“Oh, something’s up alright.” Pushing back into his cock with a wiggle, I relished his groan.
“Always for you.”
“You’re just saying that hoping to get lucky.” Truth was, we were both pretty much guaranteed to get some as long as we were both in the same zip code, or at least near a phone.
“Does that mean it’s working?”
“Maybe.”
“Does this increase my odds?” Now he was just playing unfair. His hand wrapped around my already painfully ready cock and gave it two long slow strokes before bringing his hand back to my hip. Bastard.
“Your odds are always high, simply by being in the same room as me.” His hand instantly returned as I felt his cock bounce slightly against my ass. Game time was over. No more flirting. No more teasing.
“I need to be inside you,” he mumbled against my ear as his fingers found my very ready hole. If I’d been wearing underwear, they would have been soaked.
“I need you to—”
The video intercom from reception chimed. Of all flipping times for there to be a visitor or a delivery or a security issue.
“Ignore it.” He slipped a finger inside me as it went off again. Its new official name was “cock block.”
“But it probably means someone’s here.” And he better let them up so I could beat them.
“On a Sunday morning?” He continued his ministrations and my cock wept with joy until it chimed again. “It’s a mistake.” Even his voice didn’t sound convinced.
“Or…”
“Fine.” He got up to deal with whoever decided to ruin our morning. As he came back to bed, he threw my robe on the bed next to me.
“Fuck. It’s my dads.”
“No naked time for me?” I asked as I threw on the robe. It barely closed over my swollen belly and I took it off again, grabbing some sweats and a t-shirt instead.
“No naked time for you,” he concurred as he did the same.
I realized I hadn’t had the chance to talk to Aiden about telling his dads the truth. Now that we were actually together and planning on being a family, it shouldn’t be that big of a deal, I hoped.
I was just starting the gymnastics routine of putting on my pants when I heard Aiden’s father yell, “Why the hell did you think it was a good idea to pretend you were in a relationship and getting us all excited over grandbabies?”
35
Aiden
If there was ever a guaranteed boner breaker, it was your parents interrupting sexy times, yelling after uncovering a lie you told them. At my father's angry approach, I instinctively placed my body between him and the bedroom. There was no chance he would physically harm Chris, but my protective instincts were on high alert the closer we got to the birth, and especially now that I could truthfully claim Chris and Rosemary as my own. But just like when my dads had found out Chris was pregnant, my brain froze, and I wasn't sure what to say. Words spilled from my mouth regardless.
"The baby's name is Rosemary," I said quietly. My father looked a bit taken aback. I doubt he knew what he expected me to say, but neither of us had expected that.
My dad's face was soft as he said, "It's a girl?"
"We had the ultrasound yesterday," I confirmed. I felt Chris come up behind me and I reached for his hand, my confidence solidifying as he wrapped himself around my arm. "And Rosemary is my daughter. Maybe not biologically, but in every way that counts. If Chris approves, it will be my name going on the birth certificate." I hadn't talked with Chris about that, but he gave me an approving smile when I looked at him. My father's anger deflated as I spoke, and for the first time, I realized he was getting old. He was the type of man who exuded power and virility often mistaken for younger than my dad, even though he was fifteen years older, but now, he just seemed tired.
“We knew she wasn’t yours,” my dad said, his voice open and conciliatory. He'd always been the bridge between my father and I. “We figured if you were okay with it, we were okay with it. I know recent circumstances may seem to say differently, but we trust you, Aiden. You're a good man.”
My throat swelled and it was hard to speak past the knot suddenly blocking my voice. "Why don't we sit and talk?" I gestured to the sofas. My dad tugged my father to one of the couches and I turned to kiss Chris on the forehead. "I'm so sorry about this," I whispered. "Do you want me to handle this, or do you want to stay?"
He squeezed my hand. "We're a team now. You're not getting rid of me that easily at the first upset."
