Page 23 of Temporary Omega

Nope. He wasn’t going there; last time he had, his heart had taken a beating and his ego a knockout.

Luca was—should be—untouchable.

So why couldn’t he get the man off his mind?

Linc was about to finally get back to work, the work he’d been ignoring like a schoolboy crushing on the new kid. He might as well start doodling their names in his notebook followed by hearts, for how much he’d gotten done. His family’s grocery store empire wouldn’t run itself.

Linc sighed and focused on the document for the acquisition of a small chain of stores that had approached them for a buyout. Linc was looking through the documents when his phone rang. His personal cell, whose number only a select few had.

Including Luca. Linc picked up immediately without checking who was calling.

“Luca?”

“Who’s Luca? Is that his name? Oh, Son, I was calling to see if you would cancel, but now I want to know all about the person that gets you to answer your phone sounding so concerned. And might I add, not taking a second to check your caller ID.” His papa blurted without pausing for breath.

“Papa,” Linc sighed in amusement.

“Don’t Papa me, tell me all about him. I know he’s not one of your friends, so he has to be the special one.”

If Linc had thought he was doing the wrong thing lying to his papa, this phone call, the excitement in his papa’s voice like he was a teenager waiting on the gossip, reassured him he hadn’t.

His papa sounded happier than he had in recent memory and that alone was reason enough to lie. Besides, he was helping his papa and Luca, which was like double good deeds for the year. Maybe even the coming year, too, Linc reasoned.

Linc laughed, “Okay what was your first question? What do you want to know, Papa?”

“Son, you sound happy I’m glad. Now I can’t wait to meet him even more. He must be wonderful to have you sounding so light and happy.”

“He’s special, Papa,” Linc said instead of acknowledging his papa’s observations. Did he really sound lighter?

“Oh, Son, that’s wonderful. All a parent wants is for their child to be happy.”

“And all this son wants is for his papa to be happy,” Linc cleared his throat now choked with emotion.

“Oh, baby boy, I’m fine, you don’t have to worry about me,” his papa replied equally emotional. “I know it seems like I keep pushing you to give me grandbabies, but it’s just because I want you to be happy, as happy as I was with your daddy and as happy as we both were when you were born… Do you see that with him, Luca— a future?”

Linc hesitated unsure how to answer the question. He didn’t want to get his papa’s hopes up even more than they already were, but a future with Luca… the thought didn’t have him wanting to run in the other direction as quickly as he could like it had in the past when he’d considered letting anyone else close enough.

But maybe that had to do with the fact there were no messy emotions involved, just two people that needed each other, helping each other out. No hearts getting broken.

“I… we… maybe.” it was as close to a truthful answer as Lincoln could give.

“Hmmm, well I can’t wait to meet him, Son. I’m sure if he has you this turned around, he’s wonderful. Don’t forget Saturday, see you then. Talk soon.”

His papa hung up before Linc could get a word in. Did the man think he would cancel in the couple of minutes it took to have the conversation?

Linc shook his head and laughed, the omegas in his life would definitely keep things interesting. And why did his smile widen when he thought of Luca as the omega in his life? And why was he suddenly clock watching to check if it was time for him to go home when he was usually here till ten p.m. or later most days? Linc decided these were all mysteries he wasn’t willing to solve. He would simply go with the flow.

Four hours till it was home time. Linc would be leaving at six p.m. like a normal person. He was pretty sure his assistant would call the company medic to have him checked.

Linc made the excuse to himself that it was to check on how Luca was getting on, that was the same reason he’d been getting updates from his chauffeur. Luca’s wellbeing while he was Linc’s care.

Nothing more.

12

Luca

Luca would be lying if he said that holding a black card in his hands and going shopping wasn’t like riding a bike. He found himself directing Luca’s chauffeur to his favorite department store, but somehow once he got there, swiping wasn’t as easy as it used to be.