Not His Omega To Love by GS Holmes
21Cody
“If you’reup in the next five minutes, we might still catch brunch.”
I smiled at Ethan lounging on the bed next to me, fully dressed. I stretched, relishing the gentle aches in my body from last night’s lovemaking.
“Did I sleep that long?” I shuffled closer to him and snuggled into his side.
He brushed my hair with his fingers. “It’s almost noon.”
I groaned. “If you truly want me to get out of bed, you’re going to have to stop doing that. Feels too good.”
He didn’t stop. “That’s fine. You can go back to sleep. When you wake up, I can order us room service.”
“But what would you do?”
“Watch you sleep.”
I raised my head and struggled to sit up. “All right, I’m up.”
“You don’t have to. There’s no rush. We have the entire weekend to ourselves.”
“Yes, but I have to save you from the boredom of watching me sleep.”
His face was way too serious as he caressed my cheek with the back of his hand. “I’d never get bored watching you. Come here.”
Face heating up, I sidled up to him and straddled his lap. He took my chin and kissed me despite my morning breath.
“Your first morning as mine,” he whispered. “How does it feel?”
“Completely satisfying from last night.” I tiptoed my fingers over his exposed collarbone in his T-shirt. “But I won’t turn down another sexy time with you.”
He chuckled. “Naughty omega. Why’d I ever think you a sweet, naïve omega?”
“Good, you remember that. I’m dirty, dirty, dirty.” And to prove my point, I gyrated on his hard-on, which I was sitting on.
He grunted and held down my hips. “Is that what drew Reggie to you?” I gasped, and he froze. “Shit, I’m sorry, that just came out. Fuck, I’m such an idiot. I’m sorry, Cody.”
I shook my head. “No, no, it’s okay. We have to talk about it, right? Better to get everything out in the open if we’re going to do this for real. Are we?”
“Yeah, assuming you still want to. I’m sure it’s not a pretty sight seeing me with my foot lodged down my throat.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s no different than you being married before or all the other omegas you’ve been with.”
“Except he is my son, who’s also responsible for this.” He placed a hand on my belly and rubbed.
“He might’ve contributed the sperm, but that’s all. That’s not what makes you a father, and Reggie is for sure not the father of this baby.” I frowned at him. “Is it going to be too awkward for you to be with me because of the baby and Reggie?”
“I think this goes beyond awkward, but why don’t you take a shower, and we’ll talk about it over brunch. Sounds fair?”
It would give me some time to figure out how I felt about the whole situation. I wasn’t kidding that I didn’t count Reggie as the father of my baby. He planned to sign away all the rights, and that was fine by me. A sperm donor didn’t a father make. Ethan was more of a father to this baby than Reggie could ever be.
I blinked several times. Would he want to be my baby’s father? He wouldn’t resent me having a baby that wasn’t his, would he? Oh gosh, he was right. This was more than about the situation being awkward because I had dated his son.
“Come on. I’ll help you in the bathroom.”
I didn’t protest, especially when it was getting harder to reach some places. Ethan got in the shower with me, although he’d obviously taken one already. He did most of the washing, and I loved it. I’d never had anyone care for me in quite the same way he did.
When he turned off the water, Ethan tugged me back into his arms and kissed the side of my face.
“I’m sorry I brought it up. I’m an idiot.”
“You’re not.”
I raised my head for a kiss, but I winced from a rather awkward limb sticking me in the side.
“Baby moving?” he asked.
“Yeah. It’s like gymnastics tryouts in there.”
“Can I?”
I nodded, and he placed his hands on my stomach. The baby kicked, and I stared, fascinated at the way my skin rippled with the movement.
“Sometimes it’s scary.”
“Well, you don’t have to be scared alone. I’m here for you.”
Relief washed over me. Those words meant more than he would possibly ever know at a time when I’d been rejected by the people I thought cared about me. After getting dressed, he didn’t take me to the hotel’s restaurant for brunch as I’d expected. We walked for five minutes to a charming and cozy café. We weaved through the tables to a gorgeous patio, where we took a seat in the shade. Ethan stuffed some extra cushions at my back for more support. Whether or not he’d considered that when he picked out this place, I didn’t know, but those cushions were heaven. It was so hard sometimes finding comfortable seats outside the house.
“Comfortable?” Ethan asked when we were settled in nicely with our menus a charming, gentle-spoken alpha had brought us.
“Yes, this place looks great.”
