Page 24 of The Omega's Secret Baby
“This is nice,” Eli said, hands in his pockets. Itwasa rather cold day.
Jake, meanwhile, had climbed on the sled as soon as I’d dragged it up. “C’mon, let’sgo!”
I had to laugh, because he reminded me of myself when I was a kid and I thought the world was mine for the taking. And so I climbed on the sled behind him.
“Daddy has to come too!” he insisted.
I looked at ‘Daddy’. “Well?”
He exhaled. “Alright.” Sitting behind me, he cautiously put his hands on my waist to hold on, and I realized why he’d been reluctant. Up this close, he wouldn’t be able to escape the alpha scent coming off me, and I got a good whiff of him too. Almost immediately, hormones made my head spin.
Why had I thought sledding was a good idea?
“Everyone ready?” Jake called. “Here we go!”
And then we went, and I remembered why I’d picked sledding. For Jake. The kid was having so much fun. Laughing and cheering as the toboggan slid through the snow and down the hill. We’d barely made it to the bottom when he raced up again to have another go.
“Does he always have this much energy?” I asked Eli as we went after the kid. Our son. It was still weird to think that.
“Yeah. You should have seen him after he found my brother’s secret chocolate stash and ate all of it when he was four.” Eli chuckled, but his words made me feel a pang of bitterness.
“I didn’t know he existed when he was four.” How many more funny stories had I missed? How many important ones?
Eli dropped his gaze. “I’m sorry.”
I got the feeling that he wanted to say more—Iwanted to say more—but we’d already reached the top of the hill again and Jake was waving at us.
This time Eli went on the sled second, and I took seat behind him. Yeah, this felt a little more natural, and reminiscent of our youth, when we hadn't been sitting on a sled, but, well, doing other things pressed close together.
I closed my eyes and inhaled.
How could I still be into Eli?
But I was.
All of my irritation changed nothing about that fact. I still wanted him.
And as close as we were sitting, I could onlyhopethat he wouldn't notice the evidence of that pressing him in the back.
I scrambled off the sled when we made it to the bottom of the hill again. Eli did too, but he didn't say anything to me, focusing on his son instead.
“Are you having fun?” he asked.
Jake threw his hands up. “This is awesome!”
I smiled. Maybe this whole parenting thing wasn't as hard as I thought it might be.
“I need a break,” Eli claimed. “Why don't you go up again with Matt?”
What?
“No, you have to come too!” Jake insisted, as if speaking for the both of us.
“I'll come again in a little while.”
Jake huffed. “Promise!”
“Promise.” Eli patted his son's head. “Now go.”
