Page 24 of The Omega's Fake Mate

Nick

Kade wason me almost the moment I walked back in through the front door. “Nick? Are you back?”

I could hardly hear him over the sound of the crying baby in his arms. He was rocking his daughter as he stepped out of the kitchen to greet me.

“What's her problem?” I asked, hoping to distract him.

“Nothing, really. Mary woke her from her nap. She doesn't appreciate that. Shhh, it's all right, baby girl, go back to sleep.”

“Damn.”

“What's wrong?” Kade shot me a glance as he continued trying to soothe his daughter.

“I forgot getting Mary a souvenir.”

And as if the girl sensed that she was being talked about, she appeared on the stairs. “Uncle Nick! What did you get me?” She ran down the stairs and glomped my leg, staring up at me.

“I uh... I have this really cool book that—”

“You'renotgiving her that book,” Kade cut in.

Trying to bribe children with romance novels—reason number three I would make an awful parent. “C'mon, it's not like she can read, can she?”

“She's learning.” Kade snatched the book out of my hand. At least he'd finally quieted his baby.

“Niiiick,” Mary tried to get my attention again. “What did you bring me?”

“I... brought the Queen of England for tea.” Biting my lower lip, I gestured at the front door. “Don't you see her? She's really looking forward to meeting you and Mrs. Panda.”

Mary looked where I was pointing and then her eyes grew impossibly wide. “It's the queen!” she shrieked. She raced back up the stairs. “Niiick!” she called after me when she reached the top. “Do my naaails! I have to be pretty!”

My eyes darted between Kade and my cousin's daughter. “Guess I better go to her.” At least this got me out of telling Kade about my meeting with Zander.

“I guess so. We can talk later. Enjoy tea-time with Mary. She likes to drink hers slowly.” Kade's grin rivaled the Cheshire cat's.

“Yeah, well, I like to savor my tea too! Especially when the queen's around.” Paying no more attention to my friend, I went up the stairs and into Mary's room. She sat on her bed with a bottle of red nail polish she was trying to unscrew.

“That's very pretty nail polish,” I said, reaching for it to help her.

“Daddy gave it to me,” she said proudly. “Because I'm a princess.”

“Oh, I see. Yes, this is definitely the kind of nail polish a princess would wear.” I unscrewed the bottle and got a whiff of acetone as I pulled the small brush out. “I don't know if I'm any good at doing nails, but I'll try, okay?”

“Okay.” She held her hand out. “I want to be pretty for the queen.”

“You're already the prettiest little girl I know,” I assured her while I applied the red polish to her nails. She beamed at me and I felt my own lips curl up in response. Maybe parenting wasn'ttotallybad.

But then I painted over her nail.

“Niiick!” she whined.

“Sorry! I'll be more careful.” I really needed to focus more, but my thoughts still swirled around the conversation I'd had with Zander. He didn't want to be set up by his parents. Of course he didn't. But did that mean he wasn't interested in any kind of relationship at all? No. I was reading too much into it and I needed to stop.

Besides, why should I care whether Zander wanted to be in a relationship or not?Ididn't want to be in a relationship. For some reason though, I was glad that he was single too. Seeing him with another omega would have sucked in ways I didn't even want to think about. Zander's relationship status shouldn't matter to me, but I couldn't help it.

“There, all done,” I told Mary when I was done with her left hand.

She eyed her nails critically. “Kade does it better.”