Wyatt smiled wanly, his hair gleaming golden on his pillow. “Somehow, I don’t think regional managers operate out of small towns, Raph.”
Raph sighed. He’d been turning over the options in his mind: Wyatt and Hazel moving out to Highton with him, or him leaving his job, returning to his hometown. Both would incur expenses. At the back of his mind, Raph wondered if Wyatt would do better with a different alpha, someone who wouldn’t fail him like Raph seemed to keep doing.
Wyatt leaned in, curling into Raph’s side. The bump of his belly nudged against Raph’s hip, and Raph imagined their baby, already the size of his hand. He couldn’t abandon their child. And Hazel. And especially not his omega.
If Wyatt even wanted to be his.
“You’ve never—never bitten me,” Raph said, his heart pattering.
Wyatt’s gaze slid over to Raph’s neck, where the skin over his scent gland was still unmarked. Then he looked away, running his hand down his belly. “I don’t know. You said I don’t have to.”
Yeah, well. Right now, Raph almost regretted that. He didn’t want to ask Wyatt, and make it sound like he was pressuring Wyatt into the bonding. But he couldn’t help blurting, “Do you think of me as your alpha?”
Wyatt looked back at him, the corners of his lips twitching up. He eased his elbow beneath himself, swung his leg over Raph’s hip, and straddled Raph, the damp skin of his ass rubbing down on Raph’s abs.
He was beautiful like that, his skin creamy, his belly half as round as a basketball, a dark line following the dusting of hair down his belly. The faint silver scar stretched horizontally above his pubic hair, six inches across, and Raph trailed his thumb over it.
“You have every right to touch me,” Wyatt murmured, holding his hands out. “Doesn’t that make you my alpha?”
“You haven’t left your mark on me.” Raph stroked the velvety skin of his thighs, the curve of his belly, his heart beating too loud.
Wyatt leaned in with a rustle of air, his belly pushing up against Raph’s abs, his hands coming up to cradle Raph’s face. “I still don’t believe I deserve you,” Wyatt whispered, kissing Raph’s jaw. “I’m used goods, Raph. I’m not an omega you can have publicly by your side.”
“I don’t need to be seen in public.” But he had his responsibilities at work, and he’d never once showed up at his office parties with an omega. Except now people at work knew he had a partner, even if they hadn’t asked who Wyatt was. “Do you want to be my omega?”
Wyatt paused with his mouth half-open. Raph’s heart sank. Whatever they’d built over the past five months... it had been a game. They’d been playing pretend, hoping they didn’t have to make a decision until the baby was born.
He cupped Wyatt’s belly, holding their baby between them. “You don’t have to answer,” he said, brushing his fingers over the scar. “You had a C-section with Hazel?”
Wyatt sighed, leaning into Raph. “Yeah. She was taking too long. The doctor wanted me to have a C-section and I... didn’t know better. She had trouble breathing at first because of it. Gods, I should’ve done my research. I mean, I was eighteen at the time, but you’d think...”
Raph frowned. “Just because the doc wanted it?”
Wyatt nodded.
“Were you alone?”
“For most of it, yeah.”
I should’ve been there. Raph closed his eyes, hugging Wyatt close. How had Wy gone through all of that by himself? Why had Raph been such a damn coward, staying away instead of reaching out? He buried his nose in Wyatt’s hair, breathing in old sweat and magnolia. “I’ll be there this time,” he said. “If you want me to.”
Wyatt nodded, pressing his face against Raph’s neck. “I’ve been thinking about a natural birth with the baby. If the doctor allows it.”
Raph froze. He’d read up on it some. “There’s risks if you go that way. Rupturing and all that.”
It raised the chances of infant mortality. Raph looked down at the swell of Wyatt’s belly, his heart heavy with dread. I don’t want our baby to die.
Unlike months ago, when he’d asked if Wyatt would abort the child. Raph shivered, just thinking about that. If Wyatt had gone ahead and tried an abortion, Raph would’ve been kicking himself right now.
He’d seen the baby on the ultrasound screen, held his palm against Wyatt’s abdomen. When he cradled Wyatt’s belly, he was so very close to touching their baby.
It was so real. And it was theirs.
Wyatt sagged against him. “I want to have a choice this time, Raph. I want whatever’s best for our baby.”
“I’ll be there with you,” Raph whispered, pressing kisses all over his face. “Promise.”
“Thank you.”
With all Wyatt had been through... it was selfish of Raph to make him move. He shouldn’t be uprooting Wyatt and his family, when Wyatt would have the birth to recover from, and an infant to nurse. Wyatt’s restaurant was here—the business he’d spent so long building from the ground up.
“I’ll put in an application for a transfer,” Raph said, kissing Wyatt on the lips. “First thing on Monday.”
Still didn’t solve the debt, but it was a step forward.
“I love you,” Wyatt murmured, his eyes warm. “You’re doing too much for me, Raph.”
“For the baby, too.”
Wyatt blinked hard. “Yeah, I’d do anything for our baby.”
“What about yourself?” Raph brushed his fingers over Wyatt’s cheek, leaning up to nuzzle his ear. “Remember that you’re important, Wy. I respect you as my omega. You don’t have to be mine. I just... wanted you to know that’s what I feel.”
Wyatt sucked in a shaky breath, threading his fingers through Raph’s hair. Then he leaned in, kissing Raph sweetly on the lips.
Wyatt was his family, and so was Hazel and the baby. Raph swore he wouldn’t disappoint any of them.
“I’m rejecting your transfer application,” Grandma said the following Monday, in front of half the office. “I need you
