A Baby for the Firefighter

by Ann-Katrin Byrde

  31

  Dean

  We withdrew from the fire after a little bit. I told Shane that I wasn’t feeling well, but he probably thought I was making shit up so I could be alone with Griff. I didn’t blame him; I did want to be alone with Griff.

  My omega was amazing. He kept surprising me with his love and kindness in ways that made me want to squeeze him close to myself and never let go. Every time I got to hold him in my arms and breathe in his scent, I felt lucky.

  And I wanted him to get lucky tonight. Screw being within earshot of the others, we could do this quietly. I just needed to feel him right now, to hold him as close as possible, and to know that I was giving him pleasure.

  He hissed my name when I pulled his back against my chest, kissed his neck and cupped him through the fabric of his jeans. “We shouldn’t be doing this right now,” he said.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll be decent. No loss of clothing required.” I could totally make him come in his pants.

  “They’ll hear us.”

  “No, they won’t.” I smiled at him in the glow of the flashlight we’d brought into the tent with us—and then I turned it off and turned Griff around in my arms to kiss him. He hesitated for only a second before kissing me back. Couldn’t resist, could he?

  Not that I was one to talk. Sharing this small space with him was driving me crazy. Especially after all this time we’d spent getting interrupted any time we wanted to get intimate. I needed to touch more of him, feel more of him—and judging by the desperate way Griff’s breath hitched when I lowered us unto the ground, me on top of him, he felt the same way.

  To keep him from making any further noise, I simply sealed his lips with my own. There was no better place for my mouth anyway—aside from maybe his cock, but I wasn’t going to go there tonight. Someday I would, and I was looking forward to it, but right now, Griff wanted me to keep him quiet and decent, so that had to wait for another time.

  I would never do anything Griff wasn’t cool with, but I didn’t hear him utter complaints when I lined our groins up until I could feel the hardness in his jeans pressing against my own. The small sound he did make was muffled, but it sounded like approval. And there was definite approval in the way he dug his fingers into my back. Yeah, this would work. Not exactly textbook sex, but that didn’t matter as long as I could be with Griff, taste the sweetness of his lips, feel his warmth in my arms and draw his scent into my nose. The fact that I could also feel him buck up against me in search of friction only added to the experience.

  Heat blazing through me, I dug my hands under his ass to keep him in place as I ground into him, our cocks sliding against fabric and each other. I swallowed a moan before it could escape me. Trying to get off like this was such delicious torture—and something I hadn’t done since my teenage years.

  It seemed fitting, though, to do this with Griff now. He’d been the star of all my teenage dreams after all, and those dreams hadn’t lost their intensity even now. I still wanted him just as much as my horny teenage self had wanted him, only now I got to live those fantasies, and it was every bit as good as I’d imagined. Better, even. Dreams couldn’t come close to actually smelling the sweat build on Griff’s skin as he squirmed against me, trying to relieve the ache in his pants.

  Not that I was faring much better. I wanted to moan, but I kept kissing him instead, even though he sounded breathless as well. We couldn’t make too much noise, though. Shane already suspected what we were doing, and I didn’t want to give him more evidence. I sure as hell didn’t want him to have to explain to the kids. Griff would kill me in the morning.

  It wasn’t easy to keep that in mind as the need in my groin built, though. Something about our breathless kisses spiraled it even higher, as though my brain knew I was going to asphyxiate if this didn’t end soon. I’d rather stop breathing than stop kissing my omega.

  “Dean,” Griff gasped between kisses, voice shaky. “Dean, I’m gonna…”

  I captured his lips again to keep him from speaking as he tightened his grip on me, his whole body going tense and his hips jerking against me as he came.

  I followed soon after. No way could I keep my cool after feeling Griff come unraveled because of me. There was nothing sexier than feeling him cling on to me, body shaking with pleasure.

  “Wow,” he uttered once we were both sticky.

