Page 4 of Knotty New Year

“My name is Candy. I mean, Candace. Candace Kane.”

I choked out a laugh. “Candy Kane? Try again, sweetheart. If you’re going to lie, make it believable.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, plumping up two of the most luscious breasts I’d ever felt guilty looking at. “I’m not lying. I’m Candy Kane. My birthday is December twenty-fourth, and my parents have terrible taste.” She mumbled low, “It’s not like I’dchooseto have a stripper name.”

I kept my eyes on my phone, but lifted one eyebrow as I typed. “Good girls don’t tell lies, little Candy. That may be your name, but you haven’t been truthful. I’ll give you one more chance.”

“Or what?” she said breathlessly, and the air between us filled with the most decadent perfume, making me almost groan aloud.

“Wahhhhh!” My nephew let out another cry, this time in earnest, and she spun on her heel—almost toppling over again—and crossed to the stairs.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

“You may not want me as your betasitter, but someone needs to take care of that baby, Mr. Paxson.” I watched her stride away from me, her plump ass in that too-tight skirt moving like a fucking snake-charmer.

My phone vibrated, and I spent the next two minutes cursing fate, my house manager, and omegas everywhere. I read my PA’s texts and quickly dialed his number. “Theodore? What do you mean, there aren’t any betasitters to be had? I have three billion dollars. I can afford to paySantato come down from the goddamned North Pole and watch this kid.”

Theodore sputtered something about a storm of the century and closed highways. “Mr. Paxson, it’s only days before Christmas, and your home is rather isolated. They’re expecting gale force winds, and at least ten feet of snow. It’s a historic blizzard.”

“Fivedays before Christmas,” I snapped back, then paced to a window and looked out. It was snowing hard. And it had been cold enough this week for the snow to stick as it came down, though the wind was blowing the whole world white. I had a four-wheel drive truck, but it would be taking my life in my hands to go out in it. And I couldn’t leave Benjamin with an unknown woman.

I was stuck here, with the one omega on the planet I didn’t know if I could resist.

“Call every agency you can, Theodore. This is your first real test as my PA. Don’t let me down.” He sighed, and I pulled the curtain shut as I hung up on him. Before I could put my phone away, it buzzed again. “Lindyann, this was the worst idea you’ve ever had,” I said by way of greeting.

“It’s lovely to hear your sweet voice as well, dear brother of mine,” my twenty-four-year-old sister snarked back. Twenty-four years old, the same age as the forbidden omega upstairs.

I had been more of a father to Lin and the rest of our siblings after our parents’ deaths over fifteen years before. Our youngest sister was still in high school, but she and most of the rest of the family were in Colorado, skiing for the school break. I was supposed to join them with the baby in the New Year, and hand him back to his parents when they returned home.

“How’s my Little Ben?”

I sneered at the receiver. Her husband had taken to calling himself Big Ben and the baby Little Ben, like it was some sort of clever play on words. I wasn’t going to encourage it. “Come back and get the baby, Lin,” I demanded. “The nanny didn’t show.”

The line squawked—with laughter. “Hire another one, Daddy Warbucks.”

“There aren’t any more. There’s a snowstorm, and my new PA isuseless.” I almost mentioned Candace, but I knew my sister would go nuts, possibly start planning a wedding. I had never had an omega in my home. I had no interest in romantic entanglements, and just had a few discreet friends who were happy to join me in anonymous hotel rooms when my body reminded me it existed.

Lin started blabbering about how gorgeous it was in Costa Rica, and how I should honeymoon there someday. “It’s a perfect place to bring children when they’re older, too,” she said. I rolled my eyes as she went on about the national parks and the wildlife.

The whole reason she had saddled me with my nephew was, in her words, “to remind me how wonderful babies are.” She mistakenly believed caring for her son would kick-start my alpha impulses to breed my own children. I’d told her raising my nine younger siblings for a decade and a half had fully quenched those desires.

I sucked in a breath, and the flavor of strawberries and cream lingered on the back of my tongue. For a split second, I imagined fucking that sweet little omega who was upstairs right now, hearing her cry out with pleasure as I worked my knot into her, filling her until she was swollen with my seed and pregnant with my child.

My cock jerked again, so hard my knot began swelling in my trousers, like a damned teenager.

“...the whole purpose was for you to get to know him. And you spend too much time working. Nicky, I left enough diapers to last through the Apocalypse, and enough formula and food for a hundred babies. You managed to keep all of us alive after Mom and Dad died. I’m sure you can handle a week or two on your own. But, if you really can’t, maybe we can get flights back…”

She sounded stressed, which wasn’t fair. I’d agreed months ago to keep the baby. Lin was an omega, and Ben was her true mate, which meant she was probably fated to have seventeen babies before she was done. Watching this one before her life turned into a carnival of diapers and nighttime feedings was the least I could do.

“Forget it, Lin. You’re right, I can handle diapers for a little while. Have your dream vacation. The real nightmare’s only beginning, you know.”

She just laughed. “When you meet your perfect match like I did, you’ll want your own. You won’t be able to resist. Trust me, all it took was one breath of Big Ben’s scent and I—”

“Ah! Stop talking,” I shouted into the phone. “I never want to hear about that man’s scent again.” Her giggles had me smiling. “And we can’t all be as lucky as you and Ben Senior. Not all of us get the fairy tale.”

I blinked at my own words. Fairy tale. Princess. Strawberries.

My hand still smelled like her.

---