“This time for love,” I joked. Harrison reached up to kiss me.
“Lucas, it was always for love.”
Epilogue
Harrison
“You ready?” Lucas came in dressed in his best suit. Damn, it was all I could do not to take those clothes right off of him.
“I should be asking you that.” I winked. “This is your big day.”
It was opening day for the restaurant. Lucas had gone with the fancy name Mapleville Eats, insisting it was because that would be where everyone in Mapleville eats, but he wasn’t fooling me. It was his way of saying goodbye to the pretentious plates that made him famous, and hello to the wonderful comfort-food goodness he was focusing on. Well, comfort food and high-end steak because there pretty much wasn’t anything better than a good steak even if that sounded snotty.
“Our big day,” he singsonged as he tickled Luca who was nestled in my arms, smiling brightly.
She’d been a happy baby since the day she was born, but her smile always beamed brightest for Lucas, even if Vivian was sure that honor was hers. In the three months since she was born, that hadn’t changed. She was a daddy’s girl, just as she should be.
Lucas was such an amazing father and husband, always putting us first. The network had thrown insane numbers at him to move to Maine, and never once had he considered them, even when I assured him we would go where he did. He insisted we were his home, and Mapleville was where we were rooted.
“Do you think people will come?” Lucas asked in a rare moment of insecurity over work.
“I think the entire town will be there.” In fact, I could pretty much guarantee it. Between the crew working nonstop and all the deliveries shortly after the tabloids had Lucas throwing away his career over a fear of the ocean—because yeah, they somehow made it about that, neglecting the fact he owned oceanside property on the opposite side of the country, we’d been overwhelmed. I had a feeling Warren set that little ball in motion to keep the limelight off of our family, and I appreciated it.
I also appreciated that he decided to stay in Mapleville and be co-owner in the restaurant. It meant Lucas didn’t own the entire burden and didn’t have to worry every time he decided to take an hour or two off.
“I should probably change my shirt, then.” I sighed looking at not one but two spit-up stains on my shirt. It was my new normal. The doctor said it would end soon, and I knew that didn’t equate with clean shirts—it only meant next shirt stain would be baby food.
“You’re just going to have to change it again and again.” He wasn’t wrong. “Spit-up is part of the territory.”
“I’ll still feel better. Here”—I handed him Luca— “but don’t let her spit up on you. You will need to look good for the cameras.”
“Camera. Jaxon is one person, and besides, I’d wear it with honor.” He would, too.
“Whatever.” I shrugged and grabbed a new shirt to change into and one for the diaper bag.
Out of all the things that fatherhood entailed, the massive number of things required to even take her to visit her dad for lunch blew my mind.
“Ready.” I threw the diaper bag over my shoulder and went outside to warm up the minivan because yeah, somehow that became a thing. My grandad used to say you have to pick your battles, so when Lucas showed up one afternoon driving the soccer-mom mobile, I just rolled my eyes and said thank you.
Lucas followed me out two minutes later, as was our routine, and secured her into her car seat before joining me up front.
“I’m nervous,” he confessed as I drove out of the driveway and onto the road. “My restaurants have always been successful because people wanted to be spotted there by the press or a television camera. This. This is different.”
“It is different. This time, the townspeople won’t be there to see the world-famous chef, they will be there being nosey about what changes you made to the building and if it will still be good enough for wedding receptions.” Not that it ever really was good enough before, but it was what the town had.
It was more than good enough now. Lucas managed to revitalize the place without making it feel out of place for such a small town. I was able to do some woodwork for them, but between recovering from the C-section and raising a human, I didn’t get as much as I wanted to done. Lucas insisted I didn’t need to do any of it, but I wanted a piece of me in there, too.
“They are a nosey lot.” He laughed just as I pulled into the restaurant.
Technically, he’d had a soft opening where people came and ate, just like they would any other day of the week they went to a restaurant. But this was the official grand opening, and the parking lot was jammed. Lucas had already decided not to be the full-time chef, but more the person who created the menus and a sometimes chef. He said it freed him up to write more cookbooks, but I knew it was because he didn’t like the long hours away from home that the restaurant business entailed. He had managers do most of the work at his restaurants and had become a silent partner for the most part.
