Page 27 of Such a Good Omega

If my omega was willing.

I drove home, keeping to the speed limit with difficulty. At the last moment, I pulled into a parking spot in front of a bakery we’d been frequenting lately. Rowan loved their peanut butter cookies, so I bought a dozen and set the box on the seat next to me. Small gestures were always better than grandiose in my opinion.

The lights were on in the house when I pulled up, which meant our house manager had turned them on before leaving, presumably. Since Rowan was on bed rest, he’d hopefully not gotten up and lit them. I parked in the garage, picked up my box of treats, and headed in through the kitchen door.

“Talon?” Rowan’s voice carried down the stairs. “Is that you?”

“It is. Let me just get us some tea, and I’ll be right up.”

“I’m so sorry, alpha. I didn’t mean to accuse you or hurt you. I don’t even know what’s coming out of my mouth sometimes.”

He sounded closer than he should have. “Are you in bed?”

A few thudding footsteps followed then a farther-away voice. “Yes, I am.”

Now he is.

I wondered whether he was staying in bed as completely as I’d assumed. I stayed home as often as I could, but did have to leave sometimes. I flipped on the electric kettle and got the tea things ready, rehearsing in my mind what I might say to him when I got upstairs. I wanted to invite Rowan to share with me how he got here and also to share my own story.

But when I pushed the door open, what I saw made me lose every thought in my mind. My omega lay tangled in the sheets, his eyes bloodshot and cheeks displaying the tracks of the tears he’d shed since I left.

What a jerk I was.

“Rowan, omega mine, it will be all right.” I set the tray on the dresser and rushed to the bed to enfold him in my arms. “Don’t cry.”

“You came back.” Not the time to point out that I lived here too. “I thought I hurt your feelings and you’d never come back.”

“Rowan.” I tipped his chin up, looking into his beautiful eyes. “Mate, that’s never going to happen. No matter what.”

“But we had an argument. And I accused you of cheating on me, or at least as good as.”

“Mate, we are always going to have arguments because we are people, and I didn’t read what you said as that, not exactly. You were feeling less attractive, and that’s on me because I need to make sure you know that you’re more attractive every day.” I reached between us and stroked his belly. “How could I think otherwise?”

I kissed the top of his head and rested my chin there. “But we have things to talk about. We really haven’t shared enough about our pasts.”

“I didn’t think you wanted to hear…”

“I want to hear everything, and to share my past with you, unless you don’t want me to.”

“No,” he said “I do.”

I settled him back in bed and went to get the tray of tea and peanut butter cookies. It was going to be a long night. But a very good one.

Chapter Twenty-One

Rowan

We were in the homestretch. That’s what the healer said. Only a few more weeks to go. Life in bed was boring, but Talon tried to keep me entertained with all kinds of things. Movies. Books. Games. Vivian had even come in to teach me how to knit. I’d taken to it with ease and was halfway through with a mint-green blanket for our little one.

Talon was also keeping a secret.

I called him on it, of course, and he told me, he swore, that the secret was something good. Something I would like and would make me happy and to let him have his bit of fun.

Near noon, I heard the doors open and shut several times. Vivian hadn’t been up to see me, which was rare.

Something was definitely going on in this house, and I was stuck here, wondering what it was.

As though he heard my thoughts, Talon came in with a wide grin on his face. “How much do you trust me?”

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