Page 60 of The Omega's Fake Mate

“You'd better. Don't forget that there's a little girl who wants to have tea with you.”

“How could I?” I was smiling as I watched Kade leave the room. After living on my own for so long, it was nice to feel like part of the family again. Which reminded me, I still had to visit my brother before I left, if only to congratulate him and his mate for getting pregnant again. Maybe I could do that after visiting Zander...

Idly, I wondered how Zander felt about babies. Was it too early in our relationship to ask? Did we evenhavea relationship? So many things left to settle before I could return to LA. In fact, I probably shouldn’t leave it all until tomorrow. That was like, a wholenightaway.

But what if I didn't have to spend this night by myself?

21

Zander

...and then, finally, his pants came off.

I'd just finished adding that line to the novel on my computer when Betty barked. Surprised, I looked over to where she was sitting curled up on an old armchair next to my bed. Betty wasn't the kind of dog who barked at nothing. No, in fact, I got the feeling she considered herselfabovethose kinds of dogs.

“What is it, old girl?” I asked. And then I heard it too. A noise that sounded like tiny pebbles hitting my window. Instantly, I was transported back to my childhood and before I knew what I was doing it, I'd walked over to the window and thrown it wide open. A cold gust of wind blew into the room, but I didn’t care. Down below in the snow in front of my store stood Nick. In the light of the street lamp, he grinned up at me.

“Thought you were never gonna notice!” he called.

“I have a door bell, you know!”

He shrugged. “I felt like doing this for old time's sake.”

I shook my head. “I'll open the door for you, you must be freezing!” Where had he even found the pebbles in this weather? I could just picture him using his phone as flashlight to search the side of the road. All of this wassoNick. Even as I shook my head about him, a smile formed on my face. I'd missed his antics more than I liked to admit. He kept life interesting. He always had.

When I opened the door downstairs, I found him brushing some snow out of his hair.

“What leads you here at—” I never even got to finish the question before something cold and wet hit my face.

What?

Wiping the snow from my eyes, I stared at Nick, who wore thebiggestsmile on his face. The bastard! “Oh you!”

Guessing that I was about to get my revenge, Nick jumped a few steps back, but he wasn't running and that was his downfall. Quickly, I scooped up some snow that had accumulated on my doorstep and caught up to Nick. His coat didn't have a hood. It was almosttooeasy to shove the snow down his neck.

He shrieked and did a little dance while trying to reach his back with his hands.

I laughed so hard I had to hold my belly. “I still know your weak spot!”

“No fair!” Nick finally stopped contorting himself. “I'll get you back for this.”

“Yeah?”

“Absolutely.” He collected some more snow from the ground to form another snowball in his hands. He wasn't even wearing gloves.

When he threw the snowball at me, I dodged easily. He'd caught me unawares earlier, but I wasn't going to be so careless anymore. Scowling, he gathered more snow and charged at me. When he reached for my face with his fistful of snow, I grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him even closer. Off-balance, he made a surprised noise until I caught his lips in a kiss and the snow fell from his hand.

“Okay,” he said on an exhale, our breaths mingling in the cold. “You win this round.”

For once, standing in front of my bookstore and drawing the omega I loved into my arms, I actually did feel like a winner. “What do you think about going inside and warming up a little?”

“That sounds great.”

“Good.” Grabbing Nick's hand, I turned back to my front door only to spot my dog eyeing the both of us as if wondering if we'd gone completely mad. I couldn't blame her. I always felt a little crazy around Nick, but I enjoyed the insanity he brought with him too much to protest.

Truth be told, my life was boring without him.

Betty didn't say anything as we walked past her and up the stairs. Her way of accepting our visitor. Once we reached my apartment, Nick looked around with wide eyes, inspecting everything. “I can't believe you're living above a bookstore and you're still cramming books into every corner of your living space,” he said, eyeing my makeshift coffee table, which was indeed a stack of old hardcover encyclopedias.