Page 50 of Abel's Omega

“Let me court you. We can draw up a contract, with whatever rules you want in it. I know, they aren’t legal with an omega. If you want, you can choose someone to stand for you in this.”

I grimaced. “I go back to Jackson-Jellystone in a couple of days. What’s the point?”

“I’ll call Roland and tell him I’d like you to stay longer.”

“He’s not going to agree to that. They’ll be building the doctor’s house now and I’ll have to be there to tell them what we’ll need to run the household.”

“Doctor?” He eyed me thoughtfully. “Okay, now we’re definitely telling him I want to court you.”

“No! Not until I know!”

“Bax, I don’t give a shit about that!”

I don’t know what he saw on my face, but he backpedaled quickly. “What I mean is, that’s something that we can work on. Or maybe it never works. You already have four pups—do we really need more?”

“What?” He couldn’t be saying… “There’s no way you would mate me and not ever want to have sex, Abel.” My old anger crawled up to the surface. “Don’t lie to me, or treat me like I’m stupid. I’m not.”

“Don’t treat me like I am either, then.” His words were fierce, but there was no anger in them, only determination. “We don’t know what the future will bring. I like you. I like your pups. I can’t imagine not seeing you again, playing with Noah on the floor.” He grinned, looking almost ten years younger. “Doing push-ups with Fan on my shoulders.

Okay, he’d said it to make me laugh, and it worked. But I was still angry at him, for devaluing my own feelings in the matter. “So you expect me to tie you down, not knowing whether it could ever be a real mating.”

He shook his head and reached out for my hand. “Okay, now I am going to say silly omega, because that’s what you are. Love doesn’t come from here,” he cupped his groin, and I chewed the inside of my cheek to keep from following his hand with mine. “It comes from here.” He put my hand over the center of his chest and covered it with his own. And while the steady thump of his heart vibrated up my arm to draw my own heart into its rhythm, he said, “If you had some illness that left you too sick for lovemaking, I would still want to spend time with you. We mesh well; your strengths bolster my weaknesses. You laugh at my jokes, and that alone is enough to make me want to mate you.”

“You’re trying to make me laugh again.”

He nodded solemnly, but his eyes twinkled.

“I really want to swear at you right now,” I told him, trying to keep a smile off my lips.

“I’m shocked. And you a well-brought up omega.”

“Oh, fuck off.”

He laughed, and I decided that maybe I shouldn’t give up on this. After all, it had only been two weeks.

“All right. You can court me. And my pups, don’t forget about them.”

“I hardly think Fan would allow that,” he said dryly. His heart sped up under our joined hands.

I nodded. “He’s the alpha of the family right now.” I rubbed my free hand over my thigh. “But if it turns out I can’t—can’t—serve you properly, you have to agree to let me go.” I paused for air. My heart was racing like at the end of a good moon run. “I should call Roland and tell him.”

“Dealing with Alphas isn’t your job.”

I gave him a quizzical look and he laughed.

“Okay, maybe a little.” Abel looked down and a small smile curved his lips. He raised his eyes to mine again. “You agree that I can court you until spring. Then, if you really think you can’t, I’ll find you someone you can be comfortable mating, or try to negotiate something with Jackson-Jellystone to let you stay here. Or wherever you want to live. I have friends in California—we could find you a home there if you didn’t want to stay here. I bet the pups would love the beach.”

“I—” Did I have to think about this now? “Thank you,” I said, for lack of anything more intelligent. It did say something, I thought, that he had come up with that idea, though even I knew it wouldn’t be as simple as calling California and telling them I was arriving.

“Come with me.” He stood and held out a hand to help me up.

“Where are we going?”

“We’re going to meet Garrick at my office and get you that contract.”

Abel led me through the trees, in the direction of his office. He pulled out his phone and started to dial.

I put out a hand to stop him. “Let’s not…spoil the night. We can still do it tomorrow, right?” Maybe by then he’d have changed his mind, but I was going to enjoy my fairy tale tonight.