Page 55 of Knotty New Year

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Three more days passed, then four, and by the end of the week, the strangely mild heat had diminished to almost nothing. But the love I felt for my mate had grown until I wasn’t sure if I could keep it to myself. But he hadn’t said the words, and neither had I.

“Pax? You know you were right,” I murmured. He was lying behind me, his chest to my back and his knot lodged just inside my pussy, the aftershocks of our last bout of lovemaking still thrumming though my limbs.

But it was time to get up. My heat was over. Somewhere else in the lodge, I could hear Benjamin’s shouts of joy, an infant’s tiny cries, and Pax’s family arguing and laughing.

“Yes, love? Right about what?”

“Orgasms do make the best apologies.”

“Brat.” He nuzzled my neck, his free hand toying lazily with my breast.

“You know what this means, right?”

“That we can never look any of my family in the face again?” he teased. “Not after you screamed for me to knot your ass until my cum poured out of your—”

Reaching back, I slapped my hand over his mouth. “They won’t say a word. It’s the elevator fart rule.” He let out a puzzled hum, obviously confused. “Haven’t you ever farted in an elevator? We are going to follow the unspoken law and pretend it never happened. They are grown-ass adults and will do the same. And if you ever bring it up, you’ll never get a knot anywhere near my asshole again, you… asshole!”

We both burst out laughing, and his knot popped out of me. I giggled as he reached down and caught the liquid that was trying to spill out onto the sheets, then stuffed it gently back into my swollen channel. He’d done that a lot, almost obsessed with keeping me stuffed full of his cum.

“Pax, you know this means we could have a baby.”

He leaned up on one elbow, his face strangely blank. “I know. Even with solid birth control in place, first heats that are shared by true mates very frequently result in pregnancy.”

“You don’t want one?”

His eyes met mine. “I want yours.” I let out a shaky breath, relieved. He went on. “But I’ll admit, it terrifies me. Are you sure you do? Instead of spending your twenties having fun, going back to college, traveling? You’d be changing diapers and—shit, I know I shouldn’t, but I still feel guilty that I claimed you so young. You had dreams…”

My eyes rolled so hard, they hurt. “Pax. I love babies. I’ve wanted my own for… forever. I mean, I wanted to work as well, but I can do both, right? We can juggle babies. Well, not literally. I mean, you could; you’re so strong and muscley. But we’d have to have more than one to jugg—” He stopped my flustered babbling with a kiss, then rolled me so we faced each other.

“Let’s talk babies. How many do you want, Candy?” He stroked my abdomen lightly, staring at it intently like it was some sort of crystal ball that might give an answer.

I wished I knew what the right answer was. He’d confided that he didn’t resent raising his siblings, but had never thought about having his own family once they were grown. Would he really want to start over again?

“One would be okay. You’ve been down this road before. I know you’re probably done with—hey! Why’d you spank me?”

He gave me an unrepentant grin. “I have never gone down this road, as you say, with my own mate. My own omega, my own children.” He pulled me further up the bed, inserting his leg between mine. “And one is fine, if that’s all you want. But true mates often have twins or even triplets. My mom had both. So you’d better get ready for some surprises, Candy Paxson.”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, or both. “I want a lot, Pax. I want to have as many babies as we have room for in our house.”

He blinked. “You know we have twelve bedrooms.”

I shrugged. “We can build on if we need to.”

“And you want to work, too?”

My heart felt like it was melting. “Maybe. I mean, we can afford a nanny, and I know a great service…”

A loud knock sounded at the door, and Lin’s voice called out, “Nicky?” Pax grabbed a robe and moved to the door, opening it a tiny crack. I could still hear her amused voice as she whispered, “Are you two done? It hasn’t been a whole week, but you got quiet. Er, quieter.”

“I think we could come out today.”

“Thank goodness. Luke, Kati, and Teddy have to get back to work soon, and we have the family pictures, then a big dinner with Candy’s guests.”

“My guests?” I called out. “Mom and Dad?”

Lin laughed out loud. “Yes, your parents arrived a few days ago.”

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