The Omega Nanny

by Penelope Peters

  Biology did have its benefits, sometimes.

  “Kieran,” he said calmly, if a bit sternly, as Harry tried to tread water.

  Kieran looked away from Harry; his expression turned a bit sheepish. “Can he swim?” he asked, indicating Harry.

  “When he remembers,” allowed Thomas, and reached down to offer Harry his hand. Harry grasped it, and began to haul himself out of the water.

  “You little—” shouted Harry.

  “Careful, Harry,” said Thomas, and looked back at Kieran. “Was he trying to seduce you?”

  “A bit,” allowed Kieran, with a shrug. “I handled it.”

  “I see,” said Thomas, and looked down at Harry. “Harry. I think you should know. Kieran’s mine.”

  He’d said it loud enough for the entire party to hear, very much on purpose, and sure enough, the soft gasp and murmur from the crowd confirmed that they’d caught every word.

  Better still, the indignant squeak from the other side of the pool reassured Thomas that one specific person hadn’t missed it, either.

  Harry stared up at him, mouth dropped open. “But… he’s not bitten!”

  “Not yet,” said Thomas. “Thanks for the shove.”

  And he then dropped Harry back into the water.

  By the time he straightened back up, Kieran stood next to him. There was a thunderous look on his small face, a bit like he fully intended to give Thomas a piece of his mind. Or maybe shove him in the water after Harry.

  It shouldn’t have made Thomas so happy, to see Kieran so upset, and specifically with him. Maybe it was just knowing that Kieran cared enough to be upset.

  Thomas wasn’t particularly interested in figuring out why seeing Kieran angry was such a turn-on. He just knew what he wanted to do with it.

  “Thomas—”

  Thomas didn’t wait to hear what else Kieran was going to say. He pulled Kieran in and kissed him. Kieran held himself stiffly for a moment, his lips firmly closed and tight against Thomas’s tongue.

  “Mine,” said Thomas, and Kieran melted into him, arms up around Thomas’s neck, mouth turning soft and pliant, sweet like vanilla-sugar cake and cinnamon.

  Kieran was glassy-eyed when Thomas finally came up for air. His lips were red and swollen, and he was breathing just a bit faster. “You brought a date.”

  “I’m an idiot,” said Thomas.

  “Well, that too.”

  “Come home with me,” said Thomas.

  “Okay,” said Kieran, a bit dazed, and when Thomas pulled Kieran away from the pool and through the crowd of people to the house, he thought he heard them begin to applaud.

  The house was surprisingly empty, considering the number of people outside – a benefit, really, since it made it easier to get away. And that was all Thomas could focus on just then – getting Kieran away, out of territory that wasn’t his, wasn’t marked with his scent and his things, where other alphas prowled and where Thomas would have to fight to keep him.

  Get Kieran Home. That was the priority. Get Kieran Safe.

  And then… Make Kieran His.

  Kieran stopped in the hall, pulling Thomas back.

  “Hey,” Kieran said, the uncertainty creeping back into his voice. “Thomas, I—”

  Kieran swallowed, unable to finish, but his eyes were wide. Thomas took a step back to Kieran, struck by the innocence and worry on Kieran’s face. He held Kieran’s hand tightly, and rested his free hand on Kieran’s cheek for just a moment before drawing him in for a kiss.

  Kieran didn’t resist; he opened his mouth immediately and sighed with such relief that it reminded Thomas of his original goal.

  Get Kieran home, safe, secure.

  “I have to get you home,” Thomas whispered, surprised how hard it was to talk and keep his voice from breaking. He moved his mouth down Kieran’s jawline, below his ear where the skin was the softest. Where his omega scent was the strongest, and he dragged his lips and then his teeth along the tender flesh, just to hear Kieran’s breath catch. It wasn’t the place where he’d leave his bite, no… but it wasn’t far off, and clearly it was doing something for Kieran.

  “Thomas,” said Kieran, his voice unsteady.

  “There’s other alphas here,” said Thomas, almost a growl, and he nipped playfully at Kieran’s ear, and heard the young man whine, deep in his throat, as his head fell back to give Thomas access. “And you’re mine.”

  “I know, but….”

  Thomas pulled back a bit. “Is this… am I what you want?”

