Page 68 of The Omega's Fake Mate

“I'm sorry... wait, what? Are you telling me you took a pregnancy test this morning?” He paused. “Hold on a sec.” I heard the creaking of stairs in the background as he moved about the house, probably going somewhere he wouldn't be overheard. Maybe his basement studio.

“I did take a pregnancy test this morning. Well, actually I took two!”

“And?” I couldn't see my friend in front of me, but his excitement was clear in his tone. He knew I wouldn't have called him if either of those tests had turned out to be negative.

“Both positive,” I confirmed his suspicions.

“Oh wow. I didn't even know you were trying! Wait, you weren't trying, were you?”

“Not at all.” I'd always insisted on condoms after that first time, and Zander had seemed only too glad to go along with that request. “I wish I could say I don't know how this happened.” I sighed.

Kade laughed. He actually laughed. I forgave him only because I knew he'd been in my shoes too. He laughed out of sympathy.Withme rather thanatme. “It was your heat, wasn't it?”

“Yeah.”

“Don't feel too bad. Going into heat makes the smartest people do the most stupid things. It's a force of nature.”

“I know that.” I pushed some hair back from my forehead. “But what do I do now?”

“That depends.” Kade's tone of voice grew cautious. “Do you want to keep it?”

“I...” To be honest, I hadn't even thought about that. Kade was right that omegas hadoptionsthese days, but... This was my baby,Zander'sbaby growing inside of me. I couldn'tterminateit, could I? No, I couldn’t. I wanted to meet this kid. Actually, that thought kind of excited me. Would they look more like Zander or more like me? I couldn't wait to find out.

“Nick?” Kade prodded. “I'm sorry. I get if you need more time to think. I know you never wanted to be a parent.”

“No, but I'm keeping it.” Time to man up, right? I'd made my decision. That didn't mean I wasn't super anxious about all this, just that I was going to go through with it anyway. I hoped Zander would see it the same way. He'd said he didn't care what happened as long as we could be together. That should extend to raising a child together, right?

“You haven't told your boyfriend yet, have you?” Kade asked as if reading my thoughts.

“No, I only just found out and I needed to talk to someone unaffected, I guess.”

“Unaffected? Me? I'msuperaffected by this! You're my best friend and you're going to be adaddy!I'm so excited for you! You need to come back here so I can nag you 24/7 with baby name suggestions and helpful parenting advice.”

In spite of the tension that had taken hold of my body, I had to laugh. All of this felt so surreal. Being pregnant, having to name a baby… “You'd love to nag me, wouldn't you?” But itwouldbe nice to go back to Oceanport. If only so I could tell Zander about my pregnancy in person.

And then do other things to him in person.

It was decided, I had to get to Oceanport.

PreferablybeforeI started showing.

25

Zander

January was nearingits end when I got a surprise in my bookstore. I was just about to take my lunch break when the door bells chimed, making me look up. At the entrance to my store stood Nick, grinning at me like a madman.

I had so many questions. How was he here? Why hadn't he told me that he was coming? How long was he staying?

But my curiosity was soon overwhelmed by the sheerjoythat came over me at the sight of him, live and in person and in front of me.

While I was still staring, Nick flipped the sign on my door toClosed, threw his bag down on the floor and then he jumped at me, throwing his arms around my neck. I pressed him to myself without conscious thought. In my arms, he was right where he belonged, and after all these weeks, I wasn't going to let him go any time soon. I didn't care anymorewhyhe was here, just that he was.

“Glad to see me?” he asked with glee in his voice.

I responded by kissing him, claiming his mouth as I re-familiarized myself with his taste. God, I'd missed him. It didn't even bother me that we were standing in plain view of the store's large front windows, where anyone could look in on us. There weren't too many people walking the streets anyway. It was still cold outside—even as the inside of my bookstore seemed to heat up. Nick's body was warm against me and his lips were hot on mine as he responded to the kiss, tilting his head to give me better access. It looked like I wasn't the only one desperate for touch after all the nights we'd spent apart. My arms tightened around Nick's back as he moved his lips from my mouth to my jawline. His hair tickled my nose and I breathed in the scent of it, feeling myself get hard.

“Nick...”