Page 34 of Our Haunted Omegas
His knees brushed against my back, and I fought off the urge to twist around and continue where we left off. We still had plenty of clean towels stashed under the seat.
“Are you hungry?” I asked instead. Food first. It was always important to ensure your lover was satisfied in all ways.
“A bit,” he yawned. “What about my butt?”
“Uh…. Is it hungry?” I asked unsure where this line of questioning was going to lead.
“You were talking about my butt while I was asleep or at least someone’s butt. It better have been mine,” he said and poked me with his toe as I turned sideways in the door and passed off the sandwiches.
“Oh!” I was an idiot. With our mating link open he didn’t even need to be awake to know what I talked about. “I think you have a piece of shrapnel in your butt cheek.”
“Oh, that,” he rolled his eyes and took a bite of a sandwich. “I got it that night, I think. Only I was in shock and didn’t feel it. It doesn’t hurt now, and I figure surgery would hurt. So, it lives there now. If I can figure out how to charge it rent, I will.”
We ate in silence for a few minutes as his thoughts turned back to the question of kids. He opened his mouth, and I handed him one of the robes.
“Here. Put this on before we start talking about kids, please. You’re gorgeous and distracting and I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to talk about sex this close together with you naked.”
“Why did you get to keep your pants?” he blinked at me.
“Because they were clean,” I teased him. “I can go find you some real clothes if you want.”
“Not yet. I’m not ready to go inside and I don’t want to be alone.”
I opened my mouth to tell him that he never had to spend a minute alone again if he didn’t want to but that was a little obsessive even for me.
“I want to settle in before we have kids. I want to get the lay of the land and to figure out if we’re going to live here.”
“So, I’m—”
“Wait,” he laughed. “Let me finish, please. I don’t think that will take years. I know nothing else is actually fool proof, but I think we should be careful for now but if something happens, I’ll be okay. I want kids. I’m worried about the world we’re bringing them into. I’m worried about what might happen.”
“I’ve been thinking about it too,” I admitted. “I haven’t talked to Teal or Indi but if it starts to stir that way, I think I’d take you and go to Sunny’s. The Starscale worlds have some tourism now but they’ve managed to keep the peace so far. It’s not like Dad or Grandpa would let us help anyway. So, the best thing I could do would be to keep you safe.”
“I like having a backup plan even if it involves becoming an alien,” he laughed.
“I thought you would,” I squeezed his knee. “I think that’s part of being a parent. You don’t just have a plan A. You have to have the whole bloody alphabet planned out.”
“I think it’s like algebra except no one tells you what X represents.”
“I don’t think they tell you in algebra either,” I laughed.
“I’m ready to see the house now, I think,” he said, glancing at the empty bowl.
“And for more food.”
“What? I might work a few nights a week but I’ve had more cardio in the past few hours than I have in the past few months,” he blushed.
“I’m not complaining,” I said, standing up and holding out my hand to help him out of the truck. “A healthy appetite means we’ll have healthy babies when the time comes.”
Chapter Thirteen
Ambry
My heart skipped a beat when the front door of the cabin opened. I was shifted and rolling around on the fluffy sofa trying to make it smell like us so that Odie would feel more at home. I stopped, frozen on my back and stared up at him unsure if we were fighting or not.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that,” Odie said before I even had the chance to shift back. “It just feels that way. Any time things get too good something happens. Usually, my anxiety happens.”
I scooted over on the sofa so he could join me if he wanted to. He smelled like almost-mating, foreplay and other fun activities. He sat down next to me anyway and I leaned against his side. He wrapped an arm around me, and I let out a long breath. So much had changed in the last few days that our lives looked almost unrecognizable. Of course, tensions were high. No one liked change less than traumatized people.
