Page 28 of A Secret Baby By the Alpha

She hopped up next to me and rested her head briefly on my arm. Her eyes closed, and a sleepy smile crossed her lips. My heartstrings tugged at the sight, and I was reminded of every moment I had missed with her. I bent down to rest my head on the top of hers, breathing in the scent of her messy blond hair.

“Thanks,” she said quietly.

“Of course,” I responded, lifting my head from hers as she grabbed her spoon and scooped up her first bite. “You need anything else?”

“Nope,” she said through a mouthful of cereal.

I chuckled, seeing that she had gotten at least one character trait from me.

“Your mom still sleeping?” I asked.

“In the shower,” Jenny answered, taking another bite.

“Is there anything you wanted to do today?”

“Yeah! Can we go to the forest again?” she asked, eyes brightening at the thought. “No tree climbing today, though. I just want to go out and listen to the birds. It’s hard to hear them in town.”

“We can definitely do that,” I promised.

“Do what?” Christa asked.

I hadn’t heard her come out of their bedroom, and I gave a start at her sudden appearance. Heat flooded my face as I looked at her, suddenly embarrassed to be in her presence.

“Colson said we can go to the forest today!” Jenny told her excitedly.

“Oh,” Christa said. “Um, yeah, we can do that.”

“I only meant if that’s okay with you,” I said awkwardly. “We should have asked your mom first, Jenny.”

“That’s fine with me,” Christa assured Jenny.

The room filled with silence as Christa and I stared at each other awkwardly, both unsure of how to proceed. She shifted from one foot to the other as I cleared my throat and went to take a sip of my coffee, but it was empty.

“Did you, um, want a cup?” I asked, heading toward the coffee maker to refill my cup.

“I can get it,” Christa said.

She reached up to grab a mug from the cabinet just as I bent forward to grab the coffee pot, and the door collided with my forehead with a loud bang. I sucked in a breath through my teeth and scrunched up my face as she began apologizing profusely.

“Oh my goddess, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“No, it was my fault.”

“Really, I’m fine.”

Christa looked at me, completely flustered by our interaction, while I held my forehead and assessed the damage. It didn’t appear to be bleeding, and thanks to my wolf abilities, I knew any bruising would heal quickly.

We both poured ourselves coffee—slowly, this time, to avoid any injuries—and turned around to find Jenny looking at us with her mouth askew and one eyebrow raised.

“What?” we said in unison.

“You two are acting really weird,” Jenny said as she returned to her cereal.

My cheeks grew hot with embarrassment as I glanced sideways at Christa, who had done the same. As soon as we made eye contact, we both shifted our glances away and went to sit down on either side of Jenny.

It’s going to be a long, awkward day,Orin sighed.

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