thanks to my earlier imaginings. It wouldn’t be long before I was spilling myself everywhere, so I might as well make it a good and quick fantasy. I reached in my box of fantasies and pulled out my favorite.
Aiden and I had just gotten home from a night on the town and the tension built in the elevator, our hands barely touching as I wore the golden butt plug he gave me earlier, both of us ready to combust. Stumbling into the foyer, he twirled me around, making quick work of my pants only to discover that I had spent the night commando, his sexy grunt of appreciation all the thanks I needed. As he gently removed the plug, my hole gushed slick down my legs, and then his hard cock was pounding into me as he caressed my belly and told me I was the sexiest man he’d ever laid eyes on.
I was coming far before my fantasy Aiden finished, and I fell back into the shower wall as the remains of my pervy start to the morning washed away.
I made quick work of the rest of my shower and hurried into the kitchen to make Aiden a meal before he left. Looking at the clock, I knew I was on borrowed time and made him a yogurt and fruit parfait with the granola I’d made a couple days earlier. I’d forgotten how much I liked to cook when finances didn’t limit my culinary options. Now I found myself making practically Pinterest-worthy meals: homemade yogurt, beef wellington, and the one thing that had been able to tempt Aiden into forgoing his shake for dinner, lasagna. That was my secret weapon. I had called his father and asked all his favorite foods and added at least one into the menu each week. So far only the lasagna had been a success, but I knew his walls were caving. I hoped he kept the habit of eating regular meals up when I left, but I doubted it.
Leaving was not something I looked forward to. True, we both needed to move on with our lives, to live without these lies, to find relationships that didn’t have an end date. But this thing between us felt like more than just a relationship of convenience as the time went on. One day I’d get the courage to ask him if the same was true for him. Today was not that day.
“What has you all serious?” Aiden’s voice suddenly asked behind me. I fell back and would’ve toppled over if not for the fridge behind me. I’d swear the man was part cat some days.
“A lot of things?” It wasn’t a question, yet my saying it as such just opened up the inquisition. I knew better.
“Care to elaborate or, at the very least, name one?” He sat in front of the parfait I made, letting me know he was willing to give a concession. Why did this have to be pretend? This was a question that plagued me far too often lately and I needed to squelch it.
“I have my ultrasound today.” It was true. It might not have been the most recent brain hogging issue, but it kept me up half the night.
“That’s exciting.” His eyes sparkled, or I imagined they did because…wishful thinking. “What time?”
“Eleven.” Early enough to work on time but late enough I could sleep in. At the time I made the appointment, that had sounded awesome. Now that the day had come, I wished I had made it eight am so I could have gotten it over and done with.
“You don’t sound excited.”
“I am, I’m just also nervous.” Terrified was more the word and probably why I engaged in so much fantasy time this morning. Distraction was sometimes the only method to alleviate the anxiety things like this gave me. “This is not only when they tell me the sex of the baby, but also when they look to see if there is anything wrong with them. What if there’s something wrong?” Or worse, somethings. I made the mistake of googling omegas and baby-related concerns. Big freaking mistake. Huge.
“There’s not. I feel it.” He got up from his stool and enveloped me in a hug before he finished speaking, my body immediately relaxing into his.
“Thanks. Now eat.” I pointed to his parfait, still untouched. I didn’t want to leave his arms but knew it was for the best. “I know you need to leave soon and chatting me up won’t get you out of eating.”
“This I know.” He sighed as he made his way back to the stool and took a bite. His eyes told the truth, he loved it. His fake pout was getting worse and worse as time went on, as if even he saw it as the farce it was. “But by my watch, it looks like I have a couple hours,” he countered.
“Gasp.” I held my hand up southern belle style. “Is the workaholic going in late?” I batted my eyelashes for good measure.
“Of course.” He took another bite before taking in my actual shock at his pronouncement. “You don’t think I’d let you go to your ultrasound alone, do you?”
21
Aiden
“Unless you don’t want me there,” I started to backtrack at his response. “I mean, this is your pregnancy, your baby, I just thought…if you want to be alone, that’s fine.”
Chris stopped me with a hand on my arm. “That would be amazing. I just hadn’t thought you would be interested. It would mean the world to me to have you sit with me.”
