“Think about it.” Ian squeezed Brad’s hand, smiling.
So Ian was willing to share Gwen with him permanently, then? There was no going back after Gwen found out Brad was her father. And the anticipation made Brad’s heart kick.
Brad led him to the other side of the truck, pulling open the passenger door. Cupped Ian’s ass while he climbed into the passenger seat.
“Brad!”
Brad gave Ian a squeeze. Ian had a firm, sweet ass, and Brad wanted him, all over again. Wanted to tumble into their bed with Ian and make him gasp. “Just making sure you don’t fall.”
“So you say,” Ian muttered, but he was smiling.
When they were all in the truck, Brad started the engine. Gwen kicked her feet excitedly.
“How’s this for a birthday present?” Brad asked. “Ready to drive around town?”
“Yeah!” Gwen tugged on her seatbelt, leaning forward so she could see out of the windshield. It was a little high for her, but Brad noticed her gaze roving over the buttons and dials, the seats behind, the station alphas far below them outside. “This is amazing,” she breathed.
“Isn’t it?” Brad pulled out of the station, taking them on a slow drive around town, half-listening to the station’s radio.
“This feels strange,” Ian said. “I feel out-of-place.”
He looked uneasy, being in the truck. Brad wondered if Ian was worrying about being good enough. Few omegas ever passed the physical fitness tests to become firefighters—most of the staff at the station were alphas, plus a handful of betas.
Or maybe it was the way the cab smelled like a mix of woodsy alpha scents. Ian’s seat looked far too big for him—Gwen’s, too.
“It’s a half-hour ride,” Brad said. “Shorter if you want.”
Ian nodded, breathing out. He held Gwen’s hand as they drove, glancing out the window, shifting restlessly. He seemed to relax some minutes later, though, to Brad’s relief.
They took the scenic route through town, past the department store and the Apex. Gwen bounced. “I remember Christmas dinner there!”
“Do you?” Brad grinned. “Did you finish all your turkey?”
“I did!”
“She scarfed it all down the next day,” Ian said wryly.
Brad laughed. “If you ever get siblings, you’re gonna have to share.”
Ian glanced up, surprised. Brad figured he hadn’t mentioned the baby to Gwen yet. It made sense—Ian was a couple months along. It wasn’t time for the ultrasound, or for anything to be set in stone yet.
Gwen made a face, so Brad nudged her lightly. “What if you get a brother or a sister?”
“I dunno,” Gwen said. “Will they have to share my bed?”
“They’ll get their own beds,” Brad said.
“What about my breakfast?”
“They get their own breakfasts, too.”
“Then I guess I don’t mind.”
Ian laughed. “Oh, Gwen.”
He reached over and hugged her, and Gwen hugged him back. Brad took them down Main Street, past the places they were familiar with. Then he turned them back toward the fire station.
Gwen sagged when the red roofs of the station came into view. She kicked her legs, straining against her seatbelt. “Aww, already? That was too short!”
“That’s all, kiddo,” Brad said. “I need to get back to work. Sorry.”
Gwen whined and tugged on her plastic helmet. “But I’m a firefighter. I want to drive the truck. I want to do all the things!”
“Maybe some other time,” Ian said, rubbing her shoulders. “Let’s get you back to the childcare center.”
“But Toby got to do things the whole day on his birthday!” Gwen pouted, kicking her feet. “Benjamin went zip-lining, and Anna went to the racetrack! Why can’t I have fun the whole day, too?”
Brad exchanged a look with Ian. They hadn’t planned to spend the whole day with her—Brad was in the middle of a twenty-four-hour shift, and he’d already taken a day off for her cardiologist appointment next week. Ian had run out of vacation days at work, after he’d taken too many sick days to take Gwen to the hospital.
Gwen made a face. “It’s because I’m sick, isn’t it?”
“No, it’s not,” Ian hurried to say, his face falling.
“We have to work, you know,” Brad said. He backed the truck into the station, glancing at the side mirrors to get the rig aligned straight.
Gwen whined. “But Daddy!”
Brad knew Gwen was talking to Ian. But for a split second, it had felt as though Gwen was calling him Daddy.
Brad’s stomach flipped.
He hit the brakes, trying to process that. I want her to call me Daddy?
“You okay?” Ian asked, touching Brad’s arm lightly.
“Yeah,” Brad said. “Was just surprised.”
He backed the truck into the station, keenly aware of Ian’s gaze on him. Brad parked the rig, cut the engine, and clicked off his seatbelt. Hopped out of the truck, needing to distance himself from Gwen for a bit.
Would Gwen ever call him Daddy?
Why did he care so much, when he’d only known her for two months?
“Gwen!” Ian yelped.
Brad hadn’t realized how far he’d moved through the station, until he turned.
Across the garage, Gwen shimmied down the driver’s side of the truck, her fingers tiny on the handlebars, her toes straining for the next foothold. There was such a long way she could fall.
Brad’s stomach dropped; he lunged forward. “Gwen!”
But Gwen landed lightly on the concrete and tore out through the garage doors. “I can do things just like everyone else,” she yelled, her face crumpling. “I’m fine! I’m normal like all of you!”
Brad glanced at Ian, who was struggling with his seatbelt. Ian looked conflicted, like he was trying to decide what he should say to her. Or maybe he thought it was his fault that Gwen was born with a heart defect.
“Gwen, please stop!” Ian yelled. “You need to rest!”
Gwen ignored him, rounding the corner of the garage. Brad jogged after his daughter. “Gwen, get back here!”
“No!” she cried, ducking behind the station vans parked outside. “I’m just as good as you! I don’t have to go back to the childcare center! I don’t want to!”
It made Brad falter. “Look, I’ll come by tomorrow and take you out to dinner. How’s that sound?”
“But tomorrow isn’t my birthday!”
Brad rounded one
