Page 35 of Ready or Not

I watch her walk right into his chest, and two things happen. One, I realize I’m going to have to come to terms with Garza being part of our pack. And two, I really start to wonder why it bothers me so much in the first place.

He’s lived with us for years and, other than the time he was away with Ranger, we functioned as a pack.

When the hell did I get so introspective?

It’s a good thing that he’s someone we know.

If we were on an op in the field, I would trust him, without question, to have my back.

Trusting him with Vale when he’s already hurt her once feels like a very different story. I grab the three-to-six-month pink and yellow zipper blanket thing and toss it on my overfull basket, then take that one up to the front to swap it out for an empty one.

“If you want to start taking the security tags off, we’ll be buying all of this,” I tell the young woman behind the counter.

“Cool,” she says, grabbing several of the items on top.

I pick up another empty basket and head back to check out the bottles and breast pumps. There’s a new style of bottle that actually has the shape of a woman’s breast and the nipple looks exactly like the real deal too.

Huh, I have no idea if she plans to breast or bottle feed. I meander down the aisle to ask and frown when I catch sight of Vale and Garza. She’s on her knees, like she was examining some of the stuff on the lower shelves, but Garza is squatting next to her, and she’s got her face buried in his throat. His eyes are huge as he palms the back of her head, but when he spots me, he waves me over with the hand in her hair.

“She was fine,” Garza says, keeping his voice low. “Trying to decide between a forehead thermometer and one of those old-fashioned ones…” He shrugs. “Then she went all full-blown omega mode.”

“You just smell so good,” she whispers. “But not sweaty enough. We need to get you in the gym.” Her hair bounces around her shoulders as she nods dramatically. “Run around the block a few times and come back.”

“Uh…” Garza blinks at me with a very confused look on his face.

“Grab both thermometers, the newborn care kit two from the right on the bottom shelf, and a couple pairs of the mittens from the top row.” I step up to their side. “Then pay for all this. My truck is in the back parking lot. Meet us there.” I drop the basket I was carrying and scoop up Vale.

She immediately climbs up my torso, shoving her nose in my beard. “My smoky campfire alpha,” she murmurs, licking the skin just below my ear. “Not sweaty enough either.”

My hand tightens on her ass as I stand. Her feet dig into my rear end as the belly squishes between us. Damn, sometimes I feel extra chubby, but I suck in my stomach to make room for hers.

“This happens. It’s the whole lack of pheromones thing,” I tell Garza, who is still frozen. “It’s impossible to miss.”

“Shit.” His head shakes.

“You’ve got your wallet, right?”

“Yup,” he agrees, grabbing the items I mentioned earlier.

“Good. Pay for everything and meet us in the truck.”

Vale huffs, licking my neck. “I would like it if we could teleport home to my nest now.”

I snort. “Do you have a plan for breast or bottle feeding?”

“I planned to breastfeed, because I knew I couldn’t afford formula.” She bites my earlobe, grinding her core against my jeans.

Fuck me, that’s incredibly distracting.

I also have the irrational wish that I could teleport us home right this very second. Grabbing the most expensive breast pump off the shelf, I also pick up the replacement portable pumps that match the set. I tuck all that under one arm and scoop up the starter kit of boob-looking bottles.

We make it to the counter, and I drop everything with a grimace.

“Sorry, she’s feeling unwell. Can you start to ring all this up?” I point toward Garza, who seems to be pulling down one of everything and tossing it into the basket I left behind. “He’s going to pay.”

The woman behind the counter blinks, tilting her head. She finally shrugs. “Sure, but he’s going to have to bring it all out. I can’t let you leave with anything that isn’t paid for.”

“No problem,” I agree, giving her a tight smile. Spinning around, I stride out the back exit as Vale tries to get her hand into the front of my jeans.

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