Jake looked up at me with questions written all over his cute face while Fiona snuggled up next to him, clearly wanting to make this a group hug.
“I never told Matt anything about you,” I confessed. “He didn’t know you existed until a few weeks ago. If he’d known… He would have stayed.” Jake had to understand that he couldn’t blame all of this on Matt.
“And then you wouldn’t have been sad?”
“Then I wouldn’t have been sad,” I agreed, kissing the top of my son’s head.
“But then why didn’t you tell him?” Jake asked in an incredulous tone of voice, like he just couldn’t believe how his daddy had missed this obvious solution.
“It’s complicated.”
Jake groaned. Yeah, I wasn’t going to get out of this conversation so easily. He wanted to know everything now. Even the things he was too young to understand. I figured I just had to find a way to put them in terms he would understand. “When Matt and I first met each other, we agreed that we would only be together for a few months,” I told him.
“Why?” Jake asked.
“Because I wanted to be an animal doctor and he wanted to move away to take on a very good job. That was his dream, you know?”
“The job?”
“Yes, the job.” That and eventually taking over the whole company. His family’s legacy. What he told me he’d been born to do. It had all been so important to him. I stroked a finger through Jake’s hair. “It wasn’t only the job, though. He’d also promised to marry this woman before he met me.”
“What woman?”
The woman his parents had picked for him. “A very lovely lady. When our time together ended, Matt married her, as he had promised. And then I found out that I was pregnant with you.”
“I was in your belly?”
“Yes.”
“And you didn’t tell him about me?”
“I didn’t.” I should have, but I didn’t.
“Because he married that woman?”
“Yes.” That wasn’t all of it, of course, but I wasn’t going to tell my seven-year old son all about how I hadn’t wanted to be the family-wrecking omega society had warned me I would be. Or that I’d been too heartbroken to think straight. Scared too. And angry. Jake didn’t need to know about that. He didn’t need to know that I’d stared at that first pregnancy test in abject horror for what felt like hours. Or that I’d taken five more hoping they’d turn out negative.
“You’re not angry at Matt because he married that woman?” Jake asked.
“I’m not angry.” At least, I wasn’t angry now. “You don’t have to be angry at him either. We’ve both made mistakes, but we’ve forgiven each other.”
Jake looked at his paper with all the circles on it. “I don’t want him to make you sad again.”
“That’s okay, sweetie. He won’t. You don’t have to worry about that. He’s your dad, and I want you two to get to know each other. That would make me very happy.”
“Really?”
“Yes, really.” I pulled Jake into my lap and kissed his forehead. “Will you try to give him a chance?”
He sighed and looked up to me. “Can I have more ice cream?”
I snorted, because my kid was too ridiculous. Was I really going to bribe him with ice cream on something so important? “Okay, you can have ice cream.”
Apparently yes.
26
Matthew
I’d spent three weeks away from Oceanport when things started to look up for me. I’d finally found someone to run the show over here, and I was feeling good about the future of my company as well as my own—when my phone rang and I saw my sister’s name as the caller ID.
What could she want?
We’d talked extensively about my move back to Oceanport just two days ago and I hadn’t expected to hear from her again so soon.
“Hello, Matt,” she greeted me, and the tone of her voice let me know there was something she wasn’t pleased with. I still had no idea what that was, though.
“Hi, Karen. Is something the matter?”
“I don’t know,” she said with an air of derision, “is something the matter? Why don’t you tell me?”
“What are you talking about?” Sometimes I wished my family valued straight talk a little more. But no, we always had to perform intricate dances around each other.
“Oh, it’s just that I went downtown today and I heard some interesting things about you from my hairdresser. Did you know? You’re the talk of the town.” She gave a high pitched laugh that didn’t sound amused.
Oh, that. “You know people love to talk.”
“They certainly do, brother. But do you know what they’re saying?”
I sat on my couch and suppressed a sigh. “I’m sure you’re going to enlighten me in a second.”
She laughed again, but her laughter still had a fake quality to it. “They’re saying you’re seeing one of the town’s omegas. Isn’t that ridiculous? You must think it’s ridiculous, no? Everyone should know you’re far too elevated for some small town omega slut.”
“He’s not a slut,” I cut in. Seriously, if there’s one thing I could never stand, it’s people talking trash about Eli.
“So you admit it.” She huffed. “I can’t believe you would stoop so low. If you had to go around fucking omegas, why couldn’t you do that somewhere else? You know, a little farther away from home where these rumors wouldn’t touch your family? It’s like you spare us no thought at all!”
I gritted my teeth. “For your information, I don’t make a habit of going around and ‘fucking omegas’ as you so eloquently put it. And I wasn’t aware that who I sleep with is any of your concern.”
Through the phone, I heard her exhale sharply. “Oh, don’t you pretend like it isn’t. We belong to an exclusive social class where you have to be careful who you mingle with. You know all that omega wants is our money. Or were you so distracted by your hormones that you forgot everything you’ve been taught?”