  Kieran’s eyes narrowed. “Yes,” he said, almost a hiss, and he pulled Thomas back in. “I just….”

  “I knew it!” exclaimed Connie from behind Thomas.

  Thomas and Kieran broke apart; Thomas instinctively stood in front of Kieran, as if to protect him, and felt Kieran give him a shove in protest. Thomas didn’t budge.

  Connie stood in the doorway, hands on her hips, eyes narrowed – a thinner, younger, less floral image of Aunt Mae. She glared at Thomas, and then glared at Kieran, and then threw up her hands in the air.

  “Oh, stop. I’m not an alpha here to steal your mate,” she said, and when Thomas relaxed his stance, she stepped forward and kissed Thomas on the cheek. “You ass.”

  “Well,” grumbled Thomas, and noticed his parents standing behind his sister.

  “We’ll keep Jessie for the next few days,” promised Darla.

  “I’ll help,” Connie assured them.

  “But—” said Kieran, growing a bit alarmed. “You just got married, you’ll want time with your new mate.”

  Connie snorted. “I’ll have a whole year in Germany with him. I only get another week with Jessie before I move away.”

  “Where is she?” asked Thomas.

  “Eating cake, somewhere,” said Darla. “Call when you can, she’ll understand.”

  “She’ll have to, now,” said Connie, eyes waggling suggestively, and Thomas pushed Kieran out of the door before any of them could get any worse.

  He stopped, just before crossing the threshold himself, and looked back to see his parents and sister grinning widely.

  “Thank you,” he said, wondering why it felt so awkward.

  “Go,” said Marlene, smiling, perhaps the only one of them who fully understood the strange way Thomas couldn’t quite concentrate on the social niceties anymore.

  Thomas went.

  Kieran was strangely quiet as they crossed the lawn and turned down the street, even more crowded with cars now than it had been when Thomas and Nora had arrived.

  “Good Lord,” said Thomas, eyes going wide.

  Kieran bit his lip. “Um. Look. It’s all right… I can just go home, if you’ve changed your mind—”

  Thomas reached over and grasped Kieran’s hand tightly. “Not that,” he said firmly. “Every car in the entire city is parked in this street. You’d think some of them would have carpooled.”

  Kieran was quiet. “Is… that why you brought her?”

  Thomas glanced at Kieran. “You mean Nora.”

  “You kissed her, though.”

  Thomas winced. “I’m sorry, I….”

  “No, it’s just…” Kieran took a breath. “I made up my mind this morning. I was going to talk to you. Ask you if… if you wanted something more with me. Until I saw you walk up the street with her. Talking and laughing – like no one else in the world existed. The way she looked at you — I thought, well. That maybe there wasn’t anything between us after all. Maybe you’re like that with everyone.”

  “No,” said Thomas, and he pulled Kieran’s hand up to his chest to rest it over his heart. “Not everyone. Not… not anyone. Not in a long, long time.”

  Kieran smiled – just a little, just enough that Thomas’s heart turned over in his chest.

  “Just you,” said Thomas, and Kieran let out a long, relieved sigh.

  “Oh, thank God,” whispered Kieran, and reached up on his toes to kiss Thomas’s mouth with gentle, firm pressure. Thomas wrapped his free arm
around Kieran’s back, taking as much of his weight as he could, to keep him close.

  Thomas wasn’t going to let Kieran go. Not again. And certainly not after making his intentions clear to every single person at that party who had watched them—

  Oh shit.

  Thomas broke the kiss with a groan. “Oh, God. I was Nora’s ride. She’s going to have to hitch a ride home.”

  Kieran stared up at him for a moment, his face contorted between expressions before he finally settled on amused. “You missed her helping Harry out of the pool, didn’t you?”

  Thomas’s mouth dropped open, and then he began to laugh. Kieran in turn began giggling, and then they were both laughing mercilessly as they reached Thomas’s car.

  “We shouldn’t laugh,” said Thomas, struggling to maintain his composure as he unlocked the doors. “Nora’s too good for Harry. Too good for me, too, for that matter.”

  Kieran didn’t answer right away, and Thomas turned to see Kieran standing at a dead halt, staring at the little car.

  Kieran bit his lip, clearly uncertain. “You… you said you didn’t like male omegas.”

