“Prep for the baby? I don’t know. Stay home and let me fuck you.” Valen laughed, and Sam couldn’t help chuckling. Even Harris smiled.
“Only thinks about sex, that kid,” Harris muttered, shaking his head.
“So do you, except you don’t say it like I do.” Valen dragged his toes down Harris’ side.
Sam almost asked, But how do the two of you have sex? Except it was a very personal question, wasn’t it?
He squirmed, pressing a kiss to Valen’s cheek. “I should go, um, get ready for work. I told Wyatt I’d be in early today.”
“I’ll drop you off,” Valen said. “‘Sides, I’m going to the store.”
“Okay.” Sam didn’t know how to turn Valen down, when Valen was being so nice. Maybe he could live with two alphas welcoming him, until it was time for him to leave.
“In the meantime,” Valen said, leaning in. He pressed a slow, sucking kiss to the scent gland at Sam’s throat, the points of his teeth grazing Sam’s skin. Blood swooped between Sam’s legs. Sam gasped; Valen ground his cock against Sam’s hip, and all Sam could focus on was the thick, heavy length of it. “While I have you in our bed.”
Valen caught Sam under the knees, spread him open, and looked down at his exposed hole.
Sam groaned, his own cock growing thick. Harris was looking, too. And Sam didn’t know what to think, Harris seeing him open this wide. Harris’ gaze had burned down Sam’s body, more than once. Sam wanted him closer, wanted Harris to touch him, too.
But Harris only smiled, sliding his fingers between Sam’s toes.
“All yours,” he murmured, his fingers soothing.
“Mine,” Valen said. He leaned down and took Sam into his mouth. Sucked on Sam, sending a pulse of pleasure down his nerves. Sam’s breath punched out of his lungs.
He stopped thinking. Valen kissed him, stroked him, wound him tight. Then, when Sam was wet and squirming, Valen slid into him, filling him completely.
Valen was his alpha, and Harris, someone who cared. In this moment, in Harris and Valen’s bedroom, with two alphas touching him, everything felt right.
“So, Valen and Harris,” Wyatt said in the drive-in’s kitchen a few hours later. His nostrils flared.
Sam’s cheeks scorched. Wyatt could probably smell everything on him—Valen’s marking, the trace of Harris, and the lingering musk of sex.
“Valen said they’re firemen.” Wyatt raised his eyebrows. “You’ve never mentioned that.”
“I didn’t think I needed to,” Sam said. Then realized he’d screwed up, because he was supposed to be telling Wyatt everything. They were best friends. “I mean... I don’t expect this to last forever.”
“Oh, Sam.” Wyatt pulled him into a hug, his magnolia scent familiar. At six months, his belly was fuller, more pronounced. “Valen sounded like he was concerned about you.”
It was comforting to hear Wyatt’s thoughts, when Sam didn’t trust his own instincts. “You think so?”
“Yeah. He asked if I’d look out for you in the kitchen.” Wyatt raised his eyebrows. “Sounds like a good alpha to me.”
Sam blushed.
“Anyway... Raph scouted out the parking lot last night. We’ll do more frequent checks around the place, too—I can’t make it dangerous for my staff and customers.”
“We really can’t,” Sam said, touching his own belly. At a month in, he wasn’t showing much, yet. “Can you feel the baby kick?”
Wyatt grinned. “Sometimes. Here, he’s kicking right now. If you put your hand just over... Do you feel it?”
Sam concentrated, but all he felt was the warmth of Wyatt’s belly, and the cotton of his shirt. “Not really.”
“It’ll be more pronounced later in the pregnancy,” Wyatt said, his eyes warm. “Wait until you get there—it’ll be so worth the wait.”
That’s if I don’t fall badly again. Sam cradled his belly. Looked at Wyatt. “I’ve been tired lately. Valen wants me to work part-time.”
Wyatt winced, but nodded. “I’ll switch you to part-time.”
“But the kitchen!”
His best friend took him by the shoulders, peering into his eyes. “Your safety is important, Sam. I don’t want to force you to work when you’re tired. That could be a risk for me, too.”
It really would. Then he’d be a liability to everyone, and Sam had no wish for that. He squirmed.
“Look, tell me when you get tired—I’ll keep an eye on you,” Wyatt said. “I’ve been there. I know how it feels.”
A surge of gratitude rushed into Sam’s chest. “Thank you,” he said. “I just... I don’t know what to feel about this pregnancy. I keep thinking I’ll lose the baby, and then everyone else will go, too.”
It hurt, admitting that.
“I’ll be here,” Wyatt said, hugging him. “You’re among family, Sam. Don’t worry about the kitchen—I’ll handle it. We’ve been through worse.”
They had. Sam leaned into Wyatt, daring to hope that, maybe, this baby would be safe in his belly. That maybe he’d bear a healthy child this time, and that Valen would stay with him. And if Harris wouldn’t regret it, maybe Sam could accept him as the baby’s dad, too.
It took a while for Sam to adjust, living in a mansion. It was all so vast. Back in his apartment, the kitchen had been across the hallway. In Harris’ mansion, he had to cross a landing, climb down two stories and turn two corners, before he found any food.
Made sense why Harris had a mini fridge on the second floor, and why both Valen and Harris carried large mugs of water upstairs.
Hell, Sam wondered why they hadn’t already run drink dispensers up into the bedrooms, and maybe a conveyor belt for food, and perhaps even a pulley system where meals could be delivered straight to the bedroom.
Two weeks into his stay at the mansion, Sam found Valen in the kitchen, stirring a pot of soup.
He paused in the doorway, all thought of the savory dill scent fleeing his mind. “V-Valen?”
Valen turned. At least he was wearing a full-length apron, because he was wearing nothing else. “Yeah?”
Sam tried to speak. Except his mind anchored on the curve of Valen’s
