Page 2 of A Baby for the Firefighter
He shrugged helplessly. “I guess I still feel bad that we moved out.”
By 'we', he was referring to himself and his nine-year old son Jake. The three of us used to live together in this house back when Eli was a single parent. But he'd gotten married to Jake's father now, had another kid, and they'd moved out.
“It's fine. I don't get lonely,” I lied. The housecouldget lonely, but it wasn’t so bad that my brother needed to worry about me.
“If you say so.” Eli took a sip of coffee, and I didn't get the feeling that I'd convinced him in any way.
“I do have friends, you know.”
Eli licked his lips, and I could tell by the impression on his face that he was about to ask something stupid. “Do any of these friends ever stay the night?”
And there it was.
I loved my brother, but seriously, sometimes...
“Dude, I'm a little too old to have sleep-overs, don't you think?” I got up from the table and dug through the cupboard for my cookie box. Because you couldn't really enjoy coffee without cookies. At least I couldn't. Opening the lid, I placed it in the middle of the table.
I knew cookies weren't going to make my brother stop asking silly questions, but they were going to make these silly questions easier for me to put up with.
“Actually,” Eli said, “I think you're the perfect age to be having some sleep-overs.”
Sighing theatrically, I sank back into my chair. “Why oh why do you care so much about my sex life, brother?”
“I don't really care about your sex life.” Eli took a cookie out of the box without eating it. “I'd just... you know, like to know that you’re not lonely. I feel responsible.”
What? I raised an eyebrow at him. “You feel responsible?” And here I was pretty sure that my prolonged virginity was no one's responsibility but my own.
“Well you know the old stories about how omegas need to stay virgins because they imprint on the first person they have sex with? I know that's bullshit, but when I think about it, it looks like that's what happened to me with Matt, so I was scared you'd kind of gotten it into your head that it's true.”
“Yeah...” I said slowly, leaning back. “I promise you I don't believe that's true.” Eli was right. Those stories were some grade A bullshit made up to keep us omegas docile. I knew that. Looking at my brother, I wasn't completely convinced that nothing like it could ever happen to me, but still... “Trust me, that's not the reason I'm not bringing men home.”
Eli nibbled on his cookie. “Then what is?”
“It's nothing for you to worry about, okay? I'm fine.”
“Well, okay.” My big brother exhaled. “But you know you can talk to me when you have a problem, right?”
“Of course I know that.”
But I didn't have a problem.
Did I?
“Are you still taking Jake along to snap some pictures this Thursday?” Eli asked after a moment, distracting me.
“What? Uh, yeah.”
Eli smiled. “He seems excited.”
“I’m looking forward to it too.” I really was. My nephew was awesome and I loved spending time with him. That didn’t mean I was lonely without him around, though.
After Eli left, I put the cookie box back in the cupboard and glanced around the empty kitchen. This house was way too big for one person. The only reason I could afford to keep living here was the generosity of my brother's rich spouse. He'd bought the house for me as athank youfor helping raise Jake all those years. As if I needed thanks. But Eli wouldn’t take no for an answer. Honestly, he could be just as stubborn as his alpha mate. The two of them were a match made in heaven.
Still, I was grateful.
And maybe alittlesad that Eli and Jake didn't need me as much anymore.
I had to think of what Eli had said about having sleep-overs. I was definitely too old for that kind of thing, but... There was no reason I couldn't have friends over to make the house feel a little less big.
