Ex Match (Perfect Match Agency:
Springtime Book 1) Mm Farmer (Merry
Farmer)
Visit to download the full and correct content document:
https://ebookmass.com/product/ex-match-perfect-match-agency-springtime-book-1-m
m-farmer-merry-farmer/
Ex Match
Perfect Match Agency: Springtime
Book One
MM Farmer
EX MATCH
Copyright ©2024 by Merry Farmer
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another
person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please
return to your digital retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events
or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Cover design by Roe Horvat
ASIN: B0CR8GKZM8
Click here for a complete list of other works by Merry Farmer.
If you’d like to be the first to learn about when the next books in the series come out and more, please sign up for my newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/RQ-KX
Contents
About the Story
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Epilogue
About the Author
Acknowledgments
About the Story
Sparks fly when the Perfect Match Agency matches two exes who had a bad, bad break-up. But the real fire starts
after an emergency heat leads to a surprise pregnancy…
John
It’s been a year since my relationship with Michael imploded and my life fell apart, and I’m finally ready to date again.
Especially with my heat about to come at any moment. I never thought I would resort to a matchmaking agency to help me find
an alpha…and I never expected that alpha to be my ex.
Michael
My heart was in shreds after John kicked me out of the life we’d lived together for five years. So I when my therapist
suggested I sign up with the Perfect Match Agency, I was skeptical. And then they went and matched me with John. My John!
On top of that, what does he do on our “first date” but go into heat!
Now we have a far bigger problem than suddenly seeing each other after a year. We have a baby on the way and a mountain
of baggage to sort through if we’re going to build a life for him. Can we take this second chance we’ve been given and do
better the second time around, or will my family get in the way and ruin the best thing that’s ever happened to me?
Perfect Match Agency: Springtime is a multi-author gay romance series. The stories are non-shifter omegaverse, with
high heat and low angst. Male pregnancy is possible in the world. Each individual book can be read as a standalone, features a
new couple, and a satisfying happily ever after. Ex Match is the first book in the new series and features a second chance,
emergency heat, surprise pregnancy, learning to love again, working it out, horrible parents, and a happily ever after.
Be sure to check out the first Perfect Match Agency series as well!
Chapter One
John
“Okay, hear me out. Are you sure this isn’t the stupidest thing you’ve ever done?”
It was a beautiful day. The sky was clear and the sun was shining, but it hadn’t gotten too hot yet. Spring flowers in every
hue and shape lined the promenade of Kingston Park, giving the world a fresh and new feel. I was dressed in a pair of skinny
jeans and a nice shirt that made me look way hotter than I usually felt, as an elementary school teacher. Birds were even singing
along to a group of musicians sitting off in the grass, closer to the line of restaurants that bordered the park on the west side,
giving those of us out enjoying the day an impromptu concert.
And my brother, Todd, had to toss a big, fat fly in the ointment of it all by suggesting I was nuts.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Todd went on when he saw my sharp frown. “I’m all for you moving on and dating again. The
break-up was a year ago, after all, and you’ve done nothing but sulk in all that time.”
“I have not sulked,” I muttered, sulking and adjusting my glasses.
“But signing up for a matchmaking agency?” Todd went on as if I hadn’t spoken.
“The Perfect Match Agency is one of the best companies of its kind for matching omegas and alphas,” I argued, drawing a
little from their website, which I’d pored over for days, maybe weeks, before taking the plunge and signing up with them.
“They have an astounding track record of pairing couples successfully. And since they’ve adjusted and recalibrated their
matchmaking algorithms, they’ve started doing all sorts of matches—polyamorous matches, alphas with alphas, omegas with
omegas.”
Todd stopped pushing the stroller his toddler son, my nephew Aiden, was napping in and stared hard at me. “Are you
coming out to me?” he asked. “Are you looking for another omega now? Or did Michael mess you up so badly that you’re
looking for two alphas to make up for the damage he did?”
I huffed and shook my head. “Michael did not mess me up,” I lied. I crossed my arms over my chest to hide the way my
heart thundered and rolled at the mention of my ex. “We had a great five years, things went south, and I broke it off before
everything got really bad.”
“Mmm hmm,” Todd said, giving me the side-eye.
He didn’t say more. Stopping the stroller had caused Aiden to wake up suddenly from his nap, something he wasn’t too
pleased about. As Aiden started to fuss, then wail in panic, Todd walked around to unstrap him and pick him up.
“It’s okay, baby,” Todd cooed. “I’m right here. Uncle John is here too, and even though he’s in crazy denial about his love
life and motivations, he still loves you.”
I rolled my eyes when Todd shot me a teasing look. “I’m not in denial about anything. And most of my life is just fine, thank
you very much. I’ve even been interviewing for head teacher for my unit for next year.”
“Ooh,” Todd said, bouncing a little to calm Aiden. “Fancy.”
“I’m pretty likely to get it, too,” I added.
What I didn’t add was that being a shoo-in for head teacher of my unit was feeling more and more like a hollow victory. I
was only twenty-five and would be one of the youngest head teachers the school had ever had. The position came with a
significant salary increase. I might even be able to move out of the apartment Michael and I had shared for five years, and that
I’d schlepped around by myself for the last year, and buy a house.
But taking care of other people’s children, no matter how much I loved it and felt it was important, was beginning to feel
more and more like a substitute for ever having my own kids.
I wanted my own kids. A lot of them. Desperately. That wouldn’t happen if I was single.
Driving the knife even harder into my heart, as soon as Aiden settled a little, he twisted in Todd’s arms and reached out to
me with a plaintive cry.
“I’ve got you, Bubba,” I said, stepping in to take Aiden from Todd’s arms.
It felt wonderful to have a squirmy, slightly stinky toddler, his face pink from napping and brief tears, snuggle into me and
throw his arms around my neck.
I wanted a baby so badly I could practically feel my heat trying to jump-start to make it possible.
“Okay, maybe I do see why you would resort to something as gauche as a matchmaking agency to find yourself a baby-
daddy,” Todd said with a teasing look. He moved around to the other side of the stroller, and we started walking again. “But
you could have asked me and Graham to set you up with someone.”
I shook my head. “I don’t have time to mess around with casual dating,” I said, rubbing Aiden’s back as he rested his head
against my shoulder, still waking up. “My heat is coming any day now, and I don’t want to spend it with a complete stranger.”
“So you’ve signed on with a matchmaking agency?” Todd asked with a frown. “I don’t understand how that’s any different
from nabbing some random stranger off the street and bonking your way through heat with them.”
“It’s different because Perfect Match does all sorts of scientific stuff, along with having us fill out a long questionnaire, and
matches us with someone we’re almost guaranteed to get along with,” I said.
“And that’s where we’re going now,” Todd said, his voice a little flat. “To your first date with this alpha the agency
matched you up with.”
“Yes,” I said. The single word held a wealth of anxiety and expectation. It wasn’t really pertinent information, but I was so
nervous I blurted, “The agency recommends having your first date with someone you match with as highly as I’ve matched with
this alpha outside, because the force of natural attraction is so strong. Our pheromones could set us both off if we met in an
enclosed space, and I could immediately go into heat and him into rut.”
Todd’s expression said he still wasn’t convinced. “What sort of score are we talking about here?”
“Eighty-eight-point-eight,” I said.
Todd stopped again and looked at me. “You matched with some alpha with three eights?”
“It doesn’t mean anything,” I said.
Todd narrowed his eyes. “Wasn’t Michael’s number on the hockey team in college number eight?”
“Yes,” I muttered.
“And didn’t you two originally meet on August eighth?”
“Yes,” I grumbled.
“And haven’t you always said that your and Michael’s lucky number—”
“Is eight. Yes, yes, yes,” I huffed. “But Michael and I are over. We broke up a month after my last heat.”
“Have you been with anyone since?” Todd asked, arching one eyebrow and pushing the stroller on. “Even a casual hook-
up?”
“No,” I admitted with a sigh. “I just…I’ve been too busy to date.”
“Uh-huh,” Todd said with a sideways smirk.
“I have!” I argued. “And for the record, I’m completely over Michael. I have been for months.”
“Why did the two of you break up again?” Todd asked as we neared the far end of the park and the café where my date was
set to take place.
There was time, so I sighed and moved to a bench under a spreading, shady tree and sat with Aiden in my lap.
“He turned into an alphahole,” I grumbled. “He completely disconnected from our relationship. All he cared about was his
job and how tired he was at the end of the day.”
“He works for his dad’s company, doesn’t he?” Todd asked, coming to sit beside me and parking the stroller next to the
bench. “What do they do anyhow?”
“They’re an investment firm,” I said with a scowl. “They deal with high net worth clients and corporate investments.”
“Fun,” Todd said, smirking. “So if he went to work for what sounds like a high-powered company, how come the two of
you were living in that tiny apartment out on Gracechurch Street?”
A pang hit my heart unexpectedly. We’d asked ourselves the same question when we went to look at the place. Gracechurch
Street wasn’t exactly the wrong side of the tracks, but it was close to the inner-city school where I taught, it was near a train
station, and, well, it was ours.
It had been ours. Michael and I had decorated it together, we’d dealt with some plumbing leaks and shoddy electrical
together, and we’d made friends with our neighbors together. We’d spent my first few heats together there, too, fucking like
nothing else mattered until the neighbors we’d made friends with started banging against the wall to get us to quiet down.
I smiled at those memories…then my smile dropped.
“He lost interest in me,” I said with a gloomy sigh. “I was the only one putting any effort into the relationship. I started to
feel invisible to him. And everything about Michael changed. He didn’t like the apartment anymore and picked on every little
thing that wasn’t perfect about it. He criticized the way I dressed when he used to think my teacher clothes were cute. He…he
said it was long past time that the two of us grew up and took the world seriously.”
Todd crossed his arms tightly, shook his head, and made a tsking sound. “That sounds more like something his dad would
say than him.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t sign on to date his dad,” I said. “The Michael who I fell in love with in college is gone, and he’s not
coming back.”
“So you’re moving on,” Todd said with just a touch of sarcasm.
“I’m moving on,” I said with a definitive nod.
“Moo!” Aiden added, as if he wanted in on the conversation, too.
“That’s right,” I said, shifting my attitude, and my tone of voice. I forced myself to smile at Aiden and to take his hands.
“What animal goes moo?”
“Cow!” Aiden exclaimed.
“Yes! Yay!” I pulled his arms up in a gesture of victory, then dove in and tickled him until Aiden was laughing so hard he
nearly rolled off my lap.
I loved every second of it. Fatherhood called to me. My womb felt like it was throbbing in my gut, begging for an alpha to
put gallons of his seed in me so that I could have a child of my own.
The urge was so strong that a pulse of heat shot through me, and my cock started to get excited.
“We should walk on,” I said in a hoarse voice, shifting Aiden over to Todd.
“Why?” Todd asked. He checked his watch, then said, “You have another twenty minutes until you’re supposed to meet Mr.
Eighty-eight-point-eight.”
“I know, I’m just…restless.” I squirmed a little, picking at my shirt to waft some cool air over my body.
“Well, tell me more about this guy the agency matched you with, then,” Todd said.
My initial instinct was to tell Todd to mind his own business, but I needed something to take my mind off how I was feeling.
“I don’t know a lot,” I said. “The agency sent me a profile, but honestly, it was really generic.”
“How so?” Todd asked.
I shrugged. “The alpha is my age, he works in the city, and he comes from a good family.”
Todd nodded slowly. “Sounds good so far.”
I swallowed guiltily before revealing the detail I knew would set my brother off. “His name is…Michael.”
“What? John! No!” He burst into loud laughter, which unsettled Aiden and caused him to try to wiggle his way out of
Todd’s arms. Todd let him go, but kept his eyes glued to Aiden as he said, “You really aren’t over your Michael if you went
and chose another alpha with the same name.”
Aiden toddled forward, then sat in the grass and started pulling up weed flowers.
“I didn’t choose someone with the same name as my ex,” I argued. “The agency chose. I had nothing to do with it. I just
filled out the forms, did the physical tests, and their algorithms chose for me. The name is complete coincidence.”
Todd was still laughing, but he stopped so suddenly and sat up so straight that his laughter turned into coughing. “Oh my
God,” he said as soon as he could. “What if this Michael is your Michael?”
“He’s not,” I said with a deep frown.
“Does he have a different last name?”
I didn’t think it wise, under the circumstances, to tell Todd that new Michael’s last name hadn’t been given on the alpha’s
request. Just like I had withheld my last name to protect the school in case someone wanted to track me down.
“My Michael, which he’s not, would never in a million years do something as pedestrian as signing up for a matchmaking
agency,” I said. “Besides which, he clearly isn’t interested in being in a relationship. And the Perfect Match Agency is all
about finding relationships, not just hook-ups.”
“It’s possible Michael could be looking for a relationship,” Todd said with a casual shrug.
The statement hit me as anything but casual. If Michael was looking for a relationship, why hadn’t he looked for one with
me? Why had he checked out of what we had while the two of us were still living together, sharing the same bed?
Unless he just hadn’t wanted a relationship with me.
That thought hurt so badly that I could feel it like barbed wire squeezing around my heart. I’d done absolutely everything I
could to be the best boyfriend in the world. I’d taken care of Michael, made sure he ate and got exercise. I’d bought his clothes
and made sure he looked good, especially since his dad was such a demanding prick who routinely picked on him for not
looking the way a Fairchild should look.
If Michael was looking for someone and that someone wasn’t me…I didn’t know what I would do.
“Okay, I’m going back to saying this is the stupidest thing you’ve ever done,” Todd said, his voice surprisingly soft and
caring. When I pulled myself out of my spiraling thoughts and looked at him, he went on with, “You can’t go dating around
when you’re clearly still not over Michael.”
“I am very over Michael,” I snapped, crossing my arms and hunching. “He made me feel like crap. I have every right to
move on. And…and I don’t want to go through heat alone.”
“You just said you didn’t want to go through heat with a stranger,” Todd pointed out.
“I want to be in a relationship,” I blurted. “I don’t want to be alone, period. I want to fall in love with someone who will
actually love me back and respect me enough to care for me and contribute to the relationship.”
“You want to get married and have kids and live in a house in the suburbs and all that, like me and Graham,” Todd finished
my thoughts, saying the things I couldn’t quite bring myself to say.
I let out a heavy, shaking breath. “Is that so wrong?” I asked in a small voice. “You two are happy.”
“No, babe,” Todd replied, resting his hand on my shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with that at all. But Graham and I work
at our relationship. Hard.”
He leaned over and hugged me. I hugged him back, so grateful to have a brother who got me and could share my pain.
“It’s almost noon,” he said when he let go of me. “It’s time to go in there and charm the pants off the new Michael.”
I grinned sheepishly at his overly exuberant smile as we stood and collected Aiden. That took a little doing, as Aiden
didn’t want to leave the flowers he’d picked or sit in his stroller again. I ended up chasing him around a little until I caught him
and swung him into my arms. Aiden laughed, Todd watched us with a smile, and the world felt right again.
“I’ll admit that I thought it was a little strange when the Perfect Match representative handed me the paperwork for my
match and his name was Michael,” I said as we walked on. “I will also admit that it caused a little pang in me.”
“Admitting it is the first step to recovery,” Todd joked.
“Exactly,” I said. “Which is why I’m going through this whole thing. Yes, Michael will always be a part of me, but if I
don’t get out there and experience the world of dating and find someone new, I’ll be stuck spinning my wheels for the rest of
my life. I don’t want that.”
“I get it,” Todd said. “I know you don’t.”
“So maybe this guy won’t be perfect,” I said as we reached the edge of the park and the café. “Maybe this will just be a
quick fling that will act as a sort of palate cleanser. Maybe I just need one more Michael to get the other one out of my system,
and then the real alpha for me will come along and sweep me off my feet.”
“That’s the spirit,” Todd said.