“Looks like there are lots of people.”
“As we both agreed—nosey.” He leaned over, kissing my cheek before climbing out of the van and grabbing Luca.
We walked in, side by side, and were greeted with clapping and cheers, immediately surrounded by our friends, the townspeople, and those we now thought of as family. Who would’ve guessed a year ago, when I was packing up my truck to sell things at a juried craft fair, that single decision could’ve changed my life so completely—and in the very best of ways.
Lucas’s Crispy Oatmeal Cookie Base
Inspired by his omega, Harrison.
2 cups packed dark brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter-softened to the point of being partially melted
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (omit if you use salted butter)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups old-fashioned oats
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together the butter and the sugar completely. The butter is softer than normal being mostly melted, so you will not get a true creamed consistency. That’s okay. It means they will be extra crispy. Add to that your egg and vanilla, scraping the bowl as you go.
Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda before mixing it into the butter mixture.
Once it is thoroughly blended, add the oatmeal. Try not to overmix the oats, inadvertently breaking them.
Drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet using either a spoon or small scoop. Be sure to space them out, for they will spread.
Bake until dark and chewy, 12 to 13 minutes (average depending on how large your portions are).
*If you prefer your cookies on the chewy side—soften but do not melt the butter and add a second egg.
*Suggested mix-ins—although the possibilities are endless:
Candied ginger
Craisins
Dark chocolate chunks
Cinnamon chips
White chocolate chips
Orange zest
Drizzle of honey on top
Banana chips
Walnuts
Almond slivers
Banana pieces (this will change the consistency and are best eaten warm but so yummy)
Cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice etc.
*Lorelei’s Favorite mix-in combo is cinnamon, nutmeg, and dark-chocolate chunks*
Free Short Story…
Catch up with Pierce and Rhone from Christmas with His Omega Here
Backmatter
Other titles by Lorelei M. Hart and Ophelia Heart
Available Here
All he wants for Christmas is a safe place to have his baby. Santa has other ideas.
When Pierce finds out the couple he is carrying a baby for is backing out of the arrangement, he has very mixed feelings. Ecstatic to be no longer legally obligated to give up the baby he has
long since thought of as his, he’s also terrified he’ll be unable to provide for his new little treasure. Almost eight months pregnant, he sets off to find refuge at his grandmother's house, back in the town he called his own many years earlier, the town where he found and lost his one and only love, Rhone.
Rhone has a good life—an amazing career doing what he loves and a beautiful home. But even after the passage of many years, he still longs for the one thing he no longer has. Pierce, the omega who got away. After his family “moved” in the middle of the night to avoid his father’s gambling debts, Pierce never returned, leaving a vacant place in Rhone’s heart until one day when Pierce shows up at the diner where their love began.
All the feelings as well as the lust returned the moment they saw each other, only this time they weren’t two young men with no responsibilities. This time they had a third to think about, the sweet baby growing inside Pierce.
Christmas with His Omega is a holiday novella with sweetness, heat, and more than one Christmas Miracle.
Available Here
Hollywood, California is a world apart for a young cook, on his own for the first time, disowned by his family and about to find out he’s pregnant—something he had no idea was even possible.
What a terrible time to be starting a relationship.
Andrew Tweed – Super hot, blond, hazel-eyed celebrity chef. Owner of several restaurants including Bliss on the Strip. His mysterious past never far behind him.
Scott Jardin – Young dark-haired, blue-eyed diner cook. Life has waylaid his plans to attend culinary school, but he hopes with hard work the venue his meals is turning from a greasy spoon to a local hotspot can lead him to a job at a place like Bliss.
Both career obsessed, neither looking for love. Neither inclined to trust. This is not a recipe for a happy ever after. But maybe with a dash of attraction, a pinch of heart and soupcon of pleasure, they can get it together before the baby comes.
He’s Pregnant is a sweet with heat male pregnancy romance with a little sci fi twist.
