Chapter Eighteen
Forrest
I’d never felt more nervous than when I rolled up to the cabin, piloting my dad mobile. Maria seemed to feel he would be receptive, but that didn’t mean she was right. The River I knew could be stubborn, as could I, so the reality that he might not accept me back as more than his baby’s father was far too real for my liking.
But then I saw him, our eyes connecting, and I knew that no matter how stubborn he might be, I was going to spend the rest of forever convincing him to accept me as his alpha. Which was pretty much as stalkerish as it sounded, but that was where I was.
When he admitted he had thought kids weren’t in his future, all was right in the world. It never meant he didn’t want them. He just thought he would never have them. And now? Now we both knew they were a hundred percent in his future, as was I.
Exactly how it was meant to be.
“Cocoa?” I asked, trying not to stare at his belly, at where our child was growing. I had so many questions for him, but going back to where it all began felt right. Cocoa it was.
“Please.” was all he said, his hand going to cradle where I had been very unsuccessfully not staring.
I went out to get Snowflake before making my way into the kitchen where I found a bunch of random food, but no cocoa. I wanted to kick myself for not being prepared.
“I’m sorry,” I began as I walked out into a now empty living room. “River?” I called, wondering where he could’ve gone. I knew he hadn’t left. His shoes were still by the front door. Thank freaking goodness. That was not something I could’ve handled. Not at all.
“In the bedroom.” He didn’t even hide the mischief in his voice, and I all but ran to see what he was up to. Damn I’d missed him.
I rounded the corner and came to a screeching stop as he came into view, standing there, blissfully naked, his rounded belly sending all the sexy naughty thoughts straight to my lower brain. River was a sexy man on a good day, all lean muscles and yum, but pregnant, his body rounded with my child was officially the sexiest thing I’d ever seen in my life. No contest.
“Can I?” I asked as I walked over, wanting to touch his belly. It was weird. He was there, offering himself to me, but all I could think to do was feel that it was real, he was pregnant. Which it was.
“But of course.” He chuckled as I closed the distance, dropping to my knees in front of him, my hands cradling his stomach.
“Hello in there.” I was in awe.
River’s hands came over mine and moved them both to the top left just as I felt the baby move. Our baby.
“She kicked me.” My voice cracked with emotion as tears formed in my eyes. I was going to be a dad. I’d been told. I’d even seen the evidence, but feeling it made it so much more real.
“They. I never found out.”
“Why not?” Because I knew I would need to know. It was just kind of how I was.
“Because I think I kept holding out hope that maybe it could be a surprise we got together.”
I climbed to my feet after kissing the spot on his belly where our precious bundle had kicked me. Unable to keep my lips off of him, I leaned over tentatively, kissing him gently.
He was having none of that, grabbing the back of my head and deepening the kiss until my knees were about ready to cave. He broke the kiss only long enough to pant, “Naked. Now.”
Who was I to argue and walked him backward to the bed as I taste him, kissing him as if my life depended on it and it felt that way.
“Sit,” I commanded as I stripped myself, not even pretending to give a show. We had time for slow and sexy strip teases later—tons of them if I had anything to say about it, but now was not the time. I needed to feel his skin on mine, to feel his warmth, to bask in his scent.
Climbing on the bed, nestling nest to River, I realized that what I’d written in my book about the love I felt for him was so far from accurate. I loved him so much more. I loved the life we were about to have and the child inside him.
“You look happy,” he mused as I pulled him in closer, the desire I felt for him no less than it was when he told me to get naked, but the frenzied need pushed back behind all the feelings rushing into me.
“So very.” I kissed the top of his head. “I wrote about you.” I confessed, feeling it necessary for him to know I shared my feelings for him, even if they were hidden behind fake names and a happy ending I thought would never be ours.
“I know. I read it.”
My head snapped in his direction.
“Maria.” He explained it all. Which it kind of did.
“And?”
“And I think the ending sucked.” Of all the things he could’ve said, that was the last thing I expected him to say. Maybe it was my bloated ego, but I thought it ended quite nicely, all wrapped up in a pretty little bow of happiness and sunshine. Readers agreed.
“And how should it have ended?” I asked, my curiosity piqued.
“They only had two kids and we have a minivan, now, so I’m thinking we can go to what? At least four, possibly five?” His fingers grabbed the hair behind my head and pulled me in for a searing kiss. Yeah. Snuggle time was over.
“It is an eight passenger.” I shrugged as our kiss ended. “So we have options.”
“Is one of those options knotting me right now because I’m not going to even pretend I’m not smack dab in the middle of horny time in my pregnancy.” His fingers danced down my chest, lower and lower until they wrapped themselves around my cock, giving it a tease.
“Is-is that okay?” Concentrating was not going well, but I needed to know. I’d not been to any of the appointments, and the last thing I wanted to do was to do something not okay for the baby.
“Better than. Worst case scenario, it helps the little bugger show up.” That didn’t sound like better than to me.
“Too early?”
The feel of his belly jiggling as he laughed at me, instantly relaxed all of my concerns.
“Safe anytime, now.” He went back to teasing my cock, effectively ending the conversation. “So, knot me maybe?”
“As if I could ever say no to you.” I kissed his lips before kissing a path down his body, until I found his very ready cock.
It was awkward with his belly in the way to take him into my mouth with too much gusto, so I went with the slow tease, licking up his shaft before swirling my tongue around the tip, collecting his pre-cum on my tongue and making a mmm sound which earned me one of his sexy groans.
As I took him into my mouth for the first time, my fingers found his hole. My goodness he was ready for me, his slick already escaping. I circled his hole as I made my way to his root, sucking in deeply and inserting a finger as my head came back up. He was squirming, trying to get more, and I was so ready to give it to him. On the next trip, I added a second finger, curling them around to hit the spot I knew did it for him, and then on the third trip, I added a third finger and was rewarded with him screaming my name and begging for my knot.
Unable to deny him, I climbed up the bed beside him. “How?” Because face to face was no longer an option, our little bundle very much in the way.
“When an alpha loves an omega—”
Loves—the word echoed in my mind and filled my heart.
“I meant—”
“I know what you meant, silly alpha.” He waggled his eyebrows. “On my side, I think, is about our only option for the meanwhile unless you want to stand on the side of the bed the entire knotting.”
The man had put some thought into it. Before I could reply, he was on his side, pressing his ass into me. I could take a hint. I wrapped my arm around him, bringing his body flush to mine.
“I love you,” I whispered in his ear.
“And I you, alpha mine. Now knot me.”
I grabbed my cock, lining it up with his hole, and before I could enter him, he pushed back taking the reins. That was my omega. We quickly found a pace that worked in this normally awkward position, our bodies meeting with each motion. It wasn’t even a few minutes later he was crying out my name, coming all over the bed, and I allowed myself to orgasm, filling him with my knot.
It was perfect.
He was perfect.
Our baby was perfect.
We were perfect.
He was right, my ending sucked. It had nothing on this new beginning we were writing—together.