I adjusted a squirmy Aiden in my arms as we reached the path that bordered the roped-off area where the café tables were
located.
“Maybe something good is waiting for me right around the—”
I stopped cold. Because at that moment, none other than Michael, my Michael, walked around the corner of the café, being
led to a table by a server. He was dressed in the black trousers and blue button-down shirt I’d bought him for Christmas a year
before, and his dark hair was styled perfectly. He was all broad shoulders and towering, alpha height, every bit as gorgeous as
he’d always been.
More than that, he had a bouquet of spring flowers with him, and as the server gestured to a table for two near the edge of
the park, he cleared his throat, thanked the man, and nervously set the flowers on the table before glancing around as if
searching for something.
He was there on a date.
Not just any date, our date.
As soon as Michael saw me standing not more than ten yards away, his eyes went wide. As wide as mine already were.
Because I knew. I knew it wasn’t a coincidence or a mistake.
“Oh my God, you’re kidding me,” Michael said, his shoulders dropping, incredulity radiating from him. “It’s you. You’re
John. You’re my perfect match.”
Chapter Two
Michael
“This was a bad idea,” I whispered to the dashboard of my SUV.
It was quarter to twelve, I was parked in the public lot off to one side of Kingston Park, and sweat was dripping down my
back as if it were a tie game at the end of the third period of a championship, with two and a half minutes left, and I’d just been
called for High-Sticking and sent to the box.
“This was a really bad idea,” I whispered again, gripping the steering wheel with my sweaty palms and contemplating
leaving.
I shouldn’t have been dating so soon after breaking up with John.
I shouldn’t have still been so hung up that I hadn’t dated at all since John.
“I don’t know what I’m doing,” I sighed, letting go of the steering wheel and leaning back.
I closed my eyes and rested my head against the back of my seat. Slowly, I drew in a breath, counting to eight, then letting it
out again, just like Kenneth, my therapist, had taught me to do when my anxiety set in.
Actually, Kenneth had taught me to count to seven, but eight was my lucky number, and it just felt better to count to eight.
I didn’t really have a problem with anxiety, but I absolutely had a hard time with my thoughts spinning faster and faster until
I shut down entirely when I was stressed the fuck out. Since nothing was more stressful than going on my first date since the guy
I thought was the love of my life walked out on me almost a year ago, or rather, kicked me out, I definitely needed something to
keep calm.
So breathing it was.
In for eight, hold for eight, out for eight.
I could do this. Like Kenneth had said when he’d encouraged me to get out there and at least try to meet new people, it was
just a date. I didn’t have to propose to the new omega before our drinks were served or start a family with him before the day
was done. All I had to do was smile, make polite conversation, and eat my lunch. Kenneth had even given me the tip that the
best way to talk to someone you’d just met was to ask them about themselves, because people loved to talk about themselves.
Except me. I did not like to talk about myself. I didn’t like to talk about my overbearing family and the enormous pressure
they put on me, I didn’t like to talk about my high-paying job working for my father that I despised, and I most definitely didn’t
want to talk about all the hopes and dreams—of playing hockey professionally and of living happily ever after with John—that
had blown up and disintegrated.
Yeah, I definitely needed to breathe.
In for eight, hold for eight, out for eight.
It was just lunch.
I imagined how Kenneth would smile and congratulate me at my next session, how he would ask me what reward I intended
to give myself for doing something that terrified me. I wasn’t sure I really deserved a reward, since Kenneth was the one who
came up with the idea of me signing up with the Perfect Match Agency. I never would have thought of meeting an omega that
way on my own. I didn’t really deserve credit when everything was handed to me like—
I stopped myself with a frown. That was the other thing therapy had taught me. I’d massively internalized my parents’
insistence that I had only ever achieved anything because they’d handed it to me.
My gaze flickered to the mini hockey stick ornament dangling from my rear-view mirror. My parents hadn’t handed hockey
to me, that much was certain. They’d been all sorts of disapproving when I made the team in high school, and even more
unexpectedly, in college. They hadn’t approved of John either, when we met in an elective art class we were both terrible at,
when we’d moved in together, and definitely not when John had torn my heart out and stomped it to pieces when he walked out
on me.
If they knew I was in therapy for it all now, they probably wouldn’t approve of that either.
The alarm on my watch beeped that it was five minutes ’til noon. I had to get out of the car. The mystery omega that Perfect
Match set me up with was expecting me at this cute outdoor café in five minutes, and I at least owed it to him to be on time.
I grabbed the flowers I’d picked up at the gas station on a whim and pushed the door open. Whoever this omega was, he
was probably going to laugh at me for bringing gas station flowers to a first date. Who did that anymore?
I remembered the first time I’d brought flowers to John. It wasn’t our first date, but he’d said something about how sad it
was that no one bought flowers for each other anymore. So I’d shown up at our next date with a big bouquet of daisies. John
had laughed and blushed and sneezed over the flowers, and after dinner was over, we’d gone back to his place and had sex for
the first time like the two of us had invented it.
I growled and pushed that bittersweet memory aside. John dumped me. End of story. Holding onto what could have been
between us wasn’t going to help me move on.
“I, um, have a reservation,” I told the young omega working at the front of the café.
He gave me a puzzled look, then said, “Oh! Right. You’re the guy who reserved the corner table for a first date.” He
laughed as he picked up two menus and gestured for me to follow him. “We usually don’t take reservations, so I was confused
for a second. But now I remember. We’ve got you covered.”
He turned back to wink at me as we rounded the side of the café building to the area of tables that stood adjacent to the
park. I wasn’t sure why I’d gone through all the trouble of making this first date so special when the omega I’d been matched
with hadn’t even given his real name. “John” had to be a placeholder until he met me and determined if I was worth the fuss or
not.
Then again, because I hadn’t wanted my parents to somehow find out I’d stooped to a matchmaking agency when they’d
been pestering me to allow them to set me up with one of their country club friends’ sons, I’d only given my first name, too. I
guess that was just what people did these days to protect themselves from—
At that thought, all of my thoughts froze solid as I glanced to the side and saw John, my John, standing right there. His
brother was with him, and in his arms, John held a toddler that had to be his nephew, Aiden, though Aiden had grown a ton
since the last time I’d seen him.
That observation was fleeting. The swell of emotion that hit me, hard, at the sight of John with a baby in his arms was way
more powerful. I felt it in my cock, in my core, in my heart.
He could have been my child. He could have been ours. If only—
Another thought slammed into me, knocking that one clear out of the rink.
“Oh my God, you’re kidding me,” I said, feeling the world tip on its axis. “It’s you. You’re John. You’re my perfect match.”
It was as obvious as day to me. “John” wasn’t a pseudonym to hide my date’s real identity, it was his name. John was my
date. I could tell because he was wearing his date jeans, the ones he’d bought when we’d gone shopping in the city a couple
years ago. He’d bought them because I said his ass looked great in those jeans, and he’d gotten them, but only brought them out
when we had a special night planned.
Shit. He was wearing his date jeans for someone else.
Well, for me, but he didn’t know that. I could tell he didn’t know that by the look of realization and shock on his face as he
handed Aiden over to Todd and marched towards me.
“You’re Michael?” he asked, kind of demanded. “You’re Michael?”
“Last time I checked,” I said, pulling myself up taller and crossing my arms. John had a lot of nerve to look at me like that,
like I was the one who had done something underhanded when he was the one who’d left me.
“What the hell are you doing, signing up with a dating agency to hook up with some omega?” John demanded. He wedged
his way around the barrier that had been set up to demarcate the café from the park and came to stand toe to toe with me.
“Okay,” Todd called to us in a voice that was way the hell too amused. “I’ll just leave the two of you to your little first
date here.”
I turned to Todd with a frown. John turned at the same time, which made Todd laugh out loud.
“Say bye-bye to Uncle John and Uncle Michael,” Todd said, picking up Aiden’s hand to wave it.
I wasn’t sure if Aiden remembered who I was, since he’d barely been two the last time I’d seen him, but I forced a smile
and waved at him anyhow.
Then the little bug had to go and blow me a kiss that seriously dented my crappy mood with sentimentality and longing.
It was a ploy, of course. As Todd turned Aiden’s stroller around and walked away, still laughing and saying something to
Aiden that I was certain was at my expense, I was too stunned to do anything. Like calling the date off and walking away.
Instead, I growled wordlessly, scowled at John as he glared back at me, then slapped the gas station bouquet square into his
chest.
“Here,” I said, leaving my hand there a little longer than I should. “These are for you.”
“Thanks,” John hissed, brushing his hand over mine as he fisted it around the flower stems.
He then stepped to the side, yanked out a chair, then plopped into it and folded his arms with the flowers hugged to his
chest.
“What are you doing?” I asked stiffly, shifting my weight restlessly.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” John shot up at me. “I’m having lunch. You owe me lunch.”
My heart ran riot in my chest. My emotions were as unsettled as a spring thunderstorm. I felt like I was in serious danger of
hyperventilating…but also like I’d been picked to take the final penalty shot that might win the game.
I hadn’t seen John for nearly a year, and he was every bit as gorgeous and appealing as he’d ever been. His honeysuckle
scent tickled my nose and caused an instinctive, sexual reaction.
Come to think of it, unless his cycle had drastically changed, he was due to go into heat any time now. He always went into
heat during his school’s spring break, and I might have just happened to notice an item in the news about city schools being out
at the moment.
“Well?” John demanded. “Are you going to sit down and order or are you going to let this poor server stand here gaping at
us for another half hour?”
I shot a sideways look to the omega who had shown me to the table. With an embarrassed smile, I shifted to sink into the
chair across the decidedly too intimate table with John.
“I’ll go get you guys some water and give you a few seconds to look over the menu,” the server whispered, his eyes shining
like he’d stumbled into the gossip of the year.
“I’ll have an iced tea while you’re at it,” John rushed to say before the omega could bolt, “And he’ll have a soda.”
“Actually,” I spoke up as the omega started to go, frowning directly at John, “I cut back on soda. I’ll have an iced tea, too.”
“Great,” the server said with a tight smile, then rushed off.
As soon as he was gone, I leaned across the table to John and snapped, “Do you always have to be so bossy? I can order
my own drinks—and buy my own clothes and decide on my own meals, by the way. I don’t always need you to do everything
for me.”
John opened his mouth to hurl something back at me, like he always did.
Then he stopped.
A wash of emotions flittered across his expression, and a vaguely lost look touched his eyes behind his big, horn-rimmed
glasses.
“You’re right,” he said in a too-quiet, too-calm voice. “You can make your own decisions.”
I nodded, then eased back into my seat.
John dashed my efforts to keep calm with a quick, sharp, “You certainly made your own decision to move on and sign up
with a dating agency.”
My eyes went wide and my pulse raced. The instinct to fight back, to challenge and confront and win the point was so acute
that I felt my temperature rise.
But instead of losing it, I took a deep breath.
In for eight, hold for eight, out for eight.
“My therapist suggested I sign up with the Perfect Match Agency as a way to help me move on,” I said, consciously keeping
my tone smooth.
A heavy beat of silence followed.
Then another.
“You’re seeing a therapist?” John asked. His voice was small and even, and his eyes held confusion…and other emotions I
couldn’t quite pin down.
“I am,” I said with a nod. I reached out to fiddle nervously with the edge of the menu. I already knew what I wanted, but
pretending to look it over gave me a much-needed break from staring at the beautiful intensity of John’s face.
He’d always been beautiful, what with his cherubic, blond curls and bright blue eyes. I’d always ragged on him for
wearing glasses that were too big, but honestly, they framed his eyes and the intensity of his expressions so well that I’d grown
to love them.
Just like I used to love him.
Used to.
“I started seeing one shortly after you kicked me out and left my life in shattered pieces,” I said. The words were harsh, but
I managed to say them in a flat voice.
John’s eyes went wide. “You walked out on me emotionally ages before I told you I couldn’t take it anymore and that you
needed to move out.”
The internal roar started up in me again. I was spared an outburst when our server swept back to the table with two iced
teas.
“Here we go,” he said in an overly perky voice, his eyes practically glistening. “Have you decided what you want?”
I wanted to get up and walk away and forget about matchmaking agencies, or omegas in general, forever.
I wanted to ask John what he meant by me walking out on him emotionally.
I wanted to go back two or three years, knowing what I knew now, and stop the good thing we had from ever going bad.
“I’ll have a cheeseburger with everything and fries,” I grumbled, handing the menu back to the server.
“And you?” the server turned his smile on John.
John picked up the menu…then did something that had all sorts of pings going off inside me. He tugged at the collar of his
shirt.
I’d been with him long enough to know what that meant.
“I’m not super hungry,” he said in a distracted voice. “But the beet and goat cheese salad looks good.”
“It’s one of my favorite things on the menu,” the server said, winking. He glanced between us, then said, “I’ll get that all
right out to you.”
It sort of felt like all the air at the table was sucked away as the server left, leaving me and John staring at each other, a
whole lot of crap simmering between us.
That silence went on for a painfully long time before I asked, “How have you been?” in a quiet, uncertain voice.
“Good,” John nodded tightly, staring at his placemat. “Not good,” he added, glancing up at me. “Okay.” He tugged at his
shirt again. “And you?”
“Okay,” I said. I realized I’d echoed him. “It’s been a rough year.”
John huffed sarcastically. “Tell me about it.”
I winced. “How’s your family?”
“Fine,” John snapped. “Yours?”
“Miserable as usual,” I said, sitting back a bit.
John flicked his glance up from the table. “You’re actually admitting your family is miserable?” he asked, tilting his head to
the side slightly.
I blinked. Come to think of it, I never really had admitted to John that my family was as dysfunctional as a paper screen
door. I’d always pretended they were awesome.
“It’s one of the things I’ve learned in therapy,” I said with a half shrug. “To be honest with myself. I can say it now; my
family is fucked up and horrible.”
John stared at me like I’d grown antlers. “Do you still work for your dad?”
I let out a dense sigh. “Yeah.”
“Why?” John practically hissed. “Why do you continue to work for him if you’re not happy?”
“Because not all of us have dreams that are as easy as getting an Ed degree and being recruited by one of the top schools in
town,” I fired back.
“You could have tried out for the Sutton City Panthers,” John insisted. “I told you to accept their invitation to practice with
the team. You didn’t listen to me. You never listened to me.”
He was flushed and dewy and his eyes were like blue fire by the time he finished.
That had escalated quickly.
It would have been so easy to fight back, like that old part of me wanted to.
Instead, I said, “I hear your frustration and your concern, and I will take that on board.”
John stared at me even harder. His eyes still blazed, but there was something else in them beyond fury.
Actually, I wasn’t sure if it was fury at all that I saw in him. And I knew better than to think the way he was so flushed and
starting to visibly sweat was simply anger for the way things had fallen apart between us.
“Who are you?” he asked with breathless incredulity, “and what have you done with my Michael?”
It was probably a slip of the tongue. “My Michael” couldn’t have been a conscious statement. It probably didn’t mean
anything. John was obviously still bitter and hurt. I got that. I was still hella hurt, too.
But I was also getting steadily harder as we sat there, close enough to scent each other. I knew what John’s heats felt like.
I’d called the last two before he even knew his heat had started.
It was starting now, and for the first time since we’d met, I didn’t have the first clue what to do about it. He wasn’t mine
anymore. It wasn’t my place to take him home and knot him over and over until we were both silly from sex.
“I’m working on myself,” I said, gripping the edge of the table to stop myself from leaping across the table and tackling
John to the ground. “I turned into someone I didn’t like before, and I can see now, way more clearly than I ever thought I would,
that I hurt you. I’m sorry for that, but you hurt me, too, you know. You made me feel like I was never good enough, just like my
parents, and then you told me to get out, just like they did.”
John let out a breath that turned into something between a whine and a moan. “I didn’t…I couldn’t…but you…you were
so…I can’t….”
He grew more frantic with each unfinished sentence, his emotions seeming to flash between anger and frustration, panic and
desperation.