Available Here
Attending a Valentine’s Day wedding solo, when your “plus one” just dumped you, is about as romantic as a visit to the dentist
Reid hesitates to accept the invitation to his college roommate—and onetime lover’s midweek wedding, but at least he has an enviable date in hotshot lawyer, Topher. Until, after Reid’s bought their plane tickets and made all the plans, Topher dumps him. Rather than stay home and mope, he chooses the possible lesser evil and heads for Mapleville. He’ll deal with his misery and the snowball of ways his life is falling apart when he gets home. One thing for sure, he’s not going to make important decisions based on the vagaries of an unreliable love life. Maybe the good things of life are just not meant for him.
Kayson lives a good life, by most accounts. He works with his aunt at her local florist shop creating beautiful arrangements and spreading sunshine through botanicals. He lives in a town he adores. He has the finances to live peacefully without financial stress. Only problem is, he is lonely. He longs for a mate, someone to spend his life with, raise a family with and in small town Mapleville, there just wasn’t anyone who fit the bill.
When Knox and his future bride, Celeste, hired Vivian’s Roses to do their wedding flowers, it appeared to be just a typical gig and then bridezilla came out. Between switching orders and outbursts there was nothing more he wanted than to have the wedding be over and done with. Until a coffee shop encounter with Reid turned his world on its axis. Instant chemistry and a connection like none he’d experienced before had him wanting time to slow giving him the opportunity to convince Reid to stay in Mapleville and be his omega, his mate.
Roses for His Omega is a Valentine’s novella filled with enough sweetness to cause cavities, a touch of knotty heat, and enough love to go around.
Available Here
Whatever happens at Mardi Gras stays at Mardi Gras—unless you leave there pregnant.
When omega Reid accepts his future stepfather’s all-expense paid trip to NOLA to meet his future half-brother, Jaxon, he anticipates they will hang out together, drink a little too much, and collect beads. What he doesn’t expect is for Jaxon to fly out of town as soon as he arrives, leaving him with an apartment full of mooching guests.
Alpha Joaquim is nomadic by nature, taking one traveling nursing job after another, never growing roots. After his last day working in NOLA, he decides to burn some of his restless energy and explore the town. The second he sees Reid on the balcony, he knows he needs to meet the sexy nerd who captured his attention.
After one steamy night, both are hooked. Unfortunately, fate has other plans—a fire at Jaxon’s apartment calls Reid away, and a misplaced note ruins all chances of them reconnecting—or does it?
Mardi Gras with his Omega is a super sweet with some knotty heat non shifter mpreg romance.
When most people think of unicorns, they think of rainbows and glitter. Grey’s life resembled neither of those things.
Grey, named after what his herd deemed his ugly gray coat, has never had a good life. Shunned for his lack of powers and held captive by the red dragons who plan to sell him to the highest bidder, Grey escapes into the night. He hopes to find someplace safe, so the town of Haven calls to him.
Ryder and Theo are dragons and true mates—the only problem is they are missing their third, the one to complete them. When they stumble upon a broken-down car, the last thing they expect is to find the one they have been waiting for all those years.
Protective and loyal, Theo and Ryder are determined to keep their unicorn safe and encompassed in love. The red dragons have other ideas.
**The Dragons and their Unicorn Omega is a sweet MMM MPREG shifter romance with some knotty heat.**
About the Authors
Lorelei M. Hart is the cowriting team of USA Today Bestselling Authors Kate Richards and Ever Coming. Friends for years, the duo decided to come together and write one of their favorite guilty pleasures: Mpreg. There is something that just does it for them about smexy men who love each other enough to start a family together in a world where they can do it the old-fashioned way.
Ophelia Heart loves her men sexy, sweet, and pregnant. Ophelia Heart is the pseudonym of a best-selling author who fell in love with all things omegaverse.
Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Epilogue
Lucas’s Crispy Oatmeal Cookie Base
Free Short Story…
Other titles by Lorelei M. Hart and Ophelia Heart
About the Authors
Tasting His Omega Page 10
