He had such kind eyes. He heard Nathan’s voice in his head, a little dazed with remembered bliss even all those years later. I left the baby with him because I didn’t want to raise him. And, oh, Heath, I know he’s in good hands. His father had such kind eyes.

Leave it to Nathan to think of little but himself. Typically infuriating and selfish. And yet Heath had loved him anyway. Desperately loved him. Maybe he’d been a fool all these years ago to hope that Nathan had loved him back.

Still, if he hadn’t loved Nathan, then he wouldn’t be sitting here with Adrien, who was pregnant with his child. God, what an impulsive, beautiful, wonderful, probably stupid idea that had been. Now he just needed to calm Adrien down, keep him safe, and hope that…

Hope that what?

He shut down that train of thought. It was far too early for any hopes other than a healthy baby.

“You don’t have to be naked in front of anyone. I’ll find a robe for you, something light that hopefully won’t bother your skin, and you can wear that when Simon is around. How many people you see while you’re here is up to you. As for whether I want you to be naked with my friends? That’s nonnegotiable. You will never be naked in front of my friends. Or any alphas, period.”

Adrien swallowed hard. “Never?”

“So long as you’re with me, I will be the only alpha to see your flesh.”

Adrien nodded. “I’m nervous.”

“You were nervous in the cabin, and that turned out all right.”

Adrien touched his stomach, shivering in the cool night air. He sniffed the

rose again. “Can people see us?” He glanced back over his shoulder at the castle behind them. “From inside?”

“The only people inside are servants—all betas. But, no, this garden is built at an angle that makes it always just out of view from any windows.”

Adrien frowned. “But why?”

“Because I like my privacy.”

“You don’t get enough of that in this giant house?”

“This part was built on when I first decided years ago to court an omega and start a family. I intended it for my omega’s nest to gestate and birth our child. It simply took longer than I expected to find that omega.”

Adrien sniffed the rose again. “You didn’t court me. You bought me. At an auction.”

Heath hesitated, but his next words felt right. The heat crush had worn off, and in its place was his urgent desire to soothe his pregnant omega, and a small vibrant thread of hope that was sewing itself into his ridiculous, open heart. “Then allow me to court you now.”

“By fucking me?”

“Yes. By taking care of you.” He touched Adrien’s chin, bringing his gaze up. “By teaching you how to get through this.”

“All right,” Adrien agreed. “I guess I don’t have a choice.”

“Do you want a choice?”

Adrien chewed on his bottom lip and then met Heath’s eyes, heat blazing there, and a bit of sheepishness, too. “No.”

“Then get inside. I’m going to fuck you.”

“Then we’ll read?”

“Yes. Then we’ll read.”

Chapter Thirteen

ADRIEN DIDN’T KNOW why he was so surprised that every word out of Heath’s mouth relaxed him, or that the scent of him sitting beside him on the bench left him feeling open and agreeable. But it did.

“Am I supposed to be so willing?” he whispered as Heath led him by the hand back into the cozy living area of the nest. He didn’t let go of Heath’s hand, following him as he used dimmers on the lights to make the room not so bright. Then he let him lead him to the couch and readily sat beside him.

“Pheromones,” Heath said. “Like with heat, but different. You’re pregnant with my child. Your brain recognizes that based on my pheromones.

That calms you. But fucking you will calm you more.”

“How do you know these things?”

“They teach alphas all of this. And remember there was an omega I bred who miscarried. But, in the early stages, before it all came to naught, he went through similar feelings.” Heath sounded ashamed to bring that up.

“Oh.” Adrien felt a nasty spot of jealousy grow on his heart. What was that about? The other omega was long gone. “You built this place for him?”

“No, I had another omega in mind.” He frowned.

Adrien studied him, trying to decide if he wanted to ask or if his jealousy would make it too hard.

“I could tell you about him,” Heath offered, though he didn’t seem to really want to discuss it. “The omega I had in mind.”

In a flash, Adrien decided. “No. I don’t want to hear about another omega that you wanted to make a child with.” He touched his stomach, thinking of the life within. “Let me pretend that you had this all built for me.” He smiled self-consciously. “It’s easier that way. I won’t be here forever, and it’s a nice fantasy.”

“You’re a sweet man.” Heath pulled Adrien close. “I want to feel your skin.”

“Yes, okay,” Adrien agreed. Then he flushed hot all over. “These jeans!”

he complained, tugging at the waist of them.

“Take them off.”

“I, uh, haven’t showered,” Adrien said softly, tugging the jeans and underwear down and kicking them off. He realized he had bare feet and had been out in the garden shoeless. Where was his mind? “I should shower.”

“No. I like the way you smell.” Heath smiled, running his hands over Adrien’s chest and down to his waist. He bent in close and sniffed at Adrien’s neck, the breath tickling him and making Adrien giggle. Heath removed Adrien’s glasses and put them on the arm of the couch.

“You like the way I smell, too,” Heath said, unbuttoning his shirt and tossing it aside. He wore a V-necked undershirt beneath, and he tugged it over his head. Then he reached around for Adrien’s nape and hauled him in.

“Sniff,” he ordered, holding Adrien’s face to his armpit. “Take a good, deep breath.”

As Adrien did, the sweaty scent of Heath’s pits filling his nostrils, he felt tension leach out of him.

“There,” Heath murmured.

“You’re more open here,” Adrien said when Heath released him and began to undress. “In the cabin, you were more closed off.”

Heath paused, bent over taking off his shoes and socks. He shoved them behind the giant ottoman serving as a kind of coffee table and then worked on undoing his pants. “I wasn’t sure if the pregnancy would take.” He sounded gruff now, like his throat was tight, and Adrien wondered if he was holding something back. “I didn’t want to feel…” He cleared his throat. “I wasn’t sure if an investment would be necessary. Now I know. You’re mine for the next few months. And I’m yours.”

He stripped naked as Adrien sat on the sofa and watched. Adrien’s cock throbbed and rose up against his stomach, and he shuddered in anticipation as Heath revealed his hairy chest, his buttocks, and the muscular thighs that Adrien remembered holding him open, while the giant cock, rising from a thick riot of pubes, had plowed into him.

He felt himself leak slick. Not nearly as much as during heat, but enough.

His nipples tingled and his balls rushed with omega fluid—devoid of sperm, but thick and pleasurable to spurt at orgasm. He might be ignorant of a lot of things about being pregnant, but he knew that omegas were sterile.

Heath sat down beside him and spread his legs. “C’mon, little one. Ride me,” he ordered.

Adrien’s thighs shook as he scrambled to obey. He straddled Heath’s hips and held himself upright with two hands on Heath’s shoulders. He gazed down at Heath’s face, staring into his gray eyes as he slowly lowered down until the tip of Heath’s huge cock pushed against his hole.

“Slick enough?” Heath asked. “Or should I finger you?”

The question alone made Adrien convulse and release another rush of slick, so that it slipped down his thighs and coated Heath’s cock.

“Slick enough, then.” Heath’s gravelly rasp sent shivers up and down Adrien’s spine.

Adrien threw his head back, a low moan escaping him, as Heath shoved in. Slow and hard, long and deep, until Adrien sat against his thighs with Heath’s cock buried balls deep. Adrien shifted experimentally and shuddered all over, his cock leaking pre-cum against his belly and smearing Heath’s, too.