Page 38 of His Captor

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Hayden stopped me.

He grabbed the arms of the chair and wrestled himself forward. For a second, he looked like he was going to stand, then changed his mind because it was too much.

“I can take care of myself,” he said, irritation pinching his face, one hand on his belly. “I have a lovely apartment, thank you very much, a family that supports me, even if they drive be nuts, and I have a job.”

He stared hard at me as he said that.

“I understand,” I said. “But you have to at least allow me?—”

“I don’t have to do anything,” he said, pushing himself to stand this time. “I was prepared to go through this pregnancy, through the rest of my life, not even knowing who you really are or where you really were. And yes, that weekend was incredible and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you for eight months. Yes, I tried to find you again and failed. But I don’t need you to come in here, barking orders like an alpha, like the same kind of alpha who fired me from my last job for being pregnant and single, or like my Dad for telling me I was a disappointment, when I was doing just fine on my own.”

Ouch. I didn’t know words could sting like that. Especially when all I’d been trying to do was the right thing. I’d impregnated an omega, I should take care of said omega. That’s what I’d always been taught. That’s what I believed was right.

It had never occurred to me that the omega might have other ideas.

“What would you like me to do?” I asked in a low, slightly helpless voice.

Some of the steam went out of Hayden’s expression. “I don’t know,” he said with a tired shrug, rubbing his belly. “I’ve never been knocked up by my boss who kidnapped me and tied me to a bed with magnets to fuck me through heat before.”

My mouth twitched, but it didn’t quite turn into a smile.

“Don’t fire me. How about we start there,” Hayden went on.

“Alright.” I nodded. “You’re not fired.”

“Good,” he said.

Then we were silent. Pitifully, painfully silent.

“I tried to find you, too,” I said after nearly a full minute, breaking the silence.

Hayden’s brow went up, and emotion filled his eyes.

“You deleted your profile from the app,” I explained. “And then everything started to move really fast with my old business and starting this new one.”

“You don’t design sex toys,” Hayden said, his mouth curving and a twinkle glinting in his eyes.

I smiled fully. “No, I don’t.”

“I still think you should,” he said quietly.

“I’m not sure the military has much use for sex toys.”

“Um, yeah, they do,” Hayden said, laughing.

His laugh. I’d forgotten how much I loved his laugh.

“Please let me help you somehow,” I said, looking up at him from where I sat while he stood.

His expression iced over again. “I won’t accept any help if it comes from nothing more than a sense of obligation,” he said. “I’m not that mistake you made that needs fixing. I won’t take charity, and I won’t be belittled because I was careless and got pregnant by a stranger.”

“I’m not a stranger, I’m your boss.”

It was probably the wrong thing to say. Hayden gaped at me for a moment, then shook his head.

I felt chastised by that gesture, even though my alpha still thought I had every right to take charge of the situation.

“You’re not fired,” I repeated, hoping I could salvage things. “The company is still brand new, and we’ve got a lot of work to do in a short period. I’ve got potential contracts lined up that need working out, and I’ve just found out that we have some deeply serious competition.”

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