Page 79 of The Beta: Part Three
“Leave it for now. Maybe we'll take some more fun pictures inside later.” I give her a wink and hold out the flannel shirt. She takes a deep breath, mumbling about now wanting brownies, before she puts it on and starts to do up the buttons. “Wait, just one or two. Just to cover your breasts. I want to be able to see your stomach.”
She snorts. “How could you miss it?” Then Jasper and I have what ends up being a truly wonderful afternoon posing Talia all around the back of the manor. I even convince Jasper to get in on one of the shots; I think that one will end up being Talia's favorite.
“These are really great, Kaleb.” Nathan is helping me edit some of the best ones. It has been pretty difficult to choose the best ones. As sour-mouthed as she is, Talia takes a really beautiful picture. “There isn't a single bad one, even the one where she was making the face is good.”
The face he's referring to is one of the last few I took. She was irritated that Devon, Trent, and Alex came back to watch what we were doing. It was alright at first, but when they started giving suggestions, Alex's being completely inappropriate, she was finished with all of us.
“This one, though. She's going to love this one.” I point to the one of her sitting on the ground between Jasper's legs with both their hands spread out over her stomach. “It's going to be her favorite.”
“I like this one more than the rest, I think.” Nathan enlarges the one of her standing in front of the corn stalks. The distillery is far off in the background, and all the surrounding fields. It's a profile shot of her looking off into the distance. Her bare stomach is prominent with her hands resting on top, I can just barely see her fingertips peeking out from the sleeves. Everything about the picture is warm perfection.
“Yeah. Corso's going to love that one. I'm going to send that one to be blown up. She might kill us, but I kind of want to hang it in the big room, maybe over the piano. I'll have this one put in the nursery.” He pulls up an enlargement of Talia's and Jasper's hands covering her stomach that he cropped from the other one.
“I think that would be perfect in the nursery. I think you're right about hanging the other one over the piano, it'll be worth the risk to life and limb.” I glance through the rest of them again and bring up one of her laughing. Alex had just walked into a spiderweb that was between a couple corn stalks and he and Trent were trying to pull the webs and potential spiders from his hair after he did an impression of drunken karate. This one is a contender for being the best one because the focus is her, not the pregnancy. “Send this one to Devon. And Reid.” They'll all likely pick through them and choose their favorites, but this is my project and I get to pick who sees what first.
“Corso might wallpaper the whole house with them.” Nathan's only half joking.
“Not if he's smart.”
Chapter thirty-three
Talia
Jasper's heat has been so strange. He's been building up to it over the past couple weeks, but now that it's here it's almost mild; and he's so angry between spikes and waves. Omegas just don't leave their nests once they're in heat, but when Reid made the mistake of telling Devon about my condition a little too loudly it was almost like a switch was flipped. Jasper left his nest to come see what was happening in mine and nobody knows what to think or say about that. He only stayed long enough to assure himself that I'm alright, but leaving his nest in the middle of a heat is a little beyond outside of the norm.
I really am alright, though. I'm just really tired. I can't seem to stay awake for more than a few hours, which I'm grateful for, if I'm honest. Any other time Jasper's in heat I want to be right in the middle of it with him, but not this time. I can't wait for it to be over. Then I can have him in my nest with me and we can rest together. My biggest problem right now is that I can't get the nest right. It was fine before this morning, but every time I wake up something new is wrong and I keep having to adjust it.
Corso has been a constant and comforting presence. He's so patient with me, even when I'm being a little short-tempered and more than a little irrational. Alex is also right here with me; bringing snacks, pushing fluids, stealing laundry so I can add to the nest. Earlier he brought me something from Jasper's nest that hadn't yet dried. It made me cry, then I was laughing because that isn't the kind of thing that should result in a sentimental emotional outburst. Sticky or not, that pillowcase is now part of the corner structure of this nest; and I'm not sure what that says about me.
“He's already winding down, I can feel it.” Reid has been splitting his time between Jasper and me. He's being pulled by Jasper's heat to, at the very least, check in on him, and he seems very happy to watch me like a hawk. I know it isn't his, or any of their intention to make me feel like I'm a bomb just waiting to go off, but I'm starting to feel like one.
“It's only been two days,” I yawn. “If he's able to will his heat to be shorter, I might kick him in the knee when he comes all the way out of it.”
Alex's mouth twitches to the side, but he maintains his composure. “Oh, you will not. Well, you might. I don't think that's it, though. I think it's a subconscious, biological thing. Like, a mated pair thing. Kind of like he's your mate and those are his biological offspring and his system is somehow altering itself because you're about to have them. You're due next week, so that's a much more feasible possibility than him willing it to go away because he wants it to.”
“You're probably right. I'm just grouchy because I'm itchy and tired. I wouldn't actually kick Jasper in the knee.” I yawn again and curl back under my blankets. “The leg, I could kick him in the leg. Just a little bit. If he's able to make his heat go away on purpose. Come in here with me, I need you to snuggle me.”
“Can we be naked? I'm feeling handsy.” Alex makes a big show of wiggling his eyebrows at me.
“If we're naked I'll definitely be handsy, but I don't know if I'll be able to stay awake long enough to follow through.”
He strips and crawls under the covers to help me pull off the little clothes I have on. “It isn't always about follow through. Hearing you talk, all you're interested in is my dick; and that's just hurtful. I've got a heart, too, and magnificent hair.”
“I love your hair. It's very soft and warm, and it always smells amazing, like you.”
He kisses my temple and curls his body around mine, cupping my breast in his hand like he does at night when he's sleeping. “What do I smell like to you, sweet pea?”
That humming purr begins in the back of my throat as I answer. “Like a fire, and burnt marshmallows. I love it so much. I'm going to sleep now.” The last thing I hear before I drift off is Alex's purr matching mine.
I wake up the next morning to what feels like a pinch running up my abdomen, but I don't think much of it, especially since Jasper is watching me from about three inches away from my face. “You have to stop waking me up like this, princess.”
He smiles and reaches over to tug on my earlobe. “You don't like seeing me first thing?”
“I love seeing you all the time. How are you feeling?”
Jasper's mouth pulls to the side and he hums. “I've never had a heat like this one. Only a couple days long and not overwhelming like usual. Not even a little. I've been needy like usual, but I haven't been drowning in it. And I think it might be over. How are you feeling? Something seems different. You've been sleeping so much.”
I sigh and close my eyes again. It would be so easy to just go back to sleep, and it's more than tempting. “I'm alright, just really tired.”
