Page 78 of The Omega's Surprise Baby
He kept saying that, but I wouldn't believe it until I saw it.
The moment Shane stood and cleared his throat, all attention was on him. I tried willing my body to sink into the floor or at least merge with the chair, but that didn't work, so I glanced around the table instead, wondering if I could predict everyone's reactions. My eyes stuck on Shane's sister, who had brought her new babies to the house.
I'm going to have one of those soon.
The thought took me so long to process that I almost didn't hear Shane.
“Kade and I have a happy announcement to make,” he said, telling everyone how theyshouldreact. I nearly smiled at that, because I knew he was going to be cross with anyone who made me uncomfortable tonight. That was just the sort of alpha he was. It was how he showed his love. If itwaslove. At this point, I needed to believe it was, because even if I hadn't told him yet, he had a painful hold on my heart.
With everyone hanging on his words, Shane spoke on. “We're very glad to announce that we're expecting an addition to the family in May.”
Silence fell over the dinner table. It couldn't have lasted longer than a second or two, but to me, it felt like an eternity passed before anyone said anything in reaction to this news. My chest constricted and my pulse sped up. Any moment now, they were going to boo me out of the house.
But then Shane's sister stood up and clapped her hands once. “Oh, Shane. That's fantastic news! I'm so happy for you guys!”
Her reaction broke the other family members out of their stupor. Someone saidcongratulations, but I couldn't even identify who before I was suddenly pulled into a hug by Shane's mother—which was weird not only because I'd only ever exchanged quick greetings with her. “Thank you for taking care of my son,” she spoke into my ear before letting me go. I blinked, overwhelmed by the rush of people wanting to offer their well wishes. I felt transported back to the CD signing events I'd had at the height of my career. Everyone was so...supportive.
Was this what a functioning family felt like?
I had no idea they existed outside of TV shows!
Shane draped an arm over my shoulder as he sat back down. “See, that wasn't so bad.” He gave me a kiss, and someone cheered.
Laughter bubbled out of me as my nervous energy dissipated. “You guys are too much for me.”
“Better get used to it,” Shane said, eyes dancing. “You're family now.”
Was I? Was it that easy?
I looked around the table, but nobody objected.
It was almosttooeasy. In hindsight, I should have known there was trouble ahead, even if it didn't come from Shane's family.
30
Kade
The next daystarted well enough. We all slept late, still recovering from last night's food coma. Lying in Shane's warm embrace, I managed to ignore the ringing of my cell phone for quite a long time. The caller was persistent, though. After a while, Shane pulled one of the pillows over his head. “Make it go away,” he muttered.
“Sorry,” I said. “That's what you get for sleeping with a celebrity. We're in high demand.”
He hit me with the pillow, albeit lightly.
“Fine, I'll answer it. It's probably my agent. She likes to call at ungodly hours. I don't think she ever sleeps.” I reached for my phone and glanced at the caller ID. Yup. Michelle. “Isn't it still super early in LA?” I asked as I took the call.
“Who cares? It's past noonsomewherein the world, no excuse to get lazy.”
Sometimes, I swear, I wanted to strangle her. But better to just end this call quickly so I could go back to snuggling with Shane. We probably only had a few more minutes before the kids would be up anyway. Couldn't let that time go to waste. “Is something up?” I asked.
She sighed, which never boded well for me. “I suppose you could say so. Have you been at your computer yet?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose, a bad,badfeeling in the pit of my stomach. Things were going so well recently. We even had a new album planned. What crisis was she going to spring on me now? “Are there new pictures?” I hoped not. I'd been more careful this time, but I knew this sort of thing couldn't be entirely avoided. Next to me, Shane raised a questioning eyebrow. I gestured for him to wait.
“That too, but that's not what's got me worried,” Michelle said. “One of the bigger gossip blogs has picked up your story, and apparently they have a source that tells them you're paying some poor backwater country alpha to date you so you can improve your public image.”
I groaned. “What source?”
“A 'trusted source.'” In my head, I saw her make quotation marks with her fingers. Of course they weren't sayingwhotheir source was. That sort of thing didn't matter to their readers, anyway. All they wanted was a juicy story, and it seemed this week, I was on the menu. And so was Shane. That was what annoyed me most of all. “I figured I should warn you,” Michelle said. “In case someone tries to get a statement from you.”
