A Baby for the Firefighter

by Ann-Katrin Byrde

  “I thought that was the whole reason you put it on now,” I gave back, sliding my hands down to his ass. “Isn’t this my surprise?”

  “Oh, it totally is.”

  I grinned with my lips against his skin. “Guess I should unpack my present, shouldn’t I?”

  “If that’s what you want…”

  I didn’t respond, not in words. Instead, I went on my knees in front of him. I’d dreamed of doing this, sucking him off in his firefighter uniform. But he’d never been too comfortable wearing it and I’d had my own hang-ups. None of that now, though. My heart was so filled with love for Dean that fear found no space in it anymore. I wanted to do this and I was damn well going to.

  Dean still seemed a bit unsure about all of this, though. “Griff… do you really want to do this?”

  I grinned up at him. “Yeah, absolutely.”

  “I don’t know, with you being pregnant and all, I feel like—”

  “I’m pregnant, not dying, okay?”

  That made him shut up, and I could finally set out to do what I’d been wanting to do for so long. Slowly, I opened Dean’s fly and breathed in his scent. That moment, Dean smelled so alpha it made my head spin—in the best way possible. I nuzzled his thigh with my nose, taking in as much of that smell as I could, feeling almost overpowered with desire.

  How could I ever have been scared of this? Right here on my knees in front of Dean, this was where I belonged. How could things be any different?

  I exhaled on a sigh as Dean ran a hand into my hair, playing with the strands. I could have started to purr, really, but that wasn’t what I was kneeling here for. No, I wanted to make Dean purr, or at least make him moan. With all my heart, I wanted to please him, and the need to do just that was intense. It didn’t inspire fear in me anymore because I knew my alpha cared for me the same way.

  What could be better?

  Not much, I decided while pulling Dean’s pants down a bit and freeing his cock of its confines. He was so big and beautiful. This wasn’t the first time I saw his cock, of course, but the sight still made me lick my lips each and every time. There wasn’t an alpha on Earth more gorgeous than mine.

  I wrapped my hand around the base, feeling him grow harder between my fingers. I let myself revel in that feeling for only a moment before I stuck my tongue out to lick at him, making him twitch.

  “Griff…”

  “Yeah?” I licked him again, more slowly this time, giving him a good swipe of the tongue. I loved the way it made his breath hitch. I wanted to please him yes, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have some fun while doing so.

  “I should have known you’d be a tease.”

  I laughed. “Just enjoying myself. But I guess I can enjoy myself in other ways too,” I said, and then I took him into my mouth, finally living my fantasy.

  And it felt so good. Just feeling the weight of him on my tongue, the heat of his flesh, the salty taste of his skin. Yeah, I could definitely enjoy myself like this. Already, I was getting all hot inside, the hormonal rush flooding my brain and turning my thoughts hazy.

  Having Dean’s cock in my mouth was even better than stuffing it with cupcakes, and I’d never thought anything could be better than stuffing my mouth with cupcakes.

  I took him a little deeper, running my tongue along the underside and savoring the taste. I couldn’t take him all the way, he was too big for that, but I tried to get as much of him into my mouth as I could, and he didn’t complain. Nope, he was too busy breathing hard, and I was loving it. Right then, right there, nothing mattered more to me than making him lose his shit.

  Every little appreciative noise Dean made seemed to vibrate through me and travel straight to my groin to make my own cock strain against the fabric of my pants. My arousal turned into a pleasant buzz in the back of my head, drowning out everything but my need to get Dean off and taste his semen on my tongue.

  Just the thought alone made me shudder.

  Dean tightened his grip on my hair a little bit, but not to the point of hurting. No, he was restraining himself, I could tell. I loved it, though. Loved feeling my alpha’s strength. I rested one hand on his thigh just to feel the way his muscles bunched. His strength made me feel safe—and impossibly aroused.

