“Just be yourself tonight, man.” Danny followed me to the sink and watched while I washed up...again. “He’s gonna love you. And even if he doesn’t, he probably won’t be able to resist those guns, so you should at least get laid tonight.”
I just shook my head. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
Danny checked his watch then hopped away from the doorframe he was leaning on. “Shit, I’m late. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He winked before turning his back to me. “Or not.”
The drive to Mapleville seemed to take forever, but it also seemed to fly by. I was more nervous than I could remember ever being for a date, and I didn’t really know why. Thad and I had good chemistry and got along well, so it wasn’t like it things were likely to go terribly wrong.
But I think that’s why I felt so much pressure
Beyond not going wrong, I really wanted it to go well. Like really well. Like neither of us ever wanted it to end kind of well.
Yeah, that’s a lot of pressure to put on a first date, but there was just something about Thad that made me feel like failure was not an option. I knew in my gut that we should be together unless I did something to fuck it up, so I really needed to not fuck it up.
I arrived at my destination fifteen minutes early, so instead of parking and waiting in the car like an idiot, I kept driving until I found a little flower shop that was still open.
An older woman was just locking the door when I ran up to it and waved at her to let me in.
“Oh, honey. I’m just about to head out. Do you know what you need?” The poor woman looked exhausted but friendly, so I decided to push my luck.
“Well, I’m about to go on a first date with someone who seems kinda special, so maybe just a simple bouquet?”
The woman pulled the door open wider and waved me in. “Well, I can’t say no to a first date bouquet. Get on in here.” She immediately went to a refrigerated case that had roses and mixed flowers in crystal vases.
“Yeah, maybe one of these.” I checked each bunch to see if one called out to me as being perfect for Thad. Unfortunately, I had no idea what he liked.
The woman opened the case and pulled out a bouquet of red roses for me to inspect. “I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. Is your date a local?”
I sniffed the roses then looked back to her. “Yeah, Thad Hart…uh, Eardt with an E. He’s from here.”
The woman’s eyes lit up and she looked giddy enough that I wondered if she was his mother. “Oh, Thad. I’m so happy to hear that. He’s is an absolute genius. You’d be lucky to win over a man like him.”
“You know him?” My nerves suddenly faded away. “Do you know what he would like? You know, as part of that winning over thing...”
She glanced around her shop and then held up a finger for me to wait. “I’ll be right back.”
It took a few minutes for her to return, but I could hear her humming in the back room, so I waited patiently. My watch was inching closer to 6 o’clock, but I figured arriving at least a few minutes after the hour might make me seem a little less desperate.
Especially if I had a bouquet in my hands that he would really like.
The woman re-appeared with a blue orchid in a matching pot then set it on the counter. “Thad loves orchids, and I’ve heard him mention his favorite color is blue. I think he’ll like this.”
“It’s gorgeous. I’ll take it.” I pulled out my credit card and slid it toward the woman as I inspected her flower. It truly was beautiful. She slid it back mumbling something about true love, and I thanked her profusely before heading out.
By the time I got out of the shop and found myself standing at Thad’s front door, it was ten minutes after six and my heart was racing with anticipation. I took a deep breath and knocked three times, hoping he was ready for me and that I wasn’t coming across as desperate.
There was some shuffling on the other side of the door and a crash that had me worried for his safety, but within a few seconds, the door swung open and the most beautiful man I’d ever seen was standing in front of me with drops of water still clinging to the ends of his ginger curls.
“Hey,” he said in a raspy voice, slightly out of breath.
“Damn, you look good.” I didn’t mean for that to come out but the smile it brought to Thad’s face confirmed he wasn’t offended.
“You too.” He took a calming breath then opened the door wider. “Please, come in.”
14
Thad
Even after a day of sleep, I was exhausted. The planned c-section ended up becoming an emergency c-section beginning six hours earlier than scheduled. Technically, I didn’t need to come in—there was another person on staff who could’ve taken over, but I’d been part of the planning meeting about what to do for the little guy about to enter this world with his heart not fully formed, and that made me the best person for that particular case.
Steven Johanson from Springfield was born struggling even more than we anticipated he would, but after only a few hours, he was stable. He needed to wait for his heart surgery, and chances were he’d be one of my patients for the next few months, but his long term prognosis was good. His condition was rare enough, and his parents rich enough, that the heart specialist, Dr. Sanders, who was slated to do the surgery, had watched the entire delivery through a video conference and gave advice as needed. He seemed to really know his stuff and had a great manner about him. I doubted poor Steven would’ve made it without Dr. Sanders’s guidance.
The only thing still keeping me awake was the anticipation of my date with Ren. It was stupid to have thrown all my hopes into one basket like that, but there was just something about him. I showered and played the “what to wear” game, going so far as to call Joaquim to ask for his advice. Of course, that turned out to be useless since he just kept telling me whatever I picked would be fine.
As the clock ticked by and six came and went, I began to get worried. Did Ren change his mind? Did he have a flat tire? Did his car fall off a cliff—which was doubly dumb since there were no cliffs between our two towns.
