Another week went by, but I couldn't get thoughts about my elusive little ginger out of my head. That night had seriously rocked my world. I'd been sad when I woke up the next morning to find that he'd slipped out during the night.

Oh, well. I guess it was to be expected. I hadn't offered him more than breakfast and ride home. Even though he was obviously the fun guy at the club that was a fun trick to take home for a little playtime, something told me that he was hoping for more.

For the first time in my adult life, I found myself wishing that I had more to offer a cute little omega like him. I didn't get what was up with the whole third person wall he hid behind, but it was obviously a defensive mechanism. Right up there with the flirty smiles that didn't quite reach his eyes.

It was if he'd been hurt at some point, and had determined that nobody was ever going to get close enough to do it again. I'd seen the vulnerability there a few times while I'd been buried balls deep in the twink. And I definitely hadn't missed the sadness in his eyes as he'd rushed to reassure me after the whole condom fiasco.

He'd obviously picked up on my relief that he had a backup method for birth control. Fuck. It wasn't that the idea of procreating with him was repellent. Actually, if I were in the market for a mate, he'd be my top choice. I just knew better than to try when I was at the hospital a good sixty to seventy hours every week.

I'd learned that lesson as a kid, hearing my mom cry herself to sleep while my dad was out driving the highways in his Peterbilt. Dad had been a long haul trucker, the rarely seen guy that worked hard to pay the bills. Mom's heart had broken when he'd died in the arms of a cheap hooker at a truck stop one night when I was seventeen.

No, until the day came that I could commit my time as well as my support to an omega, I would remain single. Even if it was lonely as fucking hell to come home to my stiff little bachelor pad. The only human interaction I got outside of work was my maid, Rosa, and Greg over at the Big O when I bothered to stop in. I'd gone in last night, but when I hadn't seen my favorite ginger, I'd left after a couple drinks.

Looking down at the paper in my hand, I followed the sidewalk to the candy shop where I was supposed to pick up the gifts my assistant had ordered for the staff's holiday gifts. As head of the emergency department, I tried to do personal little things like this to brighten their day in a job that could be pretty grim at times. Sandy would have come in herself, but her omega brother had gone into labor. I'd waved her off and promised that even I could handle a simple errand.

I looked up at the sign for Sweet Ballz, trying to figure out why the name was familiar to me. When I opened the door and got a blast of peppermint that smelled like my elusive ginger, I remembered Greg joking about him handling sweet balls. Did he mean Ballz instead?

Before I had time to wonder or second guess myself, I heard the familiar voice speak. "Well, bless Tom's heart. If it isn't hot daddy Colin out on the prowl."

I looked up to see him smirking at me from behind the counter, where he stood with another nerdier-looking omega and a young omega dressed like a ‘50s soda jerk. The nerdy guy gave me the quick once over and rolled his eyes as if he found me wanting.

"I'm off, babe," he said, giving my ginger a quick hug. "The store looks great, I'll see you at the party. Rafe and the kids are excited about it."

Tom rolled his eyes at the guy. "Please. Rafe and Artie are probably excited, somehow Tom doubts that baby Crystal is excited for anything other than a warm bottle and a fresh diaper."

The other omega giggled and shrugged. "Well, Crys would be excited if she was old enough to know about it! Until then, we'll all be excited for her!"

Tom grinned and smacked the other omega on the butt. "Milo needs to go! Tom has a shop to run, ballz to play with, and customers like hot daddy here to please."

The other omega left with another giggle as Tom turned to the young omega. "Seth can take a break now, Tom will watch the front. Go on, before Tom changes his mind."

The other omega didn't think twice about it. He was rushing off through a swinging door that led to the back while Tom turned his attention in my direction.

"How did Colin find Tom?" he asked bluntly with no hint of his normal flirtation. Then he paused and smiled up at me from under his lashes. "Although, Tom must admit to finding it cute that hot daddy found the need to track Tom down like a sexy stalker after never calling."

I smirked and came closer to lean against the counter. "Listen sweetie, how could I call when you shagged ass while I was passed out? Hell, I never even got your last name." Tom blushed and fiddled with an old fashioned wristwatch he wore. "But unless I'm mistaken, isn't this a place of business? Where people place orders for goods? I had not the foggiest that you work here, cutie. I'm here to pick up an order for my assistant, Sandy. She has a few dozen boxes on order, I believe? She said they were to be a mix of Egg Nog Ballz and Peppermint Ballz, whatever that means."

Tom smirked and silently slid on a plastic glove from a dispenser on the counter. He reached into the glass display case beside us and picked up a round white ball that was crusted with crushed bits of candy cane.

