Leaving my bedroom, I stepped into the bathroom to splash some water in my face. Next I got my bottle of aftershave from the bathroom cabinet just because I needed to get Ben's smell out of my nose. God, I wanted him. All of my omega instincts screamed at me to wrap myself around him and make both our sadness go away. But it wasn't that simple, was it? I'd meant what I’d told Ben the day before. I couldn't go through another break-up with him. Even now, all the guys I dated felt like rebounds. Men I fucked just to fill that hole in my heart.

Did I really end up with these guys because I didn't believe that I deserved a happy ending? How could that be when I'd spent my whole life searching for it? Ben wasn't right about everything. Aaron hadn't broken up with me because he was an asshole or anything. That had been entirely on me, because I hadn't been brave enough to tell him about the pregnancy earlier.

Sighing to myself, I put the aftershave back.

It was then that my bottle of prenatal vitamins caught my eye. I'd bought and placed it there the weekend before Aaron had broken up with me. He'd been over at my place that Sunday.

Could he have seen the vitamins? Shit, he'd spent a lot of time in the bathroom that day, hadn't he? I bit my teeth together. The more I thought about it, the more the pieces fit together. But why hadn't he just asked me about the damn pills when he found them? Was he so mad that I was hiding stuff from him that he figured he could strike back by ruining my reputation?

If so, Ben was right. The man really was a grade A asshole. And I'd fallen for the asshole, the way I always did. Because I didn't believe that I deserved better, not really. Unconsciously, I put my hand on my belly. My baby definitely deserved better than to see his daddy date assholes. Ben didn't want to turn into his parents. I didn't want to turn into his parents either. We were on the same page there, weren't we?

Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, trying to picture the happy ending I wanted for myself and my baby. Try as I might, I could not come up with any scenario that did not have Ben in it.

After reaching this realization, I took the next logical step. I went back to my bedroom. Ben was still sitting there, quietly watching my every move as I picked up the boxes of cranes and stacked them by the door. I even took the one he was holding, placed it on my desk. I needed my bed and his hands free.

"What—" Ben started.

I put my mouth to his lips—always the most effective way to shut him up and make a statement at the same time. In this case, the statement I was trying to make should have been pretty clear, too.

It didn't take Ben long to figure it out. In nearly no time at all, he'd pulled me down into his lap, one hand on my back, one in my hair. I gave a happy sigh, breathing his scent into my lungs. I wanted to roll in it like a puppy in mud. Get it all over me to let everyone know exactly who I belonged to. Who I'd always belonged to, deep down.

"Robin..." Ben's eyes searched my face as if looking for any sort of sign I wasn't sure about what I was doing.

I pressed a kiss to his forehead. "You wanted a chance, you've got it."

"You mean it?" There was so much hope in Ben's eyes, my heart beat faster. He was laying himself bare before me. Wasn't that all I'd wanted?

"Of course I mean it. I wouldn't mess with you like that."

"I wouldn't either." Ben pressed a short kiss on my lips.

A smile took over my face. "I know that." Ben would never hurt me. Not intentionally anyway. That set him apart from the assholes I'd dated. "I've thought about this, and you're right. I do deserve a happy ending, but I don't want it if it's not with you."

Ben gave me a long look, and then he kissed me again. "I feel the same way," he said in the brief time between one kiss and the next. It was like our mouths were glued to each other, or rather, like there was some sort of magnetic pull that kept bringing us together again the moment one of us tried to part. I didn't mind, not at all. Kissing Ben was the best thing in the world.

Well, maybe not the only best thing. It shared that top spot with some other activities. R-rated activities.

"What about the cranes?" Ben managed to get out after another minute.

I glanced at the boxes by the door, but couldn't focus on them long enough to form a coherent thought. No way was I going to be folding paper now. "We can do more cranes later," I said. Then I put my mouth to his ear. "After we've done some other things." I made sure that my tone was suggestive enough he didn't have to think twice about what I meant. "C'mon," I continued, running a hand up under his shirt. "I can take your mind off things in other ways."

Shameless, yes, but I needed him right now.

A shuddering breath came out of Ben, and he surrendered to me without another word. I put my mouth to his neck, and proceeded to take off his shirt. Oh, so much glorious skin. I loved Ben's skin. I especially loved how it felt against mine. I only realized that I was licking my lips when Ben started laughing.

"What?" I asked.

"You look like you want to eat me."