  A surge of lust made me redouble my efforts, sucking on the hard flesh in my mouth. I knew Dean was getting close when I tasted his precum on my tongue. The sensation made me moan around his cock, I couldn’t help it. I was too turned on. Too high on endorphins.

  “Damn, Griff.” Dean groaned. “You feel so good.” He twisted his hands in my hair, taking shallow breaths.

  I peered up at my firefighter. His eyes were closed, lips slightly parted, head tipped back. He looked like he was about to become unraveled, all because of me. God, could there be a hotter sight in the world?

  My musings were interrupted when the first hot drop of semen hit the roof of my mouth. I swallowed all my alpha’s seed down greedily as he moaned my name. Even though I was in a submissive position, I’d never felt as powerful as I did then, wrenching sounds of absolute pleasure from Dean.

  And I was happy to lick him clean until Dean pulled me up. Rising to my feet, I kissed my lover to share the taste of him between us.

  And then I gasped as Dean reached down to open my fly and his hand found its way inside my loose-fitting paternity pants. I came embarrassingly fast—within seconds of feeling Dean’s large hand around me, really. There was nothing at all I could do to stave off the orgasm crashing into me and taking my breath away. I might have been ashamed, if it hadn’t felt so damn good.

  “God, that was amazing,” I mumbled, resting my head on Dean’s shoulder.

  He chuckled, his voice just a bit hoarse. “Yeah, it was.”

  “I’m so glad you came back to Oceanport.” And so glad I managed to face down my demons and get over myself.

  “I’m glad too,” he said, holding me tighter. “This place is home after all.”

  “Because home is where the heart is?” I teased.

  He simply smiled. “Exactly,” he said, and then he kissed me again.

  41

  Dean

  When Griff’s pregnancy neared its end, I thought I was prepared for everything. I’d read all the books, and Shane and I had had all the conversations about what was going to happen during childbirth. I was confident in my knowledge. I was set.

  Until the day things actually got real.

  I’d just moved all my things in with Griff a few days before, and Eli had come over with cake to congratulate us on starting our life together. He’d also brought his dog, and Griff was cuddling with the dog when the Labrador suddenly gave a surprised bark.

  I glanced over at the pair, because Fiona never usually made a sound.

  “I… think my water just broke,” Griff said, staring at me.

  Within an instant, I felt all color drain from my face. “Your water broke?” I repeated intelligently. Everything I’d read about what to do in this instance, all the knowledge I’d gathered, it was gone from my brain as if it had never existed in the first place. All I could think was oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.

  Not super productive, I admit.

  It was a good thing Eli was there with us. He had a handle on things.

  “Awesome!” he said with a huge grin on his face. “Looks like today is the day I get to meet my nephew!”

  Griff looked to his brother and smiled as well. “Yeah, I guess we’re going to meet this little guy today.”

  Meanwhile, I was still racking my brain for anything to say.

  Eli glanced at me and laughed. “No need to panic yet. It’ll probably be a few hours before the kid gets here.”

  A few hours. I was going to be a parent in a few hours. How was I supposed to keep calm knowing that?

  “I’m going to take Fiona home,” Eli said. “And then I’ll meet you guys at the hospital.” He shot me another look. “Are you okay to drive?”

  Was I okay to drive? Of course
I was! I shook myself out of my stupor. I could get my pregnant mate to the hospital. It wasn’t like I’d never been around women and omegas in labor on the job.

  Still, this was different. This was Griff, and that was my child he was about to give birth to.

  Just get him to the hospital for now.

  Right. “Guess we should get in the car, huh?” I asked Griff, trying to sound calm and collective and not the least bit panicky.

  “Yeah, but we should also take the bag. We packed one, remember? For when my water breaks.”

  “Yes, of course.” I’d completely forgotten about that. Damn, when had Griff turned into the more responsible one of us? I really had to get a grip. As Eli had said, it could take hours before the baby would be here, and I couldn’t act like an idiot for all that time. What if my baby’s first impression of me was that I couldn’t be trusted with adult tasks?

