“Yeah.” I picked out the card, still holding the weight of fluffy love and then set it on the nearest chair to read the note.
Loving you. I’m having the time of my life. Hal
His little love notes always alluded to a romantic song. That was my Hal.
More than one tear fell as I realized again how tender and thoughtful he was. I’d struck gold with my alpha for sure.
“We’ve been together just short of a month, and he’s showered me with gifts. I’m a terrible omega.”
Kristin blushed and came forward to stroke the bear’s head. “It’s so soft. So, can I ask you a question? I mean now that I know you’re dating, some things are coming together.”
“Of course,” I said, raising the rose to my nose to take a sniff of the sweet aroma.
“You’ve been a little emotional with patients lately. I’ve replaced the Kleenex on your side of the couch more than once this week. Your eyes have been red when you come out from some sessions. And yesterday, when I placed your morning coffee on your desk, you...well, you gagged.”
Apparently, I didn’t hide that so well.
I was caught in the Hal whirlwind still only half listening to her. I was thinking instead about ways I would thank my alpha later for being such an absolute sweetheart.
“I’ve been feeling off lately. No big deal.”
“Aversions to certain foods?”
I nodded.
“Stomach sick at certain times of the day?”
Another nod.
“Tired all the time? Maybe less energy to do your daily tasks?”
I nodded, still looking at the bear. How did I get caught up in this question-and-answer session again?
“Dr. Taylor, Kipling.” I turned my head her way to notice she was now standing beside me, her hand on my elbow. She had always been the utmost of a professional assistant, but never this...friendly?
“What?”
“If you’ve been together about a month, and I’m assuming some things here. Maybe you should see a doctor. It’s important to get regular checkups.”
I sighed and decided maybe Kristin needed a session or two.
“What are you talking about, Kristin? Say it plain.”
“I think you might be pregnant, Dr. Taylor.”
Who made the room swirl around like that?
Kristin put one hand on my back and the other on my arm and led me to the other chair, the one opposite the bear who was staring at me, too. “Bend down. Put your head between your legs. That’s it.”
I was following her directions without a word. Her voice was soothing in a way I hadn’t noticed before.
“I just have a cold,” I protested with my head in the position she suggested.
“This will be a good thing, right? We don’t always plan them, but it looks like you have a fine mate. Can I call him for you? I’m canceling all your afternoon appointments.”
Clarity struck me. She put me this way not to faint. I might be pregnant with Hal’s child, and all I wanted to do in the world was snuggle with my new bear.
“In my phone under Hal.” I relented to the events around me. I normally had control over my life and now it seemed the events were controlling me. Not the most comforting of feelings.
From my office, I heard her push buttons on my cell and then call someone on speaker. I closed my eyes, hearing the sound of his voice.
“Hal? This is Kristin, Dr. Taylor’s assistant. Yes, he’s okay. He got your gift, yes, but…” She went on to explain the situation and then started to giggle. “Well he hung up on me. He’s on his way here, I suppose. Let me get you some cool water.”
For the next quarter of an hour or so, Kristin cooed over me and rubbed my back, telling me it would be okay. I’d never appreciated her more.
“Thank you, Kristin. I know we’ve never been…”
“It’s okay. I’ve worked for counselors before. It helps to be removed from the office sometimes, and that means from me, too. If you don’t have those connections, it’s easier to clock out and have a life, so to speak. Looks like you’ve built a hell of a life in the past month. He’s a lucky man.”
I looked up then and didn’t feel the pull of dizzy like I had before.
Also, I’d assumed in my scenario that I was the one who was lucky.
Kristin winked at me and refilled my water cup. “It’s true. You’re handsome, successful, and so kind to the patients, and their parents.”
“They’re kids. You kind of have to be nice.”
There I went again, underestimating myself.
“No, not all are. These kids need the kind of care that listens and empathizes but hands the power of those emotions back to them. You do that for these kids and their parents. Sometimes, I think you do too much. Remember, I log all of your call times and special visits.”
I snorted. “Sometimes I think I don’t do enough.”
Hal opened the door. The expression on his face was sheer panic with widened eyes and his chest heaving with breaths. If I didn’t know better, I would think he ran all the way here.
We shared a look, and I felt my face heat again. I shrugged, not really knowing what to say.
“Omega mine,” he murmured and came to sit next to me. He and Kristin made their introductions, and I leaned against him.
Hal always let me lean on him, physically and emotionally.
Everyone needs a rock. And my rock was Hal.
“I called on the way and made an appointment, well, two actually. One with a doctor and one with a midwife. Your choice.”
“Resourceful, too? You got a good one, Dr. Taylor,” Kristin remarked and then went to her desk.
“I think we can go to Kipling now, Kristin. You and I have a bond.”
She beamed and sat up straighter. “We do?”
“Yeah,” I said, threading my fingers through my alpha’s. “You were the first one to know I’m having this guy’s baby. I think you’re right after all.”
At her desk in her leather chair, she did a little dance and spun around for effect. “I hope it’s true and I didn’t just get your hopes up.”