Finally, he half stood from his chair, gripping the table, and said, “Oh, God, Michael. I’m going into heat!”
Chapter Three
John
Something was wrong.
Okay, a lot of things were wrong, starting with the fact that a matchmaking agency that was supposed to pair people on the
basis of scientific compatibility had plunked me together with the ex who’d broken my heart with his negligence. Someone at
the Perfect Match Agency had to have discovered Michael and I had once dated. They must have put us together as some sort of
joke. If I looked around, maybe I’d find cameras recording the whole thing for some prank show.
But I didn’t know anyone who worked for any matchmaking agency, let alone Perfect Match. And as weird as it was, I kind
of believed Michael when he said his therapist had recommended Perfect Match.
The fact that Michael had a therapist, that he had actually gone to see someone after things had ended with us was all kinds
of wrong, too.
Well, not wrong, but way out of character.
Had I messed him up so badly by telling him it was over and he needed to pack his things and go that he’d needed therapy?
The guilt of that didn’t sit right with me. It had me prickling with heat and tugging at my collar as I grew more and more
uncomfortable by the moment. I could barely pay attention to the conversation Michael and I were having as incredulity and
guilt and astonishment and…and some other emotion I couldn’t quite put my finger on raced through my head.
And then everything clicked into place right about the time I breathed in and realized the earthy, woodsy scent that was
starting to overpower me wasn’t the park in spring, it was Michael.
“Oh, God, Michael. I’m going into heat!” I gasped, starting to stand.
Of course, standing as the intensity of heat hit me caused an embarrassing gush that made me deeply regret wearing tight
jeans.
I suddenly couldn’t catch my breath. I realized just how badly I was sweating. My glasses even started to slide down my
nose. My cock was like some sort of punk rock star who had suddenly taken the stage and wanted to stand up and scream for
everyone to notice it. I felt like every set of eyes in the entire café, the entire park, even, were staring at me. Particularly the
alpha ones. I felt like every alpha in a mile radius wanted to mate the fuck out of me…and that horny-ass part of me that had
just gone into heat wanted it.
And then Michael had to go and wince and say, “Yeah, I kind of picked up on that.”
I leaned heavily into the table, trying not to instinctively lift my hips and ass as I gripped the edge and glared at him, and
demanded, “You knew I was going into heat and you didn’t tell me?”
Michael had always picked up on the first signs of my heat before I had. I tended to be hot most of the time anyhow, and
frankly, when we’d been together, I’d been horny for him more often than not. So sometimes it had been hard to distinguish my
ordinary responses from the onset of heat. He’d saved my ass a few times. Then stripped me bare, twisted me up, and pounded
said ass until slick and cum splashed everywhere and we were both insensible with lust.
Those images were not helping my current situation.
Michael blew out a long breath through his nose, looking way too much like his sire as he thought the situation through.
“What do you want to do?” he asked. “The apartment is closer than my parents’ house, and I don’t love the idea of taking you to
their place for your heat.”
“What?” I asked breathlessly, practically roiling on the inside. “What are you talking about?”
Michael stood and took a final gulp of his iced tea, cool as a cucumber, and said, “I’m assuming you want me to take you
through heat. It’s either that or go it alone.”
I gritted my teeth and stood all the way, glaring at him. “I could call a service.”
Without a hint of irony or malice, Michael shook his head. “You wouldn’t. That’s not your style. You don’t like anonymous
sex.”
Dammit, he knew me too well. Which also meant he had me over a barrel.
Over a barrel would be bliss right about now.
I shook my head to clear that thought, then was spared having to admit weakness and ask him to take me home and fuck the
daylights out of me when our server returned with his arms full of plates.
“Okay! One cheeseburger with fries and one beet salad with—whoa!” He must have sensed Michael teetering on the edge
of going into rut to match my heat. He flushed and gazed up at Michael like he would get in line for having him take him through
heat.
The sheer intensity of possessiveness that came over me and the way I wanted to throttle the omega for even thinking of
taking my alpha…made me want to cry in defeat. I was through with Michael. I wanted nothing to do with him anymore. We’d
failed as a couple once before, and I didn’t believe in going back again.
But in that moment, I wanted nothing more than to wrap myself up in his familiar scent and give in to the feel of his body
possessing mine. I wanted to go home.
“We have to go,” Michael said, stepping out from the table.
The server’s eyes widened as they dropped straight to the sizeable bulge in Michael’s trousers. “Would you like this to
go?” he asked in a breathless, saucy voice.
I really wanted to punch the man.
Michael didn’t answer him directly or play into his flirting. He took out his wallet, withdrew an insanely large bill, and
dropped it to the table before saying, “Sorry for the inconvenience.”
That was new. Michael never apologized for anything. Even when he should have.
I was so stunned by that single, uncharacteristic act that I barely flinched when Michael stepped over to grasp my hand,
then pulled me toward the front of the café and, I assumed, the parking lot beyond.
I didn’t think to yank my hand out of his grip until I spotted his SUV in the parking lot.
“You don’t need to lead me around like some incompetent virgin,” I groused. I had to shake out my hand, since touching
Michael’s skin for so long had it and my whole arm prickling with desire.
“No, you’re the one who’s used to telling people what to do all the time,” Michael fired back, a note of existential
exhaustion in his voice.
“What?” I walked around to the passenger side of his SUV, and once we were both inside and Michael started the engine, I
finished that thought with, “What’s that supposed to mean?” I thought the question was going to come out like a shrill demand,
but I was genuinely curious about what he meant.
Michael backed out of his parking space, then glanced quickly to me before changing gears and starting forward. “You
were always telling me what to do, nagging me into oblivion.”
I gaped at him, writhing and lifting my hips so that I didn’t accidentally drip slick all over his car seat. “I had to remind you
to do things or you would forget,” I said. “You asked me to, remember?”
Michael frowned, then stole another sideways glance at me as he pulled out onto the main road and started driving, too fast.
“What are you talking about?”
“Senior year,” I told him. “We’d just started dating. We were still talking about moving in together. You forgot you had a
paper due, and I reminded you. You got it done and handed it in, then thanked me profusely, three times in one night, if I
remember correctly, and told me that if I didn’t remind you of things, you’d forget where you left your head.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t mean that you should micromanage my life,” Michael sighed.
“You didn’t complain!” I reminded him, heat making me way more irritable than I might have been otherwise. “You loved
it. You said so multiple times.”
“It got old, okay?” Michael snapped back. He then seemed to rein himself in by breathing slowly, which was definitely
new. “It got old,” he repeated in a calmer voice. “Like you still thought I was an incompetent kid. I grew up, and I wanted a
partner, not a papa.”
I opened my mouth to…argue? Fight back? Tell him he was wrong and hurl some sort of insult?
It didn’t feel right. Michael didn’t deserve an argument when he was trying to help me.
“That’s a lot to process,” I said at last with a sigh. “Maybe after this heat is done.”
Michael just nodded as he drove on.
We spent the rest of the journey home in silence. Well, silence except for me whining and moaning and squirming as heat
overtook me. It had never come on so hard or so fast before. I was dripping with sweat by the time we pulled into the
apartment complex parking lot. Maybe it was because I hadn’t had any sex at all in almost a year, but I was so utterly beyond
sanity by the time Michael cut the engine and pulled the parking brake that I could have jumped him right there in broad
daylight.
“You okay?” he asked in a firm but concerned voice as he undid his seatbelt.
“Yeah,” I nodded. It was enough of a lie that I pinched my face tight, then said, “Oh God, I need you to fuck me so hard right
now. I can’t handle this.”
“It’s okay, baby,” he said.
That was it. That was all he needed to say to melt me like a cheap candle.
I whimpered and twisted to reach for him, but Michael opened his door and got out of the car. I nearly screamed with
frustration, but he jogged quickly around the front of the SUV to the passenger door, opened it, got me out of my seatbelt, then
swept me into his arms.
He swept me into his fucking arms, like I was some sort of prince he had rescued from a tower.
“Come on. Let’s get you sorted,” he said, shutting the SUV door with his foot, hefting me into a better grip in his arms, then
heading towards the apartment.
He knew exactly where my unit was in the warren of cheap apartments. Hell, he’d lived there for five years. He even still
had the key on his keychain and was able to open it without asking me for my keys.
He shut the door and dropped his keys on the kitchen counter right next to the door as if the gesture were second nature.
Because it was second nature to him.
“You’ve redecorated,” he said, marching straight through the tiny living room to the even smaller bedroom.
“No, I didn’t. I just bought a new sofa,” I said. “The old one was broken.”
The old one had a loose arm from the time about two years ago when Michael and I had gotten a little carried away after
watching a particularly sexy movie. As the credits rolled, he’d dove for me, flipped me to bend over the arm of the sofa,
yanked down my pajama pants, and fucked me so vigorously that the force of his thrusts had pulled the nails holding the sofa
together right out. We’d tumbled to the floor together, laughing our heads off. Then we’d continued fucking and I’d come all
over the carpet.
You could still vaguely see the stain.
I groaned, trying to spread my legs even though Michael was carrying me, and tugged at the buttons of my shirt as we
reached the bedroom.
“God, you smell so good,” Michael growled, his voice dropping to that deep, alpha register that only showed up when he
was in rut.
I fucking loved that voice. It had the slick pouring out of me and my hole trembling with need.
As soon as Michael set me on my feet, I twisted to face him and practically launched myself at him. I grabbed the sides of
his face, so, so glad to have the familiar contours of his cheekbones and the scratch of his stubble against my palms again. I
lifted to my toes and slanted my mouth over his, thrusting my tongue into his mouth, then I moaned at the taste of him I loved and
missed so much.
Michael growled and grabbed my hips, yanking me tight against him. I groaned so loudly that it broke our kiss as my cock
and his rubbed against each other. I hated that there were so many layers of fabric between the two of us.
Michael solved that issue within seconds. My head spun with how fast he peeled me out of my clothes, removing my
glasses and nearly tossing them onto the bedside table as he did. I was naked before I knew it, and with a few quick tugs and
pulls, we worked together to get Michael that way too.
“I need you,” I gasped, running my hands all over Michael’s broad, slightly hairy chest. “I need your knot in me so badly I
can’t stand it.”
I pressed into him, licking his chest and drawing one of his nipples into my mouth to suck it.
Michael made a sound that defied description. He combed his fingers through my thick, curly hair, then pulled my head
back and held it possessively as he dipped down to plough my mouth with a sizzling kiss. His tongue claimed me like I knew
his thick, dripping cock wanted to. I wanted it, too.
I didn’t have to ask for what I wanted. A second later, Michael grabbed me and spun me toward the bed, then practically
threw me over it. He positioned me exactly how he wanted me, on my hands and knees with my legs spread wide, and I tilted
my hips to him. I could feel the slick oozing out of me and running down my thighs, I wanted him so badly.
“Fuck,” Michael gasped, presumably at the sight of the state I was in.
His hands followed his eyes a moment later, running up my inner thighs and wetting his fingers with slick. He caressed my
desperate hole with one hand, then thrust two fingers inside, causing me to cry out with the pleasure of it. It felt so good that I
nearly came right there.
And then he dropped to his knees, grabbed my asscheeks to pull them apart, and buried his face against my hole. I wailed
with pleasure as he thrust his tongue into me, over and over, making obscene slurping sounds as he lapped up everything
pouring out of me.
The greediness of his tongue and the pressure of his fingertips holding my ass open for him were too much. I started coming
in hot spurts that felt like lightning striking me over and over. I couldn’t remember the last time heat sex had felt so incredibly
good.
“John,” Michael growled my name like it was some sort of obscene prayer. He stood, and without any preamble, he lined
his cock up with my soaked hole and pushed hard into me.
Explosions of pleasure sent me into another orgasm as Michael worked himself deeper and deeper into me.
“Yes!” I shouted. “Oh, God, yes! Fuck me, Michael. Fuck me deep! Yes, just like that. Put your babies in me!”
I would worry about how needy and ridiculous I sounded later. All that I cared about in that moment was Michael’s thick,
hot cock and the way it pounded into me, making me feel like all was right with the world.
It was brain-meltingly good. It was let the world burn around us, I didn’t care good. I didn’t care that Michael was fucking
me like an alpha possessed in a pose that wasn’t particularly high on intimacy. I felt like one of those omegas in the porn we
used to watch together who just wanted to be fucked and bred in as many primal ways as possible.
I gripped the bedcovers hard, lowering my head to the bed when I didn’t have the energy to do anything other than accept
Michael’s claiming of my body, mind, and, yeah, my heart, too. He let out a roar as his knot swelled, and in that moment, I
knew I loved him. I always had loved him. Even when I was angry and hurt and felt ignored and disrespected, I loved him. I
would always love him. He was the only alpha for me.
That soul-deep realization caused something way deep inside me to give up and open. I couldn’t put my finger on what that
was until Michael thrust a few more times after his knot filled me and locked us together and the tip of his cock pushed straight
through into my womb.
The breeding orgasm that hit me as his cum blasted straight into my womb, bathing and filling it until I was a weeping,
thrashing, pleasure-drunk mess was the best I’d ever had. It was like my entire being was gripped with pleasure and all I was,
all I ever wanted to be, was a vessel for Michael’s seed.
“Baby, fuck!” Michael cried out, curling over me and wrapping his arms around me as he continued to rut, pushing in
deeper and deeper. I could tell he was still coming, too, like his balls had saved up a reservoir of seed for a year for exactly
this moment.
He practically whimpered with his release, and when his balls had finally given up everything they had, he started to
tremble around me. A moment later, we fell, ingloriously onto our bed, still knotted, but unable to do anything but lie with each
other, panting, sweating, shaking, and stunned.
Best of all, I could still feel his cockhead inside my womb and the tight squeeze of my womb as it held his lifeforce.
“That was so, so good,” I gasped, eyes closed.
Without thinking about it, I reached for his hand and brought it to my slightly distended stomach. He pressed his palm into
my still-heated flesh, and for a while, we just lay there together, overcome by it all.
I might have drifted off to sleep, but when Michael laughed softly and said, “I guess the Perfect Match Agency knows what
they’re doing after all,” it woke me up.
Something else woke me right the fuck up, too. So much that my eyes snapped open and I went from feeling restful and
content to near panic in an instant.
“No,” I gasped, moving Michael’s hand aside so I could feel my belly. “There’s no way.”
“Hmm?” Michael asked drowsily, stroking my side. “Is the next wave coming already? I mean, we did nap for about fifteen
minutes there, but if you already need to go again, I’m good with that.”
He purred a little as he kissed my shoulder and neck. His knot had gone down while we were dozing, and he’d pulled out,
but that wasn’t what caught my attention and held it in an iron grip.
I scrambled away from Michael, a vaguely uneasy feeling washing over me. I knelt, sitting on my feet, and poked at my
belly again. Not that there was any way to be sure.
No, what made me sure was the fact that I wasn’t in heat anymore. My skin was already cooling, and the overwhelming
urge to mate was gone. It had been replaced by a bone-deep feeling of contentment and victory…and a need to be careful, keep
comfortable, and nest.
“What?” Michael asked, dragging himself to sit awkwardly on the bed across from me. “What’s that weird look for?”
Mouth agape, I glanced slowly up at him, eyes wide, and whispered, “I think you just got me pregnant.”
Chapter Four
John
I tumbled off the bed and reached for my glasses on the bedside table. This wasn’t happening. Instant pregnancies after one heat
wave spent with the ex who you’d tried and tried and just couldn’t make it work with wasn’t something that actually happened
to people.
“Okay, okay,” Michael said, shifting around on the bed to climb out on the other side, then pacing towards me. “Let’s just
take a breath and think about this rationally.”
“Rationally?” I arched an eyebrow at him and planted my hands on my hips before realizing I was naked with slick and
cum dripping down my inner thighs from my still-twitching hole.