My heart felt like it was about to explode. I wanted to run away to somewhere I could just bury myself in Chris's scent, in his arms, and not come out until Rosemary was an adult. Instead, I closed my eyes, kissed Chris's forehead again, and we sat on the sofa opposite my dads.
"It started out as a one-time thing," I began. "The first night I brought Chris. I was so tired of all your friends throwing their eligible omegas in front of me. I just needed a break."
"And I was more than willing to help," Chris interjected. "I'd had a crush on Aiden for a long time."
I turned to him, pleasure flushing my cheeks and distracting me from my story. "Really? Since when?"
It was his turn to blush. "Since the first day you walked in."
I couldn't stop the smile that bloomed on my face. "I've had a crush on you since then, too. I memorized your schedule."
"Are you serious?" Chris laughed. "Marcus teased me that you did, but I didn't believe him."
My father cleared his throat and I remembered we weren't alone. Chris wrapped his hands more tightly around my elbow and I shifted closer to him. "And then you threatened to pull your financial support if I wasn't on the path to being mated, soon. I mentioned it to Chris, and he was in an even worse situation than I was."
"I'd just found out I was pregnant," Chris said. "And my building was condemned, meaning I had two weeks to find a new place to live."
"It seemed like the perfect solution at the time," I said. "He needed a place to stay, I needed a mate who wouldn't care about my long work hours. Or, as it ended up, to pretend to be my mate."
"But something has changed," my dad said. My father was still silent, his face impassive. I had no idea what was going through his head. "You don't seem like you're pretending now."
"Something changed," I agreed with a smile. "I'm not really sure when it happened, but, well, there was a misunderstanding, and Chris left. And I realized I wanted it to be real. I wasn't sure if he felt the same, but thankfully, he did." I felt a fresh wave of gratefulness for that.
"And the baby? What about her other parent?"
"I talked to my ex last night," Chris said. "It... got ugly. He accused me of some pretty ugly things. The short of it is, he wants nothing to do with Rosemary. And to be honest, I feel like I should be sad, but mostly I'm grateful."
"I'm not sad," I said. "Rosemary doesn't need that kind of influence in her life." Good riddance. If I never had to hear Will's name again, that wouldn't hurt my feelings. Though I supposed I would need to track him down and get his family health history. Hopefully Chris would let me do that on my own. There was no need for him to interact with that jackass ever again, if I could help it.
"No, she doesn't," Chris agreed.
"So what now?" my father finally spoke up. "What are your plans now? Are you just living together? Are you going to get mated?"
"Well," I looked at Chris tentatively. "I haven't talked to Chris about it yet, but I hope he's interested in mating me someday."
Chris rolled his eyes. "That better not be a proposal, because that's the worst proposal I've ever heard."
"It's not!" I assured him. "It's not a proposal, more a question of interest..."
His eyes shone with amusement. "Well, I can certainly say that I'm positively interested in the prospect of mating you."
My father's eyes darted between us, his face still stone. "That doesn't excuse your actions. Deceiving us for money."
I bowed my head. I could still lose the c
ompany. Even though we were so close to launching, we were at a critical point now. If my father pulled my funding, that was it. Dream smashed. But, I realized, as long as I had Chris? I would survive. I certainly wasn't excited about the prospect, but the prospect no longer ended in the black hole I had imagined before he found his way into my life.
"I know," I said. "I have no excuse, only my sincerest apology."
I met his eyes, still unable to read him. After several moments, he said, "Come out to the house tomorrow and we will discuss it." He looked to Chris and I sensed the first sign of softening. "Both of you, if you're comfortable."
Chris smiled at him and said, "I would love that."
"Is all the drama over, now?" my dad spoke up, breaking the seriousness of the moment. "Because I want to see my granddaughter. Do you have pictures?"
"Even better," Chris said. "We have video."