“You’re starting to sound like our mother.” It was all I could say. My sister was blowing this way out of proportion, just like my mother would. Neither of them would understand that I loved Eli, and that he loved me. Yes, when I’d first met Eli, I’d been a stupid teen and I’d acted on hormones. But so much more had grown out of that. My mother and sister had never had that sort of experience. It was kind of sad, actually, and this conversation was exhausting me. To my family, everything was about money. It wouldn’t have surprised me if they’d laced my dad’s coffin in dollar notes.
“Somebody has to be the voice of reason,” my sister said. “Might as well be me. Promise me you’ll stop this foolishness when you come back here.”
“I’m not going to promise you any such thing.” My love life was my business, and I was going to be firm on that. “I’m sorry, Karen, but you don’t get a say in who I date.”
“You’re dating him? Oh, please. You can’t be that stupid. I’ve heard about this omega. He’s been single for years, rejecting everyone, only to throw himself at the richest bachelor in town? That omega has an agenda. And not a lot of morals. Did you know he doesn’t even know who sired his son?”
“That would be me,” I said, half-wishing I could see the expression on my sister’s face. Had to be priceless.
For what felt like a full minute, I heard nothing but her breathing on the other end of the line. I couldn’t believe I’d managed to shut up my sister. I finally felt vindicated for all the mean things she’d done to me when we were children. Like that time I fell asleep in the sitting room and she drew stupid things on me just before my dad was having business partners over for dinner.
“I didn’t want to believe it,” Karen said finally. She sounded almost a bit defeated. “How long has this been going on?”
“We broke it off before I married.” And I wasn’t even sure why I was telling her this, because it wasn’t her business, but at the same time, I didn’t want anyone to think that I’d been cheatin
g on my wife. That was not the kind of man I was. “Then we kind of ran into each other again when I came to visit this year.”
“Did you know about the kid?” There was a hint of suspicion in Karen’s voice that made me wonder what sort of congestions she was brewing up in her head now.
“I did not know,” I admitted.
“And he only told you this recently?” She was definitely suspicious. But what of, I couldn’t say.
“That is correct.”
She sighed. “He’s lying.”
“He’s not lying.” There was no way.
“C’mon, why would he keep this hidden from you for so long when he could have had access to your wealth all this time?”
And of course it all came back to money.
“It’s complicated,” I told her. “But mostly because he knew that my family would hate the news.”
“Is he really telling you that?” She huffed. “What a deceiving little slut, coming on to you now when he knows you’re vulnerable and feeding you all these lies.”
“They’re not lies! And stop calling him a slut!” The nerve of her! I was this close to hanging up.
“Have you seen proof? Because if not, you need to demand it right now!”
I hung up.
27
Elias
Three days to go before the charity event and I was starting to feel a little bit queasy. Which took me by surprise really, because I wasn’t that nervous. At least, I didn’t think I was, but this morning, I could barely keep my breakfast down. It was like my stomach wanted to emigrate from my body with all the food it was holding.
And then my cell phone rang just as I wanted to lie down a bit and waste away my Sunday while Jake was watching cartoons.
The caller ID showed Matt’s name, and momentarily, the queasy feeling in my stomach was replaced by a happy one, like butterflies erupting into dance inside of me. Drunk butterflies, but still. Only three more days until I got to see him again.
I lay back on the bed and answered the phone. “Hey, you. Everything okay?”
“I’m fine. How are you doing?” After all this time apart, his deep voice went down my spine like a caress.
“I’m… feeling a bit nervous about the upcoming charity thing.” Because what else could it be?
“Scrambling to get everything done in time?”
“Nah, actually, I’m mostly done.” I should be able to lie back and relax, really. But maybe after all of this was over, I could lie back and relax with Matt. I was looking forward to that.
“That’s good. I’m excited about the show, and about seeing you again.” His voice dropped an octave on the last part of that sentence and gave me shivers.
“Yeah?” I asked. “What are you going to do when you see me again?”
He gave a short laugh, a sexy little rumble. “Rip all your clothes off your body.”
“Yeah? And then?” I prompted because that slow built up of arousal within me was keeping the queasiness at bay.
“Take my own clothes off.” There was a hint of amusement in his voice, but it vanished as he continued speaking. “And then I’ll lie on top of you, skin on skin, tracing the contours of your body with my hands and feeling you shiver underneath me as I suck on your nipples. You’re always so sensitive there. I love that. I love the way you moan when I graze you with my teeth just a little.”
The picture he painted with his words made my breath hitch. “God, I want you to be here so much right now. I can’t wait to feel you on top of me again.” I closed my eyes and imagined the weight of his body pressing me into the sheets.
He chuckled. “Are you turned on right now?”
“Like you don’t know!” He couldn’t say stuff like that and expect me not to be turned on.
“Do you have privacy?”
I glanced at the door, which was closed. Griff was downstairs with Jake, and the cartoons would be on for a while longer. They thought I was napping. I could risk it. “I’m in my bedroom and I’m alone.”
“Take off your pants.” I thought I could hear the smug grin on his face through the telephone.
