Page 52 of The Omega's Unexpected Bounty
“How?” I asked, but there was more to that question. There were my favorite foods – although some was missing. I wouldn’t tell him that. After all this effort, I needed to pay him back.
His foot scuffed against the dark wooden floor, and I don’t think he could have looked more adorable. “I did a cross-section of the most common foods in your area against your DNA analysis.”
I grinned at how typical it was. It was analytical, practical and so very Volardi. Yet there is another part that was sothem –a desire to take care of their mates. The man I tried to avoid before I knew he existed re-created my cabin down to the smallest detail and then filled the refrigerator with my favorite foods.
He propped me against the wall despite my protests to help and that I wasn’t delicate. He wouldn’t listen while he took the plates into the common area by the side of the stone fireplace. I watched with raised eyebrows as he lifted the bulky mattress and set it on the floor. A blanket would have been sufficient, but I suspected he wanted to show off. He did it effortlessly even if his biceps flexed.
Yeah, I won’t stop that.
Once satisfied everything was ready, he gently lowered me onto the spongy cushion then placed the food next to me. “I’ll be back.”
My gaze went around the cabin not looking for imperfections but gaping at the detail. Grooves in the door, curtains, and even the beams overhead were the same. I wondered what was more amazing. Machines that replicated something down to the smallest detail or a man willing to go through all this effort. My throat burned while I had my answer. I breathed in deep both from what he did and the food smell of cheese, apples, and chocolate. Volardi didn’t enjoy cheese. It wasn’t poisonous – unless they ate a lot. Small bites were merely ‘vile.’ Although they liked ice cream and milk just fine.
He came back in with a high stack of wood. Wood chips flaked off and clung to his white biceps. “This is from New Texas. It’s Mesquite.” He answered my other silent question. “The rest of the barge has the last of the supplies. The place isn’t finished yet, but–”
“I was miserable, and you decided I needed something.”
He didn’t nod his head, but his smile answered. His gaze went to the plate. “You haven’t eaten?”
“I was waiting for you.”
He set the wood down on the floor and set several large pieces into the stone fireplace. “The cheese is for you.”
“Volardi don’t like it.”
“The same is not true for our mates.” His eyes narrowed while he breathed hard. “Nothing will keep me away from those lips.” He leaned down, got a cut cube and plopped it into my mouth. I let it linger against my tongue and moaned. It was beyond eatingreal‘New Texas’ food. This is one of the few foods that didn’t make me nauseous recently.
He reached behind him and threw a small rod into the fireplace. Within a few seconds, it sparked, and the wood caught on fire. It wasn’t too long before the yellow, and flickering orange from the flames danced over his face. His eyes narrowed, and the windows outside darkened while the fire cast more light.
“Well, that’s new,” I said.
“I added my own touches,” his fingers went over my stomach. “You and I creating something together again.”
He pulled off his shirt, and I inhaled hard. That man looked good against the soft blue lights of our aquatic bedroom, under the piercing glare of the dojo, but now he was ‘country handsome.’ He was built, there’s no doubting that. Thanks to the fire, lights made his skin glow, while the shadows deepened the grooves between his muscles.
I stared and took a mental snapshot to burn it into my mind for later. Jittery lights flickered over Graden’s wide jaw – half in shadow and the other lit as if he weren’t real.And he’s not, at least to the old me.The Volardi – especially the Soturi sex were to be avoided, stabbed or worst shot from a distance. They were legal bounties, but I enjoyed it. Now, I was on a mattress carrying our child and being attended to.
He tore a slice of meat in half. I reached up to take a bite and barely nicked his finger. Grease, peppery deli spices and the salty sweat on his fingertip mixed. I leaned forward, opened my mouth slightly and sucked his fingers slowly. The visual wasn’t lost on him or me. My body was readying for sex. Deep in my ass, warm slick grew in anticipation of what was coming, and I allowed myself a moment to savor the sensation.
He ran his finger slowly over the top of the strawberry ice cream. My tongue licked his tip while I savored the sensory overload. He fed me more – alternating between deli choices, fruit and ice cream. All weird combinations but the stereotype about pregnant Omegas was correct. My appetite was back, and meat, ice cream, and fruit rarely go together. Yet he wrapped a circular salami slice around the strawberry then fed it to me. The flavors shouldn’t have been good, but they were. The meat squashed against the fruit, inside an ice-cream coated mouth and I moaned before I swallowed it all.
I held my finger up for him to stop while I adjusted myself. He knew what I wanted and reached out with his hand to lift me up. With a slow pull, a combination tank top and pregnancy band lifted over my chest while my stomach drooped down. He smiled, and I presumed it was from my messed-up hair. I patted my stomach to let him know I was full, then offered him some food.
“No, I want something else.” Graden leaned forward while the lights danced over his face. The only sound I heard was our breathing and the occasional pop of the fire as the wood splintered. I tasted his lips while he kissed me slower than he ever did before. There was nothing tentative or clumsy. I certainly gave him implied permission to do more, but there was something about it that felt different. Maybe it was Omega intuition, but something was coming up.
He adjusted me until I was cross-legged with my stomach pushed out so much that I could feel it against my thighs. He mirrored my position then held both hands and inviting me to do the same. Thick, strong hands gripped mine before he spoke. “This started off as unreal.” I nodded that it did. “But it’s not anymore,” he said.
It could be a statement or a question, but I answered anyway. “No, it’s not.” His purple eyes narrowed as he tried to get some insight into what I was thinking. Not that long ago I looked at this as a minor jail sentence. All I had to do to avoid imprisonment was pretend to be his mate. “There’s no more pretending,” I said. His eyebrows rose while heat flashed over my face as I realized that I said it out loud. Over the last few months, we’ve had tender moments, said things that implied our feelings, and yet never had the talk. There was no good reason fornotdoing it. I thought there was strength in avoiding typical Omega expectations. Sometimes I wish I could shake the old me and show him what I now knew. Carrying a baby and letting myself love somebody didn’t make me less of a person. There was a certain strength in letting go. I used to watch the men in the saloon who had the quiet confidence to not swagger. I was them when it came down to a fight but not for the rest of my life. I overcompensated because I didn’t want to be this sex.
My head jerked up to what Ihadto say. “I love you. I didn’t think I would, but I do, and it’s not just because of…” My fingers traced over my stomach. He was already smiling when I said that I loved him, but like a good man, he knew I had more to say. “I wouldn’t admit it to Tiny, but I’m glad he uh, you know? Otherwise…”
“You would’ve left after a year?” he said it as if he didn’t believe it.
“No, I think something would have happened. Even if I weren’t pregnant, I would have stayed.” The tears welled up in my eyes and his misted as well. I swallowed, and it burned my throat. “Even if there were nobody in me, you would have kept me here, because I would have wanted to stay.”
His forehead pressed against mine while I felt the heat from him and the fire.
His arms went around me, and for a man that needed no one, I had to have his touch. It was as necessary as food, water or air. I stifled a sniff as I thought about the hold he had on me. Any fear went away because I had the same one on him. Nobody builds a cabin like this if they aren’t mated.