While I waited, my nerves grew until I had to do something, anything, to keep busy. I decided that re-brushing my teeth was never a bad idea and raced back into the bathroom to do so just as there was a knock on the door.
Of course there was.
I made a one eighty and ran back into the living room with all the elegance of a moose, knocking over the box that held the four thousand pieces that would somehow come together to be my new bookshelf. It crashed with both a thud and a jingle. There was a good chance the blasted thing had suffered some damage, not that I wanted to think about that then. I had a date to get to. I turned it on its side, not bothering to lean it against the wall again, before finally answering the door.
“Hey,” I said, my voice raspy and slightly out of breath. Not the way I’d planned to greet him. And plan it I did—multiple ways over the course of the afternoon. I’d been more than excited by my plans for the evening.
“Damn, you look good.” His words took me aback. I felt like such a hot mess after the box fiasco.
“You too.” My eyes didn’t leave his. Shit, I didn’t even know if he had a kilt or jeans on, I’d been too mesmerized. Although, if it was a kilt he’d been sporting, I’d have kicked myself for not noticing it sooner. “Please come in.”
“I heard a crash,” he said, looking around the room for evidence of the destruction. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” I clicked the door closed. “More than. I just knocked over the box with my bookshelf in it. I’d planned to put it together two weeks ago, but as you can see, that didn’t happen.”
“Is it the kind with more pieces than you thought humanly possible, and yet at the end, you’re still missing one?”
I knew exactly what he meant. You never had just enough pieces—always too many or too few.
“That’s the kind.” I pointed to the clock on my wall. “We should probably go get food. It’s Sun
day in Mapleville, so our choices are The Diner or The Diner and they close at eight.” Small town living had a lot going for it, but all night cuisine wasn’t one of those things.
“Oh crap. Hold on.” Ren ran out the door and was back in three seconds flat holding my favorite flower in my favorite color.
“How did you know?” I took it from him and immediately saw the label on the instruction card wedged inside. “Never mind. You must have met Vivian.”
“You make that sound far less creepy and stalkerish than I’d have had it sounding. She makes this a habit I take it,” he teased as I placed the plant on the coffee table. I’d need to find a better place for it, sunwise, but it was good for now.
“That she does. And the alpha who you met the other day, whose mate needed him at the hospital, she’s his mother-in-law so we know each other pretty well.” I’d already told him about Brent’s prognosis and that Joaquim was a coworker, but for a second, I swore I saw a tinge of jealousy in Ren’s eyes. And bad me—I didn’t hate that.
“I can help you put this together after dinner.” He kicked the bookshelf box gently with his foot.
“I’d like that. And, well, it might be late afterward, you know, if you wanted to stay over.” Might as well lay it all out there. “I have a queen sized bed—cozy but big enough.” My face was burning.
“Let’s get to the eating then.” Ren had me by the hand and out the door before I could respond. I was taking that as a heck yeah.
We drove to The Diner, which was aptly named since it was in fact a diner. I’d have liked our first date to be all fancy and romantic, but burgers and meatloaf it would have to be. And cookies. They made the world’s best cookies.
Ren didn’t seem to mind the choice and held my hand as we found the booth farthest from everyone. It gave us a false sense of privacy and made conversation flow freely. Being closer to closing than I usually came in, Martin, our less-than-cheery waiter for the evening, was at our table almost instantly with waters and asking us if we were ready to order. The poor guy almost ran back to the kitchen window with the order once we gave it.
“He didn’t even ask you how you wanted your burger.” I fidgeted with my straw wrapper as I watched Ren slide his menu back behind the napkin dispenser, not even pretending to not watch his arm muscles flexing.
“The menu said something about only serving fully cooked meat so my guess is they’ll default to medium well. He seemed in a hurry.”
“There are only three tables full and it’s Sunday—in Mapleville.” Which I would wager was the entire reason, as sad as it was.
“It smells worth it.” Ren was right. It totally was. “So, you’re a doctor?”
“Hardly. I’m a Respiratory Therapist. I help people breathe.” I crossed my fingers and toes that any disappointment about my career being so much less than he thought wasn’t a game changer for him.
“That’s really important. My old neighbor had a daughter with CP, and they talked about the Respiratory Therapist a lot after one of her hospital stays. Very fondly too. At the time, I didn’t understand what they did. I just knew that to little Shelley, the woman was called Angel Grace. Tell me about your job.” Ren leaned in, elbows on the table, and his hands reaching across for mine. Hands that I filled immediately.
And then I told him all about my job and how being a NICU specialist made my job different than when I was working with stroke units fresh out of school. After that, we talked about his job working with numbers, which was all kinds of sexy in my book. And at the point that our meal came, we started talking about everything from favorite colors to the way the highway construction was going, to where we went to school.
By the time we were given the not-so-subtle hint to take our cookies to go, I felt more at ease with him than I ever had with anyone else on a first date...or was it sort of our second? Either way, it was wonderful.
And arousing.
My damn cock had been hard for an hour and a half straight. From the looks of things when Ren got out of the booth, he was in a similar situation.
