I parked the car in front of my parents' house and slowly, we got out. In spite of the cold, neither of us was in a rush to get inside, it seemed.

Nick turned to me with a smile. “Think we can just tell your parents we ran away together? Send them a card from a tropical island?” His breath formed smoke in the air as he exhaled. A tropical island sure sounded nice right about now. “Man,” Nick continued. “I'd forgotten how cold Maine gets this time of year.”

“I suppose we should head in after all.” Did I want to see my parents? No. But I wanted to see Nick shiver in the cold even less. That simply went against all of my usually-ignored alpha instincts.

Throwing off my hesitation, I walked up to the front door and rang, Nick following close behind me. I grabbed his hand and we exchanged a glance. Partners in crime.

Time to get this show started.

My mother opened the door with a smile as fake as my relationship. “There you are, boys! So glad to see you two! Nicholas! I haven't seen you since you were a child. I see you've... grown up a bit.”

He had indeed. I eyed Nick the same time my mother did. As we stepped inside, he took off his coat and I could see that he'd gone to some effort to dress nicely for tonight. He wasn't wearing formal evening wear, no, but his sapphire-colored shirt fitted him very nicely—and it brought out the color of his eyes in a way that made me want to kiss him again.

I'd always loved Nick's eyes. They had this way of dancing with excitement any time he was happy. It was downright infectious. I liked how he'd grown up, but I was also glad that this particular part of him hadn't changed at all.

“It's lovely seeing you again, Mrs. Kerner,” Nick said, hanging up his coat. “I see you haven't aged a day!”

I had to stop my eyebrows from going up. Nick sweet-talking my mother?

“Very kind of you to say,” my mother gave back, one hand going to her black hair. I was sure she'd had the gray dyed out mere hours before. She turned to me. “Come on through to the dining room. Your sister's already here with her boyfriend.”

Of course she was. Always playing nice with Mommy and Daddy to stay out of trouble.

When we got to the dining room, my father was seated on the far end of the table, glancing at his clock. “Isn't it about time for us to start?” he asked.

Dinner had already been served. It seemed they were only waiting for us to arrive. My sister waved at me from where she was sitting with her boyfriend at the other end of the table from my father. Her boyfriend looked as if he'd rather not be here at all. I couldn't blame him.

“Peter, please,” my mother admonished my father. “Say hello to our guests.”

My father gave me and Nick a cursory glance. “So you caught yourself an omega, huh? That's my boy! Sit down and have some food.”

It was clear where his priorities lay tonight.

I couldn't deny, though, that the food smelled tempting. Gravy and cooked turkey and pumpkin pie all mixed together to make my mouth water. This dinner probably hadn't been cooked by my mother—which meant it stood a good chance at being edible.

Nick and I sat next to each other across from my sister and her boyfriend. “Would you introduce us?” I asked her.

She perked up. “Oh, of course, this is Samuel Waterstone. As I told you, we've been going out for a while.” She held her hand in front of her mouth and shot me a conspiratorial look. “Maybe he's the one!”

I forced a smile, knowing my sister was just putting on a show, same as I was. “That's nice. My date is—”

“I recognize your date,” she cut me off, glancing at Nick with a smile on her face that was way too wide. “Good to see you again, Nick. Didn't you model for a while? My brother had a magazine with your picture in it under his bed.”

“I...what...How did you know that?” As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them. It was as good as an admission of guilt, wasn't it?

“I had to get you back for reading my diary, fair's fair.”

“How many times do I have to tell you that I never—”

“You kept a picture of me under your bed?” Nick cut in, expression unreadable.

I looked at him, mouth open, and didn't know what to say.

“Isn't it sweet?” my sister spoke up. “He never stopped loving you, even while you were apart.”

It took me an insane amount of self-control not to glare at my sister for that comment, but that would have looked suspicious. Everyone at this table believed we were a happy couple, so there should be nothing wrong with what my sister said. Nick's face was just as blank as mine, but under the table, he kicked me.

Well, I guess I deserved that.

“Now, now,” my father said. “Let's start dinner, shall we? Everybody dig in!”

I started loading turkey and mashed potatoes on my plate, if only to give myself something to do. So what if Nick found out that I'd kept a picture of him? Was that so bad?

Sort of, yes.

That told him way too much about how I felt about him.

Or rather, how a younger version of me felt about him. There was no way for him to know if I was still into him like that. And I wasn't. Not obsessively. I knew now that I was just fine by myself.

Just. Fine.

“So, Nick,” my mother started with a raised eyebrow when we all had some amount of food on our plates, “tell us a little about yourself. Where did life take you after you moved away from here?”

Nick finished chewing a piece of turkey before speaking. “I wouldn't want to bore you with the story of my life, Mrs. Kerner. It's not very exciting.”

“Don't worry. I'm very interested in hearing about it. Did you know Zander never bothered to tell me you two were seeing each other? I need you to bring me up to speed on everything, since I clearly can't rely on my son.”

I met my mother's gaze with the fakest smile I had and said nothing. It wasn't my duty to keep her up to date on all my relationships. In fact, my relationships were none of her business, but she'd never understand that.