I wriggled my eyebrows at him. "Maybe I do. Would you stop me?"

"No, I don't think I would." He pressed his lips to mine for a short moment before he took off my shirt in return. And then he stopped and stared at my belly. Now it was my turn to laugh. At this point, you could totally tell I was pregnant when I wasn't wearing clothes, and the sight seemed to fascinate my friend to no end.

"Damn, you've really got a baby in there, don't you?"

"Of course I do, silly. You've heard his heartbeat, haven't you? You've felt him move."

"He? It's a boy?"

"I don't know what it is yet, remember?" But Ben looked so excited I couldn't fault him for forgetting. "We're gonna find out, though, at the next appointment. You'll come with me, won't you?"

"Yeah." My silly alpha was still staring at my belly.

"You can touch it, you know?" Please touch me.

"I'm sorry. I just... seeing you like this... I think something in my brain just exploded."

"In a good way?"

In response, Ben gave me the sweetest, most genuine smile. "In the best way. I mean, I'm still worried sick about my dog and this whole parenting thing, but..." He trailed off, struggling for words, but the look in his eyes told me all I needed to know. I knew what he was trying to say because we both felt the same way. In my heart I knew, as long as we stuck together, we could overcome any obstacle.

I took Ben's hand and placed it on my belly, and then I kissed him again, long and good. Ben took charge halfway through, pulling me closer until our skin touched, shivers running down my spine. God, I'd missed being this close to him. The sex we'd had on Christmas Eve couldn't compare to this gentle touching. We'd both been in a frenzy then. And we'd both known it was a one-time thing. This was different. We weren't trying to pick up on something that was over. We were building something new.

I slid my arms around his neck, and he popped the bottom on my pants. Within another second, his hand was inside. A high pitched noise escaped my throat as his fingers wrapped around my cock like they were old friends who hadn't seen me in too long—but who still knew exactly how I liked to be touched. Not too rough, not too soft. I rocked into Ben's hand as need surged through me. It wasn't as sharp as the night I was in heat, but just as powerful, just as all-encompassing.

Because I was with Ben, and I'd always needed Ben.

Impatient to return the favor, I fumbled with Ben's belt until that came loose as well and I could stick my hand in Ben's underpants the same as he was doing to me. Ben groaned, and I smiled. I'd missed drawing these kinds of noises from him. Getting an alpha to lose his mind over me always made me feel sexy.

Getting Ben to lose his mind over me? That was better than anything.

Our lips found each other's again as we pressed ever closer together. In this position, we could barely move our hands but it was like neither of us wanted to separate for even the short amount of time it would take us to rearrange ourselves on the bed. Both of us rocking our hips, we lost coordination, started fumbling. Kissing Ben's mouth became difficult, so I settled on any bit of skin my lips could reach. After all this time dating the wrong guys, all I wanted was to shower Ben with love in any way possible.

And if Ben kept moving his hand on my cock like that, I might shower him with something else too. As if reading my mind, he chose that moment to tighten his grip. I hadn't planned to come from a handjob like a horny teenager, but I guess a horny teenager was exactly what I was around Ben. I lasted another minute, but not a second longer.

It felt too good for me to be mad at myself. I came with a small cry, burying my face in Ben's shoulder. To my relief, that seemed to send him over the edge as well. He grunted, and something warm hit my hand. I exhaled. This hadn't exactly gone to plan, but I figured we had the rest of the night to make up for that.

Ben let himself fall back on the bed, and I went down with him, cuddling into his side. He still smelled so good. I never wanted to let him go again. He turned his head to kiss my hair. "I'm so glad I've got you."

"I'm glad too."

I caught Ben glancing at the cranes again.

"Guess we didn't need those after all," I found myself saying.

Ben shot me a questioning look.

"For our happy ending," I explained. I kissed his nose. "I'm sure Cooper will be fine too."

"We still need to sanitize my place."

"I know. We'll take care of that tomorrow." For tonight, I simply wanted to be with him. "Think you can go another round?"

Ben laughed. "I almost forgot how insatiable you can be."

I grinned, remembering how I used to tease Ben about the fact that he had a pretty low libido for an alpha. He claimed I was the odd one. In the end, he always gave me what I wanted, though. "Is that a no?" I asked, innocently running my fingers over the front of his pants.

"You know it's not," he said, pulling me into another kiss. "Whatever you need, Robin."

I knew he meant more than sex when he said that.

Honestly? That was the best part.