Page 25 of The Omega's Secret Baby

“Okay.” Jake looked at me and I started dragging the toboggan back up. He fell into step beside me, back to his energetic self.

It was sweet of Eli to give us some time alone, but I wasn't sure what to do with it, really.

He's your son. Get to know him.

Yeah, that sounded like a good idea.

“So you like sledding?” I asked, becausethatwasn't obvious.

“I love it!”

“What else do you like?” That was a better question. I mentally patted myself on the back.

He looked at me with his brown eyes--eyes the same color as mine--and made a thoughtful face. “I like cartoons. And swimming. But in the summer. Oh, and I'm going to be in the school play! That's going to be awesome!”

“The school play?”

“I have two lines!” he exclaimed proudly.

“Wow. That's a lot!”

“Yeah!” He beamed at me as we reached the top again and he climbed on the toboggan.

“Okay, hold on tight.” I settled behind him and kicked us off again. Laughter burst out of him as we raced down the hill. I loved that sound. Made me feel like the best dad ever, even though I hadn't done much.

He was a great kid.

I found myself smiling as I climbed off the sled at the bottom of the hill--until something cold hit me in the back of the neck.

A snowball.

I turned around to find Eli, holding his hand to his mouth. “I was aiming for Jake, I swear!”

And before I even knew how to react, Jake jumped off the sled. “Snowball fight!” he declared, scooping snow from the ground. “C’mon,” he said, looking at me. “He got you!”

Jake was right. This called for revenge.

I made a snowball with my hands and threw it at Eli. I didn’t hit anything, but Jake did, cheering as the snow connected with his Daddy’s face.

“Oh, you!” Eli threw more snowballs, but Jake quickly ducked behind me, so thatIwas the one getting hit again. Both of them laughed, as if this had all been planned.

“Sorry!” Eli said, still laughing. He was cute like that. I had always loved the way he laughed, like he was really trying not to but he just couldn’t hold back and the sound just bubbled out of him.

I gathered some snow in my hand and approached him. “I’ll give you sorry!” Quickly, I dropped the snow down his neck. He nearly shrieked.

“You asshole!”

Now it was my turn to laugh, watching Eli frantically try to shake the snow off. But I only laughed until Jake jumped up on my back, trying to do the same thing to me that I’d done to Eli. His sudden attack surprised me so much that I stumbled forward, taking Eli down into the snow with me.

Jake cheered on my back. “I got both of you!”

He climbed off, while I was still staring at the omega below me, his face only inches from mine and so, so kissable. I’d thought that about him from the moment I’d met him.

But I’d gotten better at controlling my hormones over the years.

So it didn’t matter how much his lips begged to be kissed or how nice he smelled, I knew that I had to get up before the situation could get any more awkward than it already was.

Pulling myself together, I stood and held a hand out to Eli to help him up. He took it wordlessly. His hand was cold, but I was still loath to lose the contact when he let go again as soon as he got back on his feet.