“My birthday is in two week.” Chloe held up two fingers. “Two.”

“I know, sweetheart.” I patted her head the way she liked before going back to putting away the groceries we’d just picked up.

“Two.” She blocked my way to the fridge, making sure she had my complete attention.

“You’ve been counting down your birthday for two months.” I closed the fridge before squatting down to her eye level. Today it wasn’t going to be as easy to move past the topic as it had been the past two months. Two months, had it really been that long? In some ways it felt like I’d always been here and in others it felt as if I just arrived.

“Trust me, I remember.” As did the librarian, the old lady Martha across the street, everyone at the vet clinic, and the postman. She was not going to let turning four go unnoticed.

“I want a unicorn.” Her little fists came to her side, all but daring me to burst her dream. “A real unicorn,” she added to counteract my promise that I would look for unicorns next time I went shopping. The girl had my number, and in the time I’d known her, this was the only thing she had demanded and was pretty much a brat about. Her little heart was probably going to be crushed when she discovered there was no such thing as a real unicorn, but I already had ideas in motion to make that not be on her birthday. She might not get the present of her dreams, but I’d be damned if I was going to pair that with the breaking of her whimsical spirit.

“This I also know, but animals are your dad’s department.” I made a mental note to tell Wyatt about my announcement. Chloe wouldn’t forget my words. She never forgot anything. “I am in charge of the cake.”

Her little eyes lit up at that.

“Cake?”

“Birthday cake.”

“A unicorn birthday cake?”

I added “check Pinterest for cake ideas” to my mental to-do list. “Is that what you want?”

As if there were any doubt. She had been talking to her dolls during her tea parties all about the beautiful purple unicorn cake she was going to share with them on her birthday. I learned so much observing her tea parties. I learned what she loved, what she hated, and what she wanted to do in the near future. Most of our activities were planned from intel I collected while she poured her dolls fake tea as I read in the corner.

She bobbed her head up and down. “Uh huh! Can I really?” And then she started jumping. I stood and held out my hand to twirl her, her favorite celebratory dance.

“Yes, you can.” And that was when genius set in. Forget Pinterest, we could buy the cake. Walking to town would give us some exercise and wear her out for her nap and the money spent would be well worth it given my lack of cake decorating skills even with Pinterest’s help. “You want to order it now?”

And with that, we were off to the little bakery in town. They didn’t have much in the way of cash and carry treats, but rumor had it they made a mean cake. We were in there less than ten minutes, and Chloe fell in love with the first design we were shown. It said it could feed twenty, so it looked like cake was going to become both a breakfast and a lunch food in a couple of weeks. We weren’t planning a big party. It was just going to be us, me Wyatt and Chloe, which felt a little too nice, given my temporary position in the family.

Wyatt had asked for a year commitment, which I took at the time, wondering if it would be too long. Now a few months in, I feared it was far too short. I loved Chloe and the friendship I’d been building with Wyatt was so much deeper than any I’d had before. Even with the slight dishonesty of hiding my budding my attraction to him, I felt like I could be more myself around him than I ever had with my ex-alpha.

I felt like I was lying to him every time we spoke, hiding my interest in him, and that hurt. Not as much as if I told him and he kicked me out, losing both his friendship and Chloe in one fell swoop. And the job, but that seemed to be the least important out of all of it.

“Whipped cream?” I asked as we left the bakery. It had become our thing. She got her cup of whip and I got my coffee pretty much every time we were in town. I liked the coffee and loved all that Café Om stood for. Plus, it never hurt to go someplace where they knew your name and treated you as if you were the best customer ever and given the fact that combined we spent less than one of their mocha specialties, I knew we weren’t.

“Welcome to Café Om.” A new omega stood behind the counter. “What can I get you, princess?” He bent down, addressing Chloe directly.

“Whipped cream with sprinkles please.” She pointed to the biggest cup on the counter and I gave her the look and she quickly changed it to the children’s size. “You’re new.”

“I am, but don’t get used to me, I’m a prince and I need to get back to my castle next month.” He gave her a wink.

Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open. “Really?” she asked with wonder.

“More like I’m Prince of Café Om Central and they are doing a complete remodel, so I’m slumming it in the burbs,” he confessed, but all she heard was prince. I had no idea how long a remodel took, but he was going to be her prince the entire time, whether he liked it or not. The smile on his face told me he was just fine with that.

“My prince.” She curtseyed…ish. “I’m gonna go draw you a picture.” She grabbed a placemat from the counter and ran to where they stored the cups of crayons for the kids.

“I would love that,” he called out to her.

“You’re good with kids,” I complimented.

“Shhhh, don’t tell anyone. They always think omegas wanna babysit and crap and let me tell you, working out here is cutting into my social time as is, and I need some alpha in my life on the regular.”

He was one of those omegas. I just shook my head. I understood how one got into that mindset. I was just glad I wasn’t in that place, because going out night after night with the intent of alpha hunting sucked.

“Your daughter’s cute though,” he tried to smooth over his comment.

“Oh, she’s not my daughter.” I leaned in and whispered, “I’m her babysitter.”

“Bullshit.”

“Bull true.” I stuck out my hand. “Oliver.”

“Marcus.” He gave me a quick shake before getting back to work after a throat clear from the back. “What can I get you?”

“Today, I’m going to go wild and crazy and get the house blend, black.” Like I did every time I came in because it was freaking awesome, so why ruin it with syrup and whip?

“You sure know how to live on the wild side,” he teased as he rung me up, handing me a cup. I picked the one thing on the menu that was self-serve.

“That I do.” I handed him my card, delighted to find out today’s drink was free. At twelve cups before your free one, that meant I was spending far too much time here, but the smile on Chloe’s face when she got her cup made it worth it.

“What time do you working until?”

It sounded like a pick-up line but having seen his alpha obsessed ways already shine through I assumed it was benign and answered honestly. “It’s a live-in job.”

“No shit. You’re a manny.”

He looked behind him to the back door and deciding it clear, he placed his elbows on the counter, his chin sitting in his hands as if waiting for super awesome gossip. “I was going to see if you wanted to come clubbing tonight and see if we could score some alpha lovin’, but I’m guessing you need more notice.” His eyes dared me to disagree with his assessment.

“I do, but it’s not really my scene either which way.” Because I was in love with my boss and no alpha would want a barren omega anyway.

“Your loss.” He stood up straight at another throat clear and grabbed a cloth, making small circles on the already clean counter. “I just heard about a great place only two towns over. Fresh meat.”

“Here, Mr. Prince.” Saved by a three-year-old.

He took it happily and stared at it with a huge smile before speaking. “I will put it in my castle. Thank you. I love it.”

Chloe was beaming from ear to ear. It looked like more visits to Om were in our future because the way he made her smile made my heart soar.

“We should be going. We’ll see you around. We stop in here a bit too much,” I said as Marcus placed her cup of whip on the counter.

“I like whipped cream,” she announced, as if her happy dance hadn’t given it away.

“All princesses do.” He leaned in conspiratorially. “Are you sure you’re not a fairy princess?”

She giggled the entire time I poured my coffee. Best. Sound. Ever.