Espresso for His Omega

by Harper B. Cole

  “And not by your aunt?” He shook his head. “You’re sure?”

  “Positive. Aunt Verona… she’s a very compassionate, wonderful aunt. But if she had paid it, or gotten the kayak, she would have told me. Not because she wanted thanks or credit, but because she’s… honest I guess. She wouldn’t do something like that and keep it a secret. Especially because she was pissed when she found out my tuition was paid. She was convinced that I did it instead of letting her help. And she was just as baffled as me when I said I thought it was her.”

  “What about Carrick or Tessa? Or you other cousins? They all have their own businesses, right? And they get a cut of all the lease money too.”

  “They all swear it wasn’t them. And it has been going on long enough, I believe it.”

  “It didn’t stop with the tuition?”

  “No.” He pointed toward the envelope I was still holding. “After tuition it was a sudden increase on the down payment on my café. Since then, it has been things like that. Every couple of years I get really nice equipment for the café. Once it was a full set of new chairs and tables. I woke up one morning to a whole pile of high-quality slate for my new patio. Another I was remodeling the part I like in, and it was paid in full overnight…”

  “That’s… crazy. Could it be… maybe someone from your father’s family?”

  Cambry smiled grimly. “He didn’t have much family. I have a couple of distant relatives on that side, but nobody I’m close enough to, or wealthy enough, to do this for me. Plus I have no idea how this person even finds out what I’m doing or what I need…” He cast a look over his shoulder at the window. “It’s creepy sometimes…”

  I nodded. It sure sounded creepy. Insanely generous. But also quite weird. I held out the envelope. “So, what’s this?”

  “I never know. Half the time I don’t even know it’s coming. It just shows up. You can open it.”

  Nervously, I slid my finger beneath the flap and tore it open. I pulled out a piece of paper. Blank expect for one, neatly written sentence: For your mate’s café.

  I nearly dropped it. “He knows about me!”

  Cambry snatched it, then hissed. “How? Nobody knows about you! Well, Hobie does.” He glanced at me, “My assistant manager. And I know he isn’t buying me extravagant gifts; I didn’t even know him when my tuition got paid.”

  “Could he have told someone?”

  “Even if he did tell my family, which he promised not to, it’s not one of them. What was in there?”

  “What was in… oh! Sorry, baby brain.” I picked up the contents on the envelope. “It looks like a receipt of some kind… for the purchase of…” My jaw dropped. “One thousand dollars of…” I frowned at it. “I can’t tell what was bought.”

  “Nothing. Yet,” Cambry said with a snort. He reached over and took the receipt. “Ah, my favorite coffee supplier. Of course.”

  “The mystery benefactor bought you a thousand dollars worth of coffee?!”

  “Not exactly.” Cambry waved the receipt at me. “For a while he was sending me checks – don’t ask, I couldn’t trace them – and I refused to cash them. He’d wait about a month, and if the check wasn’t cashed, he’d just buy twice as much.” I frowned so he explained, “Like this receipt. It’s a wholesaler for beans. I’d get a check for say, one thousand, that would say it was for coffee beans, and if I never cashed it, I’d get two thousand dollars worth of beans delivered a month later.”

  “So… whoever it is pretty much makes sure you benefit from the money,” I mused. “This just keeps getting stranger.”

  “Yeah.” Cambry shook his head as he frowned at the receipt. “So, now he just pre-pays for things. It’s almost like a gift card or a store credit. I get to place my own orders for what I need… on the house.”

  I picked up the other receipts from the envelope and handed them over. Cambry looked at them, shaking his head.

  “One thousand for a commercial coffee maker supplier… two thousand for an appliance store, five hundred for a hardware shop…”

  “He knows we’re going to clean things up and reopen?” I demanded.

  “Seems like it.”

  “And just gave you…” I added it up. “Almost five thousand dollars for my café. For me. And you don’t even know who it is?!”