Oh, this was really happening. Heart thumping loudly, I put the phone on speaker and turned the volume down just a bit so Matt’s voice wouldn’t be heard outside the room. Then I shrugged my pants off, just in time to hear Matt say: “Your underwear too.”
I obliged, happily. The anticipation alone was already making me hard.
“Did you do it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now lie on your bed and run your hand down to your groin. Imagine that it’s my hand. Run those fingers over your balls and along your shaft. Don’t go too fast. I like to take my time. Play with you a little. Get you all worked up and begging for action.”
Oh, he definitely liked to tease. And it was working too. When I closed my eyes and let his voice wash over me, imagining the hand touching me was his, I had to bite my teeth together to keep from making noise. It was difficult not to go faster than he wanted me to, but instincts kicked in, and my need to please him was greater than my urge to get off.
“Now wrap your hand around yourself.”
Yes.
I was hard by now, and having my hand—his hand—around me felt so good. I sighed.
“Do you want me to move that hand? Get you off?” Matt was starting to sound a little breathless himself, making me wonder if he had a hand down his pants too, wherever he was. I hoped so.
“Please,” I said.
“How much do you want it?”
“So bad.” My cock was hot and heavy in my hand and wondering why it wasn’t seeing any action.
“Ask me for it.”
I swallowed. “Please get me off.”
“Start moving that hand. Slowly.”
“Yes.” Slowly as instructed, I moved my hand up and down the length of my cock, imagining Matt was here, playing with me. Teasing myself just the way he would. “Need more.”
“I don’t think you’re ready for that yet. Ease off your cock and get a finger in yourself.”
It was a good thing I wasn’t holding the phone anymore, because I would have dropped it.
“Are you doing it?”
“Doing it now.” I got my finger wet, reached around, twisted a little and breached myself, rocking back on my finger and wishing I had something bigger to play with. Something like Matt’s cock. “Feels nice. Not as good as you.”
“It’s my finger, though, and I’m pushing it in and out of you now. Getting you ready. Can you feel it?”
“Feeling it.” I did as he instructed, opening myself up a bit, feeling little stabs of desire as I thought of readying myself for Matt. God, I missed him.
“Good. Two fingers now. Really stretch that hole for me.”
I moaned as I added another finger, brushing my inner walls and feeling my need rise.
“Just like that,” Matt said as though he could see me. “You’re doing so well for me.”
I only finger-fucked myself harder in response.
“Wrap your other hand around your cock. I’m going to fuck you now. Entering you slowly but forcefully, can you feel it?”
“Yes,” I rasped, stroking myself and in time with the fingers working my ass. My fingers couldn’t compare to Matt’s cock, of course, but my imagination was really going now. I could totally imagine being fucked by Matt. I remembered the way his cock felt entering me, stretching my walls. I gave another low moan, drawing up the memory of how he felt fully sheathed inside of me.
He couldn’t come back here fast enough.
“I’m ramming into you, and you feel so good. So tight around me. So hot. I’m pumping your cock because I love the way you squirm and clench around me. I love those sweet little sounds you make as you get close.”
I gasped, jerking myself a bit harder.
“Yeah, that’s the sound.”
I wasn’t even embarrassed. He was right; I was getting close.
“Tell me when you get there.
”
“So close.” I panted. “Almost…” I pushed my fingers as deep as I could reach. “Almost… Oh God…”
“I pound you harder. Wanting nothing more than to drive you over the edge. Want to kiss your lips and swallow your moans as you come.”
His words, and the images they conjured in my mind, took the last bit of my control away from me and I shook as my orgasm tore through me. I moaned too, wishing Matt was here to kiss me as he’d described.
“Did you come?” Matt’s voice sounded hoarse.
“Yeah. And now I’m rocking back against you. Clenching my tight ass around you until you’re done.”
“Jeez, Eli…” Matt made a strangled noise, and I figured I’d made him happy too. The thought put a smile on my lips. Let no one ever say omegas weren’t good for anything.
“That was awesome,” I said, exhaling. And the most awesome part was how we hadn’t been interrupted, honestly.
Matt chuckled. “It was. And to think that I called you because my family was pissing me off.”
“Your family’s pissing you off?” I reached around for my underwear and pants. Just because we hadn’t been interrupted so far didn’t mean it was a good idea to keep running around half-naked. In a house with a seven year old alpha, you always had to be prepared for anything.
“Yeah. My sister called me last night because she’d heard the rumors flying around town.”
Oh. “You mean the rumors about me and my slutty omega ways?”
“Exactly those.” He sighed. “I really hate that people are talking about you like that.”
“Don’t worry about it. Really, it’s stopped bothering me,” I said as I put my clothes back on. I should probably go down again in a little bit and check how things were with Jake and Griff.
“Well, it bothers me,” he said with a huff. “But anyway, I tried to make her see that our relationship was none of her business.”
“I’m sure she agreed with you on that.” My voice dripped with sarcasm. I’d never personally met the other members of Matt’s family, but I’d heard enough.
The Omega's Secret Baby (Oceanport Omegas Book 1) Page 14