“While you were sleeping, I looked up a couple of places online. This one got great reviews for its food, and the menu is quite extensive. I thought you’d appreciate that.”
“Are you calling me greedy?”
“Nope, just eating for two.”
“I usually eat a lot, even when I’m not pregnant.”
“Ah, good to know. I’ll keep the kitchen stocked.”
I opened the menu, and he was right. The variety of food looked so good I could hardly choose. We had important things to discuss, but all I could focus on was how hungry baby and I were.
“How am I supposed to choose?” I moaned.
“Pick whatever you need. It’s not every day you have a honeymoon.”
Honeymoon. I ducked my head behind the menu, and he laughed. “Are you the same feisty omega who told me in no uncertain terms last night what you wanted me to do to you?”
“Shh. That’s bedroom talk.” I ran a finger down the list, taking my time. He was so patient. He didn’t even try to rush me. He just told the waiter who stopped to take our order we needed more time.
Our brunch arrived, and I was so hungry I didn’t have time to feel guilty at the amount of food I’d ordered while he’d only gotten himself steak and eggs and coffee. There was little chance to talk between the fruity pancakes, frittata, and breakfast burrito. The iced tea washed it all down.
Ethan shook his head at me. “For sure, I thought you wouldn’t be able to eat it all. It’s good to see you have a healthy appetite after the morning sickness that bothered you in the beginning.”
“I feel like the baby and I are making up for all the time I couldn’t eat.” I gulped down the rest of my tea, so relaxed and full I didn’t want to move. “You’ll have to roll me out of here.”
He laughed. “We’ll go for a walk in a bit. It’ll help you with digestion, and your doc said it was good exercise for the baby.”
I grimaced. “I don’t want to think about this baby coming out of my body.”
“You can have an optional C-section.”
“The idea of not feeling anything during is good, but I don’t want to handle the longer recuperation period. I think I’ll take all the pain and get it over with.”
“There are drugs to help with the pain.”
“That’s good. If it gets too bad, then I’ll definitely want some.”
He reached across the table and took my hand in his, grabbed the napkin, and wiped some syrup from my fingers. Boy, I was a messy eater. Had I grossed him out?
“You know I meant every word last night about how I feel about you, right?”
I nodded. “So do I.”
“And that should make everything easier for us, considering our bonding is complete, but it might make some people uncomfortable.”
“I love you.” I slipped my fingers through his. “If there’s one thing being pregnant has taught me, it’s that I don’t care what anyone else thinks. Only I get to decide what I want to do with my life, and I chose you.”
“But did you? It seems everything kind of pushed us to this moment.”
“It might have pushed us to each other but not to feel the way we do about each other. Right?”
“I know. I just want you to understand that you don’t have to do this. There’s no reason for you to saddle yourself with a man old enough to be your father for the rest of our natural lives.” He leaned forward, his expression earnest. “If you want to go back to the way things were and we do this only to get you through college, I understand.”
“No,” I said firmly. “That’s not what I want. I want to be with you for real.”
He kissed the back of my hand. “We’re going to have to tell Reggie.”
I chewed on my bottom lip. “Can we wait?”
“You don’t want him to know?” He frowned. “You don’t still have feelings for him, do you?”
“Gosh, no.” I shook my head. “I never felt that way about Reggie. It was just sex for us, and well, he was my first relationship. Sort of. This… between us, it’s different. I meant that things might feel awkward because it’s new, so it might be best if we tell him after graduation. Let’s focus on that first, and then after, we can let him know. That way, if he’s not too comfortable being around us, he’ll be leaving soon for college. It gives us a better chance to ease everyone into the relationship.”
“That’s—” He stared at me. “That’s great insight, Cody.”
“Truly?”
“Yes, and now that leaves only the question of the baby.”
I tried to pull my hand away from him, bracing myself for the worst. That he didn’t want this baby around or something. Everything so far had gone too smoothly. Life was meant to have more stumbling blocks than this, right?
“I want to adopt your baby.”
I gasped, and tears filled my eyes. “You want to adopt my baby?”
“Yes, to raise him or her as mine too. Would that be okay with you?”
I nodded, then choked on a sob. “Yes, there’s nobody else I’d rather raise this baby with. Now, this seems a little less scary.”
“We’ll do it then when the baby is born. They’ll have my name on their birth certificate, and I’ll be their dad.”
“That sounds perfect.” I sniffed. “But do we tell them when they’re older?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I really don’t know, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. With all the love and care we’ll show this child, we’ll do the right thing for them.”