I didn’t have to wonder what I looked like. Michael froze mid-pace and watched me like I was a beef Wellington he
wanted to devour.
Beef Wellington was his favorite special-occasion treat. I knew that because I made one for him every Boxing Day. I’d
made a pity Wellington for myself a few months ago and eaten a quarter of it before crying over the rest of it and taking it next
door to give to old Mr. Blount.
I knew it like I knew I was carrying our child.
I shook my head. “I need to clean up,” I said quietly, stepping past him and heading into the en suite.
“Do you need any help?” Michael asked, following me into the bathroom.
I glanced at him over my shoulder as I turned on the shower with a look that said, “Really?”
But my frustrated incredulity melted at the earnestness of his look. Michael was stunned, the same as I was. At the moment,
all he had to go on was my insistence that I was pregnant. It was my word against all the forces of logic and probability…and
he seemed to be taking my word for it.
“I don’t need help,” I sighed, reaching into the spray to test the temperature. “But if you want to stick around and get in as
soon as I’m cleaned up, go right ahead.”
Michael nodded and leaned against the counter, crossing his arms.
Fuck, he looked gorgeous, all sex-messy and waiting, watching me like he was about to get a show.
I forced myself to turn away, put my glasses on the counter, and step into the shower for a utilitarian scrub-down. But, of
course, my mind had to flash back to all the times in past years when I’d done a little shower dance and teased him by washing
myself really carefully as he’d watched. That had been our version of flirting. More than once, it had been the means by which
we’d diffused an impending fight.
“So how do you know that you’re pregnant?” Michael asked.
I stood facing away from him as I ran the soapy washcloth over my body, but I could imagine his gaze fixed firmly on my
belly. Or maybe my ass. Michael always had loved my ass. He said it was peachy and delicious.
A smile pulled at my lips before I focused on the seriousness of the situation. Michael had asked a genuine question that, as
an alpha, he wouldn’t know the answer to.
“I don’t know how to explain it,” I said, trying to figure out the best way to stand so I could clean out my hole without riling
him up for another round of heatless heat sex. “It’s like all the cells in my body just rearranged themselves to face my womb.
It’s like that breeding orgasm lit a match in me, but instead of burning down and going out, the fire is spreading.”
“Are you sure—” he started, then swallowed his words when I whipped to face him. He cleared his throat, then went on
with, “I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just trying to understand. Are you sure it’s an actual pregnancy and not just…wishful
thinking.” He got really quiet as he added, “I know you want to be a papa.”
I sucked in a sudden breath, and my heart pounded against my ribs. Michael had known I wanted to be a papa? He’d never
said anything. He’d always told me that he worked so hard because he wanted to make his family proud, but I’d never imagined
he meant our family. I always thought he just wanted to impress his parents.
I stayed silent as I finished bathing, taking a little extra time to wash my hair, even though it didn’t really need it, so I could
collect my thoughts.
When I finished rinsing, I stepped out of the shower, then nodded for Michael to get in, which he did right away. I grabbed
a towel to dry off, but instead of leaving for the bedroom, I wanted to be close to him.
“This is all really weird,” I sighed as I rubbed my wet hair.
Under the shower spray, Michael laughed. “You can say that again. Sorry, but getting my ex pregnant was not what I
expected to do this weekend.”
I scowled, then followed my first instinct to get resentful about that remark. It sounded a lot like the way Michael would
complain that he didn’t want to go shopping with me or help clean the apartment on weekends when we were together.
“Household chores are not what I expected to do this weekend.” I’d heard those words more than once.
Now that I thought about it, he hadn’t ever outright refused to help out around the house. He’d only ever said it wasn’t what
he’d expected. I was the one who had jumped to conclusions and thrown up my hands, vowing to do it myself, before I gave
him a chance.
Yeah, we’d been messed up, alright.
Michael finished showering, and I handed him a towel as he turned off the water and got out. I hung my damp towel, fetched
my glasses, but then waited for him before going into the bedroom to get dressed.
“The first thing we should do is go out and get a pregnancy test…or four,” I said once I had my everyday jeans and a long-
sleeved t-shirt on.
Michael nodded and walked to the bureau with his towel around his waist. He pulled open one of the drawers that had
been his like it was second nature.
Whatever he’d been about to say only got as far as him opening his mouth. “My drawer is empty,” he said instead with a
puzzled look.
Heat rushed to my face, and I pushed my glasses up my nose nervously. “It’s because you don’t live here anymore,” I
mumbled.
Michael shut the drawer and went to retrieve his clothes from earlier. “No, I mean, you could have put something else in
those drawers. You didn’t have to leave them empty.”
I swallowed thickly, trying not to think about how many times I’d told myself the same thing and start shuffling stuff around,
only to lose my nerve at the last minute. Those were Michael’s drawers.
“I guess they’ll have baby clothes in them now,” I said, staring at the drawer for a long time, then stealing a look at him.
Michael was studying me with a look that broke my heart. There was so much electricity in the air between us, so many
things that had been left unsaid or undone. There were echoes of arguments in that room, but also echoes of passion and
sweetness.
I didn’t know what to do with any of it. What I wanted and what I thought I should want were definitely at odds with each
other.
“We can buy a pregnancy test kit from the pharmacy on the corner,” I said, unable to come up with anything else to say.
“They’re not definitive, but I hear they’re pretty good.”
“Um, not to be that alpha or anything, but it’s been about one hour,” Michael said. “Is that enough time for a test?”
I shrugged. “I guess we’ll find out.”
Find out is exactly what we did. We left the apartment and wandered down to the corner pharmacy without saying anything.
I was too stunned and uncertain about what had just happened to my life, and I had a feeling Michael was the same way.
The pharmacy was one of those catch-all places that got its name because it had an actual pharmacist in the back, but it was
more of a convenience store in the front. I felt as embarrassed as I had when I had gone to get my first heat pads as a college
kid to hide the residual gush in case I had to leave the house between waves. The pregnancy tests were in the same section.
“Why are there so many of them?” Michael asked in a whisper, like we were in a library instead of a store, as we stood
shoulder to shoulder, staring at all the colorful boxes.
“I guess people want variety,” I said, whispering back, ready to duck in case anyone I knew sauntered into the store.
“Do any of them detect pregnancies on the same day as conception?” Michael whispered on.
My mouth twitched into a smile before I could stop it. I forced the smile away and cleared my throat. “Um, you have to
touch them, pick up the boxes, and read the fine print on the back to be sure.”
Michael’s eyes went wide with horror. “You touch them. I’m so nervous I would probably knock the entire display over.”
My heart squeezed hard within me, and I studied him for a second. Michael had a funny streak. I’d forgotten about that. I
hadn’t known where it was for the last year of our relationship. He got squeamish about weird things too, like wet dishcloths,
and apparently pregnancy tests. He was also capable of grand gestures, like bringing me flowers for no reason at all.
Where had that alpha gone? How had he ended up so beaten down in the last year or so of our relationship that he’d shut
down and I’d lost patience? Had it been my fault?
That thought was way too much on top of the possibility that I had a new life growing inside me. I cleared my throat and
reached for a package of pregnancy tests that said it had three inside.
“Let’s use this one,” I said, then stood a little straighter and glanced over the shelves to make certain no one was watching
us.
“Cool,” Michael said, nudging me to leave the aisle quickly. “We need to get other stuff too.”
“Do you need something?” I asked over my shoulder as I stepped out of the heat and pregnancy aisle and across the center
aisle to the stationery section.
“Not really, but if we get about five or six things, then maybe the cashier won’t notice the pregnancy test.”
My mouth twitched, and I only just barely stopped myself from laughing. I couldn’t stop my heart from swelling and aching,
though. Michael was too much. He was…lovely.
“Here. Hold this,” he said, grabbing a stapler from one of the stationery shelves.
“A stapler?” I asked, laughter trying to bubble up, but lodging in my throat.
“Yeah,” he said, moving on to the next aisle, which had a small selection of hardware supplies. “And this.” He added a
package of sandpaper to the things I was holding. “And, ooh, we need some of these.”
The candy aisle was across from where we stood, and he quickly added a package of jawbreakers and a white chocolate
candy bar to the pile in my arms.
“You know I can’t stand white chocolate,” I said as we headed towards the check-out.
“Right.” Michael nodded, then grabbed a twelve pack of my absolute favorite chocolate peanut butter eggs and added them
to the top of the stuff in my arms. “In case you get cravings,” he whispered as we stepped into the blessedly short line at the
register.
I didn’t know what to think or say or do. It felt like years ago that I’d been walking in the park with Todd and Aiden, but it
was less than six hours. Now, here I was buying pregnancy tests with my ex, who subconsciously remembered my favorite
candy and wanted to spare me the embarrassment of buying a pregnancy test by purchasing a ton of random items.
It didn’t help my urge to laugh at all that the young alpha behind the check-out counter looked at the two of us as he scanned
all of the bizarre items. “Sandpaper and jawbreakers?” he asked. “Is this some new kink I don’t know about yet?” He picked
up the box with the stapler and the one with the pregnancy tests, which were roughly the same size, and raised one eyebrow.
“Um, science experiment,” Michael said as he whipped out his credit card.
How I managed not to laugh was a total mystery. My heart hadn’t felt so light in years as it did when Michael punched in
his PIN, then swiped the bag from the counter once the transaction was done. I felt years younger, like I was still in college and
the two of us were just starting out instead of dealing with the tragedy of a broken relationship.
“That was kinda fun,” I told him as we strode swiftly across the parking lot and back to the apartment.
“Yeah, it was,” Michael said, snorting in his attempt not to laugh.
Hope burned inside me like it hadn’t in the entire year we’d been apart. I wanted everything to be okay between us so
badly. But by the time we made it home and read through the test instructions—which called for me to pee on one end of the
stick and scrape a skin cell sample from as close to my womb inside me as I could reach with the other end—the reality of
everything hit both of us all over again.
“It’s positive,” I said as I sat across the kitchen table from Michael, the test, candy wrappers, and staples littering the space
between us. Because, of course, Michael had gotten nervous and opened the stapler, then tried to load it with the staples that
were included, but somehow, miraculously, couldn’t figure out how.
Michael frowned. “Maybe it’s faulty?” he asked, his hands shaking a little as he attempted to load the stapler again.
“I’ll do another one.”
Half an hour later, the results were the same, and shredded sandpaper, some of it with staples through it, had joined the
rubbish on the table.
“A third one?” Michael asked.
The third one had the same results. Only by then, it was dark, candy wrappers, staples, sandpaper, and the remains of the
pizza we’d ordered had the kitchen table looking like a trash heap.
“We’ve got to face the facts,” I said. “I’m pregnant. And—will you please stop making such a mess?” I snapped as Michael
stapled the pizza box.
“I’m nervous, okay?” he fired back at me. “I don’t know anything about being a dad.”
“Fine! Then I’ll do this on my own.”
I knew it was the wrong thing to say, but I was exhausted after the longest day ever, reeling from the enormous change in my
life, and, in a twisted way, angry because Michael and I had had such a good day together, and it reminded me too much of how
everything had gone sour.
A brittle silence filled the kitchen between us. Michael set the stapler down a little too deliberately. “If that’s what you
want to do,” he said in a tight, pained voice.
I sagged into my chair and adjusted my glasses. “It’s not what I want to do. This is your baby, too.”
“I’m upsetting you,” Michael said, seemingly caught in his thoughts. He rested his hands on the table, then pushed himself to
stand. “That’s the last thing I want to do.”
“You’re not upsetting me, the situation is upsetting me,” I said.
“I get that.” Michael nodded. “I want to help, but I feel like if I stick around tonight, I’ll only make things worse.”
I looked up at him and even opened my mouth to say he wasn’t making things worse, but in that moment, between Michael’s
presence now and the ghosts of a dozen past fights nipping at my heels, wanting a reboot, I worried that maybe he was.
“How about this,” I said, standing so we could be more on the same level. “I’ll set up a doctor’s appointment for as soon
as possible. You can join me there, and we’ll learn the truth together. From there, we’ll decide what to do. But in the
meantime,” I sighed and rubbed my eyes under my glasses, “I think we need some time and space to process…everything.”
“Okay,” Michael said after a short pause. “I agree. I think a…break would be good for both of us.”
I pulled my hands away from my face and looked at him. My insides swirled with feelings for him, but there were so many
of them and they were so jumbled that I didn’t know how to pick them apart.
“It’ll be okay,” I said, trying to convince myself. “We’ll figure this out, and it will be okay.”
“Sure it will,” Michael said with a weak smile.
That smile vanished too quickly. Maybe it wouldn’t be okay. Maybe we’d broken up for unarguable reasons and the Perfect
Match Agency had been wrong to place us in each other’s lives again. Whatever the case, we were going to find out soon, and
then we had to deal with it.
Chapter Five
Michael
It had to be a mistake. The whole thing was just too surreal. Maybe John had gotten his timings wrong, or maybe I’d just been
so excited to see him again after so long broken up that I had imagined he was in heat. The box of pregnancy tests had to be
faulty. Maybe the waiter at the café was working for the Perfect Match Agency and had spiked our drinks to make us think the
results of their matching system were better than they were.
Yeah, that had to be it. That had to be the reason why, after only one heat wave—one amazing, incredible, one-for-the-
history-books heat wave in which I thought I’d seen God—John suddenly wasn’t in heat anymore.
That had to be it. The alternative was…it was….
I had no idea what I thought it was or how I should feel about it. Even now, five days later. This little processing break
John had suggested was messing with my head and making me come up with crazy ideas. It couldn’t possibly be—
“Michael. Michael! Quit your daydreaming and pay attention when I speak to you.”
I jolted out of my overwhelming thoughts so hard that I nearly fell off my office chair. It was Thursday afternoon. The week
had flown by in a haze. Dad had noticed and snapped at me more and more often. Now there he was, standing in the doorway
of my office, looking like a thundercloud incarnate.
“Sorry?” I asked, pretending I didn’t know what he’d said or that he’d spoken to me, like he usually did, as if I were some
reject he had to resentfully coddle to get me to do anything.
Dad scowled. “I said get your sorry ass out of that chair and come with me. We’ve got an emergency meeting about the
Tenderwell account in the main boardroom. Now!”
I stood, trying not to visibly shake as I did. Once I stepped out from behind my desk and pulled myself to my full height, I
took a deep breath. This was not going to go over well.
“I’m sorry, Dad, but I can’t make it,” I said. “I have an incredibly important engagement in half an hour that I absolutely
cannot miss.”
As expected, Dad’s eyes went wide and his nostrils flared as I defied him. “I beg your pardon?” he asked in a growl.
I walked over to grab my coat from the stand in the corner to give myself a few extra seconds before replying. “I have an
appointment I can’t miss in half an hour,” I said. “I can’t be late, either.”
I couldn’t be late, because if I was, John would probably read me the riot act, like he always had. He hated it when I was
late to things. Although after the surprising conversation during our date on Saturday, I could sort of see why. Maybe I had
grown a little lazy about things while we were together, and maybe I had once told him I needed him to organize my life.
Shit, the sheer volume of miscommunication that I could now see had happened between us as our relationship had fallen
apart was…embarrassing.
I wouldn’t let it happen again. I couldn’t. It was entirely possible that we had every reason in the world to try to sort things
out between us now. There had been glimmering moments of…rightness on Saturday afternoon and evening before anxiety had
shot it all to sunshine again.
“I don’t think I heard you correctly,” my dad said as we both stepped into the open part of the office and headed for the hall
and the elevators at the end. “Did you say that you have an appointment that is more important than family business?”
I wanted to sigh. This was going to go just about as well as I’d expected.
Which meant badly.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” I said, internally counting and focusing on my breathing so I didn’t react exactly the way my dad wanted
me to and give him more reasons to call me irresponsible and lazy. “My appointment is more important. It’s…it’s a doctor’s
appointment.”