I was going to have to do something about that.
15
Ren
The drive back to Thad’s place was a struggle. The sexual tension in the air was thick enough to cut with a knife...and I loved every second of it. I held Thad’s hand on the drive, his rapid pulse beating against my fingertips while we both tried to control our body's reactions to each other. Mine was easier to hide, but as the scent of Thad’s natural lubrication filled the car, breathing became difficult. My jeans started out tight, and as the seconds ticked by, I couldn’t be subtle anymore. As soon as I stopped at a red light, I had to shove my hand into my pants to adjust my thick cock before there was permanent damage.
I kept my eyes on the road, even when Thad stopped breathing for a moment as he realized what I was doing. The light turned green before either of us could say anything, and we pulled into his driveway just seconds later.
Not wasting any time, I threw the car into park and jumped out, quickly crossing in front of it to open the door for Thad. His hand immediately settled back into mine as I tugged him toward his front door. “You don’t have a roommate, do you?”
“Nope. It’s just us.” I held in a growl as Thad fumbled with his keys before finally getting the door unlocked and open. He stepped in first, and when he turned to me, I couldn’t wait any longer. I scooped him up with both of my hands closing around his thighs and kicked the door shut behind me as I started walking down the hallway.
Thad looked shocked at first, but the desire in his eyes didn’t fade as his gaze locked onto my mouth and he dove in for a kiss.
Our first kiss.
I had imagined it being soft and gentle, maybe between sips of wine or at the door while we said goodbye.
But that wasn’t what this was at all.
Thad’s mouth crashed against mine with primal need, lips and teeth and tongue all clashing for dominance as he took what he wanted. And I readily gave it to him.
The door at the end of the hall was open, so I took a chance and walked toward it. Even in the dim lighting, it was obviously Thad’s bedroom, so I walked straight in until my knees hit the mattress then leaned over, gently dropping him onto it as I hovered above him.
My fingertips slid beneath his t-shirt, pulling it up as I explored his soft skin for the first time. I desperately wanted to look at him, but I couldn’t tear my lips away from his long enough to see his perfect body.
Thad thrust his hips up so his hard cock rubbed against my thigh, humping into me with the same desperation I felt. “I want you, alpha.”
I growled, completely in agreement. It took all my strength to lift my body from Thad’s so I could remove the shirt from over his head and undo the buttons of his jeans. Thad wasn’t breathing at all as my fingers slowly loosened his button fly, teasing over the length of his cock while it pressed up against his boxers. Once his pants were completely open, I hooked my thumbs underneath his boxers and slid them over his ass then yanked both articles of clothing off in one fell swoop.
Thad inhaled deeply and a trail of goose bumps covered his body. I took a step back and admired how perfect my omega was, hard and wet, eagerly waiting for me. I took my time removing my clothing, putting on a show for Thad. A small part of me was nervous about whether the chemistry I thought I felt was real, but mostly I just wanted to make this moment last for as long as possible.
I wanted my first time with Thad to be amazing, and when he reached for his shaft and began to gently tug at it while I slipped my jeans over my hips and down to the ground, I knew he enjoyed looking at me as much as I enjoyed looking at him.
“God, you’re so big.” Thad was staring at my cock with a bit of fear in his eyes.
“You can take it, baby. Your body was made to take big alpha cock.” My alpha cock.
I gripped his ankles and spread his legs wider. With his feet planted several feet apart on the mattress, I released him and dragged my fingertip
s up his calves until they reached the back of his knees. Gripping his thighs with my palms, I pushed him forward, folding him in half so his puckered opening was on display for me.
“You’re so wet,” I whispered as I slipped my thumb inside him. Thad moaned and rocked his hips toward me, taking in the full digit while squeezing his balls with his free hand. “Is this all for me?”
“All of it,” Thad panted out. “I need your knot, Ren. Please.”
“You don’t have to beg, baby. You’ll get it. I just need to make sure you’re ready.” I slipped two more fingers inside him, opening him even wider. Thad’s body quickly relaxed for me, and his slick opening quivered under my touch.
“It feels too good.” Thad was stroking his dick quickly, so I reached for his hand and pulled it away, pinning it to his side.
“Not yet, little omega. We’re almost there.”
Thad took a deep breath and closed his eyes, obviously trying to be patient as I prepared his body to take me.
As soon as his muscles were relaxed enough that I knew he wouldn’t be in too much pain, I pulled back and looked at him one more time. Thad was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen, legs spread and hole gaping open, waiting for me to give him my knot. Drops of his moisture dripped down his ass, and I couldn’t stop myself from leaning in to taste him.
As soon as my tongue touched his heated skin, Thad bucked up off the mattress, shouting out my name.
I smiled against his soft skin, lapping up his slick before teasing his opening with my wet lips.
“Please, alpha. I need you.”
My cock needed him too. Standing over him, I hooked my arms under both of Thad’s thighs then planted my knees on the mattress so I was perfectly aligned with his opening.
Birthday With His Omega (M/M Non Shifter Alpha/Omega MPreg): A Mapleville Novella Page 6