Funny thing about money, if you have enough you can have a house offer submitted, have said offer accepted, snag a romantic waterfront lunch, and still be at your mid-afternoon doctor’s appointment a half hour early. When I’d submitted the offer on my home it had been a three-day ordeal just to submit and then a week to hear back, so it still felt surreal that this was all happening.

Rhys made this possible. My adorable, lovable alpha.

We walked into Dr. Ryker’s office, the waiting room filled with very pregnant omegas. That was going to be me only so very much older. They all looked to be closer to my son’s age than my own.

“Ethan Rhodes, here for an ultrasound,” I told the nurse as I fished out my ID and insurance card.

“Thank you.” She took and scanned the cards before handing me a clipboard of papers to fill out—again. “Make sure you sign on all the X’s and initial all of the highlighted areas,” she droned before shutting the class window separating us.

“She was welcoming,” Rhys teased as we took a seat in the far side of the waiting room.

“I know, right?” I shook my head before diving into the paperwork. Why we needed to do them every visit always boggled my mind until I came upon the privacy page.

“Ummm, Rhys, what do you think about this?” I thrust the clipboard into his hand. It was a stupid form and nothing would come of it, but it was one I’d never had to fill out with any thought before, either.

“Do you want them to talk to me?” he asked.

Did I? Absolutely.

“I think I want to list you.” It was his baby after all. And he was my lover.

“Then I would like nothing more.” He kissed the side of my head as he handed back the clipboard, and I filled the remaining lines out just in time for the nurse to call me back, take my vitals, have me pee in a cup, and hand me the very unsexy gowns for my first exam.

The same nurse that had taken my insurance information as we came in. No wonder she was grumpy. The poor thing was overworked.

“The doctor will be with you in a little while.” She forced a smile and closed the door behind her.

“Did you want me to leave?” Rhys offered, and I shook my head as I changed into the gown of yuck.

“If things are amazing, I want you by my side to celebrate, and if they are not, I need you by my side to—” Mourn. From freaking out about having a baby after one night with a man from my past to loving the child more than anything had taken about three seconds.

Race cars only dreamed about matching the speed of my heart.

“We shall celebrate.” He held out his hand to help me get up on the just-too-high table.

The doctor came in only a few minutes later, his laptop in hand.

“Congratulations, Dads.” He quirked his eye as if wondering if he’d done a faux pas. Not everyone comes in with their partners, some just bring friends.

In all the years he’d known me, I’d been both single and celibate. Very single and celibate.

So me being with Rhys would have been a surprise for him as well.

“I was thinking Papa, but that works.” Rhys didn’t skip a beat.

Dr. Ryker made easy banter with Rhys and me. I realized at one point that he was happy for me. Happy that I was happy.

“Everything looks good on this front.” He settled his laptop on the counter. “Too early for a heartbeat most likely, but we can try. Or—”

“Or?” I asked.

“Or we can go across the hall and do an early ultrasound. We won’t see much, but I can see from your bouncing knee that you are nervous, so let’s do that. Usually a tech does it, but then we need an appointment, and blah blah blah.” He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture.

And that was one of the reasons why I loved my doctor. He didn’t do the what-does-insurance-allow? or what-is-protocol? crap. He did what he needed to do and had ever since before Jake was born. He understood my past and where I was was coming from.

I quickly agreed to his offer. He’d been so spot on about my nerves. I was a hot mess.

Rhys stood beside me, helping me to hold the front of my my gown closed as we made our way to the room across the hallway. Usually for ultrasounds, I would be wearing clothes, but right now, because I was having my checkup with Dr. Ryker, I hadn’t thought to put on anything more.

Nervous, indeed.

I climbed on the table, a screen on the ceiling and in front of me, and the doctor explained what everything was and what we were going.

Rhys held my hand the entire time, even as he helped me pulled a sheet over my lap to help with my modesty a little bit.

