Page 73 of Harvest Moon

He choked. Fortunately, it wasn’t so bad I had to give him the Heimlich or anything, but it wasn’t the most auspicious start. He downed his whole glass of water between coughing and sputtering, his cheeks gone bright red.

When he finally stopped coughing, he stared at the table in front of him. “I’m, uh, sorry?”

“Nope,” I disagreed. I wasn’t going to force him to offer. It would have been nice, sure, but we weren’t there yet. We needed time to stop being Alexis and Ridge and become Alexis’n’Ridge again. So that put the responsibility to communicate on me. “It’s fine. They’ve never been all that bad. I just brought it up because...” I stopped and took a deep breath, met his eye, and continued. “Because I hoped you’d spend it with me. Birch and Claudia would be fine with us using their guest room for it. Birch practically said so.”

Ridge sat there, staring at me, blinking rapidly, like his brain was rebooting. And apparently it did, because a moment later, he shook his head. I took it for an answer for a fraction of a second, but then he smiled at me, and said the beautiful words I’d thought I would never hear from him. “I’d love to, Lexis. You let me know what you need, and when you need me, and I’ll be there.”

It was all I could do not to stop and throw myself across the table at him. And there went a few more eggs back into the Ridge basket.

42

Ridge

Alexis said he didn’t need anything particular, so I showed up with flowers.

Okay, not cut flowers, but I brought a potted mum and a canvas bag full of squash and canned beans and some snap peas that were real sweet—I thought Claudia might like those.

When I’d asked the Hills for some time off, told them Alexis needed me, they’d given each other a serious look. I finished up work early for the day, but Barbara wouldn’t let me leave the house till I’d eaten a full meal.

With pursed lips, she’d warned me that I was about to run a marathon, would need to keep my strength up.

Henrik had laughed, and I’d felt so hot I thought I might combust on the spot.

If I’d thought to pull myself together on the car ride over to the Wilsons’, that didn’t work either. I could barely catch my breath, even with the window open. But this would be fine. I’d know what to do, or Alexis would tell me.

I didn’t mind a bit when he told me what he wanted—that’d make sure he was happy. I wanted to make him happy.

I rang the bell, and though I’d expected Lex and a hasty retreat back to his bedroom, Birch stood at the door, grinning when he saw me.

“Wow.” He looked over my arms full of plants and produce, his dark brows inching toward his hairline. “So you come bearing gifts, huh?”

He just had to say “come.”

I cleared my throat, lifting the mums, happy to hide behind the bright orange blossoms. “Well, they had mums at the hardware store this week, and uh—you know, thought you might be running low on some stuff?”

Birch chuckled, but he took the pot from me and led the way to the kitchen. “Alexis already closed himself up in his room. Come on through here and get some water before you disappear though. You’ll need it.”

Holy hell, the man was making sure I hydrated. “Yessir.”

Birch put the plant on the middle of the kitchen table and took the bag I’d brought. While he was putting the vegetables in the crisping drawer, I breathed in deep. I could smell Alexis everywhere in this house, but knew he was in the back, in his room. That was where I wanted to be, but it took Birch a second to close the fridge and grab a glass.

“Alexis got all finicky about the scent. It doesn’t bother me, but he was worried it’d put Claudia on edge? I’m sure she’s fine. Annoyed she couldn’t give you another dressing down maybe, but you can’t blame Alexis for worrying about her, I guess. You know how omegas get in heat,” Birch said with a little smile. “Not everything they do makes complete sense outside of it. Still, if he wants to hide out in there—”

“I’ll take care of him,” I offered immediately. “Make sure he eats plenty, doesn’t go thirsty.”

The thing was, I didn’t know how omegas were in heat. Sure, I’d seen Ma go through it, knew there were some times in our late teens when Lex had kept mostly to himself. I’d never been in the room though, never been part of it.

I was downright nervous.

Every alpha said it came natural. They just knew what to do. And hell, even humans seemed cozy with the idea of sex by the time they got to my age.

There I was, twenty-three whole years old, and it wasn’t like that for me. I’d been in the LGBTQIA+ group back in school, and I knew the word for it—asexual. Or, well, demisexual. It was all a spectrum, but I wasn’t sex-repulsed, and I sure did like getting close to Alexis. Felt good.

But I wasn’t sure how the hell I was supposed to trust instincts I didn’t have when Lex needed me to take care of him. Biggest thing was, I figured, to be there.

That meant I had to go back to his room.

“Thank you for the water, Mr. Wilson,” I said. I’d drank half of it down fast, then went to refill it. “I’d better—” I tilted my head toward the hallway that led to Lex’s room.

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