36
Chris
Walking into Aiden’s parents’ home was vastly different this time than the first. No fancy valets, no extra security, just a ridiculously huge house. That didn’t slow down the butterflies in my stomach. His dads seemed over the moon happy about Rosemary and, for that, I was grateful. Anyone could see they would be the perfect doting grandparents, even if it came with a side of spoiling Rosemary rotten. All their joy didn’t mean that Aiden and I had hurt them any less.
From the beginning, they had known and accepted the seeming secret that Rosemary wasn't Aiden's out of love for the unborn child I was carrying and a deep understanding that blood didn’t make family, love did. I couldn’t even begin to imagine the hurt they felt finding out that we weren’t even a real couple. I wanted to ask how they knew, but Aiden wanted to let it lie, so I said nothing. My guess was he knew, yet wasn’t ready to deal with the backlash yet and I trusted him in this. In all things. Except eating. He still stunk at eating.
“Ready?” Aiden offered me his hand as he helped me from the car
“Of course.” It took me two tries to wobble out of the car even with assistance. “You know, I know you just bought this, we may want to consider trading in for a minivan.”
“For one kid?” He sounded almost scandalized. My guess was the image of a minivan was so far from the Nissan, let alone the Maserati he had before, that it was the equivalent of buying a clown car for him. I was already determined to use my savings to pay the difference in price if there were any. I knew that would be a fight. One my alpha wouldn't win.
“The seats are higher and easier to get in and out of and…how does the saying go…? If you build it they will come?”
“They?” He pulled me in for a quick kiss, sheer joy illuminating his face.
“The one I’m eyeing ‘fits eight comfortably.’” I used air quote along with a wink.
Before he could respond, the front door opened. It was fair to say they were a bit excited by our visit. Aiden pulled me into a hug and whispered far too many ways he was going to fill that van and just as I was sure my face was on fire with embarrassment, he kissed the side of my neck, stepped back and added with a look at my junk, “Fair warning, they probably already turned this into some huge thing.” As if he wasn’t sporting just as thick an erection as I was behind his jeans. At least I had my maternity shirt to hide mine.
I just shook my head at him, knowing he needed more time before we bound up the steps and into the home of my future in-laws. “There will be gifts and planning and goodness knows what.” I could practically see him thinking of all things not sexy in the hopes of deflating his junk. He knew better than to play with fire just to see my blush. It always backfired. Always.
“They just found out yesterday.” Except we both knew that wasn’t quite true. The truth was we just found out they knew the truth yesterday, except the fake part, which was a short-term misunderstanding.
“Lack of time has never gotten in my dads’ way before.” He nodded to the door and held out his hand, finally getting his hormones under control. There was something heady about the way I could do that to him even in my less than sexy state.
We hadn’t even made it to the steps before his dad put his arm around me mumbling about showing me the nursery. Nursery. As if Rosemary would be here all the time. I just gave him his moment, for he seemed far too excited to deflate with the reality that we lived three hours away and had no intention of moving.
“Come on, Chris.” He offered his arm, which I took happily. All my worry over their acceptance of me fled. I was theirs, from the looks on both their faces. “Aiden and his father have a lot to discuss and I have to show you the design schemes and get your opinion.”
Aiden gave me a kiss on the cheek and a knowing smile. He didn’t seem worried about whatever he and his father had to discuss, so I didn’t either.
As we made our way to the soon-to-be-nursery, I was peppered with questions about my health and the baby’s health and I made a note to myself to keep them more informed of stupid stuff that didn’t matter, because to them, or at least Aiden’s dad, it mattered tremendously.
“Here it is, right next to our room.”
“Wasn’t this a library?” I’d only been here once, but I swore I remembered a ginormous library complete with ladders where we stood. It was a beautiful combination of comfortable and decadent and if given the chance, someplace I could see myself getting lost in.
“Families grow and changes are inevitable.”
A gasp of shock filled with horror escaped me before I could reel it in. It was not my home, not my business.
