It was the lamest message ever, but I didn’t have time to worry about that. I’d no sooner walked onto the floor than Sally ran over to tell me it was three minutes until the babies landed, and she had three other NICU trained respiratory therapists already there.
A one to one ratio was never a good sign. Ever.
11
Ren
A doctor, huh? Or at least something similar to a doctor. I listened to Thad’s message at least twenty times, each time focusing on different bits of information. He takes care of sick babies. And his first name is Alistair.
Alistair Thaddeus Eardt. A.T.E.
I laughed out loud when that finally clicked in my mind. God, he’s hot. And busy.
I waited five hours before returning his call because I knew he would be running all morning, but by three in the afternoon, I started to get antsy.
That’s when I started to text.
Hope you’re having a good day.
Twenty minutes after that, I sent another doozy. Sorry for interrupting earlier. Call me when you take a break.
And then twenty minutes after that, I realized how desperate my last text sounded so I tried to fix things. If you can’t call me during a break, wait til your drive home.
But then I realized how dangerous that could be and didn’t want him to think I was encouraging him to text and drive so I sent a follow up to that. But not while you’re driving. Only if you have hands free. Or when you get home.
“Dammit!” I tossed my phone across my desk and then had to dive after it when it almost slipped off the other end. It would totally be my luck for my only method of reaching Thad to shatter on my office floor and leave me with no way to communicate with him ever again.
Although, that would have probably been preferable to whatever I was doing with those texts. Communication isn’t even the right word to describe the shitshow I was putting on for my omega. And let’s get real. He’d never be my omega if I kept this weird desperate and beggy thing going on.
“Is everything okay, Ren?” Soren peeked into my office with a concerned look. He was the new office assistant and had never seen me without a polite smile.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I reread my pathetic texts and wished there was a way to recall every last one of them before Thad had a chance to see them. I pretended to bash my phone against the desk, stopping just a fraction of an inch from the surface each time I thrust my fist toward it. “Just wishing I could go back in time and not be such a douche.”
Soren stepped into my office with his hands clasped behind his back. It was a standard omega pose in a professional setting where mostly alphas were in positions of authority. But our office wasn’t discriminatory against omegas at all. I’d mentioned to Soren several times that he didn’t need to be submissive with me.
But some habits die hard.
“Is there something I can do to help? I’m pretty handy with smartphones.”
My fist hovered above my desk as I seriously contemplated his offer. “Is there any way to delete a text message that you’ve already sent so it can’t be read?”
“Oh.” Soren’s shoulders drooped, and he looked devastated by the answer he had to give me. “Sorry, Ren. I wish there was. But I don’t think that’s possible.”
I closed my eyes and twisted my chair so I was facing the window. “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”
“Well, let me know if you need anything else.” He slipped out of my office, giving me the privacy I needed to wallow in my misery.
I’d finally fallen asleep after a long day of frustration and self-induced humiliation when the phone buzzed on my nightstand. It took a second for me to wake up enough to realize what was happening, but when I reached for my phone and saw Thad’s name on the screen, I was one hundred percent awake. And not just my rock hard dick but my entire body.
“Hello.” I cleared my throat to sound less froggy. “Thad?”
“Yeah, hi. Are you asleep?” Thad sounded both exhausted and worried. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize how late it was for regular people. I still haven’t made it home to sleep so my days are rolling into each other.”
“No, I’m fine. I’m glad you called.” I sat up and turned on the lamp. “I wasn’t sure you were going to.”
“Why not?” The background noise on his end of the line died down. “I said I would.”
I was glad he couldn’t see me blushing over the phone. “Yeah, well, that was before I got all text happy. I figured you would have blocked me after the tenth text.”
Thad let out a sweet giggle that had me imagining a big smile on his face. I loved being the one to make him smile, but I hated not being able to see it. “I thought they were...cute.”
“Gawwd.” I closed my eyes and threw my head back. “That’s just what every alpha wants to hear.”
“It should be,” Thad whispered. “I mean, a good alpha doesn’t have to be tough and strong all the time. I like a man who can be cute now and then.”
“You do?” My dick had started to soften, but it was coming back to full attention just from the sound of Thad’s throaty breaths.
“I do.” He exhaled slowly. “I also like an alpha who cares about my use of a hands-free phone while driving.”
The light amusement in his voice made me want to reach through the phone and grab on to him. I could imagine how good his smile would taste. “Again, sorry about that. I was… I don’t even know.”
Thad laughed and then yawned. “God, I think I’m delirious at this point. I seriously need to sleep.”
“So, where does that leave you for dinner tomorrow night?”
“What day is tomorrow?” Thad laughed but it didn’t seem like he was joking. “Today started like forty hours ago for me, so I’m not sure I’ll be conscious tomorrow night.”
I hated that Thad had to work so hard that he couldn’t even find time to sleep. “What about Saturday?”
Thad sighed heavily into the phone and voices filled the background where he was. “I’ve got one day off then a scheduled c-section on Sunday. If all goes well, I should be free on Sunday night, and I won’t start another shift until Wednesday.”
