“Who wants to do some face painting? I can make you into a princess or a prince, or a butterfly...” I turn to the birthday girl, Daisy, grinning at how excited she seems. “What would you like?”
The kids start to excitedly talk to me, all at the same time, and I try to create some order as I start on the birthday girl first. This is what I love most, just having fun, letting these kids do something fun. While I’m trying to pretend to be someone who isn’t totally shitting her pants right now, I did manage to put on clean shorts today, for fear of being found out...
The kids here are mostly really young, though there are a couple of grumpy teenagers around too, but the party seems to really be for the kids. There are parents and uncles and aunts and grandparents around, but nobody seems to be paying any attention to the girl who’s entertaining their kids.
Most of the parents seem to be around my age, or slightly older. If my parents had their way, my first kid would probably be around the same age as the birthday girl, but, luckily, it’s less and less common these days to have Omegas marry before they finish college.
But at this party, some of the parents can’t be any older than I am, and their kids are already in primary school and I wonder for a moment what they’re thinking of their lives. If this was what they thought their lives would look like and if this is what they’ve always wanted to do.
Although... If they live in houses like these... Does that even matter? When you’re this rich, does it even matter if you’ve got a degree or not? If you’ve got more money than you know how to spend, why would it matter how much education you’ve had? You can just pay someone to do whatever you want them to do...
“I think the princess might need to drink something, before she faints from the heat.” A low and amused voice sounds from behind me, and when I turn around, I’m looking into dark brown eyes and the guy’s got an almost wolfish grin on his face.
My heart skips a beat, not from fear, but from how handsome he looks. Tall, built broad, almost like a wall, and his dark brown eyes are warm. Even though he’s grinning, it’s filled with kindness, no meanness in sight. Oh, crap.
I almost reach out to him, wanting to touch him, but quickly accept the glass instead, looking at it quizzically.
He lets out a low rumbling laugh. “No alcohol, I promise, just some fizzy drink I found. Didn’t think you’d be interested in sharing the sickeningly sweet lemonade with the kids.” He looks behind me at the kids. “You seem to be able to handle them pretty well.”
“Thanks.” I nod, taking a sip of the glass, the bubbles slide down my throat, adding to the bubbles already popping in my stomach. It’s definitely cooling, but it doesn’t help against the blush I feel creeping up my cheeks from the sexy guy who gave it to me.
“How do you do it?” He seems actually interested, which is odd for an Alpha...
I shrug slightly as I quickly avoid a cup of lemonade from one of the kids spilling all over my dress. “Practice, I guess. And if you keep them all focused in the same direction, you don’t have to worry as much about one of them going rogue.” I can’t help laughing as I quickly get one of the kids back to the group by offering them a pretty glitter pencil to use on their drawing.
The guy laughs again, warm and rumbling, nodding appreciatively. “Sounds like you know what you’re doing. Did you study for this?”
Stupid butterflies crash around in my stomach and I quickly try to drown them in the fizzy drink. This is not good, so not good. Before I can answer him, we get interrupted.
“Max! Max!” The birthday girl darts over to him and pulls him along to the table. “Look at what I made. You draw too!”
Max sits on a chair and pulls the little girl on his lap as she explains the drawing she’s making. It looks silly, him sitting at the small kiddy table, he towers over all of them, but it’s also adorable, how soft he is with her. He animatedly talks to Daisy and some of the other kids around, but as time passes I also feel his eyes darting to me from time to time.
Not good. I don’t need him to look at me like that. Not with that look of interest, that curiosity, because nothing good can come from it.
Apparently, Max has decided to join in on the kids’ party, as he doesn’t leave us for the next two hours, while I’m playing all sorts of different games with the kids. Having an extra adult around to keep them in line is pretty helpful, but it doesn’t take away from how he’s making me feel every time I catch him staring at me. As the kids are starting to look a little tired, I take my storybook.
“Who wants to hear a story? Who wants to hear Cinderella’s story?” I hold up the book and the kids all come running, sitting down in front of me, in the shade of a tree, since we don’t need any heat strokes. It’s pretty hot today, even though it’s in the middle of fall, one of those rare hot days. “Does the birthday girl want to sit in my lap? In the special spot?”
Daisy nods and comes over, pulling Max along with her.