  It’s okay to admit you’re wrong sometimes.

  Thomas felt the gentle shove on his back, pushing him toward Kieran. The wind rustled in the trees above them, almost as if the entire world was laughing.

  “Connie said that, not me,” said Thomas, grateful and happy and more at ease with himself and what he was about to do than possibly anything he’d done since the day Jessie was born. “Connie’s not always right about everything.”

  Thomas took a step forward, wrapped his arms around Kieran, and leaned down to meet him in a kiss.

  * * *

  Jessie rested her chin on her folded hands, looking out the window from the second floor bedroom. She could just see her father and Kieran, walking down the road – and then Thomas reaching for Kieran’s hand.

  “I like him,” she said conversationally, and Felicity, who was in the exact same position next to her, turned and rested her temple on her folded hands to look at Jessie. “I think he’ll make a very good mommy.”

  I think so, too, confessed Felicity.

  Jessie watched as her father and soon-to-be step-mother kissed, and then climbed into the car to drive away.

  “So,” said Jessie, “can I have a baby brother next?”

  Felicity grinned. I’ll see what I can do.

  * * *

  Thomas was largely quiet as he drove the car away from the marriage. Kieran supposed he should have been worried that he was having second thoughts – but really, he couldn’t concentrate long enough to be that concerned. The party was surely continuing without them just fine – Harry had no doubt turned his charm onto Nora, who had seemed amused enough as she pulled him out of the pool to allow it.

  Whether or not his charm would have any effect, Kieran couldn’t say. In the span of ten minutes, Kieran had decided that Harry’s charm was just enough to make him likeable. Kieran didn’t know Nora at all, but he had no doubt that she’d demand a bit more out of Harry than just likeable.

  Kieran wondered what Desmond had demanded from Cameron, that Cameron hadn’t been able to give. What Thomas would ask, and if Kieran would be able to—

  Out of reflex, Kieran glanced at Thomas, and was relieved to see that Thomas didn’t look at all like he was having doubts about their departure or destination.

  Not that Kieran really knew where they were going. When Thomas glanced over at him, and smiled, Kieran decided not to worry about it – besides, the smile was enough to send Kieran’s thoughts off course again. The heat rose up in his cheeks, his chest, his arms. He felt clammy and uncomfortable. At first, the bucket seat had been the best seat in the world, and Kieran had melted into its curves, feeling a bit like he was sinking into a ready-made cocoon.

  Now, it just felt stifling. Kieran wanted to extend his arms and legs and strip off every stitch of clothing, let the breeze blow on his overheated skin, which was already prickling. There was a low sort of tension in his muscles, and a warm heat that Kieran thought…

  Oh, damn.

  By the time Thomas pulled into his garage, Kieran’s breath was growing increasingly unsteady. Thomas closed the garage door behind them, turned off the car, and turned to him with a worried look on his face.

  “Are you all right?”

  “I think,” said Kieran carefully, “I think maybe you shouldn’t have kissed me on the neck, that last time.” He saw the flash of worry on Thomas’s face, and then added, “I’m going into estrus.”

  He could see Thomas’s Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed. “All right,” he said, clearly trying to stay calm. “You need to be somewhere safe. I can take you back to The Coffee Pot, if that’s what you want. Cameron can watch over you.”

  Kieran sucked in a breath. “You’d… take me somewhere else?”

  “If that’s what you want,” said Thomas stiffly. “Yes.” He paused. “It’s not what I want. I want you to come inside, and up to my bedroom, and I want to take every single stitch of clothing off you and I want to….”

  The rush of blood straight to Kieran’s head was overpowering – and the rush of wet he felt where he sat was even worse. Thomas caught himself, fingers squeezing tightly on the steering wheel as he worked to control his desire, and Kieran tried desperately to control his own imagination from following where Thomas’s words had led.

  Into the bedroom and on the bed and both of us naked and writhing and fuck I think you’re beautiful and I want you to do all of that to me.

  “It’s your choice,” said Thomas finally. “You’re not mine. Unless you want to be. But… we can’t stay in this car for much longer.”

  Not without going there.

  Kieran breathed. The air was thick and cloying, warm with his own heat and Thomas’s pheromones. Thomas would be breathing them, too, he realized. It was why he was holding himself so taut on the other side of the car – why he hadn’t taken his hands off the steering wheel.