“I’ll take it.” Yes, I knew how desperate I sounded, but I didn’t care. I’d waited a long time to see him, and although I was willing to wait a few more days, I wasn’t about to build in any unnecessary slack. He was only agreeing to Sunday night, but if the opportunity to stay with him until Wednesday presented itself, I was sure as hell gonna take it. “I can come to Mapleville so you don’t have to drive on your night off.”
“Really?” He sounded surprised. “You’d come all this way to see me?”
“Of course.” What kind of assholes had he been dating? I figured that John guy was a one-off, but maybe Thad had been with more than one douche in his time. “I’ve been looking forward to this date for a long time.”
“Me too…” he said wistfully. “But if I don’t get out of here now, I’ll never make it home.”
“Go home and get some rest, Thad.” I imagined him half asleep at his desk with those orange curls shielding his eyes from the harsh hospital lights. “Send me your address tomorrow, and I’ll pick you up on Sunday.”
“It’s a date,” he said softly. “Good night.”
“Good night, little omega. Have sweet dreams until I see you again.”
I’d just put my phone down on my nightstand when it buzzed again with a text from Thad.
In case I forget, just come anytime after 6PM on Sunday. 441 Ashland Ave, Mapleville.
Anytime after six worked just fine. In fact, I’d probably be there at 6:01. Regardless of how desperate I seemed, I wasn’t about to miss a single minute of our first date.
Besides, I had a lot of plans for my little omega, and I didn’t plan to come back home until I’d accomplished every last one of them.
12
Thad
When I woke up, it was dark. Pitch dark. I grabbed the phone off my nightstand and saw it was ten—at
night—the next day. I guess I had been as tired as I felt. Not that I’d have changed my decision to go clock in early. Those triplets went from a 20% chance of survival to close to 90% once we got their breathing stabilized, which was something their birth hospital had been unable to do. They still had a ways to go, but I knew in my gut they were going to make it.
I padded to the bathroom and took care of business before throwing a frozen dinner in the microwave and sending Ren a text.
Looks like I was right to not try to have dinner tonight. I just woke up.
The microwave dinged, and I took out the dish, stirred the potatoes as directed, and put it back in just as the phone indicated a new message.
Leona has money
I didn’t even read the entire thing before reporting it as spam. Damn scammers had been using every number known to man lately. Too bad there wasn’t anything you could do about it.
I grabbed my dinner a few seconds before it was done and brought it to the breakfast bar, grabbing a fork along the way. Peeling off the plastic wrapper, I wanted to cry at the grossness that was before me. I should’ve stuck with frozen pizza. They too were gross, but at least you knew what you were getting.
I grabbed my phone and snapped a photo, sending it to Ren.
In case you were worried about the bar being set too high for our date tomorrow - this is what I’m about to eat.
The phone rang almost immediately.
“Hello,” I answered with a ginormous smile on my face just from seeing his name, or as I had him labeled in my contact information, Birthday Boy.
“You are seriously going to eat that?”
“Unfortunately, yes. It was in my freezer and it’s already ten. It’s either this or cereal with spoiled milk.” If I even had that left. I really needed to stock the kitchen.
“Don’t eat it. Trust me.”
“I haven’t eaten since yesterday. It is edible-ish.” I stuck my fork in the potatoes and attempted to grab a bite only to have the entire portion lift up with my fork, stuck there still in the form of the tray. “Maybe not super edible. I’ll take a shower then run to get something.” I deposited the thing in the trash and walked to the bathroom where I turned on the shower. “See, shower on.”
“So you’re getting naked.” His voice deepened slightly.
Damn, he was sexy. I pushed down my boxer briefs, which was not as easy to do as it would’ve been without the massive boner I was now sporting thanks to—to Ren being Ren.
“I find showers easier when naked, but I wanted to talk to you as long as I could, so instead of saying goodbye, I turned our conversation about nutritionally wise choices into something a bit more scandalous.”
I pulled off my t-shirt with the phone removed from ear for the shortest time possible.
“I was thinking sexy more than scandalous.” He huffed out a laugh. “But go—take your shower. I’ll be up late if you want to talk. Or not. I’m not being creepy, or maybe I am but not on purpose. I’ll shut up now.”
“Not creepy. I’m going to get in the shower now and grab some food after that. If I still have energy, I’ll call you later. It takes me a while to catch up after such a full week, and I really want to be all fully awake by tomorrow.”
Checking the water, I turned the knob slightly and grabbed a towel.
“Night. Happy shower.” His voice cracked at shower.
“Night.” I hung up before I could do something stupid like tell him I was about to beat one off to the thought of him being in my house, in my space, the next day.
Although that was totally what I did after I climbed under the steaming water. I officially had it bad. Coming after only three tugs, his name spilled from my lips as my seed spilled from my body. What was it about this man that had me so needy for him?