Instead of the usual sort of concern and worry you’d expect a parent to have for their child, my dad narrowed his eyes.
“Are you sick?” he asked, like it was a personal failing.
“I don’t think so,” I said.
I refrained from telling him the appointment wasn’t for me, that I was meeting John at his GP’s office so they could run a
pregnancy test that was way more scientific than the three John had gotten from the pharmacy.
“This will go into your annual review, you know,” Dad said as we reached the elevators.
He punched the button to go up. I pushed it to go down.
The fact that, as the son of the owner and CEO, I still had to do annual reviews was…I couldn’t even think about how
rotten that made me feel just then.
Lucky for me, the down elevator pinged and the doors opened almost immediately.
“See you later, Dad,” I said, stepping into the elevator. “Tell Papa that I’m not sure if I’ll be home for supper tonight.”
The elevator doors slid shut before Dad could reply, but I could have sworn behind his glare I heard him mutter something
about grown-ass alpha sons living at home.
I rolled my eyes up to the ceiling of the elevator as the swooping feeling of its descent filled me. It matched everything I felt
on a cosmic level. I hated that I was living with my parents now. I hadn’t had the heart to get another apartment, alone, after
John told me to leave. It had been too much for me to handle. I knew where my home was and would always be.
Returning to the apartment, our home, on Saturday had felt almost as good as sinking balls deep in John’s heat-slick ass.
The homey scents of pine cleaner and damp that we’d never been able to get out of the kitchen cabinets had been so wonderful
it squeezed my chest with emotion. Or maybe mold.
Shit, if there was mold in the apartment and if John really was…in that way, he needed to move. We needed to move.
I shook my head as I exited the elevator and flung my coat around my shoulders. I still couldn’t let myself think this was
actually happening. And yet, at the same time, I was flying ahead to all sorts of plans and arrangements for my future, our
future, our future, as in more than two of us, already.
John’s doctor’s office was in the city, so I didn’t need to drive there. I took the subway for a few stops, then walked three
blocks until I reached the inviting, glass and chrome building at the edge of the same park where we’d had our fateful “first”
date over the weekend. The doctor’s office was on the third floor, and I scored some serious points by arriving exactly at the
right time.
“You’re here,” John said, a little surprised as he stepped away from retrieving his insurance card from the nurse at the front
desk.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I said, pretending to be casual.
John nodded and crossed the half-full waiting room to a chair where his satchel and coat were. He picked them up and sank
to sit, and I sat with him.
I wanted to take his hand to reassure him, since he had a sort of deer in the headlights look.
Instead, I said, “You okay?”
“Yeah,” he sighed. “I kind of wish it wasn’t spring break this week, because it’s meant I’ve had way too much time to
think…about things.”
He sent me a long, anxious, yearning look.
Fuck it. I took his hand, whether he wanted me to or not. We might not be together anymore, but I still cared about John. A
lot. Probably way more than I should. And I sure as hell was not going to let him go through this alone.
Our hands had barely touched when the nurse opened the door and said, “Mr. Wetherby?”
“Right here,” John said, jumping up so fast that he left me in the dust.
I stood and followed as the nurse greeted us with a smile and said, “Right this way.”
As was always the case at these sorts of appointments, there was a short burst of activity, John being weighed, having his
temperature taken, and being asked a few medical history questions, then we were shown into one of what looked to be about
eight private exam rooms.
“The doctor will be here to discuss your test results in a second,” the nurse said with a bright, expectant smile.
As he shut the door, I raised my eyebrows at John and said, “That was fast.”
“I stopped by so they could draw blood for the tests yesterday,” John said, drooping a little. “Not that I really need to do
this level of testing to know.”
I drew in a breath and held it for a moment to keep myself calm. Then I slowly let it out and said, “You still think you’re
pregnant?”
John nodded. The look he sent me killed me. It was like he couldn’t trust me, or like he’d done something wrong and he
thought I would be angry. Surely, after all the time we’d known each other, he knew that I would be with him every step of the
way. It was fucking wrong for him to think that I’d crap out on this like—
I stopped myself with another long breath. In for eight, hold for eight, out for eight.
“I’ve got you,” I said, smiling and offering my hand.
John looked at it with a frown, then up at me. “What did you just do?”
I pulled my hand back and curled my fingers into a loose fist. “What do you mean, what did I just do?”
“Just now,” John said, nodding at me. “The whole weird breathing thing.”
I ducked my head just a fraction. “It’s something I learned in therapy,” I mumbled. “Sort of a cross between anger
management and stress relief.”
A whole bunch of expressions flashed across John’s face. I couldn’t tell if he was angry or impressed.
“Which one was it, then?” he asked. I must have looked confused, because he went on with, “Were you trying not to be
angry just then or are you stressed?”
I thought about lying and telling him it didn’t matter, not to bother. But brushing everything under the carpet whenever John
had put me on the spot and shutting down was part of how we’d ended up here.
So I took another breath, then said, “A little of both, to be honest. This is a stressful situation.”
“And it makes you…angry?”
Dammit, John was trying hard to understand me. I could tell, and I wanted to rise to meet his expectations.
“For a second there, it sounded like you didn’t believe I would really support you through this,” I said. “It made me feel
like shit, like—” Fuck, I really was in over my head now. John continued to stare at me expectantly, so there was no way I
could back out and run now. “It makes me feel like you don’t trust me and you think I’m unworthy when you criticize me.”
“I—”
“It makes me feel the same way as when my dad and papa put me down and call me their worthless son,” I rushed on
before he could argue. “I have always gotten more than enough of that at home, so it really, really hurts when you yell at me for
small things, like not putting the dishes in the dishwasher or not wanting to run on the treadmill after a long, exhausting day of
work. I thought you were on my side, but you’re—”
I stopped myself before everything I was saying tipped into arguing.
John’s mouth hung open so wide that I imagined taking a slapshot right into it, then skating a victory round to celebrate.
Weirdly, that image dispelled a little of my tension, and when I relaxed, John relaxed.
“I thought I was helping,” he said quietly. “I didn’t realize I was acting like your parents.” He paused, made a face of
horror, then said, “God, your parents are terrible. I hate the idea that you put me in the same boat as them.”
“I didn’t mean to,” I said. “But you made me feel the same way.”
“You made me feel like I had to say something, poke you in the ribs now and then, or you’d give up,” John said. “You did
give up. You gave up on us. You gave up on me.”
“I never wanted—”
The exam room door swung open, and a jolly, portly alpha who could easily moonlight as a mall Santa during the holidays
walked into the room. “Mr. Wetherby, good afternoon,” he said happily. “And this must be your alpha.”
John and I had leaned in towards each other, but we popped apart at the arrival of Dr. Santa like we’d been doing
something wrong.
We’d been doing so many things wrong for years now.
“Dr. Hanley,” John greeted the doctor with a handshake. “This is Michael. Michael Fairchild.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Fairchild,” Dr. Hanley said, shaking my hand vigorously. “And what an apropos surname, too.” He
turned back to John, and without further ado, said, “Congratulations, Mr. Wetherby, you’re with child. Fairchild, even.” He
laughed at his own joke.
I laughed weakly, just to be polite, as the bottom slowly dropped out of my stomach. John really was pregnant. I was going
to be a dad.
John laughed, too, but his laughter was more or less hysterical. “You’re kidding,” he said. “You’re actually kidding.”
“Nope,” Dr. Hanley said. “The tests confirm it. You’re definitely with child.” He sobered up a little, like he’d caught on to
the fact that not everyone in the room was overjoyed at the news.
“But I only had one heat wave,” John said, blinking rapidly and looking at nothing. With his glasses, the gesture made his
eyes look huge. “You can’t get pregnant during the first wave of heat, can you?”
“It’s rare,” Dr. Hanley said, leaning against the counter beside the exam bed where John and I sat, “but it does happen.
Usually with long-term couples who have a particularly tight bond.” He paused, then asked, “How long have the two of you
been together?”
John gulped and looked warily at me.
I didn’t have the heart to tell Dr. Hanley we weren’t together, so I just said, “Coming on six years now,” in a hoarse voice.
Actually, that didn’t feel wrong. It felt entirely accurate. John and I had gotten together six years ago, had five years
together, then a year’s break. Now we were going to be parents. In the deep, pulsing places of my heart, I knew we were
together.
Hell, the Perfect Match Agency had paired us up with a score of eighty-eight-point-eight when we could have ended up
with any number of hundreds of thousands of likely candidates in their system.
“Let’s talk due dates and future appointments,” Dr. Hanley said, back to being happy again.
I only listened with one ear. My thoughts were spinning. We needed to make a hell of a lot of decisions, and fast. The baby
would arrive right around Christmas. John and I would need a much nicer place to live before then. I’d have to tell my parents,
and there was no way that was going to go well. Papa would probably kick me out of the house, and Dad might even fire me. I
could get another job, though. And since I’d spent almost a year living rent-free, I had a nice nest egg built up. I could
definitely—
“Michael. Are you even listening?” John snapped.
I blinked and sat straighter, realizing both John and Dr. Hanley were watching me.
“Sorry,” I said. “I was just running through all the things we need to do in the next nine months to get ready. We’ll need to
move to a bigger, nicer place,” I told John, just scratching the surface of my thoughts.
The exam room went dead silent. John pursed his lips and let a few more, tense moments go by before asking, “Dr. Hanley,
could you give us a few minutes?”
“Sure,” Dr. Hanley said, his happiness now more like uncertainty. “I’ve told you everything I need to for now, so you can
make your next appointment at the desk and we’ll get this ball rolling.”
“Thank you, Dr. Hanley,” I said, waving pitifully as the man left. “Thanks for all your help.”
As soon as the door was shut, John twisted to face me and said, “We’re not moving back in together, Michael. We’re
broken up. Remember?”
He could have just stabbed a knife in my heart.
In for eight, hold for eight, out for eight.
“You’re right,” I said, even though it hurt. “We are broken up. I spoke out of turn. It’s just that I don’t ever want you to feel
like you’re alone in this.”
John froze. The confrontational look he wore shifted to something filled with…hope?
“I’m sorry for snapping,” he said, almost like he couldn’t believe he was saying it. “It was a knee-jerk reaction, and I
apologize. You’re right. We should discuss the possibility of living together again for the sake of the baby.”
I let out a breath and my shoulders dropped. It almost felt like an overreaction of relief. But fuck, I was relieved. Instead of
getting into a fight, me shutting down, and John stomping off into a resentful corner, we were talking about things. I felt like we
would continue to talk about things.
This was all something we should have done years ago.
“Okay,” I said with deliberate calm, taking John’s hand. “Let’s start by agreeing that we’re in this together. Let’s start by
being clear that this is our baby and we’re both responsible for him.”
“I can agree to that,” John said, threading his fingers with mine and squeezing my hand. “We made this baby together, and I
want us both involved in his upbringing. But I don’t know if I’m ready to just jump back into a relationship with you,” he added
with a look that was almost apologetic. “We had serious problems. We can’t just forget about them, not even for the baby.”
“I agree,” I said, really and truly agreeing. “Whatever the nature of our relationship going forward, I want it to be a good
one, a healthy one.”
“Me too,” John said with a watery-eyed smile that shot straight to my heart. “I want us to be right again, whatever that
means and whatever it looks like.”
I smiled. For something that wasn’t a magic solution to our problems that instantly made everything perfect again, I sure did
feel good about where we were going.
“School starts up again for you next week, right?” I asked.
John nodded. “It does.”
“So how about we give ourselves some time to breathe and think, and we wait until next Saturday to get together and talk
things through?” I suggested. “My parents are out of town next weekend anyhow, so you can come over to their place, and we
can work things out then.”
John smiled. “I’d like that.” He huffed a laugh, then said, “The apartment really isn’t the best place for a baby, or a pregnant
omega.”
He sent me another one of those gut-melting looks that made me want to forget everything and promise him and our child
that I would be the absolute best mate and father he could have asked for.
But I didn’t want to offer John a fairy tale. I wanted to offer him something real and good that would stand the test of time
and make it over the rough spots way better than we had so far.
And it seemed like I might actually get a chance to do that now.
Chapter Six
John
The whole thing was just so unreal. Like I was having some sort of bizarre fever dream that I wasn’t waking up from, even
though I got up every day and tried to go about my business as usual.
I was pregnant. Michael was the father.
Michael was stepping up to take responsibility. He was holding himself accountable for his actions.
Michael had changed.
Weirdly, that stuck in my mind even more than the fact that I had a tiny new life growing inside me as I donned my colorful
tie and fun socks and set off to school on Monday. Michael had been seeing a therapist. He’d taken our break-up to heart, and
he was working on himself.
Paradoxically, that made me feel like shit.
I’d been the one to end our relationship in a fit, blaming him for everything and not taking as much responsibility as maybe I
should have. I was the one who nagged him without checking to see if he still wanted to be nagged. I could have initiated a
conversation or two about all the things that hadn’t been working with us, but I’d gone from zero to sixty and told him to move
out instead.
I was the bad guy.
Or maybe that was just pregnancy hormones making me way more emotional than I usually was. It was a definite
possibility. We’d sort of had fun buying the pregnancy tests, and eating pizza while waiting for the results. It wasn’t all bad
between us. Hormones could definitely be a problem now, especially considering how I broke into tears while one of my
students was giving his report about what he’d done with his spring break halfway through Monday morning.
I also ended up in tears on Tuesday afternoon, when Keith Crenshaw managed to read an entire paragraph aloud to the rest
of the class after struggling with his dyslexia all year. And on Wednesday at lunch when I realized my chest was starting to get
puffy and sensitive as it geared up for chestfeeding.
By the faculty meeting on Thursday, when Principal West pulled me aside as everyone was leaving to ask, “Are you okay,
John?” I knew I had to take action.
I let out a heavy breath, then summoned up my courage to come right out with it.
“You know that I usually have my heats right around spring break,” I told him.
“Yes,” Principal West said slowly, one eyebrow arched, like he knew where this was going.
I swallowed, then admitted, “I’m pregnant.”
A long, deep pause followed.
Then Principal West, who was an alpha, but a really understanding one, broke into a slight smile and clapped a hand on my
shoulder. “These things happen,” he said. “Omega biology is really hard to fight. I assume the alpha is your partner, Michael?”
Again, the look he wore said way more than his words. I was pretty sure everyone at school, including Principal West,
knew Michael and I had broken up. But that look of his also implied that there was a world of difference between an accident
involving my long-term lover and a whoopsie-daisy with a complete stranger, at least as far as continuing to be employed as a
teacher for nine-year-olds.
“Michael is the father, yes,” I said, managing a wavering smile.
I left it at that, though. If my employment with children really was on the line because of a heat accident, I didn’t want to
make it worse by saying more than I should.
“I have another meeting to go to,” Principal West said, “but we’ll talk about this in more depth next week.”
“Understood,” I said, then headed out to bawl my eyes out in the faculty restroom for a while.
By the time Saturday rolled around, the day Michael would have me over to his parents’ house to discuss the situation, my
head and my heart were a wreck. I probably shouldn’t have driven, but I didn’t want to either take public transportation or call
Michael for a ride.
What was I going to do? I wasn’t sure I was ready to be a single father. Michael said he wanted to be involved now, but I’d
been an absolute jerk to him. I was a terrible person. He deserved better. If he decided he couldn’t forgive me for dumping
him, if he decided to wash his hands of me—or if he stuck around and fell back into his shut-down, complacent ways—I would
be at a complete loss. And if what Principal West implied ended up happening, I’d be out of a job, too, unless I brought a major
discrimination lawsuit against the school district.
The teeny, tiny, horrible, awful thought that maybe it wasn’t too late to fix this mistake and become un-pregnant buzzed at
the back of my mind, like some evil wasp that I couldn’t swat away. It was just there, threatening, insidious, and terrifying.
