Page 52 of The Omega's Surprise Baby
“Yes.” He fastened his seatbelt without looking at me. “Did you walk Max?”
I forgot. “I thought maybe we could do that together,” I said as I backed out of Eli's driveway.
Judging by his expression, he didn't believe me, but he nodded anyway. “Where's Mary?” he asked.
“At Grandma's.” She'd taken her when I had to work overtime, and considering the circumstances, I thought maybe it was better if Mary stayed the night. My little girl never minded spending time with Grandma. Not as long as Grandma spoiled her rotten, anyway.
“Oh. Did you work late?”
“Don't worry about it. I guess we can have boy's night tonight.”
“Boy's night?” He looked at me dubiously.
“Yes. Watch a movie, snack on junk food. You can have root beer. Or if you’d rather, we can go to that bookstore you like.Tall tales.” That usually worked.
“But I have homework.”
He made it sound so serious that I nearly had to laugh. “Don't worry about that either. You can stay home tomorrow. I can take a day off work.” I worked too much anyway.
Conner grew quiet for the rest of the way home. Well, quieter. In fact, he didn't speak up again until I parked the car in front of our home. While I unbuckled my seatbelt, he sat still, staring at the house through the windshield.
“Dad?” he said finally.
“Yes?”
“What's going on?”
I suppressed a sigh. Conner was far too perceptive. I first noticed when he refused to believe in Santa Claus when he was even younger. It had taken some serious conversation to convince him not to spoil the mystery for his little sister too. There was no way I could fool him, and I wasn't sure why I was trying. “Why do you think something's going on?”
“Because you're acting all weird. And Jake acted all weird too.”
Of fucking course he did. Jake was as alpha as they came and my son was just starting to come into his omega genes. Briefly, I wondered whether I had to put a hold on future play dates, but no. Jake might be an early bloomer, but he was still too young to present a problem. They both were. I had a few years yet before I had to worry about teenage heats. “How was Jake acting weird?” I asked.
Conner pressed his lips together, pondering this question.
“Did he do anything to make you uncomfortable?”
“No,” Conner said quickly. “But he... seemed distracted? Like he wasn't listening. I don't know. When I pointed it out to him...” Conner huffed and looked at me. “He said I smelled weird.” He wrinkled his nose. “Super rude. I don't smell.”
He sounded so offended.Don't laugh, Shane. This is not the moment to laugh.“I guess that is kind of rude.” I stroked a hand back through my hair, trying to come up with a way to say what I needed to tell him. I took a deep breath, noticing that Conner's scent was back. A bit stronger than it had been the night before, if not by much. “You know, we all have our own distinct smells,” I started.
“Are you saying I smell?”
“We all do.”
That didn't seem to pacify him; he pouted.
I held my wrist under his nose. “What do I smell like?”
He sniffed and drew back. “Motor oil.”
Well, yeah. I hadn't had a shower after work yet. “Is that all?”
He tried again, reluctantly. “You smell like you.”
“So you'd say I have a smell that is unique to me?”
“Yes, maybe. Okay,” he conceded. “It's still rude to say I smell weird.”