  Why he was offering to drive Kieran anywhere he wanted to go.

  He’s leaving it to me.

  “Desmond came by last night,” Kieran blurted out, his thoughts just as scattered as they’d been before. “My brother. He said – he said my father’s putting the money I’m paying back into an account with my name on it. Not his. Not Vera’s. Just mine.”

  “Okay,” said Thomas, slowly.

  Kieran turned to him. “They’re letting me choose. I choose you.”

  Thomas breathed out. “If you come into my house, then I’m going to bond you.”

  Kieran began to fumble with the seat belt. “Take me inside. Please.”

  It took both of them a few frantic minutes to unbuckle their seatbelts – neither of them seemed to have retained any fine motor control at all, and Kieran was never quite sure afterwards who had actually freed him. He didn’t really remember even going from the car into the house. There were frantic kisses, clothes shed in every room, and a good ten minutes on the stairs while they sat and kissed, while Thomas tried to keep them from sliding down to the bottom, and Kieran, in the back of his mind, wondered if they were going to end up with rug burns. All Kieran wore was his boxer briefs and his socks – Thomas had only managed to shed his suit jacket, shoes, and button-down shirt.

  “Enough,” groaned Thomas finally, amused and lustful all at once, when Kieran slipped and landed hard on his elbow, letting out a soft ow. “We’ll get rug burns.”

  “Don’t care,” gasped Kieran, but he didn’t protest when Thomas pulled him up anyway.

  They made it up to the second floor and down the hall to the bedroom, with Thomas carrying Kieran as Kieran pressed his mouth and nose into Thomas’s neck. He could feel Thomas’s growl vibrating against his teeth, and it made him shiver.

  Kieran bit down on the skin; Thomas’s growl went even deeper, and he fell with his back against the wall, letting his head fall to the side. Kieran grinned and squirmed against him, and bit again, light
ly, a little higher up – just above where a bond bite might go on his own neck.

  “Fuck,” groaned Thomas, and his hands loosened on Kieran, letting him slide down his body until his feet touched the floor. Kieran’s skin burned at the loss of contact – all of his skin, where it wasn’t pressed against Thomas, tingled and sparked.

  “Please,” gasped Kieran against Thomas’s chest, scrabbling to get his hands under the v-necked undershirt he still wore. “God, why are you wearing so much clothing?”

  Thomas pushed him away just enough to pull the shirt over his head. Even that long without touching Thomas was almost too long, but when Kieran fell back against him, skin to skin now, it was a thousand times better. The hair on Thomas’s chest was tightly curled, but soft, and Kieran gave the curved plane of his chest an open mouth kiss, greedy and wanting.

  “Anything,” breathed Thomas, resting one hand on Kieran’s head to hold him there.

  Kieran reached for Thomas’s hand and pressed the flat of his palm to the bare skin on his side. “Don’t stop touching me.”

  Kieran could feel the beat of Thomas’s heart under his mouth – the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed, the heat from his skin and the rising scent of pheromones. He tracked the scent, down through the curls, down over Thomas’s stomach, as Thomas’s hands slowly ran over his back, his shoulders, his upper arms, never losing contact, even when Kieran had to struggle to pull ineffectively at his buckle.

  Thomas chuckled, and helped. Kieran’s skin was cold where Thomas’s hands had been, but it was brief, and then Thomas pushed down his trousers and boxers to his thighs. His cock bobbed as Kieran pulled them down the rest of the way, and he left them around Thomas’s ankles.

  Thomas’s cock was thick and smelled so good, the kind of smell that Kieran wanted to carry with him all the time. Kieran could already taste it in the air, and he didn’t even think about the worrying large size of Thomas’s cock. He reached for it and wrapped his fingers around it, and barely heard Thomas’s gasp as he brought it to his lips and let it rest there, the tip just inside his open mouth as he breathed in the scent of him.

  Because just breathing Thomas was more than Kieran could take. Better than the feel of Thomas’s hands on Kieran’s shoulders and neck. Better than the feel of skin to skin, better than anything Kieran ever felt in his entire life. Kieran breathed, letting the soft skin of the cock’s head rub against his lower lip, dragging and pulling, pressing up against his upper lip, demanding entrance.