“This will be a little cold.” He squirted gel on my lower abdomen, then smeared it around with the wand. The screen above me looked like nothing discernible. “Ahhh, here we go.” He pressed some buttons on the screen then did something I couldn’t quite see from my angle and an arrow appeared on the screen in front of me. “That is your baby. And your baby looks perfect.”

“Perfect.” Rhys brushed a kiss against my temple. “That’s our baby.”

Tears filled my eyes as I soaked in the moment, not even hearing the rest of the things my doctor was explaining. I was having a baby and it was perfect and Rhys was by my side.

Nothing else mattered.

We finished up the appointment and weren’t even out the door when Rhys handed me the phone.

“Now?” I asked. He’d been wanting me to tell Jake from the beginning, and I got it, I did. Jake was part of the family, and I should not have things kept from him, especially when he could have a baby brother or sister in the future.

And now that I knew for sure I was not only pregnant but that it was a viable pregnancy, it was time to share.

“Now.”

I grinned as I took the phone from him and called.

He answered on the first ring, like he had his phone in hand. “Hey Dad, I was just calling you. I won a gift card to my favorite Thai place. Can I interest you in dinner?”

That was my Jake, always running at a million miles a minute.

“Umm yeah, sure. Is it all right if Rhys comes along, too?”

“Sure thing, Dad. I assumed he’d join.”

I let out a surprised laugh at my wonderful son. He had caught me off guard, and by the time we hung up the phone, we had dinner plans and he still knew nothing about my pregnancy.

“So we’re doing a dinner/pregnancy reveal?” Rhys took his phone back.

I shrugged.

“That means we have three hours to go back to my place.” I filled my voice with all the innuendo I could muster up. It apparently did the trick

“I live closer.”

I quirked an eyebrow. “That won’t matter once we move into our new house.”

He kissed me full on the lips. “But it matters now. Let’s go.”

It was a good thing that Rhys drove to the doctor’s office, because I would have crashed the car as I was so distracted with sexy thoughts. Maybe it was because being pregnant made my libido go through the roof or because he was so damn good to me—probably both, but I couldn’t focus on anything but his hand in mine.

His skin against mine.

The thought of him inside me, knotting me, filling me so completely.

I must have let out a little moan, because his hand went to my lap, then my cock, and gave me a long, tempting squeeze. “Soon, omega mine. Soon.”

Not soon enough, dammit. As if sensing that thought as well, he laughed. “I love you like this. All pregnant and horny and so ready for me to claim you.”

“I love you,” I countered back. Although what I was countering, I wasn’t sure.

Maybe it was my own turn on.

“I love you, too.” God, I loved hearing him say that.

Rhys pulled his car up to the garage, and I squirmed in my seat, waiting for the too-slow door to roll up to let us in. Why did the door take so damn long?

Rhys let out a chuckle as he pulled the car up to its spot next to his other expensive luxury car. He had barely put it into park and pulled out the key from the ignition, before I pounced on him. My lips crashed against his, and I felt a deep, rumbling chuckle beneath me as his tongue parted my lips and probed deep. I moaned against him, and suddenly there was too much distance between us, even though we were in such a confined space.

I just wanted his knot inside me. And every second where he wasn’t was simply agony.

He noticed this as well, and with a grunt, his seat reclined and scooted back. Immediately, the space opened up, giving us enough room to do exactly what we wanted.

“Is that what you want, omega mine?”

“Yes,” I mumbled against his lips. “Yes.”

He let out a soft laugh again. I never knew how he did it, but he knew exactly what I wanted and where. His hands went to my jeans and undid the button before moving to the zipper and sliding it down, one agonizing tooth at a time. Meanwhile, I ground myself against him, which probably made getting my pants off harder, but I didn’t care. I nibbled at his earlobes, kissed my way around his jaw—taking full advantage of any place that wasn’t covered by stupid clothing.

With the top of my jeans undone, he slipped his hands underneath the denim and my boxers, cupping my ass to him. “Soon.”