  “Welcome to my life,” he said dryly. His face fell and I felt a flutter of emotion from our bond. “I’m sorry, Louis. I never even thought about him and what would happen once we were together. Honestly…” He laughed sadly. “For a while, I thought maybe it was my true mate. You know? Like for some reason he couldn’t be with me, so he sent me gifts instead. Obviously that’s not the case. I’m baffled. And I’m sorry you’ve been dragged into it.” He frowned and hissed. “I hope I haven’t put you in danger.”

  I shook my head. “If whoever this is has done nothing but send you money, insane amounts of money, for fifty-some years, I don’t think there’s any animosity. It’s weird as well, but doesn’t seem dangerous. And I guess… he approves of me?”

  Cambry smiled at me. “Yeah, I guess so.” He pulled out his wallet and tucked the receipts inside. “I guess we’ll be all set when we start the reopening planning.” He stood, and extended a hand to me. “Isn’t it about time for your nap?”

  “Probably.” I let him help me to my feet, not minding as he shadowed me up the stairs. “Oh, I almost forgot. Segel is going to book a hotel here next week, so he can be in town when the baby comes.”

  “Fantastic!” Cambry cried. “I’ve been worried about that.”

  I pulled off my shirt when we got to the room, tossed it aside, and eased myself onto my bed. Cambry pulled off his own shirt, and pants, and joined me, curling an arm around me and caressing my belly.

  “Napping with me?”

  “At least for a little,” he said. The bare skin of his chest was hot against my bare back, and I pressed against him, hungry to touch every possibly inch of him. He nuzzled my neck and I felt the still-new-and-unusual sensation of purring. Cambry started purring in response. The sound was comforting and soothing, and combined with the gentle vibrations from both of our humming bodies, quickly began to lull me to sleep.

  At least, until I noticed something hard against the back of my thigh and rubbed against it.

  “Mmm,” Cambry moaned softly. “Tease.”

  “Who says I’m teasing?” I murmured sleepily. I reached a hand behind me and cupped his erection through his boxers, gently pressing against it.

  He arched into my palm with another groan. “Don’t, not if you’re tired.”

  “I’m not too tired for this,” I said. Cambry adjusted himself, trying to find a good way to reach my dick around my belly. “Don’t worry about it,” I told him. As I spoke, I slid my hand into his boxers and wrapped it around his penis. He thrust into my hand and a jolt of shared pleasure rushed though me. I moaned in response. He chuckled, knowing I was enjoying what he felt.

  I pumped, slowly and gently, as he rocked back and forth against me. The pleasure built and he moaned against my neck. The purring, from both of us, intensified and Cambry reached up and rubbed his fingers against the mark where he claimed me. The contact made me gasp. Then, he leaned down and bit the side of my neck with a soft growl.

  It was slow, almost lazy, as I jerked him off. He nibbled and bit at my neck, scratching that magic spot on my collarbone, as I did. With some effort, I turned, and we kissed. Our tongues swirled around each other, and I reveled in his taste. That mix of hazelnut and vanilla and… what was it?

  His breath quickened and he sped up his hips. I matched his speed with my hand, feeling our shared pleasure mounting. And then, he came. The sensation made me come as well. I sank back against him with a satisfied moan. He kissed me one more time, then settled back with his arm back around me.

  “Chai,” I murmured as it finally came to me.

  “What, love?”

  “You taste like chai tea,” I chuckled sleepily. “I’ve been t
rying to figure it out. When we kiss you remind me of hazelnut, vanilla, and chai. And maybe a dash of ginger.”

  Cambry laughed. “I hope that’s a good thing.”

  “Better than coffee.”

  He purred and kissed the back of my neck. I snuggled against him, feeling the baby kicking and wiggling as I drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Twelve

  Cambry

  Something disturbed me enough to wake me up. I automatically reached my arm out and found that Louis was no longer in the bed. I sat up, my eyes quickly adjusting to the dark, and saw him pacing back and forth in the small room.

  “Louis?” I called softly. “Are you okay, my tabby-love?”

  I could sense a vague discomfort through our bond and had a feeling that he wasn't okay. The last of the sleep fog fled my brain, as I realized we were close to the due date. “Is it the baby?”

  “I think so.” Louis stopped pacing and put his hands on his stomach. “Walking isn't making it go away.”