I physically shook my head as the Uber I’d taken on Michael’s suggestion pulled up the long driveway to Michael’s parents’
mansion. I wouldn’t consider ending the pregnancy. A lot of omegas who had heat accidents did, and I didn’t blame them one
tiny bit. But I didn’t think I could do it.
That weighty question was the least of the things that pressed down on me as the driver pulled up to the door and I got out
and waved to him before heading to the front door. Michael had said that his parents were away for the weekend, but there
seemed to be an awful lot of cars in the drive for no one but Michael being home.
My sinking suspicions were confirmed a few seconds later when the door was opened not by Michael, but by Michael’s
older brother, Brendan.
Brendan swept me with a look like I was a solicitor there to sell him magazine subscriptions, then demanded, “What do
you want?”
I jerked back, my emotions swinging wildly between the impulse to cry and fury.
A second later, Michael appeared in the foyer behind his brother. “I said I would get it,” he snapped, clearly already at his
wit’s end about something.
I felt a burst of joyful relief at the sight of him as he shoved Brendan aside and gestured for me to come inside. I should
have felt anger at what was starting to feel like an ambush and a betrayal, or irritation that, once again, Michael had screwed
things up. But none of that even occurred to me. Especially not when Michael helped me with my coat once I was inside the
huge, echoing, marble foyer of the ridiculous mansion.
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, leaning close to my ear as he slipped my coat from my shoulders. “They changed their minds
last minute because Brendan and Sam decided to come into town unannounced last night.”
“Oh,” I said, sounding as shaky and unsteady as I felt.
“I sent you a text,” he went on. “Didn’t you get it?”
I fumbled for my phone in my back pocket. Sure enough, there was a text message waiting from that morning that I hadn’t
even noticed. Total pregnancy brain.
“It doesn’t matter,” Michael said, taking my other hand as voices from down the hall grew closer. “You don’t have to deal
with all this if you don’t want to. I won’t be hurt if you want to turn around and go home.”
I glanced up at Michael, forcing my mind and my emotions to focus. He looked stressed, like he always did when he was
around his family. And he’d been with his family for a year now because of me. He was trying, he really was.
I was suddenly reminded that the Perfect Match Agency had determined we had an eighty-eight-point-eight compatibility
score. That was really high.
Maybe we were meant for each other after all.
I wasn’t going to drop the ball and leave Michael in the lurch twice.
“I’m staying,” I said, squeezing his hand as I tucked my cell phone back into my pocket. I pushed my glasses up the bridge
of my nose once that hand was free, then took Michael’s other hand, squeezing both of his. “I’m staying, because we’re in this
together.”
A smile broke out across Michael’s face that I swore I could feel in my soul. In the five years we’d been together, we’d
never fully bonded, although we’d both had moments when it felt like we could. Maybe it was because we’d created a baby
together, but for the first time, I felt like a bond wasn’t only a possibility, it was already there, waiting for the two of us to
realize it fully.
“Is that who was at the door?” Michael’s omega papa asked a moment later, snapping the potentially positive moment
between the two of us.
I let go of Michael and turned to face Ira Fairchild, possibly the most formidable omega I’d ever known.
Ira was lean and graceful. He always dressed impeccably. Even though it was a Saturday, he wore crisp trousers and a
spring sweater that highlighted his perfect bone structure and icy blue eyes. He wore bangles on one wrist that tinkled as he
approached us and a gold necklace with a diamond pendant that should have been saved for special occasions.
“Hello, Mr. Fairchild,” I said, trying so hard to stand up straight and not be cowed by Ira. Or fly into a rage and give him a
piece of my mind for the way he’d always treated Michael.
Ira’s eyes went wide, as if I’d yelled at him anyhow. He crossed his arms, bangles tinkling, and narrowed his eyes at
Michael. “Explain,” was all he said.
Michael took a breath and inched closer to me, resting a hand on the small of my back. Dammit, but the borderline
possessive gesture should not have felt so good!
“Papa, John has come over because we have a lot of things to discuss,” Michael said.
“You’re not getting back together,” Ira said. “The best thing you ever did was breaking up with this insignificant omega.”
I gulped. Oh boy. This was how it was going to be.
“That’s not really something you have a say in,” Michael told his papa.
“Ira, what’s all this fuss about?” Michael’s dad, Royce, asked, striding into the foyer.
Royce was pretty much the poster boy for rich, entitled alphaholes. He was six and a half feet tall and built like a battering
ram, but the way he dressed in tailored, designer suits, even on a Saturday, made him look dangerously refined. Like some sort
of mafia boss who had just come from disposing of his latest foe.
He took one look at me and muttered, “God, not this again.”
“Could you stop saying nasty things about John, please?” Michael asked in exasperation. “And if we’re going to have this
conversation, which we are, because there’s a lot that you need to know, could we have it someplace where we could sit
down?”
Michael led me forward without waiting for an answer from his parents, steering me toward what I knew was one of the
formal parlors where they entertained guests. It was as stuffy as it was stylish, and its furnishings were designed to be
aesthetically pleasing, not comfortable.
But that wasn’t why I was as stiff as a tree as Michael and I sat on one of the brocade settees.
“You’re going to tell them, aren’t you,” I whispered as Ira and Royce, followed by Brendan and Sam, came into the room
and took up seats as if we were filming some sort of suspenseful family drama with a body count at the end of each episode.
Michael rested a hand on my knee, leaned close to my ear so no one would overhear, and said, “I don’t really want to, but
they’re going to find out anyhow, and it’s better to just get it over with now so we can deal with the consequences.”
I grimaced, but he was right. Dragging it all out would just prolong the misery.
“Are you back together?” Brendan asked to get the ball rolling. He and his mousey, submissive omega, Sam, along with Ira
and Royce, were all posed confrontationally, like a print ad for whiskey that only a billionaire could afford.
I glanced at Michael, no idea how to answer that question. We weren’t together…but we would always be connected now.
Michael nodded, as if he could read my thoughts, then turned to his family.
“We’re in negotiations about that,” he said.
My mouth twitched into a surprise grin at his phrasing. That was Michael’s funny side coming out again. He was even funny
in high-stress situations like this. Actually, he’d been really good about making jokes right before important hockey games in
college, too.
His family just sat there, waiting for more, so Michael cleared his throat and continued.
“The thing is, through a weird twist of fate, I ended up being in the right place at the right time when John went into heat
two weeks ago,” he said. His grip on my leg tightened. “Things happened, and, well, we’re pregnant.”
My heart melted a little at the way he said we were pregnant.
Not a single one of Michael’s family members did anything more than blink. They looked as cold and unmoved as stone.
Even Ira seemed blank, despite the fact that our baby would be his first grandchild.
And then Royce had to go and say, “Two weeks is nothing. You can still end it without any trouble at all. Brendan, book the
appointment at your hospital right now.”
Brendan reached for his cell phone in his back pocket.
“No!” Michael stopped him with a furious shout. “Dad, what on Earth are you talking about? I didn’t ask John to come here
today so we could get your help ending the pregnancy. We don’t want to end it. I don’t want to end it.”
Michael glanced at me as if he was worried he’d overstepped his bounds by making such a big decision for the two of us.
Not only did I not mind, I was suddenly so proud of him for taking charge that I couldn’t breathe.
Or maybe I couldn’t breathe because Royce and Ira were looking at me like I’d murdered their son.
“You cannot possibly dream of ruining your life with an illegitimate child,” Ira told Michael in brittle syllables that cut like
icicles. “You’re one of the most eligible bachelors in Sutton City. I won’t have you ruin your prospects like this. If it’s optics
you’re worried about, Brendan can perform the procedure himself.”
“No one will perform any procedure that John doesn’t want,” Michael said. “And I’m not interested in being the most
eligible bachelor, I’m interested in—”
He stopped and turned his head to study me for a moment. I could feel all the questions that were suddenly swirling in his
eyes. Was he interested in me or just in being a father? Was there a possibility we could get back together? That we could be
more than just boyfriends who lived together?
It was like our entire future and every possible outcome had coalesced into that moment.
I had to do something.
I cleared my throat and looked at Ira and Royce, meeting and holding their eyes in turn so they knew I was serious about
what I was about to say.
“This is my baby,” I said after a tight silence, peeking sideways at Brendan to include him. “He’s growing inside of me.
Any decisions about his future are mine and Michael’s, and ours alone.” I let that sink in before continuing with, “I want to
have this baby. I want this baby.”
Saying it aloud felt like unrolling a long, beautiful scroll that I’d kept furled tightly. Of course I wanted my baby, Michael’s
baby. Of course I wanted to be a papa, even if it meant my job. To be honest, Principal West would be a fool to fire me, even if
I’d sold my heat and been paid extra so the alpha could breed me. Finding teachers for inner city schools was no easy task.
I wanted my baby, and no one would stop me from having him.
As elated as I was with my epiphany, Michael’s family was anything but.
Royce sighed and reached for his phone. “How much do you want?” he said as if he were disgusted, without even looking
at me. “I’ll wire it to your account right now.”
“Dad!” Michael shot to his feet. “How could you?”
I rose shakily to stand by Michael…in more ways than one.
Royce deigned to look up from his phone. “You don’t need this, son,” he said. “You’ve got a brilliant career as an
executive in one of the most powerful investment companies on the east coast. You could have your pick of pedigreed omegas
from the finest families in the country. You’re not going to throw it all away on some knocked-up gutter trash.”
I laughed in disbelief. “My family isn’t gutter trash. We’re average, middle-class people.”
“Precisely,” Ira said, arranging his bangles with a slight sniff.
“Oh, this is ridiculous,” Michael said at last, throwing up his hands. “I can’t believe you’re actually putting social status
above life. Although, no, I should have seen this coming all along. You lot are as cold as the worthless diamonds you flash to
everyone whenever you go out.”
“Diamonds are not worthless,” Ira argued, looking offended.
“They are to me,” Michael said.
“If they’re so worthless, then why are you resting on them?” Royce demanded. I could see him sharpening his knives in the
ferocity of his glare. “You owe your entire life to everything your papa and I have done for you. I didn’t see you complaining
when we paid for your education, or when we agreed to let you live here after you came to your senses and left that one.”
“Maybe I do,” Michael said, figuring it wouldn’t help anything if he reminded them John kicked him out. “Maybe I have
been lazy, like you’re always telling me I am. But no more.”
He reached out and grabbed my hand. My heart raced and my insides danced all over with expectation. I could imagine that
Michael had dreamed of this scene for years.
And then came the kicker.
“I’m leaving,” he said, twining our hands together. “I’ll pack my stuff and be out of this place within an hour. And Dad, I
quit. You can find someone else to work at your soulless, predatory company. I never wanted to be an executive anyhow, you
forced me into it.”
“I have never been spoken to with such impertinence in all my days,” Ira gasped, sitting on the edge of his chair, but not
deigning to stand.
“Well, you should have been,” Michael snapped. “You should have been told just how awful you are years ago.”
He didn’t wait for anyone to fire a comeback or, God forbid, to apologize. He tightened his grip on my hand and marched
straight out of the room.
I burst into tears. I’d never been prouder of him in my life.
Chapter Seven
Michael
Whoa. So that happened!
My pulse was pounding as I swept John out of the room and upstairs to my bedroom so I could pack. Pack up all my earthly
belongings. At least, those that would fit into the suitcases I fetched from the room’s walk-in closet.
“Wow,” John said, sounding a little shaky as he helped me transfer clothing from the closet and bureau into the suitcases. “I
can’t believe you just did that.”
I laughed humorlessly. “I can’t believe I did it either,” I said.
I straightened after dropping an armful of socks and underwear in the suitcase and pushed a shaking hand through my hair. I
was still breathless, but not so much from charging upstairs in a hurry as from growing panic.
“I think I just exploded my life,” I said, feeling a little woozy.
“Hey, hey,” John said, leaving the armful of suits he’d just brought out from the closet on the end of the bed and coming
over to me. He maneuvered me to sit on the side of the bed, then sat beside me, rubbing my back. “You did good.”
Eyes wide, I turned to him and just stared. I didn’t smile, but a pleased flush raced up my neck to my face. If I wasn’t
mistaken, it sounded like John was proud of me.
“Really?” I asked, needing his approval way more than maybe I should have. “You don’t think that was the most ridiculous
and irresponsible thing I’ve ever done?”
“No, doing a keg-stand on the end of the diving board at Lenny Marx’s pool party junior year was the most ridiculous and
irresponsible thing you’ve ever done,” he said with a hint of a grin.
I belted out a laugh that was way too much for the moment. “That was really dumb, but we’d just won the city
championship and the whole team was celebrating.”
“Yeah,” John said, pinching his face just a little. “Let’s not remember how some of your puck-head friends decided to
celebrate.”
I remembered something about the guys pissing their names on the pool deck and pushing a few people into the pool.
College guys were really dumb sometimes.
I wasn’t in college anymore, though. Far from it. I had responsibilities, an adult life, and a child coming into the world.
“I quit my job,” I said, panic welling up in me again.
John shrugged and stood to continue packing. “You were an executive at a major investment company with your own office
before the age of twenty-five. I think your resume will look pretty good when you go job hunting. Half a dozen companies will
probably try to snap you up before the end of the week.”
I smiled sheepishly and got up to help with the packing. Not to brag or anything, but he was probably right. I wouldn’t get
quite the same lofty role that I’d had in my dad’s company, but I wouldn’t be panhandling either.
“To be honest, I’m not sure I even want to work in the financial sector,” I sighed as we made another sweep of the room,
grabbing random things that had sentimental value, or that I would find useful wherever I ended up.
“You’ve never wanted to work in the financial sector,” John said with a half shrug as he zipped one of the suitcases closed.
“You wanted to play hockey.”
“I wish I’d pursued that,” I sighed, zipping the other case.
John turned to me, mouth open, with an “I told you so” look in his eyes, but instead of nagging, like I half expected him to,
he stopped himself. For a minute, he seemed inwardly focused with an introspective look. Then he said, “Let’s talk about it
when we get home.”
I brightened unexpectedly. John wanted to talk about my life. Not dictate it to me, not complain about it.
We were so heading in the right direction.
I didn’t really have room for everything I wanted to take out of my parents’ house. We moved everything that I would try to
come back for later onto the bed. Maybe if my parents saw it there—more like if the housekeeper saw it there—they would
have it packed up and sent along to me.
It wasn’t until we were in my SUV, pulling out of the driveway, that the question of where I’d be even occurred to me.
“Shoot,” I said, checking the rear-view mirrors and video out the back of the SUV on the dashboard screen before backing
onto the road. “Where are we going?”
John blinked at me. “What do you mean, where are we going? We’re going home.”
Those words hit me like a ray of golden sunlight bursting through dark clouds. Home. The apartment. Our home. The only
place that had felt like a home to me in…well, in my entire life, really.
We were quiet for a little bit as we drove. I needed to practice my breathing to bring my blood pressure down, and I
couldn’t say for sure what John was thinking as he sat back, eyes closed, hands resting on his belly, but I could tell he was
taking a moment to recover from my family.
A few minutes later, when we were about halfway home, John opened his eyes, took a breath, glanced at me, and said, “I
knew your parents were a little horrible, but I had no idea they were so awful that they would suggest I get rid of the baby for
money just so you could keep some sort of imaginary social status.”
I made a sound between a grunt and a groan that expressed just what I felt about that far better than words ever could.
“I’m so sorry about that,” I said. “My dad is such an asshole. Papa wasn’t much better.”
In a lot of ways he was worse. I’d always dreamed of a papa who would be loving and nurturing, like John’s parents were.
Like John would be. I’d ended up with a vain peacock, who cared more about jewelry and being seen in the right places by the
right people than giving his son a hug now and then.
Well, he and Dad still had Brendan. Brendan was their ideal child and Sam was the ideal mate. What more could socially
conscious parents want than an alpha doctor son and his homemaker husband? Pretty soon, I was sure they’d have the ideal
grandchildren that they wanted. Which kind of meant I was off the hook, so, silver lining?
