Page 33 of Wrong Number, Right Valentine

The first half hour was fairly uneventful. Still… more than anything, I wanted to take his pain as he dealt with labor. We hadn’t even gotten to the “bad” part and he was miserable. Maybe a hospital would’ve been better. At least there they had epidurals.

Each few minutes seemed worse than the ones before, and I did what I could to comfort him, trying to hide my fear as best I could. If anything happened to him, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle it. But he had both a healer and a midwife here, there was no better care to be had, even if I wished he had some pain relief.

Banks cried out in pain as another contraction ripped through his body.

“Reg, it’s coming... the baby is coming now!” he gasped, gripping my hand tightly. “I need to push.”

My heart raced with a mix of excitement and fear. I had to stay calm for Banks. “It’s okay, my love, just breathe. You’re doing great,” I reassured him, placing a tender kiss on his sweaty forehead as the midwife and healer told him what to do and how.

I stayed by his side as the midwife positioned themselves between Banks’s legs, ready to catch our pup as it emerged. Banks panted and pushed with primal cries, his face flushed and hair plastered to his head. The overwhelming scent of his labor filled the small room.

“I see the head. Keep pushing, you’re almost there.” The midwife encouraged him from their position. With a final agonized groan, Banks delivered our pup into their waiting hands.

“Reg. It’s quiet.” He clung to me. “Why is it quiet?”

And then, before I could answer him, the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard filled the air, the sound of our daughter crying.

“You did it, Banks. Our beautiful girl is here,” I whispered in awe, tears pricking my eyes.

A minute later, she was placed in our arms, and I watched Banks cradle our child, an utterly exhausted but blissful smile on his face.

“She’s beautiful, Reg. So beautiful.”

“She’s you, my love.” I climbed into bed beside him. There were things to clean up, people to tell, and I didn’t know all what the healer needed to do to help my mate heal without a wolf, but that was all on hold.

For the next few minutes, it was just my mate and I enjoying the first few minutes with our daughter, Patsy. Life couldn’t get much better than this.

25

BANKS

One year! Hard to believe it had been twelve months since Reg and I met.

Despite him having Ian as an assistant manager, my mate couldn’t take the night off, not on one of the busiest nights of the year.

If we didn’t have Patsy, I would have recreated our meeting with me washing dishes in the restaurant kitchen, but I insisted that the three of us were together. We compromised by agreeing our daughter and I could have dinner at Sizzle and Chill.

Not that Patsy was eating restaurant food yet. And because the place would be full of paying customers, we’d have a small table at the back, just where I’d imagined Reg was sitting that first night.

My mate was taking a break for thirty minutes to eat with me. But I arrived just as the place opened, in line with the retirees and other early birds. Patsy was asleep, and because the restaurant wasn’t busy, we had a table near the window with plenty of space for the stroller.

“What do you want?” Reg came out with a menu which I didn’t bother to look at.

“Something that we can’t do in the restaurant.” I stifled a giggle, not wanting the other customers to stare.

“Banks, don’t do that.” Reg fake glared at me, but I wasn’t stopping.

“I’m famished, and I really need to eat.” I snapped my teeth together and licked around my mouth.

My mate’s eyes widened, and he pressed his lips together, a sign he was willing his arousal to tamp it down.

“What’s good to eat here?” I grinned, the same smile I plastered on my face as when I was horny.

Reg gulped. “I’ve heard the linguine is excellent.” He took a deep breath before cleaning his throat. “With clams.”

“Perfect.”

Reg held the menu in front of his crotch as he staggered toward the kitchen. Gods, his cock was so huge I hoped he’d still be up for some evening delight when he got home.

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