"Open up, hot daddy," he instructed me. "Taste one of Tom's Peppermint Ballz, then Colin can understand why Colin is here."

My cock jerked at his words, making me wonder if he knew that he smelled just like peppermint himself or if it was an unintentional innuendo. Either way, I opened my mouth to let him pop the candy in while my brain fought the image of pushing him over the counter and tearing his pants down to taste a warmer, fleshier peppermint ball. My hand came up to catch his wrist after he popped the candy into my mouth.

While I savored and chewed the delicious morsel, I ran my thumb over his pulse point. The little guy looked torn between running away and jumping over the counter to have his way with me. As I swallowed, I noticed a row of stuffed animals on a shelf on the wall behind him. Each one had an empty plastic ball attached to it that could presumably be filled with candy.

Swallowing, I bent and kissed the inside of his wrist before looking up at him with a wink. "That was delicious, Tom. Thanks for letting me suck on your ballz. Now, tell me about the stuffed giraffe up there and what kind of candy would be appropriate for a sick little girl."

Tom blinked several times, an adorable blush filling his cheeks as he gaped at me. Then he shook his head with a grin. "Colin is bad! Okay." He turned and looked up at the toys. "The giraffe is $39.95, and will hold a baker's dozen of our ballz." He looked back at me sternly, as if daring me to make another ball joke. At my impassive expression, he continued.

"Does the little girl have any food allergies? And how old is she, does Tom need to worry about choking hazards?"

I closed my eyes and mentally pictured Allie's chart. Shaking my head, I opened my eyes. "Yes, she has a nut allergy. Is that a problem?"

Tom shook his head quickly. "No, Kent is very good about keeping everything Kent makes separate so that nuts aren't a problem." He walked over to the case and demonstrated. "Everything in this case is nut free. The next case over has the nut flavors." He grinned. "Wow, Tom never realized how often the words nuts and ballz get said around here during an average day. Tom feels as though hot daddy has ruined Tom's innocence now."

I snorted out a laugh. "Sorry, doll face. I'm pretty sure that happened long before you met me." I sobered quickly at the flash of pained vulnerability in his eyes. I quickly tried to fix my gaffe and added with an easy grin, "At least, as far as your job goes, anyway. You cannot convince me that you work in a place called Sweet Ballz and have never made a nut joke. That's just impossible to believe."

Tom giggled as the fake smile slid easily into place. "True. Tom cannot argue with the hot daddy there. Now. Let's get serious for a minute." He changed the glove he'd touched my mouth with and opened the case to show me the different varieties.

"There are a lot of choices, but Tom doesn't recommend the one like cherries jubilee and definitely not the brandy or rum filled ones. Let's go with Peppermint Balls, Dark Chocolate Mint Balls, or there's Tom's favorite, the Milk Chocolate Malted Milk Ballz." He looked around thoughtfully. "The shop also has classic gumballs, but those aren't made fresh here."

I shook my head, a bit overwhelmed. "Let's rule out the gumballs. Allie is in the hospital, and I'm pretty sure that the nurses won't let her have gum. "You don't think she'd like the Egg Nog Ballz?"

Tom shrugged. "Most kids don't. Tom wouldn't risk it. Especially if Allie is in the hospital. Allie's life probably sucks enough without forcing nasty candy on the girl." He looked up at me and grinned. "Not that Tom is calling the candy nasty, Tom is saying that Allie might think that."

”Yeah, I got that." I grinned. "What if we give her a mix of the other nut free flavors? Can we do that? Or do the flavors mix and get ruined?"

Tom shook his head, excited, with a big smile that honestly reached his eyes this time. "No! That is a good idea! Let's make Allie the variety mix. Tom will take care of it." He turned and picked up a pole with a hook on the end and pulled the giraffe down. It was a little larger than it looked up there, but that was fine. It would definitely make the little girl smile.

As he set about removing the plastic from the giraffe, he turned to me with concern. "Should Tom leave the giraffe in plastic? Does Allie need to be germ free?"

I shook my head. "She hasn't started chemo yet, so it should be fine."

Tom's smile faded. "Chemo? Oh, the poor baby! Allie's parents must be beside themselves!"

I frowned and blinked back the anger still held toward the child's foster parents. "Allie doesn't have a family. She's in the foster system. She could actually go home soon, but they need to find her a new foster family. The last ones abandoned her in the E.R. when she was diagnosed." I shook my head with frustration. "I'm sorry, I can't really talk about it."

Tom looked at me sadly, then brightened a little. "Allie is in the children's wing at Hollydale Oaks?" When I nodded, he clapped his hands together. "Good. Tom will organize visitors for Allie. Hospitals suck enough without being alone too. Allie won't go a day without a visitor for the rest of Allie's stay."