“I didn’t realize,” John went on in a kind of haunted voice.
I peeked at him only to find him staring out the window with a gloomy expression.
“What didn’t you realize?” I asked, focusing on the road and turning onto a road that would take us almost all the way to the
apartment complex.
John sighed and looked at me. “I really didn’t realize how horrible they were to you. I mean, I’ve been there a time or two
when they were rude, and you used to mention rotten things they’d done, but I can’t remember when I actually saw it like that.”
I shrugged, feeling crappy. “I didn’t ever tell you the worst of it,” I admitted in a mumble.
“Why not?” John seemed genuinely curious, not judgmental.
I stole another glance at him before focusing on the road. “I was embarrassed, I guess,” I admitted. “I’ve talked about this
with my therapist a lot, but I think I was just really ashamed, being an alpha and a hockey star and all, that my parents treated
me like dirt. Maybe I deserved it. Maybe I really was defective or something.” I paused long enough to gather my courage, then
went on with, “I kind of think that’s why I didn’t stop you from being a little mean to me when we were together. I was so used
to being treated that way that I thought I deserved it.”
“Michael,” John said, glassy-eyed and full of regret. “You didn’t deserve it. No one deserves to be treated like that. And
I’m incredibly sorry that I was such a jerk to you. I was dealing with my own insecurities and shit, but that’s no excuse. I
should have been kinder to you.”
Now I was the one whose throat was squeezing and whose eyes stung.
“I should have been honest with you from day one,” I said, a little hoarse.
John paused, watching me for a bit. I kept my eyes on the road, too afraid to look at him.
Finally, he drew in a breath and said, “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.”
My mouth twitched into a smile. It was so like John, so blissfully familiar, for him to take charge.
“From now on, we’re going to be completely honest with each other at all times,” he said. “We’re not going to keep things
from each other, especially how we’re feeling, and we’re not going to let things build up until they cause a meltdown. We’re
about to be fathers together, but that means we have to start out by being men together.”
That made me smile widely. “You know, Kenneth, my therapist, has said something sort of similar to that.”
“Oh yeah?” John sat a little straighter.
“He said that if I want to be a good partner, I have to first learn to be good to myself.”
“He’s so right.”
John reached across and squeezed my leg.
I moved my hand off the steering wheel for a second to squeeze his hand, but then I needed that hand to turn into the parking
lot.
Weirdly, I felt good as we hauled my suitcases out of the SUV and into the apartment. It didn’t feel like I had done some
sort of walk of shame or fled from my parents, or even like I was a down on his luck alpha who had been kicked out of the
house. It felt like I was coming home after a long and grueling work trip.
Even better, when we started unpacking my things, I discovered that it wasn’t just the drawers that had once been mine that
were still more or less empty, the section of the closet where I’d once hung my clothes had nothing but a bunch of empty
hangers in it, too.
“I would have thought you’d’ve filled up the closet and the bureau by now,” I said once we had the last of it put away and
tucked the empty suitcases under the bed.
John shrugged. “I was going to—” He stopped, then gave me a long, hard look. Then he shook his head and said, “Honesty.
We decided we have to be honest with each other, so I’ll go first.”
He took another breath, then said, “I didn’t hang anything in your part of the closet or put anything in your drawers because
it didn’t feel right. I’m not saying I didn’t do it because I expected you’d come home one day, but I just couldn’t put anything
else in your spots.”
I thought that was it, but then a truly terrified look came over him, and he took a breath before rushing out with, “I haven’t
slept with anyone or even dated anyone else since we broke up.”
That statement crackled in the air between us. I almost couldn’t believe it. John was gorgeous and funny and sexy as fuck.
He was kind and responsible and pretty much the best omega I’d ever known. He could have had any alpha he wanted. He
could have had multiple alphas competing for him. The number of my alpha buddies who had joked-not-joked about stealing
him from me or wanting a chance with him if we ever broke up was long.
“I haven’t slept with or dated anyone since we broke up, either,” I blurted my part of the confession into the pregnant pause
that followed.
John gaped at me with as much shock as I’d stared at him. It didn’t seem likely that he thought I was a catch who could have
anyone I wanted like I thought of him…but maybe?
Then John let out a breath on a laugh and rubbed his face under his glasses. “They told me when I got the results of my tests
and things at the Perfect Match Agency that eighty-eight-point-eight was a really strong compatibility score.”
“Considering the fact that we were happily together for five years,” I said, “I’d say they’re right.”
John started out of the bedroom and gestured for me to follow. He looked a little shellshocked as he headed into the kitchen
and straight to the fridge.
“Not all of those five years were happy,” he said, taking out a pitcher of iced tea and bringing it to the table under the
window on one side of the room. “That last year got really rough.”
“Yeah,” I said with a sigh.
I moved to the cupboard without thinking about it, opened it, and took out a bag of chips. An entire year had passed, but the
cupboards still held roughly the same groceries stored in mostly the same places.
It was like I’d never left.
We sat at the table. John poured tea for both of us, and I opened the chips and dumped them into a bowl.
“I was ashamed to admit just how hard working for my dad turned out to be,” I confessed, starting the honesty ball rolling.
“I think that’s one of the reasons I was so hard to live with.”
John looked stricken. “I feel so incredibly guilty for not noticing and for making things worse.”
“It wasn’t your responsibility to make me happy,” I said, quoting something else Kenneth and I had talked about in the last
year.
“I felt like it was and like I was failing,” John said, his eyes going teary and his lip wobbling a little. “I wanted you to be
happy so badly, but everything I did just made it worse, and that made me panic. And panicking made me defensive, and that’s
when I started fighting, and—”
“Hey, it’s okay,” I said, grabbing his hand to try to stop his panic spiral. “That was yesterday. This is today. And tomorrow
is growing inside you.”
“I want this baby so badly,” he said, using his free hand to wipe the tears from his eyes under his glasses. “I knew it even
before your dad said I should get rid of it. Well, I had a moment where I thought maybe it would be better not to—” He
stopped, lowering his head.
“I’m sure every single father has those thoughts at some point,” I reassured him. “They’re just thoughts. I know that’s not
what you want. You’ve always wanted kids, and you’re going to be a great papa.”
“Really?” The vulnerability in his wet, blue eyes, framed and magnified by his glasses, when he glanced up at me had
every alpha instinct I’ve ever possessed or hoped to possess roaring. All I wanted to do was care for John and protect him.
Him and our baby. Forever.
“Absolutely,” I said. “You’re an amazing teacher, after all. And an amazing uncle.”
John smiled and looked suddenly bashful.
He was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. He practically glowed, even with the circus that surrounded us.
“I’m the one who should worry about being a good father,” I went on, letting go of John’s hand so that I could grab a chip
and my tea. “I don’t know anything about kids.”
“Oh, come on,” John said, easing back into his chair and reaching for his tea. “You’ll make a fantastic dad.”
The intensity of the moment softened. We were just two guys who cared about each other, sharing a snack and talking about
what our lives were about to look like. No pressure.
I laughed as I crunched a chip, and when I swallowed, I said, “The only kids I’ve ever been around are Aiden and your
class that one time I came along as a chaperone for that trip.”
John laughed with such joy that it made my heart sing…and my cock take notice. “That was the best trip,” he said. “The
kids absolutely adored you. They kept asking if you could come back for a visit for weeks afterwards.”
“Really?” I raised my eyebrows. “They were kind of fun. But they were all nine and ten. I don’t know what I’ll do with a
baby.”
“You’re great with Aiden, though,” John pointed out, gesturing to me with his glass. “And Aiden can be a handful.”
“Maybe. But it’s got to be a learning curve, you know? Taking care of kids like that.”
“Kids definitely require a lot of attention,” John said. “You have no idea how glad I am that the school has a daycare
attached to it.”
“Oh, that’s great.” I perked up a bit. “That way you can take the baby to school with you and never be that far from him. I
mean, unless you want to be a stay-at-home dad. If you do, I’m perfectly okay with that. Dad made sure I was paid well, and I
wasn’t paying rent for the last year, so I have a bunch of money saved up. And even though I won’t make as much at a different
company, my education and my skill set pretty much guarantee that I’ll make enough to support you and the baby.” I was
rambling, but I was suddenly so excited about the future that I had to.
“I want to keep teaching,” John laughed, reaching for a chip. “But we should definitely think about moving.”
“Not think about it,” I said. “We’re moving. End of story. Our baby needs a house with a backyard to play in. One that’s in a
good neighborhood with other kids he can play with.”
“I won’t object to that,” John said. “But you do realize that means more kids for you to interact with and supervise.”
“Shit,” I said.
That made John laugh.
In the middle of laughing, he sucked in a breath and sat straighter, his eyes going wide. I thought he’d choked on something
and was ready to leap out of my chair to pound his back, but then he said, “I’ve got a perfect idea!”
I was all ears.
John leaned forward. “You say you need practice with kids if you’re going to be a dad. Well, Todd is always looking for
someone to take Aiden for an afternoon so he can run errands, or just take a nap. Or, probably to lock himself in the bedroom
with Graham. I bet he’d love it if we volunteered to take Aiden out somewhere.”
“You know, that might not be a bad idea,” I said. “At least we could get an idea of how hopeless I’ll be as a dad.”
“You won’t be hopeless,” John laughed.
I grew unintentionally serious. “Have you seen my parents? Do you know how lacking my education in what makes a good
dad is?”
John reached across the table to take my hand. “Hey, at least you know how not to be a dad. A little practice is all you
need. We’re in this together now, remember? We can do it.”
That was exactly what I needed to hear. In more ways than one. My entire life was up in the air right now, but at least I had
John again.
“Let’s do it,” I said, squeezing his hand. “Call Todd and tell him we’ll babysit Aiden. It’ll be the perfect practice for
fatherhood.”
Chapter Eight
John
We were in luck, if ‘luck’ was what you wanted to call it.
“You want to take Aiden for a day?” Todd responded when I called him to explain Michael’s and my plan to dip our toes in
the water of parenthood for an afternoon.
I’d told Todd and the rest of my family about the baby, and I’d confided in Todd with the situation with Michael in more
detail, right from the start. Unlike Michael’s family, mine was overjoyed and supportive from day one.
But I should have been a little more suspicious about Todd’s enthusiasm for our idea.
“This is great,” Todd had said. I couldn’t see his expression, since we were just on the phone together when I was on my
lunch break a couple days later, but his voice was overwhelmingly relieved. “Aiden and I are part of a papa playgroup that
goes on outings one Saturday a month. This month’s outing is the zoo this weekend. I would love to have Uncle John and Uncle
Michael take this little squirt so that papa and daddy can have a little quality time together that day, yes I would.”
I heard Aiden giggle in the background. Clearly the boy had no idea what sort of shamelessness his fathers would probably
get up to.
“Great,” I said. “What time do you want me to swing by and pick him up?”
I should have asked more questions. I should have done some research about what exactly it meant to take a toddler on a
playgroup outing to the zoo.
“This is complete pandemonium,” Michael said on Saturday, as the two of us stood shoulder to shoulder in the large
courtyard just inside the zoo’s ticket booths, gazing out at what had to be close to a hundred screaming, writhing, running, and
crying kids. Little kids. Not the age I taught, where they could articulate their thoughts and be reasoned with.
“I don’t even….” I was so stunned by the chaos that I couldn’t even finish that thought.
“Hi, are you John and Michael? Aiden’s uncles?” a perky young omega with a toddler in each arm—twins, by the look of
them—approached us.
“I’m Uncle John,” I said.
“And I’m Uncle Michael,” Michael added.
My heart skipped a beat. Those words had come out of Michael’s mouth so easily, like he already knew where he
belonged, even though we hadn’t really broached the topic of officially getting back together yet. Raising the baby together
wasn’t the same thing.
“I’m Heath, the playgroup coordinator,” the perky omega said. “And these are Izzy and Ian. Say hi, babies.”
The twins in question fussed and squirmed, one of them reaching toward a man who was selling colorful balls of cotton
candy, and the other captivated by an entirely different man who was walking through the group with a colorful parrot perched
on his arm, showing it to the kids. I considered it a minor miracle that Heath hadn’t dropped either of his babies yet.
“Did Todd explain how our playgroup works?” Heath asked.
“Um, no,” I said, struggling to contain Aiden, now that he’d noticed the guy with the parrot.
Without losing a bit of his enthusiasm or his grip on his kids, Heath went on with, “Okay! We’ve got a dozen sub-groups
within the main group. Todd and Aiden are part of the green group. Your group leader is over there.” He nodded to a,
thankfully, smaller group off to one side. “We generally like to stick together in our groups for safety and support. But beyond
that, there are no rules other than to have fun!”
My mouth twitched into a grin that I tried to hide. Heath reminded me of an elementary school gym teacher. At my school,
they were always the ones who tried to perk the rest of us up on the first days back from vacations and the day after Halloween.
“Thank you,” Michael returned Heath’s instructions with a smile. “We’ll just go and join our group.”
Heath said goodbye, then wandered off to orient another lost-looking parent as Michael and I headed for the green group.
“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” I asked as we made our way through the noisy throng.
“Absolutely not,” Michael laughed.
He laughed. Because it started out as something funny, almost a joke. I didn’t quite understand why the parents in our green
group had dark circles under their eyes or why half of them were clutching cups of coffee from the stand off to one side. I
didn’t understand why they greeted us like we were about to go to war, or like we’d already been captured and needed to plot
our escape.
I understood as soon as the zoo employees opened the second gate, releasing the hordes into the park itself.
“If we go through the exhibits counter-clockwise, we should be able to avoid most of the crush,” the lone alpha father in
our group said once we all had our maps and had started along the first zoo path.
“You think that’s gonna work?” an omega with three kids, all of whom looked to be under five, asked as half of the kids
bolted for the monkey habitat right next to us.
The alpha father didn’t get a chance to answer. Neither did anyone else.
“Aiden. Aiden, be patient for Uncle John, okay?” I blurted as Aiden twisted and squirmed to the point where I had to put
him down or we would both fall over.
Of course, Aiden dashed off to join his other playgroup buddies at the plexiglass fence surrounding the monkey enclosure.
“Should you just let him go like that?” Michael asked as we followed Aiden.
I faced him with a scowl. “If I didn’t put him down he was going to fall,” I said.
“Isn’t there a better way to hold him, then?” Michael asked with a frown.
The sudden, unexpected pressure of our situation had me instinctively wanting to snap at him and tell him that he didn’t
know the first thing about kids. But I fought to keep it together. I didn’t want the day to turn into a competition of who was the
best caregiver for small children. It was supposed to be a bonding exercise and parenting practice.
The monkeys were just the beginning. And the playgroup wasn’t the only group at the zoo. It was a gorgeous spring day,
which meant that with every minute that ticked past, the zoo became more and more crowded.
There was no two ways about it, the kids were a handful.
“Aiden, honey, don’t climb the statues,” Michael gently scolded Aiden as he and one of his little friends attempted to scale
a bronze statue of a polar bear as we reached the Arctic part of the zoo.
Aiden, of course, ignored him.
“You can’t just tell a three-year-old not to do something,” I sighed, a headache already building up behind my temples.
“They won’t listen to you at that age. You have to go up and get him.”
“I can’t just grab someone else’s child,” Michael worried back. “And besides, what if someone thinks I’m being too rough
and, I dunno, calls the police or something?”
I stared incredulously at him. “No one is going to call the police on you for minding your own child.”
“But he’s not my kid,” Michael pressed on with his argument.
I had no idea why he was being such a pain about it. I had no idea why it felt like my insides were filled with snapping
turtles, like the ones we’d just seen in the Reptile House. Michael’s attitude wasn’t helping a damn thing. Neither was mine. It
felt like all the strife and conflict we’d felt in that last year together was trying to rear its ugly head and reverse the progress
we’d made.
“Just go and get him,” I sighed, rubbing my eyes behind my glasses.