  I smiled at him in the darkness of the tent. “Told you we could do this.”

  He laughed softly. “Thank you.”

  “I’m the one who needs to say thank you,” I told him honestly. I still couldn’t get over how wonderfully he’d handled my earlier confession.

  “You don’t have to thank me for anything,” he insisted. “I only want you to feel better.”

  “I will,” I promised. I wasn’t quite sure yet what to do about my problem, but I knew I was going to figure something out. Nothing could really scare me for as long as I had Griff by my side.

  When I woke up the next morning after a blissfully nightmare-free night, Griff wasn’t in the tent with me. I looked around groggily, but he was nowhere to be found. There were sounds coming from outside, though, so I opened the tent flap. It was awfully light. The sun stood high in the sky already, raining heat down on the forest and making me wonder just how late it was.

  “You’re up!” I heard Griff say and found him sitting where we’d made our fire yesterday. He was on the phone, but ended the call when he saw me.

  “Who was that?” I asked. “What time is it?” I ran a hand over my face and through my unruly hair, trying to wake up properly.

  “Just Eli. I swear he calls me only to make sure I have my phone with me. I told him he doesn’t need to worry because Jake’s headed home already.”

  “Is he?” I looked around, only to notice that the second tent was gone. “They left already?”

  “Dude, you slept forever. Shane took the boys to the lake this morning and then they packed up so they could get fast food in town.” Griff shook his head as if disapproving of this decision, but I could only laugh.

  “Sounds like a fun day.”

  “I guess.” Griff gave me a small smile.

  I crawled back into the tent and looked for my own phone to check the time. 2pm. Jesus Christ, why had no one woken me?

  “Are you going to come out of there?” Griff asked. “I have breakfast. If you can call it breakfast anyway.” He laughed. “I missed a perfect photo opportunity because of you, you know? Didn’t want to leave here until you woke up.”

  I climbed out of the tent and stretched. “You could have woken me.”

  “Nah.” Griff waved me off. “You needed it. And I still got some good pics of the sunrise. I love taking pictures out here. It’s so relaxing.” He let himself fall back into the grass and stared up at the sky.

  “Didn’t know you were such a child of nature,” I teased.

  He peered at me from his position in the grass. “I’m not really. Not long-term. Not unless nature comes with cupcakes and chocolate bars.”

  “I see.” I walked over to him and sat in the grass beside him. “What’s this breakfast you speak of?”

  He laughed again. “Cookies, mostly. Why do you think the others went into town to eat?”

  “You seriously brought cookies for your breakfast?

  He shrugged. “There’s also granola bars, beef jerky, apples and bananas. But the cookies are the best.”

  “I see.”

  “Help yourself.” He pointed at his backpack. “I’m not super hungry today.”

  “No?” I walked over to his bag and dug through it. I found an apple that looked good and took it, but not before finding something else that stirred my interest. “You brought a bottle of soap bubbles?”

  He sat up and directed his brightest smile at me. “I walked by the toy store and saw them on sale and thought it might be fun! For old time’s sake. You can’t feel bad while blowing soap bubbles. It’s impossible.”

  “Why would you be feeling
bad?” I asked, taking the bottle in hand.

  “Oh, not me.” He stood. “Truth is, I have something to tell you, and I’m not sure how you’re going to take it.”

  I raised an eyebrow at him. How was I going to take what? “You can tell me anything, I promise.” It was the least I could do after the events of last night.

  His smile turned soft. “It’s good news, actually. At least, I think it’s good news. I don’t feel bad about this.”

  What was he talking about? I tilted my head. “Why don’t you tell me what’s going on?” I put both the apple and the soap bubbles down on the grass and sat beside my love.

  He took the soap bubbles up and opened the bottle. Without saying anything, he blew into the stick and stared after the colorful bubbles it produced as they floated away on the mountain air.

  I gave him time. Whatever he needed to say seemed important enough to warrant that. I was curious as hell, yeah, but if Griff needed me to be patient, I would be.

