Page 71 of Pack Plus Three

That sounded good, far less pressure. “I'd like that,” I said as I undid my seat belt.

Devon led me to the kitchen, where he started pulling out various items. “Do you want a sweet or savory snack?” he asked as he perused the fridge.

“Sweet. Definitely sweet,” I said. While savory snacks certainly had a place, I much preferred sweet foods. Though, with Jeremy's recent cooking, I had become quite the fan of spicy food, which I had never imagined would happen.

“How about apple slices with almond butter and cinnamon?” he asked as he pulled out a bag of red apples.

“Sounds perfect.” Despite having eaten a mere hour ago at the rink, I was already peckish again. Growing a human was hungry work.

“Could you go and grab the almond butter while I slice these?”

Without answering, I padded over to the cabinet where we kept all of the various condiments and sauces. Jeremy had apparently gone all out once I had moved in. I had been told that this cabinet had been nearly bare beforehand, but now it was full of at least six different kinds of nut butter because they were apparently good for pregnant omegas.

Grabbing the first jar of almond butter my eyes landed on, I padded over to Devon and placed it on the counter next to him.

He was slicing the apple into perfect little segments that I could easily dip. “Here.” He handed me a plate of sliced apples and a little dish of almond butter. While I took my first bite, he ate the less aesthetically pleasing scraps of apple.

“Isn't it the mother's job to eat leftovers?” I asked with a laugh, nodding at his plate.

He looked down at the plate and then to me, his face breaking out in a grin, despite his mouth still being full of food. He swallowed before speaking. “I suppose that is what tends to happen. But do you really think Jeremy is going to let you eat scraps with the way he cooks?”

I groaned. “He won't. And while I appreciate that, it's also going to mean I’ll be the size of a whale, even when I'm no longer pregnant.”

“Hush. You're stunning just the way you are. And I'm sure you'll be just as amazing once you've given birth.”

“No, I won't. I will have saggy skin and stretch marks!” I laughed. This wasn't exactly the best conversation to have with an alpha I was hoping to have sex with in the imminent future, but I was hardly a logical creature this late in my pregnancy.

A piece of apple peel flew my way, lightly hitting the top of my head. “Now that is defeatist talk, and I won't hear it. You are going to be stunning, even if you have stretch marks and sagging skin. Do you wanna know why? Because those stretch marks and sagging skin are the marks that were left on your body by creating an entire freaking human. You should be proud of that!”

“I am... I just kind of feel bad that I bonded with Jeremy when I was pregnant, and he never got to see me before my body became a mess.” I sighed. I hadn't vocalized that concern until this moment, but it was one that had been weighing on me. Cole had nitpicked my appearance before I was pregnant, and if he could see me pregnant, with my face bloated and stretch marks, I could only imagine what he would say to me.

“What makes you think your body is any less attractive? The opinions of alphas who are conceited assholes who would rather brag about being a man than have a family really don't apply here.” He snorted lightly as I bit into an apple slice. “In my opinion—and it's an opinion I know that Jeremy shares with me—the fact that you've been able to create a human is damn sexy in its own way, so don’t talk yourself down. Remember, I'm the nice one. Jeremy won't be so kind if he hears you talking bad about yourself.”

I laughed. “I don't think Jeremy knows how to be anything but kind.”

“Oh, he's not opposed to spanking if you’ve been misbehaving.” He smirked at me as he cleaned away the apple shreds.

Spanking? I hadn’t thought about that before...but when I did, my stomach did a little somersault.

Devon’s eyebrows raised. “I'll be sure to let Jeremy know that you like that idea. Once the baby is here, of course.” He smirked as my face flushed.

Once my apple was finished, Devon led me to the den that had several overstuffed armchairs and a ridiculously large TV.

“How big is that thing?” I asked as I crawled onto the sofa, letting myself sink into its depths of comfy squishiness.

“It's eighty inches. We nearly went for the seventy-eight-inch model, but you know what? Those two inches were just too important.”

I smirked. “Every inch counts when you're an alpha.”

Devon shot me a dazzling smile. “See, I knew you'd get it! Now, what do you want to watch? Movies or a TV show? We’ve got all the streaming services, so the world is your oyster, flower.”

I hummed thoughtfully. “Maybe a TV show? There's that one about paranormal monsters that's been on for like eighteen seasons that I really want to see. I could never afford cable, so I haven't had a chance to watch it,” I admitted with a shrug.

“I’ll happily start an eighteen-season show with you!” He tossed the remote to me. “Put it on. I'll go get popcorn.”

I smiled at his retreating form as I flicked through the channels, trying to find the show. Eighteen seasons were a bit of a commitment, but I wasn't going to miss this opportunity. Who knew when I'd be able to afford cable again?

Then again, I needed to accept that my financial situation was forever going to be different. Now that I was bonded to an NHL player, what was Jeremy's was also mine. The reverse was also true, but I didn't exactly have anything that Jeremy would want.

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