Page 255 of Labor of Love

“Hmmm.” Hamish did back off a little. “You don’t sound relaxed.”

“I’m not.” He sighed. “I need to get this done now that I peeled off the plastic. It won’t take long.”

Hamish moved over to flop on the couch. “Can I keep you company?”

“Sure.” He bit his lower lip to concentrate, and he had to admit, Hamish didn’t bother him. In fact, when he glanced over, Hamish was reading on his phone, feet bobbing in the air, his socks printed with T-Rexes playing croquet, he thought. Maybe field hockey.

He put his head back down, working until he was done. Then he stretched, his lower back protesting. It was already bothering him, and he’d only known he was pregnant for like, three weeks.

“All done, baby?” Hamish asked, putting aside his phone.

“Yeah.” And he wasn’t any happier.

“You feeling bad?”

“My back hurts, and I just feel itchy and not good.”

Hamish opened his arms. “Wanna come lie on top of me and let me rub your back?”

“Yes.” He sniffed, then dove at Hamish, letting those arms wrap around him so Hamish could pull him down.

Hamish dragged a blanket over them from the back of the couch, then rested those big, hot, alpha hands on his lower back. “Here?”

Reed moaned. “Oh, that feels so good. This is crazy. I’m barely even showing how can my lower back be hurting so bad?”

Hamish started rubbing. “I was reading up on it, and I think that it said something about how even the slightest shift in your weight can cause things like lower back pain and hip pain, and they also said that you might be overcompensating, hunching over trying to protect the baby. Maybe you need to focus on keeping your back upright.”

Tears stung Reed’s eyes. “Oh my God, you’ve been reading up on pregnancy for me?”

Hamish nodded, staring right into his eyes. “Of course I have. I want to be a good alpha. I want to help.”

“That’s so sweet!” Hamish was this amazing mixture of gruff security man and attentive and loving alpha. He was always there for Reed, though, and that was what mattered. It made him love Hamish so much more. “Thank you. I can’t even tell you how much that means to me.”

“You’re welcome, baby. I had a talk with Des, and he was saying he didn’t think that my apartment was big enough tohave a nursery in it. He was talking demo, but I’m really not attached to this apartment, and there are bigger ones open in the building. They’re a little higher up toward the penthouse area, but they’re good quarters. That way all we would have to do is move the few things that I have instead of tearing out walls and making all this craziness while you’re pregnant.”

He patted Hamish his chest. “You would do that for me? You would move?”

“Baby, I’m really not attached to this apartment. Our quarters at the country house? That’s a different deal.” Des and Alistair had a huge country estate that they went to over most summers. It was lovely, and they could all fly and rest and enjoy being out of the city.

“I like those rooms.”

“Well, they’re actually big enough for a nursery or baby bedroom or whatever you want do, and they would actually be big enough if I had several kids with you.” Hamish’s smile turned a little wolfish, and a little tendril of smoke curled out of his nose as he spoke.

That seemed to excite Hamish, the idea of more than one child.

“You want to have a few kids with me, is that what you’re saying?”

Hamish let out this sound, an evil little growl. “Yeah. I think I want outdo Des and Starry, actually.”

Reed snorted at that. “They have a head start on this. They already have twins, and Alistair is pregnant again. Did you know?” He was so excited about being pregnant along with his best friend, so that he didn’t have to do all of this alone. They could have a double shower; they could sit around and bitch about being fat together. They could look at their swollen ankles together, and Starry was excited too, he knew it.

Hamish’s hands moved from his lower back to his butt and started kneading. “I know, but that’s okay. We can try to catch up.”

A little thrill ran up his spine. He wasn’t feeling great, but he was feeling better all the time, and Hamish was really working it. He kissed Hamish’s neck right where it rose above the collar of his shirt. “Mmm, maybe but, you know, let’s take it one kid at a time.”

“Sure, baby. Of course.” There was a light in Hamish’s silvery gray eyes that told him what wicked thoughts were running through his brain.

He had a feeling that the wickedness was becoming less generalized and more specific, because he could feel Hamish’s hardness rising against his belly, which made his own cock firm up and his ass start to get wet. He was feeling better all the time.

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