  “You remember the night we first had sex?” he asked eventually.

  Silly question. “How could I forget?” Griff had blown my mind that night.

  He gave me a shy smile. God, he was so adorable I wanted to wrap him in my arms. But I also wanted him to finish speaking before we did anything else.

  “Do you also remember how we… kind of sort of didn’t use a condom?”

  I blinked. We hadn’t, had we? In the heat of the moment I hadn’t really paid it any mind, but sitting here with Griff, a cool breeze caressing my skin, the full weight of our actions finally hit me.

  Griff needed to tell me something. And it was related to the fact that we hadn’t bothered to use a condom.

  I swallowed.

  “What are you trying to say?”

  I knew, of course, but I couldn’t believe it.

  Griff licked his lips. “I’m pregnant,” he said, and then, in true Griff fashion, he rambled on. “Like I said, that’s good news to me, but I wasn’t sure how you were going to feel about it. We’re going to be parents! That’s big! But I know that we can do it! Probably. I think.”

  “You’re pregnant?” That one sentence played in my mind on repeat. It was going to take me another minute or two to move on from it, even as Griff rambled. There were so many different emotions wrestling for attention inside of me. I wanted to hug Griff, and the whole world! But at the same time, I also wanted to throw up a little bit. I felt like the ground was slowly dissolving underneath my feet.

  Something else that Griff had said stuck with me.

  We were going to be parents, Griff and I. Together. Oh God. We were going to be parents.

  “Dean?”

  I snapped back to reality when Griff blew some bubbles into my face. That little…! I grabbed the bottle from him and tried to blow some bubbles at him too. But the wind worked against me and threw them back in my face.

  Griff burst out laughing, and I couldn’t help myself either. We were going to have a baby! How could we, when we hardly qualified as grown-ups ourselves?

  But somehow, I knew that we were going to be fine. I was going to do the best I could to protect Griff and the baby to the end of the world.

  “How long have you known?” I asked. “Have you told anyone else?”

  “I’ve known for a few days. Not long. I’ve only told Eli.”

  A smile found its way onto my lips. Of course he’d told Eli. It was good that Griff could rely on his family, though. Even if it was only part of his family.

  “This is so exciting.” I took a deep breath.

  “It is, isn’t it?” Griff’s voice sounded hopeful.

  “Yeah.” I drew him into my arms, where he fit like he was made for me, and kissed him. “I’ve always wanted to have a child someday, and I couldn’t imagine anyone better to have it with.” Besides, the thought that Griff was carrying my child appealed to my alpha instincts in a big way. I’d put my seed into him and he was mine now. Truly mine. What could be better? His belly was going to grow, and I couldn’t wait to see him heavy with child. That image excited me more than I wanted to admit.

  “Good.” Griff laughed against my neck, blowing warm breath on my skin. “Now we only have to tell my parents.”

  I kissed the top of his head. “Sure thing.”

  I wasn’t scared of his parents. What could they do?

  32

  Dean

  I was going to be a dad. The news still made my head spin when I got home late the next day and Conner’s puppy greeted me at the door. A baby dog. I was going to have a baby human soon. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Griff was having my baby. I wish I could say that I’d gotten used to the idea at least a little, but it was still novel and exciting and a little bit overwhelming.

  “You really milked every last minute you could stay in the woods, didn’t you?” My cousin turned to me when I picked the puppy up and walked into the living room.

  “Gotta make use of the time we got,” I replied without shame. It had been good to be away from watchful eyes and out of earshot. Griff said his parents were probably going to move into an aunt’s summer cottage when his dad was released from the hospital, so we’d have Griff’s place to ourselves in a little while. Not soon enough, though. I didn’t mind Griff’s mother, but her son got very shy when she was around, and I’d waited long enough to be with him. Even my patience knew ends.

  “I get you.” Shane grinned. “I just like to tease.”