Sure, he had saved me, but there was more than that. I’d had my eyes on him most of my short time at the bar. There was just something that drew me to him.
At first, it was probably his looks, and then, of course, the rescuing, but with each encounter we had, more and more things were added to that list. How he looked almost nervous the first time I saw him after our first meeting. The way he didn’t hide his intent to ask me out, going so far as to text things like wanting me to be safe. The way he respected my sleep time and waited for me to call him. The way he stopped me from eating that vile meal. And the way he let his desire for me show in subtle ways, like his voice cracking at the word shower.
He even agreed to come to Mapleville on a Sunday night for a date. We hadn’t talked about his career yet, but Mondays were a work day for most fields, which meant he was giving up sleep for me.
I had a feeling he was a keeper.
I toweled off, slipping on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt just as the doorbell rang. I grabbed a twenty out of my wallet, pretty sure it was cookie selling time. That was something I could never turn down—for the children, of course.
To my surprise, it wasn’t the neighbor’s daughter stalking me for cookie sales. It was Jaxson with a pizza and a bag of, well, I wasn’t even sure what.
“Jaxson, did we have plans?” I didn’t really know Jaxson all that well and I doubted we did, but I’d been known to agree to future plans when I was near exhaustion, and he’d delivered flowers to the nursing station on my ward for his stepmother's flower shop the day before so it was totally possible.
“Nah, dude. You were as tired as you looked yesterday, huh?”
I nodded. I had been.
He handed the food to me. “It’s all paid for.”
“I’m missing something here.”
“This is your food. I brought it to you. Eat it.” He tapped away on his phone before turning it to me. Sure as shit, it was a prepaid order for food with my name and address on it.
“Ah. And you’re bringing it because?”
“Because I’m driving for WonderWheels now, and they just added food delivery.”
Poor guy, every time I saw him he was doing some kind of side hustle from working at Harrison’s to working at the restaurant to delivering flowers and now delivering food.
“Well, thanks. And here.” I handed him the twenty.
“You sure, man?” he asked as he saw the size of the bill. “I was already tipped when they ordered.”
“And you were just tipped again. Wanna eat it with me? Looks like there’s more than I can eat.” I stood to the side so he had room to walk in if he wanted to.
“I can’t. I have another order to pick up. Maria and her cookies.” He shook his head as if those words meant anything to me.
“Thanks for the grub,” I called to him as he made his way back to the car.
I set the pizza on the breakfast bar and opened the bag to find a Caesar salad, some kind of pie, and a sandwich. If I went hungry, it was going to be my own fault. There was even a bottle of cola.
I grabbed a slice and took the biggest bite I could manage before setting it down so I could text Ren. Turned out, I’d missed a message while I was in the shower. He’d let me know not to head out and that food was on the way.
Too freaking adorable.
Food just came. It’s perfect. Thank you so much.
I’d only taken one more bite of pizza before he responded to my message. I wanted you to be rested and well fed for surgery tomorrow. Night.
See you tomorrow and thanks again.
I snapped a picture of the spread he sent along with a picture of me taking a bite of the pizza before sitting down and eating more than any grown man should in one sitting. Who was I to deny an alpha the chance to feed his omega.
Not that I was his.
Not yet anyway.
But a not so small part of me was optimistic I could be one day, and that was enough to keep a smile plastered on my face for the rest of the night.
13
Ren
“Lemme smell those.” Danny held his hand out to grab the bottles of cologne I was inspecting.
I usually wore Knotted but I was lean
ing toward OmDesire for my first official date with Thad. “Which do you like better?”
He smelled both colognes from the bottles but immediately shook his head. “Nope, not good enough. I need to smell them on you.”
I glared at him. “Seriously. You can’t just pick one?”
“Not if you want me to pick based on what it smells like with your own scent and pheromones and everything else.” He held a bottle in each hand and spread his arms. “Hold your wrists as far away from yourself as possible. We’ll wash off whichever one we don’t like.”
I wasn’t in the mood for his games, but I still had an hour to kill before I could start driving to Mapleville. I didn’t want to get there too early since Thad had surgery a few hours earlier and would need some time to rest and get ready, but sitting around was killing me. At least Danny was a good distraction. “Fine, just hurry up.”
He sprayed a fine mist above each of my arms and waved my wrist through the air below it, catching some of the cologne on my skin without drowning in it.
“Okay, now which one?”
He leaned forward and took a big whiff of each arm, making a face when he turned back to me. “You want the truth?”
“Of course. What?” I already felt like an idiot standing there with my arms held out like I was pretending to be an airplane. I didn’t need his dramatics too.
“They both smell like shit. I don’t know if they’re bad or your hormones are just out of whack, but you need to wash both off and just go au natural tonight.”
“You think?” I brought my wrists up to my nose to see what he meant, and Danny was right on the money. They both smelled terrible, not at all like they usually smelled when I wore them. “Oh, yeah. Good call.”
Birthday With His Omega (M/M Non Shifter Alpha/Omega MPreg): A Mapleville Novella Page 5