He nodded with determination as he removed the plastic ball that was attached to the stuffed animal with a red ribbon. While he began filling it, a pregnant omega came in the door with a toddler on his hip.

"Hey, Tom! I brought lunch for you and Kent, Christian is meeting us in back in a bit. Do you have a break coming up?" The omega smiled politely at me as he eased his way around the counter. The toddler was pulling at her father's man bun with one busy little hand and reaching for Tom with the other.

Tom set what he was working on to the side and put his hands behind his back while he darted in to kiss the child's chubby cheek. "Hey, Miss Ollie! Did Tom's best girl come to visit?"

He turned to the other omega. "Go ahead and go back, Liam. Tom will be back when Seth returns from break. Uncle Kent will be happy to see Miss Ollie! He's busy with a big order of Peppermint Ballz for the party at the hospital tomorrow night."

Tom kissed the little cheek again, as though unable to resist the tyke. "Now go, Liam. Tom must work and Miss Ollie is an adorable distraction."

The other omega giggled and headed to the back through the swinging door while Tom got back to business. It was on the tip of my tongue to ask which party at the hospital, but I got sidetracked when my little ginger boy looked up at me with those vulnerable eyes again.

"Tom needs to quit spoiling everyone's babies, Tom knows that. The tiny humans are just so hard to resist though, you know?" He deftly filled the plastic ball to the max and closed it with a snap of plastic. After he'd fastened it back around the giraffe's neck, he reached over by the register for a small gift card and envelope.

Passing them to me with a pen, he said, "Here, hot daddy. Fill that out for Miss Allie while Tom gets Sandy's order." He turned to dash off, calling over his shoulder, "BRB!"

I shook my head with a grin as I translated that to "be right back" and filled out the card. I was just writing Allie's name on the outside of the envelope when Tom came bustling back over with three large plastic bags filled with gift wrapped boxes.

He set them on the counter, pulling one out to show me the gold foil paper and the candy cane striped ribbon that had been hand tied around the box. "The boxes each contain a dozen balls. The Peppermint Ballz are in the boxes with the striped ribbon like this one. The boxes with white ribbons contain Egg Nog Ballz, and the one with green ribbons are a mix. There are a dozen of each kind. Sandy wanted a variety so that her boss didn't have to give the same exact box to two people at once. Tom assumes that Colin is that boss?"

I nodded, impressed by how well done the order looked. "These are fancy-looking. I'm going to look good giving these out, aren't I?"

Tom blushed, the color making his already adorable face look delicious. "Tom has made the gift wrapping a priority. It was one of the changes Tom made after agreeing to manage Sweet Ballz."

Speaking of managing balls, I thought to myself right before I blurted out my next wild idea. "Tom, can I buy you dinner tonight? I never got to take you out for that breakfast. Maybe I can have a chance to make it up to you?"

Tom smiled wistfully, his eyes yearning to say yes, but his head shook in a firm no. "Tom is sorry, Colin. Tom believes that while Colin is a hot daddy and wonderful person, Colin and Tom are looking for different things right now. As much as Tom hates to decline the lovely offer, Tom must."

I nodded sadly and held out my credit card. "I understand, Tom. And believe me when I tell you how much I wish that weren't true. I would dearly love to be on the same page as you, but I hesitate because of my job and how much of my life it takes up."

Tom ran my card and passed it back along with a pen and the receipt to sign. His pretty face looked understanding as he nodded. "Tom gets it. And if Tom hadn't just wasted three years dating another workaholic, Tom might consider that dinner."

I signed the receipt, remembering Ian and realizing what had gone down there. Poor guy. "Yeah, we alphas are shitty men to tame sometimes. Especially if we're type As that are married to our jobs."

Tom rolled his big green eyes and put the giraffe into another bag for Allie. "That's so true that it's not even funny, hot daddy. Listen. If Colin ever finds time to stop and smell the roses, come find Tom. Maybe Tom will still be single." He shrugged and gave me a saucy wink. "If not, it's hot daddy's loss."

I smiled sadly as I took my copy of the receipt from him and shoved it in my pocket. As I picked up the four bags, I gave him an appreciative smile and said, "Thanks, Tom. I hope you find an alpha that's worthy of you. Don't settle for another one of us overworking assholes that don't know how to come home at night."

"Tom doesn't intend to, Colin. Have a nice day, and tell Allie that her new Uncle Tom will be coming to see her tomorrow!"

"I'll do that, Tom. Thanks again, ginger boy." I grinned at him one last time and left the shop behind, along with the gorgeous little omega twink that ran it.