  I flopped on the couch beside him, my expression mirroring his. “It was a good trip.” Even if that first night had very nearly turned into a disaster.

  “Yeah, it was a good idea to get out,” Shane agreed. “Really gave me room to breathe and to think about a few things. Like whether it actually matters how I make my money when I have the kids to focus on. It was so good to see Conner laugh this morning, you know? I want to take him out more often. Maybe a less demanding job would give me more time for that.”

  “So, you’re going to sell?” I asked.

  “I’m thinking about it, at least.”

  “That’s good. I mean, I’m sure you’ll do what’s right.”

  “Yeah.” He leaned back. “And if I do sell you can go back to being a firefighter full time, too.”

  I swallowed. “Yeah, I’m not so sure about that…” I stopped because even though I’d told Griff, I wasn’t sure I was ready to tell anyone else. I was a firefighter. That was how people saw me. It was how I saw myself as well. For the longest part of my life, it was all I’d wanted to be. But how could I be a firefighter now when I didn’t feel like I could protect anyone anymore? I knew in reality I’d only failed to save one person, but it was hard to live with the certainty that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t save everyone every time. I’d always known that, of course, but experiencing it changed what I was willing to accept.

  “What do you mean?” Shane prompted, looking at me curiously.

  “Nothing,” I said, and then I changed the topic to throw him off. “I have some big news, though.”

  “Yeah? Good news?”

  The question made the corner of my lips tug up. Griff had called it good news, and I thought so too. “Yeah, it’s good.” I let the smile take over my face. “Griff’s pregnant.”

  Shane’s eyes went wide. “Griff’s what? When did that happen?”

  “Do you really want all the details of when and how it happened?”

  “Oh, I guess not.” He made a face. “Spare me.”

  “You got it.”

  Shane was quiet for a moment, probably churning this new information over in his head. “So you’re going to be a dad, huh?”

  “Yup.”

  “How do you feel about that?”

  “Honestly?” I looked at him. “It’s pretty amazing.”

  “That it is!” Shane’s lips broke into a grin. “I still remember when Conner was born like it was yesterday. And Mary.” A hint of pain flashed over his features, probably because the memory included Ron, but it
was gone again before it could take hold. This grief would stay with him forever, but he was learning to get a hold on it.

  “I’m looking forward to the birth,” I said, but I was also kind of glad that it was still a few months off. Griff and I needed time to prepare, both practically and mentally.

  “Are you two going to move in together?” Shane asked.

  Were we? “Probably? We haven’t talked about it. This is all still so new.”

  “Yeah, I guess. Not that I want to kick you out or anything, but you should probably think about living together if you’re going to be raising a kid.”

  Shane was right; I really needed to be thinking about that, didn't I? About Griff and me and our kid, and the future we were going to have together. I wanted Griff like I had never wanted another omega. The thought of moving in with him didn't scare me. The opposite, really, it excited me. I wanted Griff to be mine in every way possible. I looked forward to raising our child together, maybe even our children.

  But it wasn't just our combined future that I needed to think about. I needed to think about my personal, professional future as well. Griff had suggested that I run away from my problems by resigning from my firefighting career. Could I really do that now that we were going to be parents?

  If there'd ever been a time in my life that I needed to be a strong alpha, it was now.

  “Dude, you look so serious,” Shane said. “What are you thinking about?”

  I shook my head. “Just something I should have figured out a long time ago.” He couldn't help me with this. This was something I needed to figure out for myself.

  33

  Griffin

  Please, everyone just get along.

  The weekend after our camping trip, my father was finally ready to be released from the hospital. Eli, my mother and I drove up to the hospital with his car. From there we were going to collect Dad and take our parents to our aunt's cottage a short drive outside of the town. She'd promised that it was well stocked and they would find everything they needed there. I only hoped that was true. As much as I enjoyed this chance to reconnect with my parents, things were still tense. Especially when my brother was around.