Page 327 of Labor of Love

Basil lifted an eyebrow, a silent challenge to explain exactly how it was different.

I rolled my eyes and stepped farther into the room, noticing he’d hung a few decorations on the wall while I’d been at work. “Fine. It wasn’t different. But it also proves my point,” I grumbled.

“Did you get my text?” Basil asked, setting aside the folded cloth and raising his arms.

I closed the distance between us and clasped his hands, easily lifting him to his feet. He stepped in close and wrapped me in a quick hug, nuzzling his face against my chest. He was so damn sweet it was all I could do to keep my hands to myself most days. I’d never push for more before he was ready, but fuck, my hand and I got well acquainted every night in my Omega-less bedroom.

“You mean your text that said, ‘Feed me, please’?”

Basil snorted and then leaned back, tipping his chin up to meet my eyes. “Yes, that one. I’m starving.”

The humor bled out of me, and I frowned. “Why are you starving? Do you need groceries?” I started to pull away, ready to check the fridge and see if I’d somehow missed that the shelves were empty, but Basil held on to me.

“I can go grocery shopping another day. I just meant I accidentally skipped lunch.”

My frown deepened. I didn’t like the sound of that, but I wasn’t sure if I had the right to say anything. He worked from home doing something involving doctors’ dictations, so he was by himself a lot of the time. It made me want to put up cameras in the apartment so I could keep an eye on him and send him reminders when I noticed he was moving around too much or had forgotten to eat.

I had a feeling my Omega wouldn’t agree to that even after we were mated.

“You don’t need to worry about going grocery shopping at all in your condition,” I grumbled at him, then snagged one of his hands and led him out to the living room. “Just make a list of whatever you want, and I’ll get it for you.”

Basil looked at me, a strange expression on his face, as he settled on his side of the couch, and I went to get plates andnapkins from the kitchen. I was just rounding the other end of the couch, prepared to spend the next hour pampering my sweet Omega, when Basil asked, “Are you attracted to me?”

I paused, my ass half a foot off the cushion, and stared at him in utter confusion. I had no idea where that question had come from. What sort of nonsense was spinning around in his head? I needed to nip it in the bud.

“Of course I am. Why would you ask that?” I slowly lowered myself the rest of the way, setting aside the plates so I could focus on the conversation, even though my desire to feed him nearly overruled my brain.

“Well,” Basil said, rubbing his hands over his belly like he did whenever he was nervous, “it’s been a week, and other than when you kissed me that first day, it hasn’t really seemed like you were interested in more than that.”

I stared at him for a long moment, my mind spinning with all of the many,manythings I’d fantasized about doing to and with my Omega over the last week, and then started to rise before sitting back down and shaking my head. “No. Food first.”

“What?” Basil asked, his brow knitting in confusion.

“Food first,” I repeated, throwing open the pizza box and putting two slices on a plate before shoving it at him. “You need to eat first.”

“Okay…” Basil said slowly, accepting it. “And then we’ll talk?”

I shook my head and grabbed a slice for myself, not even bothering with the other plate. “No, and then I’m going to show you just how attracted to you I am.”

Basil sucked in a breath, eyes widening, but he didn’t move. I nodded at the food, and he picked up one of his pieces and got to work. He tried to say he was full after those first two, but I knew my Omega, and I gave him another one, which he scarfed down grudgingly.

Once his plate was clean again, he practically tossed it onto the coffee table and climbed to his feet as fast as he could in his enormous state. I grinned at him, completely and utterly infatuated with this man.

“I’m ready,” he said, already a bit breathless—though I wasn’t sure if that was from anticipation or the effort it took for him to leverage himself off the couch these days.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at his eagerness. Here I’d spent the last week trying to be respectful of him, his past, and the baby growing inside him that wasn’t biologically mine, and he’d been worrying about whether I wanted him or not.

As if I could ever not want him.

Just like my mom had promised me when I was a kid, I’d known this Omega was mine the moment I’d scented him. She’d told me that was how it had been when she’d met my dad. I hadn’t believed it as I’d gotten older and struggled to make real, lasting connections with potential Omegas, but now I knew she hadn’t been exaggerating at all.

If anything, she’d undersold the driving need inside me to claim my Omega.

5

BASIL

Viktor stayed close on my heels as I led the way to my bedroom. It wasn’t as put together as the nursery, but there was a bed with an actual bed frame—thank you, Vivien—and relatively clean sheets.

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