Hal chuckled and I reveled in the familiar sound. “I’m hoping, Kristin, that you are right on target.”
Chapter Fifteen
Hal
I couldn’t get my breath—not sure I actually filled my lungs from when Kristin, Kipling’s secretary, called the dental practice until I got to Kipling’s office. A baby? She’d outlined the symptoms and dammit if I hadn’t been shutting them out. Sure, I’d noticed he was a little pale and had shut himself in the bathroom a few times—but we’d both called it “fighting off a virus.”
Some virus. In eight months or so that virus would be a full-blown person entering our lives with all that entailed. I burst into the office and had him out the door again in less than five minutes. Kristin’s good wishes and smothered laughter followed us to the elevator. “He is pregnant, and nothing is likely to happen for a good while,” she called. “I’ll cancel your appointments for tomorrow as well, Dr. Taylor.”
I bundled him into the car, buckled his seat belt, and tore out of the parking lot, heart pounding in my throat. When we stopped at the light on the corner, he rested a hand on mine where it gripped the wheel. “Pull over for a second, Hal.”
“No. We need to get there fast before…”
“Before what?” His tone was calm, measured, and took the wind out of my sails.
I pulled over.
“Okay, now, tell me what’s going on in that handsome head of yours?”
As I turned to face him, I saw what I suspected his patients did, a composed man, brow quirked, ready to listen and support. Which floored me and cut off the hyperventilation at the same time. Here he was, nauseous, dizzy, and facing raising a child without our being formally mated or married...and he was ready to calm my fear.
Holy shit. What had I done to deserve him? I wanted to get him
to a doctor or the midwife but actually hadn’t even known which I might be driving to. That was no way for an alpha to behave, much less a dad.
A dad...now I wanted to throw up. Would I fall short? Could I take on this family and guide it as I should? My family was certainly no example in how to behave. Kipling’s...now they were a family.
“Hal.” He was still calm, but his cheeks were pale. “I might need to be sick, but I’d rather not throw up in the gutter, so if you can summarize what you’re thinking, and then we can decide where we are going?”
“I don’t want to let you down. You or our child.” There. It was out there. “My dads were never there for me. It was career first with the occasional shove in the right direction educationally for us. What if I’m a horrible father? I—” My breath caught again. I was going to die of suffocation by the time the baby arrived at this rate.
“You what?” He still looked a little green around the gills but his eyes shone with compassion. “What’s the biggest thing you’re afraid of?”
“Being like my dads.”
He lifted my hand and brought it to his lips, kissed each knuckle before looking up at me, a grin lifting one side of his mouth. “You are a kind, loving person who every kid in that dental practice adores. I’ve seen you take sad people at the lounge and turn their frowns upside down with a single song in your amazing voice. Hal, I haven’t met your dads, but from what you’ve told me about them, you are their polar opposite. Our baby is going to have the best lullabies every night.”
“I have to quit the lounge. I want to be home to sing those.” And there, my job decision was made. “But I make most of my income there. But I can’t be out late. What if something happens and you need me?”
He shrugged. “I make a good income and you probably deserve a raise at your day job anyway. But you love singing at the lounge. Maybe you can just be a fill-in crooner or do one day a week or something.”
“But I need to be home every single night to —”
He shook his head and kissed my hand again. “Don’t overthink this, my alpha. I’m probably about a month pregnant and we have a long time before the baby even shows up. Why don’t we take this a day at a time and make the decisions that work for us? Our child needs happy parents. Agreed?”
I nodded, beyond words at his wisdom. “Agreed. But what about during the day when we are at work?”
“We’ll figure that out, too, but if you think my dad would let his first grandchild go into daycare, you don’t know my dad.” He bent close, linking our fingers and looking deep into my eyes. “This baby will be loved so much, by us, by my family, by our friends. Don’t borrow trouble, as Dad always says. For today, let’s get to the midwife and learn how to be good pregnant people.”
“Yes, omega.”
“And as for your dads? They can be part of our life or not as it suits them. Not because they deserve it, but because maybe despite themselves they turned out one hell of an alpha son. So they can’t be all bad.”
“I suppose they aren’t.” I let out a heavy sigh. “It’s lucky one of us has it together.”
Kipling dropped my hand and clapped his over his mouth. He thrust the door open and was sick into the gutter. When he sat up again, he offered a wan grin. “I don’t have it together, but I figure we can’t both fall apart at the same time. Next time, it’s my turn.”
“Midwife, then?”
“Please. I hope she has some ideas about what to do to ease this nausea. I can’t afford to throw up on one of my patients. Their parents won’t like it.”
I chuckled, throwing the car in gear and easing back into traffic. “I’m sure she will be a big help.” The winter sky hung heavy over our heads, but it could have been filled with multicolored hot-air balloons to match my rising spirits. “What do you suppose our child will be? An athlete? A singer? Maybe a concert pianist or a Nobel-prize-winning scientist?” My elation had no bounds.
“Hal?”
I glanced at him before turning onto the street where the midwifery was located. “My dads may have had an influence on me.”