  “I'll call the doctor,” I said quickly. I sprang out of bed and grabbed my cell phone, silently thanking Segel – and every other area shifter for not being due soon – to have a free enough schedule to stay in Port Canard this week. I didn’t know what I would have done if we had to wait three hours for him to arrive. I had paid for Segel to be in a rather nice suite, as my thanks.

  “Doctor Neen,” he answered somewhat groggily.

  “Segel, it’s Cambry,” I said, “I think it's time.”

  “Wonderful!” he said, sounding instantly awake. “I'll be right there. Do your best to make him comfortable and get some towels ready.”

  “You got it,” I said. I was glad he had mentioned the towels. Our carefully rehearsed birth plan pretty much flew out the window for me the moment that Louis said it was time.

  I went quickly to him and took his hands. “Are you okay?” I asked. “Segel is on his way.”

  He took a deep breath. “Yeah, yeah.” He pulled one hand free and pressed it against his lower abdomen. “It's just really getting painful.”

  “Have you been timing them?” I asked.

  “No,” he admitted with a wince. “I should have been.”

  “That's okay. Here, Carrick told me about this app...” I quickly pulled it up on my phone and handed to Louis.

  “Oh,” he said looking at it. “This is neat.”

  “Here, this is where the contractions timer is.”

  “Great. Thank you.”

  “Can I get you anything?”

  Louis made a face. “I’m kind of hungry. But, Segel said I shouldn’t eat once it starts

  “Labor or once you start pushing?” I asked. “You could be in labor for hours.”

  “I suppose a little something wouldn't hurt. Maybe just a slice of bread?”

  “Absolutely,” I said. I rushed downstairs for a slice of bread, and grabbed a stack of clean towels as I did. Once upstairs, I started spreading them out on the bed and getting some pillows ready, while Louis sat and nibbled the bread.

  “That's better,” he said when he finished it. “Thank you. Oh!” He doubled over. “Oh, wow, this is a bad one.”

  My own abdomen felt tight and crampy. I couldn't imagine what it was like feeling it firsthand. I was uncomfortable enough. I had to take a deep breath, before pulling out my phone and starting the contraction timer.

  “Let me know when it ends,” I said, even though I knew I could probably tell. He nodded and I wrapped my arms around him. I hated to see my mate in pain. And being able to sense it wasn’t very pleasant either. I could indeed tell when it started to subside.

  Louis heaved a sigh of relief and leaned back against the pillows. “You can stop the timer,” he said with a groan, even as I was already doing it.

  I heard the door open downstairs and the sound of rapid footsteps. Segel was up the stairs in a flash.

  “How is he?”

  “I'm okay,” Louis said.

  Segel nodded. “How frequent are the contractions?”

  “I'm afraid we've only timed one… And it was almost exactly two minutes long,” I told him.

  “Good, good,” Segel said. He opened his large bag and growled. “I’m sorry, I meant to bring a gown. Do you have anything else you can wear?”

  “Yeah, I've got a shirt. Cambry, can you get one of the big ones” Louis asked.

  I opened the drawer of extra Caffeinated Cat merchandise and pulled out the largest shirt I could find, and gave it to Louis. He changed into it with some difficulty. In spite of his massive belly, the shirt still hung off him like a tent.

  “Think this will work?” he asked.

  “That's perfect,” said Segel.

  Louis awkwardly clambered back onto the bed and spread his legs out. My inner cat snarled angrily as Segel began to poke a finger into my mate. I didn't realize I was growling out loud as well, until he chuckled.

  “Don't worry Cambry. I'm a doctor.”

  I flushed and swallowed hard, still feeling the urge to hiss at him. “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay. You’re not the first over-protective alpha I've dealt with.” He turned his attention back to Louis. “Okay… goodness, you’re seven centimeters already.”

  “Is that good?” asked Louis nervously.

  Segel smiled. “Well, it means that you're progressing nice and fast. In fact, I'm going to go ahead and get you set up.”

  “Is there anything I can do?” I said, up to this point, I mostly felt excited. After seeing Carrick and Rion's children, and some hazy memories of Ford when he was little, I was sure I was ready for my own. But now that it was actually happening, I was suddenly a bundle of nerves.