“Well,” Nick said. “My family moved to Portland, but once I finished high school there, I moved out to LA to live with my cousin for a while before striking out on my own.”

“LA? Really now? What did you do there?” my mother asked, carefully cutting her turkey into bite-sized pieces without actually eating any of it.

“Oh, this and that.”

“Was that when you worked as a model?” my sister asked. “In LA?”

“Yes.” Nick nodded. “But only for a short time that first year. It wasn't really my thing. I couldn't get over the thought that some weirdo was probably getting off to my pictures.”

Ouch. That was definitely aimed at me.

“I wasn't—” I shut up when Nick kicked me under the table again. A clear sign that my input was not wanted right now.

“That does sound quite unsavory,” my mother said, throwing me a sideways glance.

Fantastic. At this rate, my whole family was going to think I was a pervert. Thank you, sis. I glared at her. She met my gaze with a sweet smile.

“Are you still living in LA now?” my mother asked.

“Yes,” Nick confirmed.

“You'll be moving back here, though, won't you? I don't think LA is a good place to raise children, do you?”

I nearly choked on my mashed potatoes, and glancing at Nick, he didn't seem to be faring much better. Perhaps now he might appreciate my input?

“We haven't talked about that, yet,” I said, laying an arm around Nick's shoulders. “This is all still so new we don't talk too much when we're together.” Not information I ever really wanted to share with my mother, but I wasn't sure what else would get her to back off.

“But you do want children?” My mother's gaze was still leveled at Nick. Her words weren't a question so much as a challenge.

“I...” Nick's mouth stood open. He glanced at me. I gently squeezed his shoulder. My mother wouldn't see it, but he'd feel it. I shot him a look. This is just for show.

Almost imperceptibly, he nodded. Then he licked his lips and sat up straight. “Of course, I want children,” he said. “Tons of them. At least three girls, so I can dress them up as the witches from Charmed for Halloween.”

I snorted.

“What?” Nick said, turning to me. Now that I got him going, it seemed he wasn't going to stop any time soon. “Are you snorting because they're TV characters? Would you rather dress them up as people from, I don't know, Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings? Do you want our children to be hobbits? Is that it? With hairy feet? I swear if all our babies turn out to be book nerds like you, I don't know what I'll do.” He finished with a dramatic hand wave.

“Lots and lots of reading to catch up,” I suggested.

Nick leaned in close. “Maybe if you'll read to me.”

His eyes danced with amusement, drawing me in even closer, until our lips were almost touching. As I breathed in, the smell of Thanksgiving dinner mixed with that of Nick. Only the scent Nick gave off was infinitely more tempting than that of any food my mother could have served tonight. “I'll read you anything you want.”

Nick smiled.

I kissed him.

I didn't even think about doing it, I simply did it. It felt right. It felt oh so right.

Nick looked just the littlest bit dazed when we broke.

“Get a room, you two,” my sister said from the other side of the table. It was only then that I remembered she existed. While my lips were on Nick's, I forgot all about my family being in the room, but now reality came rushing back in.

My eyes darted back to Nick. Did he think that kiss just now was to fool my parents? He must have. He couldn’t know that I hadn't been thinking about my mother or my father at all.

Was I getting in too deep? I was definitely overthinking things.

I returned my attention to my plate and kept it there for the remainder of the meal. Better stuff my mouth with food so I couldn't use it for anything else.

When we were all done eating and so full that none of us even wanted to look at food anymore, my mother asked me to help her carry the leftovers into the kitchen.

She wanted to talk to me, no doubt.

Oh, joy.

I took the bowl with the mashed potatoes and the gravy boat and followed her into the kitchen.

“Are you serious about him?” she asked before the door had even properly shut behind us.

“What do you mean?” I asked casually, feigning ignorance only to annoy her.

“This boy you've brought along.” A discarding gesture accompanied her words.

“He's not a boy and he has a name. You know it, use it.”

“Just answer the question, Zander,” she said, setting a tray of left-over pies down on the counter.

“Yes, I'm serious about him. Why wouldn't I be?” I asked, putting the mashed potatoes and the gravy down beside the pies.

“Honestly, I'd hoped this would be over when he moved away and we forbade you from wasting all your time on the phone with him.”

I grimaced. Like my parents' silly little rule ever stopped me when phone boxes existed. Still, that didn't matter now. “We found each other again. Seems to me like we were simply meant to be.”

“Please,” she waved me off. “I don't believe in fate and neither do you. We haven't raised you to spout nonsense like that. Your father and I have gotten hundreds of couples together that never would have found each other if left up to fate. I should be able to do the same for my children. I am able to do that. This omega girl I found you, you should have—”

“I'm not interested, Mother.”

She sighed as if I was being difficult. Like I was still six years old and didn't want to eat my veggies. “How can you say that when you haven't even met her?”

“I know because Nick is all I could ever need. He's the only one for me.”

My mother shook her head and left the kitchen. I decided to be happy about my victory rather than worry about how easy it had been to say those words with absolute conviction.