Page 8 of Home for Nathan
“Hi, Zion. I’m Kara. Nice to meet you. Come on. I’ve got your table over here.” She led them to a table, humming a little as she went, which was so cute.
They settled in, water poured, menus in hand, and Zion grinned at him. “Did you remember her name or not?”
“Nope.” He chuckled. “But I can remember her deli order.”
“Hey, sometimes that’s more important. Like, I can totally remember most everyone’s dogs’ names.”
He sipped his water. “Do you have a dog?”
“Not right now, no. I had one for fifteen years. I got him when I was twelve. And I was traveling so much that he stayed with my folks a lot, but I was there when he went, so that was good.”
Nathan’s eyes filled with sudden tears. “I’m so sorry. It must have been awful for you.”
He’d lost custody, so to speak, of Archie when Don had broken up with him. The little dachshund had been Don’s dog, of course, but Nathan had adored the little beast, and it had hurt to walk away from him.
Zion reached over and patted his hand, the big hand warm and solid. “Now don’t cry. This isn’t a crying date. This is a laughing date.”
Zion winked at him, and he sniffled and chuckled at the same time.
“A laughing date?” That was surprisingly charming, but Nathan didn’t know why he ought to be surprised. Zion hadforever seemed like a charismatic man on television, always smiling for the interviewers.
“That’s right. Laughing. Having some good food, making new friends, right?”
Nathan nodded, his cheeks heating. “Yes, I think this is a good idea. Hormones, you know? They’re wild things.”
God, he was a dork.
“Oh, tell me. I have omega brothers, so I understand.”
“Do you? I’m an only.” His parents were in northern New Mexico, and they were a weird mixture of excited and disappointed about the baby. Excited because they were going to love their grandchild, but they knew it was hard to be a single omega to raise a child by himself. Still, they’d never lectured him, just started immediately sending little baby clothes and weird random supplies.
Zion laughed again. “I’m one of four. Three omegas and me.”
“That’s a nice big family, huh? That’s cool.”
“It has its moments, yeah. I mean, it’s life, right? So there’s some ups and downs. But you know, we get along. We’re family.”
“Are they into winter sports stuff?” Was it a huge family thing, or was Zion the outlier?
“Two are, yeah. The other one, no.” Zion’s laughter was addictive, and he found himself leaning toward it. “Kai is one of those techy guys who thinks that going outside is the dumbest idea in the history of ideas.”
“Oh, wow.” He didn’t even own a computer. He did business on his phone.
“What about you?”
“What? Oh.” He shrugged a little bit, licked his lips. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. I love to watch. I try to do things, sure. But I’m not like you. I’m more of an outdoor sports for having fun and absolutely no profit.” He was a fan, but his passions lived in different areas.
Right now, in fact, all his passion was involved in growing the small child in his belly.
“Oh, come on. Trust me, ninety-nine percent of people are into winter sports for the fun.” Zion leaned toward him as if he was sharing a secret. “I’ll be honest. Sometimes, I think that’s the best—to not have to compete and to have a ton of fun. That’s been amazing for me, just to rediscover my joy.”
It was so easy to get lost in Zion’s eyes, to simply melt and listen to that deep voice rumble on.
Suddenly the server was standing there, smiling at them, a little electronic tablet in hand. “Hi, I’m Jaymi. Are you all ready to order?”
Nathan blinked and sat back, because he hadn’t even looked at the menu. Like, not at all.
Zion turned that smile on the server. “Oh, we’ve been so busy talking that we didn’t even look. How about we just start with our drinks?”