  That was a silly thought, but still…

  Giving it my best effort, I somehow managed to get Griff and myself into the car and drive us to the hospital.

  There, Griff was wheeled into a room to wait for his contractions to get stronger. No one at the hospital seemed panicked, and the general calm let me breathe a little easier as well. We were going to be fine, weren’t we?

  “Should we call your parents?” I asked, kissing Griff’s forehead after the initial check-up.

  “Nah, the doctor said it would be a while yet, and I don’t want my mother running circles around me all the time up to the delivery.”

  The image made me laugh. “Guess you’re right. She would do that.” I straightened. “Do you think we should talk about names again?” Because we hadn’t really settled. I took a deep breath. “I can’t believe we’re going to be the parents of a baby boy in a few hours.”

  Griff smiled. “Maybe you could believe it if you’d spend the last nine months getting fatter and fatter.”

  “You’re not fat,” I protested. “You’re beautiful. But good point.” I had to chuckle. God, how lucky was I to be with an omega who could make me laugh even when I felt so out of my element. Hospitals always threw me off. I liked to take action to help people, but here, I had to leave it all up to the doctors and nurses. All I could do for Griff now was provide moral support.

  “I think we’re going to see what name fits best when the little one is born,” he said, playing with a corner of the bed sheets.

  “Maybe you’re right… or you’re speculating that I’ll be so distracted by the miracle of birth that you get to decide by yourself.” After all, there were two names we were considering, and each of us liked one of them a little better than the other.

  Griff tilted his head. “Oh, that’s a good idea.”

  Darn, I’d given him a plan he’d never have come up with on his own. Still, I didn’t mind so much. Griff had done the most work in creating our child, carrying it close to his heart for nine months. If he wanted to be the one to give our son his name, that was fine with me. I wasn’t the kind of old-school alpha who needed control over everything. I just wanted my little family to be happy.

  “I’m sure you’ll make the right choice,” I said, leaning down to kiss him.

  We’d come this far, nothing was going to go wrong at this point. At least that was what I thought until about an hour later when his contractions started coming more rapidly.

  I looked to Griff’s brother, who had entered the room about twenty minutes ago. “It’s fine,” he said with a small smile. “Just means we’re getting there.”

  Getting there, right.

  “You don’t have to worry so much,” Griff agreed.

  Eli laughed softly. “Alphas are always like that.”

  I huffed, but couldn’t really protest. I was acting ridiculous. Griff was going to be fine, I knew that. I just didn’t like watching him suffer when the contractions hit harder and he got all red in the face. That was when it started to dawn on me how exhausting it really was to give birth.

  I hated seeing my love like this. Especially when there was nothing I could do to help him or make him feel better. In the end, I could only hold his hand as they rolled him into the delivery room.

  “Not long now,” I told him, trying not to panic myself. Not long now and the two of us would be parents.

  Deep breaths.

  I couldn't freak out when Griff looked so calm. Sure, he was red in the face and the contractions were taxing him, but in spite of all that, he didn't seem like he was the least bit worried.

  “I can't wait to meet this little one,” he said in between breaths when the doctor asked him to push. He was optimistic. That was what I loved about him. He wasn't going to let negative thoughts or panic or worry cloud the birth of our child, so neither could I.

  He gripped my hand tightly and I squeezed his. It didn't matter whether I was scared or not. What mattered was that we were together in this. And together we would raise this child, in the good times and the bad times. We might not be married, but we absolutely made that commitment to each other. I knew that I could count on him, just the same as he could count on me. No matter what happened, we would be there for our child and each other.

  All in all, the birth didn't take long once we'd entered the delivery room and really got things started, even though it felt that way. Time seemed to stretch out forever when I had to watch Griff suffer—and when I was pretty sure that he was about to break the bones in my hand. I was actually starting to wonder if I could reuse his cast if that happened.

