Page 68 of His Innocent Omega
Picking up the baby, he turned to me. “But thank you. And I’m sorry they are horrible.”
Wrapping my arms around him, I gave up on my towel and let it fall to the floor. He leaned into me, resting his head on my naked chest, and I nuzzled his hair. Kissing the top of his head, I whispered, “They are not your responsibility. And your dad seems alright.”
Wyatt groaned. “He was looking at you like you were a prime piece of meat. It’s so embarrassing.”
Chuckling, I pulled away, then took Jules from him, cuddling her and breathing in her sweet baby scent. She patted my chest, babbling about her day. “Nothing to be embarrassed about. Go take them to lunch. I really do need to get back to the office.”
“Was that tall tale you told true?” He looked at me wide-eyed.
“Yup. My clothes are in the washer. I had extra in the cruiser, but your shower was closer.”
“Dammit!” Wyatt exclaimed, startling the baby who gave him a cross look for interrupting her babbling. “I’m not getting mybaked spaghetti now, am I? My mother has the uncanny ability to ruin my day just by showing up.”
Pulling him in for another soft kiss, I caressed his cheek. “It will keep until tomorrow.”
“We have the Sinclair Christmas Eve dinner,” he pouted, “and I don’t want to disappoint the Mama M’s.”
“Sweetheart, I’ll bake it up and we’ll have it for Christmas day,” I promised, crossing the hall to the bedroom. After placing Jules safely in the middle of our bed, where she watched me with her dark eyes, I pulled on my shirt. “You know it’s better leftover anyway. We’ll open presents, eat and watch movies all day. You’ll get your baked spaghetti.”
“You promise.”
“You promise your parents will be gone by then?” I countered.
“Fuck yes, even if I have to drive them to the airport myself. That long drive would be worth it.”
“Can’t wait for dinner tonight,” I winked at him, buttoning my jeans. “Should be a fun time.”
He pointed a finger at me, holding Jules in his arms as we walked out of the bedroom. “You did that. That’s all on you. I’m just an innocent bystander in all this. I was hoping they’d be so underwhelmed with Sweet Alps and my life they’d decide to leave early.”
Dinner had gone better than I expected. I showed off wearing one of my bespoke suits and expensive silk ties, and answered the one hundred and one questions Wyatt’s parents drilled me with. It bugged the shit out of me that they didn’t seem impressed by anything, until they found out about my law degree and my past employment with the C.I.A.
Of course, I couldn’t go into details about what division Jamie and I had been in, but I had learned to negotiate and sidestepyears ago. Smiling, I said I had held a supervisory position before leading a cyber security team. Honestly, I was most proud of the work I did as sheriff of Sweet Alps, even if they thought it made me not good enough for their son. Though I doubted they really cared much about any mate Wyatt chose. His mother was more concerned about all the lucrative opportunities he had walked away from, and not Wyatt’s life here in Sweet Alps, or his happiness.
Keeping a firm grip on his hand under the table, I had squeezed it anytime she had said something passive aggressive. My mate was on edge throughout the dinner, and I had been happy when it was finally over and we’d gone back to Wyatt’s. His mother wasn’t impressed with his guest room, but his father had been pleasant enough and was happy to hold Jules and make funny faces at her. He’d beamed proudly when Wyatt had given them a copy of the picture with Santa, saying he was going to frame it.
Finally, we’d all retired to bed and the house had grown quiet and Wyatt was cuddled up to my side. I stroked his arm lazily, and he whispered, “I’m sorry about them.”
Kissing the side of his head, I murmured, “Don’t apologize for them. You have nothing to be sorry for. We don’t get to pick our family. At least not the biological ones. I wish you’d been able to meet my dads, though. And Mimi and Papaw. They would have loved you and adored our princess.”
I felt him smile against my skin, “I wish I had met them too. It would have been nice for Julianna to have one set of loving grandparents.”
Tipping his chin up with my finger, I stared into his sad eyes. “She is going to grow up with plenty of grandparents who love and adore her. They might not be related by blood, butsometimes that’s better. Because those are the people that pick you. She’s gonna have Miss Rose, Gigi, Mary and Maeve, even Allan. And more cousins than she’s going to know what to do with. And, if no one else has any more pups, she’s going to be spoiled rotten because she will be the youngest. According to Jamie, being the baby of the family holds special perks.”
He smiled then, his eyes not quite so sad, and leaned up to kiss me softly. “I’m really glad I came to Sweet Alps.”
“Me too,” I whispered into the darkness, holding him closer. “Me too.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Wyatt
The smell of coffee drifted up from downstairs, tickling my senses and waking me up. Sniffing, the air held the hint of something sweet, possibly cinnamon.
“Mmmm,” stretching, I blinked my eyes open, running a hand over the empty sheets next to me. They were cold and I frowned, before I remembered what day it was.
It was Christmas morning!
Excitement got me out of bed, and padding down the stairs quickly after a quick glance in the nursery showed me Julianna was already up.
