Page 72 of Omega's Heart

“Good,” he said. “My brain’s a bit overwhelmed—the Army likes the enlisted boys not to think, just do as we’re told. These guys want me to think.” He scooped up a forkful of pasta and shoved it in his mouth. “Damn, this is good.”

I smiled my pleasure and began to eat my own while I kept one eye on him in case he needed anything. “Jason’s got more tomatoes than he knows what to do with. I’ll be logging my hours with him for the next week, canning for the winter.”

“Hmmph,” was all he said. “How are our stores looking, do you know?”

I shook my head. “I could ask Julius if you really want to know and aren’t just making small talk.”

He paused in his chewing and reached for the water glass I’d placed to the right of his seat. “I was, but it might actually be useful information. We’d have historic numbers, from before Jason came here?”

“Probably. I don’t really know much about it,” I admitted apologetically. “I can find out.”

“Could you?” He set his fork down and reached for my hand. “I don’t like to ask you to do my work as well as your own, but it would be easier for someone physically in the enclave to pull this information together.”

“You’re thinking about when you’ll have to start visiting the packs, aren’t you?”

He nodded.

I shrugged and kept eating. “It’s what mates do, right? You need something that I can do that will help you do your job, I want to do that. Just like there are things you can do for me that I can’t do for myself.” Like start a family with me.

He read me perfectly. “I haven’t talked to them about taking time off in November yet, but I will. We need to get an actual date figured out for the mating first.”

“I’ll talk to Holland and Quin tomorrow,” I promised. “Now eat and tell me all about these humans you’ll be working with, then I’ll rub your shoulders if you want.”

He threw me a look that said he’d like me to rub more than his shoulders and, for a moment, I was tempted right up to the edge of that path. But if I put one foot on it, I knew I’d go racing down it to the very end. And I wanted that end to be on our mating night.

“Eat,” I told him with a hint of severity in my voice and was surprised when he obediently let go of my hand and went back to his food.

We talked about his job for the rest of the meal, and then shared a chocolate bar he said he’d bought at work before we took ourselves to the couch so Kaden could watch the news and I could check the progress of the healing stump. He grunted when I ran my fingers over it, but it was much less inflamed than it had been, which loosened a knot of worry in my chest that I’d been carrying around. “Do you want to get into something more comfortable?” I asked.

“Love to,” he said and I almost missed the wicked glint in his eye before he did something he must have learned in the Army and I found myself flat on my back on the couch with my betrothed mate on top of me. “Sadly, my mate is determined to wait for the mating night. I hope he plans to be well-rested,” he said with a grin, and for the first time ever since I’d met him, he ignored the news blaring away on the television.

My determination wavered with the heat of him against my skin. He was still wearing his dress shirt, though he’d loosened the tie on the way over to the couch. It was kind of... rakish I think was the word for it. Sexy. I wanted to take it off him, but I didn’t dare.

He must have seen my uncertainty because the next thing I knew, I was alone on the couch and he was sitting beside it, watching me alertly. “Sorry,” he said. “I’ve never spent much time with an omega.”

“It’s all right,” I said and reached out to trace his mouth. So daring. Well, for an omega. “I was serious this morning. If you really want to, we don’t have to wait.”

He shook his head. “I’m a big boy. A bit of teasing won’t kill me.” His eyes met mine and I realized that it was concern for me that had triggered his response.

“And so am I. It won’t kill me either.”

“Sooner the better, though, huh? How do you feel about an early September mating? Or late August?” he said conversationally. “Too soon?”

“I think it’s a wonderful idea,” I told him with relief.

He grinned and leaned in to kiss me, one full of promise and passion kept under strict control. “I’ll go bug the Alpha.”

“Sure.” I let my hand drift down to the tie and hooked my finger through it. “But maybe not quite yet?” I turned beet red. “I like it when you kiss me.”

He let out a shaky breath and shifted closer to the front of the couch. “As my omega commands,” he said in a voice filled with delight. His lips met mine, and the world faded away around me.

C H A P T E R 4 5

I turned off the lights in the living room when I got back from Kaden’s, checked to make sure the stove was off and washed a couple of dishes I found in the sink. It had been strange only having him around in the evening, but this was more normal, more like what a mating would be like—Kaden off earning credits for the family, me home looking after the house and, eventually, the pups. I smiled at the thought, and at how readily he’d agreed to trying for a baby this fall. I really had been lucky— Mercy Hills had been a good choice.

Someone knocked on the door. I glanced at the clock and frowned—it was nearly eleven. Not the time for visiting.

As soon as I had that thought, a chill ran down my spine and I went to answer the knocking with a dry mouth and tension creeping up my back.