  But then, when I was almost sure it was never going to end, I heard the doctor say that we were almost there.

  Thank God.

  Now there was a chance that I wouldn't someday have to tell my kid the story of how I fainted in the delivery room during his birth.

  Griff cried during the last push, and then soon after, I heard a different cry—this one much louder. Our little boy had great lungs on him!

  After all the panic of the day, a huge smile broke out on my face.

  The doctor was holding our child. And he was perfect. I knew that before I could even get a closer look at him. He had two arms and two legs and everything.

  It was amazing.

  We’d made that.

  Griff looked just as fascinated as I did when a nurse finally handed him our son after wrapping him in a tiny blanket. But fascination wasn’t the only emotion apparent on Griff’s face. I also saw awe and adoration and the kind of love that went deeper than anything else. I knew exactly how he felt because I felt the same way.

  “Do we have a name?” I asked.

  “Yes.” Gently, Griff stroked the little one’s cheek with one finger. “Bastian.” He looked at me. “Bastian Everett.”

  I raised an eyebrow at him, not because I didn’t like what I was hearing, but because he’d made no mention of the middle name before.

  “Everett means strong,” Griff explained. “I want our son to be strong and brave.”

  The sentiment made me smile as I leaned down to kiss Griff’s forehead. “Like us?”

  He grinned. “Exactly.”

  “I like that,” I said, my heart swelling as I looked at both my omega and my son. Griff was kind and sweet, but he’d had his fair share of demons to battle to get here and I couldn’t have been more proud of him. Of us. We’d put our fears aside to be with each other. It hadn’t always been easy, but the result was so worth it.

  I kissed him again, this time on the lips, feeling happier than I’d ever been. Griff was my love, the second half of my heart, my best friend and the father of my child.

  He was my home, and I was never going to leave again.

  Epilogue

  GRIFFIN

  About six months after our son’s birth, my alpha tried to surprise me again. I’d just put the baby down for a nap when he walked into the door with a heavy-looking box in his hands. An hour ago, he’d told me he needed to go out to help his cousin with some errands, but I couldn’t see how the box he was holding now related to that.

/>   And what was even weirder, he didn’t put it down to give me a kiss, like he usually would. No, he just stood there and looked at me expectantly.

  “What’s in the box?” I asked, deciding to take the bait.

  He gave me a small smile. “A present.”

  “For me?” One of my eyebrows went up. Not that I didn’t like presents—I loved presents!—but it wasn’t my birthday, or even Omega Day.

  “Yes.” His smile turned a bit more confident. “It’s for you.”

  I looked at the box again. “It’s not wrapped in gift paper,” I chided him.

  “Wouldn’t want to cut off air supply,” he said with a grin.

  Air supply? I studied the box more closely—and noticed the small holes at the top, and that it moved.

  What the hell was in there? Suddenly, I had a suspicion that I knew.

  I’d told Dean once or twice that I was a pet person and wanted a pet, but… We’d never seriously discussed it. Could he have…?

  Dean laughed. I glared at him. “Your eyes were so wide just now!” he pointed out.

  I stuck my tongue out at him. Yes, I was a daddy now, but if you ever expected me to turn into an adult, I don’t know what to tell you. That was never going to happen.

  “Go on, open it,” Dean said.

  “If you insist,” I responded, as if my curiosity wasn’t killing me.

  Dean only smiled, giving me no further clues as to what I should expect. The box moved again as I approached, almost jumping out of his hands. Whatever was in there, it was definitely alive. Gingerly, I took it from Dean and set it down on the table. Then I started opening the lid of the box. A yipping sound came from it as I did so.

  A dog!

  I opened the lid all the way and peered inside.

  Awwww.

  Dean had gotten me a boxer in a box! Genius! I laughed looking at the dog. He was the cutest little thing ever. He had the squishiest nose, and the biggest, most innocent eyes as he looked up at me. “I can’t believe you bought a dog!”