He laughed out loud. “It’s okay. My dad still doesn’t understand why I don’t work at the restaurant.”
The clouds parted overhead, and a wintery sun sent some rays to earth. We had a lot of planning to do, but the first thing was my proposal. I wanted it to be the most romantic ever in the history of couples. And I already had some ideas.
Chapter Sixteen
Kipling
Holidays with Hal were extra. And by extra, I meant insane. The guy got called for everything and anything in between. He sang at the mall. He sang at nativity scenes all over the city. He sang at Santa Claus picture events in between Santa change-outs.
One night he came home, exhausted from head to toe and we had a discussion about his schedule.
He was working too hard.
Something had to give.
And damn it all, this pregnancy had left me needy and anxious and I wanted the comfort of my alpha.
So that night, two days before Christmas, we decided that he would quit his work at the dentist’s office starting in the new year. It was the opposite of our original plan but seemed to make the most sense. He’d be singing lullabies for afternoon naps and still a few nights a week.
Patrick was more than upset but understood. He said something about an alpha’s life is turned upside down by his omega and that’s the best way to be, upside down for your love.
So Hal worked at the lounge most of the evening and spent the rest of the night with me.
And after the new year, his lease came up on his apartment and we decided to take the next step, moving into my house, which wasn’t that big of a step at all since he practically lived at my house anyway.
Our babe grew bigger and bigger in my belly, and by spring as my bouquets from Hal became daisies instead of roses, my wardrobe evolved into paternity pants and giant shirts.
I hadn’t seen my feet in a few weeks, give or take a month.
After my Saturday nap, which had gone from luxury to absolute necessity, I heard Hal on the phone and walked into the bedroom to see what he was up to.
“Oh, last minute?” I heard him say and internally groaned.
He listened more and while he did, I pressed my chest against his back and reached around to put both hands down his pants. He gasped and then tried to cover it with a cough.
“I think I can. I’ll have to butter up my omega. Sure. I’ll be there.”
Crap. What had my man committed to now?
He hung up the phone, but I wasn’t giving him a chance to say anything but my name. I pumped his throbbing cock up and down while rocking my hips into his ass from behind. The other hand massaged and tugged at his sac just like I knew he preferred.
“I can’t…” he said, and then his body pulsed with the climax as he shot cum all over my hand.
“I didn’t even get to take my pants off,” Hal fake complained, turning around to take my mouth in a kiss that had me wanting to drag him upstairs for the night.
“I’m not apologizing,” I answered, pulling away from him to wash my hands at the sink.
“There’s a fair tonight in the next town over. A fundraiser of some sort for a kid’s medical bills. Their main act pulled out last minute. Something about a PR problem.”
I put my hands on my hips. “What kind of problem is there in helping a kid?”
He shrugged.
Oh, I knew where this was going. “So they called the local celebrity.”
He smiled from ear to ear. “I hate it when you call me a celebrity. I’m your alpha first.”
“What time?” I slumped my shoulders, pretending to be upset.
“Nine. Tonight. I have to go get dressed.”
I sighed and opened the fridge. Long gone were my nauseated days and my rigid ninja diet. I’d resume it after recovering from birth but until then, I was taking full advantage. I grabbed pin
eapple upside-down cake and spinach dip then the crackers from the cabinet. It was fruit and vegetables after all.
“I love you, Hal, but my bedtime is nine. Me and this babe. But have fun.”
He groaned and snagged a cracker from the pack. “I thought you could make an exception and come with me. It’s a big deal.”
I popped a cracker with an obscene amount of spinach dip on it into my mouth and chewed, purposefully making him wait. He usually didn’t ask me to go to these things with him. I went to some, but less and less, the larger my belly got.
“Where?”
“Tanger,” he said, leaning on the counter, trailing a finger in circles around my naked belly.
“Fairs have corn dogs,” I singsonged.
“Hot dogs have nitrates. No way. Pick something else, please.”
He bent down to tell the babe about his daddy eating junk food.
“Funnel cake,” I countered, and yawned.
“I can do funnel cake. You hear that, baby mine? Your papa has to bribe Daddy with food to get him to see me sing.”
I ran my fingers through his hair. “No you don’t. I love to hear you sing. All the time.”
“Then let’s go. Get dressed. And if you’re good, I’ll give you another kind of treat before we go.”
“I’m ready already.”
And I was, hard as stone for my mate.
He took my hand and brought me upstairs and started the shower while I stripped. I sat on the edge of the bathroom counter while he undressed, enjoying the view. Steam rose from the top of our double-headed shower, and we stepped in. We both lathered up, and I thought maybe he’d changed his mind. I faced the shower head to rinse off.
I heard his side turn off and then his hands were on my hips, pulling them back to him.
“Are you ready for me, omega mine?” he asked in my ear. I pulled one of his hands to my hard-on to show him instead of tell. He sucked and bit at the back of my neck and I moaned his name.
He swiped his fingers up and down my crack while the other hand worked my cock up and down. I slapped the tiles in front of me. I had to have something to brace myself on.
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