  “You can stand there and offer moral support for now,” said Segel.

  “That I can do,” I said, taking my mate’s hand. I smiled at him. “You're going to be okay. You've got this.”

  “If you want an epidural, it's going to have to be now,” said Segel.

  “Oh,” Louis said, “I actually hadn't thought about it. I'm a little nervous about the whole thing.”

  “It's okay, I'm going to walk you through it,” Segel said. “Cambry, help him sit up. I'm going to have you sit on the edge of the bed, Louis. And as soon as your next contraction ends, we're going to go ahead and do the epidural. Okay?”

  Louis nodded and I helped him into position. As another contraction started, Segel started cleaning a patch on cleaning a spot on Louis's lower back, explaining the procedure as he did. He started detailing the whole needle going into the back part, and told Louis that he would have to tell him if it felt like the needle was going over to one side or the other. That was when Louis started to get worried.

  “Can I change my mind about this?” he asked. “This sounds kind of daunting...”

  “You want an epidural,” I told him firmly. “Brooks didn't get one. And he was miserable.” I didn't add that Carrick confided in me that he felt a good amount of pain from it through the bond as well.

  “Okay,” Louis said reluctantly. “Let's do it, I guess.”

  Fortunately, the epidural seemed to go in without a hitch. Soon Louis was comfortably on his back with his legs up.

  “Ready to push?” Segel asked him.

  “What, now?!” Louis cried.

  I tried to remember Carrick’s description of the birth of his son. It seemed like this was pretty low tech. “Don’t you have too, I dunno, hook him up to more stuff?”

  “I'm afraid I don't have a lot of portable equipment,” Segal said apologetically.

  I nodded, thinking that he should go ahead and invest in some. I couldn't believe we were the only shifter couple around here who preferred to stick with a traditional birth at home. Not to mention any that didn't want to risk the snowy roads with a pregnant omega. Then again, maybe local shifters were a little more comfortable with the snow than I was. It probably it probably didn't help that I typically didn't do a lot of driving back home, and that I was using Louis's car here.

  “
I think I'm having another contraction,” Louis said.

  Segel placed his hands on my mate’s stomach and felt around. Then, all at once he announced, “Okay, it's time. Let's go. Push!”

  Louis started to push, squeezing my hand as hard as he could. And even with the epidural, I could feel the discomfort as he pushed.

  “This is awful,” he panted.

  “Keep pushing, keep pushing,” Segel instructed. “And stop.”

  Louis sagged back with a groan. “How many more times do I have to do that?” he asked.

  Segel smiled sympathetically. “Until the baby is out, I'm afraid.”

  Louis flopped his head back on the pillow. All at once, his eyes widened. “I feel sick!”

  “That can happen,” Siegel said. “I can get you some medicine for that.” He left my mate’s side to get something out of his bag.

  “No, I'm going to be really sick,” Louis said. He leaned to the side, which was extremely difficult looking, given his humongous belly and numb legs, and vomited all over the floor.

  “There goes the bread,” he moaned, sitting back. I stepped around it and gently rubbed his shoulder.

  Segel returned and looked down at the vomit. “Did you eat something recently?”

  “I didn't think a piece of bread would be too bad,” Louis admitted.

  Segel shook his head. “Next time you do this, don't eat once the contractions start,” he scolded. “No wonder you felt sick. Here.” He grabbed a little something and carefully injected it into my mate’s arm.

  “What is this?”

  “A little anti-nausea medicine. You should be feeling fine pretty quickly,” Segel said. “Of course, in my office I have a much better setup. But, we’ll get through this.”

  I wrinkled my nose and made a mental note to never have another child without Dr. Nolan Craik, the best shifter doctor there was. It didn't hurt that my cousins and I knew his assistant, Asher, quite well. In fact, I was pretty sure Asher was more competent than Segel. Nothing against the man, but he was either wholly unused to doing this sort of thing without a bunch of medical equipment at his disposal, or he just did not have the knowledge and skills that decades of having a medical practice afforded Nolan. Nonetheless, this is what I was stuck with.