I couldn’t help the relief that surged through my body. I had been shocked that Chris hadn’t told me ahead of time about the ultrasound, but I couldn’t imagine not going with him. At the same time, I would never fight against his wishes regarding the baby. His baby, I had to remind myself often. Not ours.
“So you really get to find out if it’s a boy or a girl?” I asked, excitedly. Not that it mattered, I would, I mean Chris would love the baby the same either way, but every new piece of information about the baby just made it more real.
Chris smiled excitedly. “Hopefully. Occasionally, they can’t get a good picture because the baby is stubborn about positioning.”
“So do you have to go back in, then, to try again later?”
Chris shrugged. “I’m not sure. I think you can, but insurance might not cover it if there’s not a medical reason.”
“If that happens, we’ll go back for another ultrasound,” I promised. “Don’t even worry about insurance. I’ll pay whatever it costs.”
Chris laughed. “Hold on there, cowboy. We don’t even know if we have to, yet. Let’s wait and see how this one goes before you start scheduling me for the next. Though I wouldn’t mind seeing this little one more regularly. It’s not as stressful, now that I feel them moving regularly, but before that, I was always wondering if everything was okay. Now, if they don’t move, I just put something cold on my stomach or change positions and soon enough, there’s movement.”
I took another bite of parfait. “You keep saying they and them… you don’t think it’s twins, do you?”
Chris’s eyes bugged out. “I hope not! It’s going to be enough of a learning curve with just one! I’m just trying to stick to gender neutral terms. In my head, I always say she, but if it’s a boy, I don’t want to feel disappointed because I was wrong and mess up words once we know.”
Chris was so damn adorable, a slight worry crossing his face as he spoke. I wanted to pull him in for a hug and a kiss, but I’d been good about limiting our kisses to public situations. How damn crazy was that? I knew couples who were completely against PDA, but Chris and I were the only two I knew who were PDA only. And I’d already tempted myself with the hug I’d given him just a few minutes ago. I wanted to wrap him up in my arms and hold him until it was time to leave, building castles in the sky for our baby. His baby.
We had to wait about thirty minutes in the waiting room. Finally, Chris’s name was called. We followed a short, plump woman with wavy brown hair to the ultrasound room and she had Chris sit on the exam table before leaving and promising our technician would be in soon.
I reached for Chris’s hand to stop him from tearing the edge of the paper on the table. “It’s going to be fine.”
He flashed me a nervous smile. “I know.”
The door opened and the technician came in. “Christopher Rushton?” she asked.
“Yep, that’s me.”
“And your partner’s name is…?” she was looking through her paperwork. I didn’t know if Chris had given Will’s name or left that information blank, but the idea of heari
ng his name in connection with this baby and this moment set me on edge.
“Aiden, ma’am.”
She looked up with a smile and flipped the folder closed. “Well, Chris and Aiden, are you ready to see your baby?”
Our baby. Chris gripped my fingers tighter and nodded. She prepped Chris, revealing his stomach and spreading some kind of goop on him, distracting him with small talk. Then she turned the monitor to face us, turned the machine on and started moving the wand over Chris’s bump.
“Do you want me to tell you the sex if we can see that today?”
“Yes, please.” Chris nodded emphatically.
She tried the wand in several different positions, and I thought I saw lines that might have been a limb, a hand, a knee or elbow. “Well, there we are!” she finally exclaimed. And there it was. A face. A clear profile. The image froze on the screen. “I’m just taking a few pictures,” she said. “We’ll print them out for you to take home.”
She explained what she was doing each step of the way, what measurements she was taking, and when the baby shifted, she laughed once the baby settled and said, “There’s the money shot!”
The image froze as she took another picture. “It’s a little girl, congratulations!”
Tears pricked at my eyes and I tried to wipe them away without drawing attention to myself, but Chris looked directly at me, and I nearly lost it when I saw the tears in his eyes as well.
When she was finally done, she handed Chris the printed pictures and I leaned in close to see. “She’s so cute!” Chris said.
“I think she has your nose,” I added, my voice rumbling with suppressed emotion.
His Pretend Omega: M/M Non-Shifter Alpha/Omega MPREG (Cafe Om Book 2) Page 8