I pulled back and looked at him square in the eye, a playful smile threatening to erupt. “I’m pregnant, I’m horny, and, as the omega-father of our unborn child, I want you inside me now.”

Rhys grinned wickedly, which made my insides clench in all the right places. “As my omega wishes.” With one swift movement, he managed to slip my jeans and boxers to my knees, and I shifted my weight to pull my right leg out. I couldn’t care less about the other leg, because I now had full freedom, and my own cock was hard and ready. I was so turned on. My fingers fumbled with his jeans, my anticipation growing with each second.

Why were pants always so damn hard to take off?

He shifted, giving himself enough room to take care of his own pants. “Allow me.”

I sighed in relief that he was taking care of the pesky clothing, a sigh that turned into a gasp when his cock sprang forth, all nine inches standing at attention. Not once since Rhys and I found each other had he not been able to excite me just at the sight of his manhood.

He leaned over and opened up the glove box, taking out a bottle that he squirted into his hands.

I quirked an eyebrow. “You have a bottle of lube in your car?”

There was just enough space between our bodies for him to give his cock a few good strokes, liberally applying the lube. “It’s for emergencies.”

“If I had known that was in here before, this wouldn’t be our first time having sex in the car.”

He laughed. “I’ll remember that next time, omega mine.” Before I could get out another word, he pushed his cock to my opening. “Relax, Ethan.” His fingers trailed down my back before they settled on my hips. “I’ve got you.”

I let out a little moan as he guided me down his cock, stretching to accommodate his girth. In his hands, in his arms, I felt complete, safe, and utterly at peace.

Once fully seated, I met his gaze. “I don’t know how I ever survived without you.”

“Same here.” His voice was rough with emotion.

“So many years that we could have been together…”

He pressed a finger to my lips. “Hush. We are who we are now, because of those years. And now that I have you with me, I promise to never let you go again.” I watched as that hand went up under my shirt and pressed against my belly. “I want to be here for our baby. I want to be here for you and Jake.”

“Forever?” My voice wavered, full of emotion.

“Forever, omega mine.” He pushed himself up high enough to give me a long, lingering kiss with him inside me. “You’re mine. And I’m not going anywhere.”

I nodded. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

He started moving then, gentle and slow at first, his cock inside me gliding in and out. I stroked my own cock as he took control of my hips, grinding me against him. The space in the car was tight and confining, but it gave me the sense that Rhys and I were in our own little world, that we were safe and protected from the outside.

He and I were together. After all these years.

He started moving faster, pumping up into me to the point where I could only grasp at his back and hold on for dear life as the pressure built up inside of me. Faster and faster and faster, until...

“Oh, Rhys!” I cried out, as I came, my own spurts of white landing on his stomach. He came just a moment after me, crying out my name as well while he filled me with his seed. We both panted with the exhaustion of our lovemaking, still connected by his knot.

I didn’t want him to ever leave me. But that was an impossible, selfish thought. Still, though I relished the feeling of his cock inside me, refusing to let me go. Connected, like we should have always been.

“I’m going to need a new shirt for tonight.” Rhys wryly plucked at the shirt, where my cum had landed on it.

“I think we’re both going to need to shower anyways.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Is that another invitation, omega mine?”

I laughed and settled back, looking down at him, marveling at how much I loved him. My back touched the plastic of his steering wheel and…

“Shit!” we both cried at the same time as the horn went off. The sound was amazingly loud in the small space of the garage. I glanced behind me, and gave a relieved chuckle before turning back to Rhys.

“I’m surprised that didn’t go off during sex,” I murmured.

“Me too. But I’m sure that the entire housekeeping staff knows that we just made love in the car.”

Made love.

A few months ago, I wouldn’t have believed that there was love for me in my future. And now, as Rhys and I put our pants back on and he guided me up to his room, where he made love to me again in the shower, I couldn’t believe I had gone so long without him.

We were going to have a baby together.

Our own house.

And now, a future, together.