“Don’t gasp like that.” He flung his hand as if shooing the idea out of my head and proceeded to open the door and enter what Looked like a construction zone. “I just had it moved to another space. It’s not like I’d get rid of a library. Why do you think it was next to my room? It was my sanctuary.”
“And now your sanctuary is something else….” I finally caught up to the situation. Looking around, this room had a long way to go. The light fixtures were gone, as were the built-ins and some of the drywall.
“Of course, because grandbabies.” I loved the way his face beamed every time he mentioned Rosemary. She was going to be one very loved and spoiled little girl.
“As you can see, I’m starting with a blank slate.” Or where a slate should be. The money spent already had to have been more than the money I brought home all month at Om, and I was paid decently enough. “On the far wall are the color schemes for ‘Fairy Woodland’ and on this wall are the schemes for ‘Jungle Critters.’”
“I don’t want to bust your bubble, but we live three hours away.” I didn’t want to be harsh, but the reality was that they would see her possibly twice a month. Aiden had his launch coming and he wouldn’t be able to break away every weekend, as much as I wished he could.
“Which is why a duplicate nursery will be in our city place.” The words danced off his tongue as if it were obvious. I decided to give up. It made him happy, and wasn’t that the point of this? Rosemary was going to love him because he was a good person and loved her. None of this would matter to her, but it did to him, so I made the choice to jump on in…because…family. “So what is your preference?”
“Fairy Woodland.” It was a no brainer. You could have gnomes, fae, dwarves, whatever you wanted. Jungle Critter was too limiting in imagination and age, in my opinion.
“That was my gut thought too, but the designer was all about the jungle. But woodland fairy lends itself to grow – I can just picture a toddler bed in the corner under a mushroom and later over here a tree with a built-in bed. Or if she likes giants…boom, a beanstalk. It’s going to be amazing. Don’t you think?” And in that one conversation, I found a kindred spirit. Someone who seemed to understand the magic of childhood.
“Absolutely,” I agreed wholeheartedly. We spent the next hour or so planning all the things that made a good nursery and every chance I got, I used it as an in to find out more about Aiden as a kid. His life growing up was so vastly different than mine, the biggest differ
ence being the insane amount of unconditional love surrounding him. I'd danced away from the subject anytime Aiden had asked about my parents. They hadn't been abusive or anything, just…distant. Disconnected. Uncaring. We hadn't had a lot, but I'd always had the basics. Nothing beyond that. I wanted more for Rosemary and for the first time since finding out I was pregnant, I knew she’d have that from all the grown-ups in her life.
“What a horrible host I am. Look at this, you are growing a human and here I have you standing up, hunched over a table looking at design ideas. Let’s get back to our men.”
“Not horrible, just enthusiastic, but yes. Let’s get to our men.” Truth be told, I was ready for a glass of water and to put my feet up.
We made our way back to the main sitting room to find both men looking fat too serious.
“That’s the final offer. Take it or leave it.” His father spoke sternly before getting up to greet his mate.
37
Aiden
I rubbed my fingers through my hair in frustration before going to give Chris a kiss. My dads left us alone in the room, subtly, respectfully, and I took my time easing my frustration with Chris’s lips and his hands and his ass...
Chris broke away from my kiss, but remained in my arms. “No, not this time. No distracting me. How did things go?”
I sighed. "He was angry about me lying to him, and he’s pulling his unconditional financial support, but he’s willing to come on as a somewhat more traditional investor. Some of his terms were easy. He wants a ten percent stake in the company and we are to visit at least once a week with Rosemary. Not always here," he clarified. "They'll come to us a lot, especially in the beginning when she's so little."
"That one is definitely not hard," Chris agreed. "And the share thing is okay?"
"Ethan and I have always kept a certain amount open for potential investors. I'll need to run it by him, but I don't foresee it being a problem."
His Pretend Omega: M/M Non-Shifter Alpha/Omega MPREG (Cafe Om Book 2) Page 13