“We said we’d be honest with each other going forward, right?” Michael asked as he headed for the statue.
“Yes?” I wasn’t sure I liked where this was going.
“Okay, I really don’t appreciate you telling me what to do,” he said reaching for Aiden on the polar bear statue. One kid
had already fallen off, and Aiden burst into wailing when Michael plucked him off the bear’s leg before he could climb to the
top.
I sucked in a breath, my heart racing, but not because of Aiden’s tantrum or out of fear that the other kid had hurt himself.
My senses started to tingle, because this was exactly the sort of argument Michael and I had always gotten into, the kind that
had made him shut down and me pull away.
I couldn’t let it win this time. Too much was at stake for me to let frustration and hurt get the better of me.
“Thank you for getting him,” I said. But my attempt to smooth over the waves I felt creeping up on us was wooden at best.
It shouldn’t have been that way. I had good intentions. Michael had good intentions. Why couldn’t we just magically be
better?
“This is way harder than I thought it would be,” Michael reflected my thoughts as he tumbled Aiden into my arms.
Fatherhood was harder than he thought it would be. So was reconciliation. But we’d only just gotten started.
What if this didn’t work?
I tried to keep my panic in check as we continued into the Arctic exhibit. Aiden and the rest of the group were distracted at
the polar bear enclosure by the zoo’s two star inhabitants, Bunny and Bobby, a pair of polar bears, as they dove into the water
and swam around showing off for the guests.
It was exactly the reprieve I needed to take a few breaths and steady myself. The whole point of the day was to prove that
Michael and I could be parents. We could handle a child and the responsibility that came with it. I dealt with children every
day, and even nine and ten year olds could be a handful sometimes. I could do this.
I wasn’t so sure about Michael just a few minutes later.
“Bears!” Aiden protested as we scooped him up and moved him on when the rest of our group moved on. “Bears!”
“No, buddy,” Michael said, picking him up and carrying him on to the far more sedate exhibit of Arctic foxes. “Let’s look at
something else. Hey! Foxes!”
Aiden wasn’t impressed. He struggled and squirmed to get down, and when Michael’s grip on him proved too much, he
burst into tears.
That was bad enough, but as we hurried on to a less crowded area beside the fox enclosure, Aiden sneezed in the midst of
his crying, sending a glob of snot all over Michael’s shoulder.
“What the hell?” Michael flinched, holding Aiden slightly away from him.
“It’s just snot,” I said, moving to take Aiden from him.
“It’s gross,” Michael said. I didn’t like the way he let Aiden go, the way his shirt seemed to be more important than a child.
“Kids are gross, Michael,” I told him in a flat voice, trying to juggle Aiden. “You’re going to have to get used to it.”
I’d said the wrong thing. Michael looked from his messy shirt to me, his eyes wide with offense. “Are you telling me what
to do again? Has it moved on to telling me how to feel about things? I have a right to think snot is gross.”
No, no, no! This wasn’t what the day was supposed to be about. We were supposed to be blissing out together with Aiden,
being masters of childrearing, and getting closer. We absolutely were not supposed to be dredging up everything that was
wrong between the two of us and blowing the newfound understanding we had up before we’d been able to do anything with it.
As I’d seen Michael doing more than a few times now, I took a deep breath.
“Okay, I call a time out,” I said. “Let’s forget about the playgroup for a second and go find some napkins to clean you up.
And maybe some coffee, too.”
Michael let out a long breath. “Yes. Please.”
Things were still tense, Aiden was still complaining, but I buzzed with excitement and hope. We’d hit an obstacle, like we
had so many times before, but we’d chosen to react differently this time. We could do this.
Lucky for us, there was an Arctic café at the edge of the whole Arctic exhibit. We had to wait in line, but before too long,
we were able to grab one of the tables in a sunny spot off to one side. The coffee did wonders for me with just one sip, and the
juice and crackers we’d bought for Aiden seemed to make up for his forced separation from Bunny and Bobby.
“I’m starting to see that Todd was right when he told us we would want to bring the stroller,” I said, picking something
neutral to start the conversation as Michael finished dabbing his shoulder with a wet napkin.
“I feel like leaving it in the car was a newbie mistake,” Michael said, also carefully neutral. He set the napkin aside and
reached for his coffee. “I thought Aiden would want to walk a lot more than he has.”
“Me too,” I admitted, glancing at Aiden. He seemed delighted with his juice and crackers, so that was a win.
“I thought you knew all sorts of stuff about kids, what with being an elementary school teacher and all,” Michael said.
I pulled back on my initial, offended reaction, telling myself that Michael wasn’t criticizing, he was just asking a question.
“If this were a school field trip with older kids, I would be in my element,” I said. “Early childhood development is an
entirely different ball game.”
Michael grunted and nodded, then swallowed his mouthful of coffee. “This is going to be hard, isn’t it.”
I felt in my gut that he wasn’t talking about fatherhood.
“It’s constant work,” I answered, meaning both raising a child and being in a relationship. “We’re going to have to
constantly be on our toes.”
Michael’s face flushed a little as he studied me. I could feel anxiety rippling from him. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
I knew what he meant, but I couldn’t help it. The part of me that was anything but healed had a knee-jerk reaction anyhow.
“Are you suggesting I don’t keep the baby?” I demanded, my voice rising an octave.
“No!” Michael gasped, suddenly as panicked as I was. “I am absolutely not suggesting that. It isn’t my place to suggest
anything like that anyhow.”
I opened my mouth, ready to get worked up all over again by taking his words to mean he didn’t want to be involved.
Michael deserved better than that, though. We both did.
I opted for honesty instead and said, “I’m still so afraid we’ll fall back into our old patterns and that we’ll start saying and
doing things we know are harmful. This isn’t a one conversation and everything is fixed sort of deal. This is the kind of thing
we’re going to spend our lives working on.”
“I know,” Michael said. He put his coffee down and reached across the table to take my hands. “It’s really scary. And I’m
sorry if I got all defensive earlier and assumed you were bossing me around.”
“I’m sorry if it sounded like I was bossing you around,” I said. “I think it’s the sheer chaos of this place. It has me on high
alert.”
Michael sent me a lopsided grin and brushed his thumb over my knuckles. “Heck yeah. My fight or flight instinct has been
in high gear since the moment we got out of the car.”
I laughed a little and lowered my head, then glanced up at Michael with a worried look. “Don’t choose flight,” I asked,
kind of pleading. “I know I should be strong and confident, but I don’t think I can raise this baby on my own.”
“Not saying you should, but I know you could,” Michael said, warmth and respect in his eyes. “You’re the most amazing
person I’ve ever known, John. You could do anything. Truly.”
The hormones got me once again, and I went all watery and cry-faced. “I don’t want to do it alone,” I said. “I want to do it
with you. I want you to be part of my life again. I want to get—”
I don’t know why my throat closed up just then, why I couldn’t go ahead and ask Michael to come back to me. I was the one
who had callously dumped him instead of trying to fight for what we had. I didn’t know if I really deserved to have him back.
Then Michael said, “I want that, too.” He took my other hand so that he held both of them in the center of the table. “I miss
you, John. I’ve missed you so desperately this last year. There isn’t anyone else for me but you. I made a huge mistake by not
being the man you deserved.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I made the mistake by breaking up with you instead of fighting for the most wonderful thing I’ve
ever had in my life.”
“I never stopped loving you,” Michael said in a near whisper.
“I still love you,” I confessed, blinking to keep the tears from falling.
Michael surged up out of his seat, leaning across the table like he was going to kiss me.
I stood up, ready for that kiss and more.
We both stopped before our lips reached each other, checking on Aiden.
Except, Aiden wasn’t there. Neither were his juice box and bag of crackers.
“Shit!” Michael gasped as we both pulled away from the table.
I stumbled over my chair, knocking my coffee cup over, but I didn’t care. “Aiden!” I called out, turning this way and that,
trying to find him in the thick crowd milling around us. “Aiden!”
“Aiden!” Michael bellowed in his much louder, alpha voice. Several people flinched, but no one produced Aiden or
helpfully told us where he’d gone.
“Shit! I’ve lost my nephew. I’ve misplaced an entire person. Todd is going to kill me!” The panic was real as a hundred
awful possibilities of what had happened screamed at me.
“Let’s check the polar bears,” Michael said with a firm nod. “He was really into the polar bears. And I think the rest of the
green group is back that way anyhow.”
I nodded, a little relieved, but not much. “He knows the playgroup and they know him,” I reasoned.
We strode quickly away from the table, heading back into the Arctic exhibit. I was going to make a shit father if I couldn’t
keep track of a toddler for one day.
At the same time, I was so glad to have Michael with me, keeping calm and doing what needed to be done to find Aiden.
And he loved me. He still loved me. As soon as we found Aiden, that was something we definitely needed to talk about.
Chapter Nine
Michael
To say the day started off as rocky was an understatement. What was I thinking, assuming taking a toddler to the zoo would be
easy? Or being with John, for that matter. My feelings for John were as intense as my desperation not to mess things up again.
Which, of course, I was in serious danger of doing.
We’d pulled it back from the edge, which was great, and we’d confessed that we still loved each other, which was even
better. So good that I’d been inches away from thinking we were out of the danger zone and we’d get our happily ever after.
And then Aiden had gone missing.
“Aiden!” I called as John and I headed back to the polar bear exhibit. “Aiden, honey, where are you?”
I wasn’t sure if Aiden would respond to me, since I was almost a stranger. But I cared about the little guy, and I didn’t
know what I would do with myself if anything happened to him.
“Aiden!” John cried out as well as we neared the edge of the polar bear enclosure. “Baby, where are you?”
I grabbed John’s hand, hoping that I’d be able to instill a little comfort and calm in him. I hated seeing him so distressed. I
hated even more that it was partially my fault.
“We’ll find him,” I said, giving John’s hand a squeeze. “He can’t have gone far.”
John nodded distractedly, searching in every direction.
I spotted a few of the parents from the green group, and for some reason that made me feel better.
“Hey, have any of you seen Aiden?” I asked the group at large. “We took our eyes off him for three seconds and he bolted.”
“Oh my God,” one of the papas said, instantly overreacting. “Get zoo security! Let them know right away! Security!”
I flushed hot, and my first instinct was to tell the guy to settle down. But a moment later, I was so glad he’d raised the
alarm.
“There he is!” the alpha father from the green group called out.
I turned to him only to find him, and his son, and a bunch of other people, staring into the polar bear enclosure. I turned, too,
and spotted Aiden almost immediately.
“Oh my gosh, how did he even get in there?” John shouted. He gripped the sides of his head so hard he knocked his glasses
askew.
The bottom dropped out of my stomach. Somehow, I had no idea how, Aiden had gotten inside the polar bear enclosure.
“Aiden!” I shouted as I bolted towards the side of the enclosure, still holding John’s hand.
The polar bear habitat was huge, and it was organized on two levels. The part where we’d watched the polar bears earlier
—and where the polar bears were still goofing around, thankfully—was below ground level, where you could observe the
bears swimming in their pool. The part Aiden had somehow broken into was just ground and rocks, and a few trees that had
been placed to partially hide the building at the back of the enclosure.
However Aiden had gotten in, he didn’t seem to know what he was doing, now that he was there.
“Bear!” he called out, glancing around. “Bear?”
He still held his juice box, but the bag of crackers was gone.
“Somebody get him out of there!” John shouted, leaning into the railing at the edge of the enclosure.
I thought briefly about climbing over, but the drop on the other side and the moat dividing the railing from the habitat looked
like a recipe for disaster. Then I spotted a gate way at the back corner of the habitat. It looked like something used by zoo staff
to access the bears…and it was partially open.
“He got in that way,” I said, grabbing John’s hand again and pulling him off to that side. My instinct to take control of the
situation had me acting without questioning. I was going to save my sort-of nephew, dammit.
“Aiden!” John shouted as we moved around the perimeter. He actually got Aiden’s attention, and the boy turned to us. “Stay
right where you are, honey. We’re coming for you!”
Everything happened fast from there. It turned out that screaming for security was a good idea. They jumped into action,
working with the zoo staff to rush into the enclosure and whisk Aiden up before the bears noticed anything was out of the
ordinary.
“I’m so sorry,” a terrified zoo employee said as he and security came to give a panicked and wailing Aiden back to us. “I
have no idea how he got back there. If I’d known a kid was wandering around, I wouldn’t have left the gate open.”
“The gate isn’t supposed to be open one way or another,” one of the security guards grumbled.
The zoo employee looked even more terrified. Probably because he was about to lose his job. At that point, losing his job
was the least of what I wanted to do to him.
But I reined that in as well as John wept and snuggled Aiden, like the whole ordeal had lasted days instead of fifteen
minutes.
“It’s okay, baby. Uncle John has you now,” John sobbed.
I threw my arms around both of them and hugged them tight, half to reassure them and half to make myself feel better. Aiden
wasn’t my kid, but the thought of losing him filled me with a sort of dread that I hadn’t known existed.
“We need to write a report about how a child ended up in the polar bear enclosure,” one of the security guards said. “If
you’ll come this way, sirs.”
It took more than two hours for all the interviews and paperwork to be done. Two hours, all because John and I had taken
our eyes off Aiden for a minute. Everyone from the zoo wanted to talk to us about what had happened. At least they fed us,
though the burritos they gave us, then packed up for us to take home, since John was too anxious to eat his, weren’t that great.
And yeah, the whole thing wouldn’t have happened if the zoo employee had done his job, but something else could have
happened to Aiden.
“At least everything ended well,” Graham, Todd’s husband, said an hour after that, when we returned Aiden to the loving
bosom of his parents and explained what had happened.
Parents who I was certain would have me and John flayed alive.
“It was my fault,” I confessed, trying not to notice how pink and sweaty Todd and Graham were when they’d finally
answered the doorbell when we brought Aiden home early. “I totally underestimated how much kids need to be watched.”
“No, it’s my fault,” John insisted. He, too, was pink and dewy, but more from embarrassment and what I assumed was the
knowledge of what we’d interrupted. “Michael and I started talking, and…and we should have saved that conversation for
another time.”
“It’s okay,” Todd said, snuggling a sleeping Aiden in his arms. “It sounds like zoo security was on top of things. And now
you know what to look forward to when this one arrives.” He nodded to John’s stomach.
I arched an eyebrow at John. Either Todd and Graham had been too distracted to really listen to the story we’d told them or
Aiden landed himself in potentially life-threatening situations every day. Whatever the case, they didn’t seem super upset,
Aiden was actually pretty cute when he was asleep, and most important of all, John didn’t seem like he was about to fall apart
with guilt.
“We should let the two of you get on with…whatever you were doing,” I said, taking John’s hand, like the time had come to
make a speedy getaway.
“Yeah, we’ll talk about this later,” Todd said, looking at John, then at Graham.
On so many levels, it couldn’t have gotten much more awkward than that.
John and I left before any more questions could be asked, one way or another.
“I think we messed up what was supposed to be a special day for the two of them,” John said once we were in my car,
driving home. He pulled the bag with the zoo burrito that he hadn’t eaten out of the back seat and tore into it.
“They did look a little…special,” I admitted.
The two of us exchanged a look as I pulled out onto the main road, then burst into laughter.
“Oh my God, how did this day turn into such a disaster?” John asked, still laughing as he ate the burrito.
“How did Aiden manage to find his way that far behind the scenes at the zoo with no one stopping him?” I asked, laughing
despite the seriousness of my question.
“There were so many kids at the zoo today that I bet Aiden just blended in and looked like he belonged to someone,” John
said, sobering up a little.
That sobered me up a lot. “How are we supposed to raise a child together and keep him safe if we can’t even keep track of
a single child at the zoo?”
For a second, I thought John was going to have an anxiety attack. But instead of freaking out, he sat straighter and ate his
way through the burrito for a second, like he was thinking.
“Okay, let’s not let one crazy afternoon trick us into thinking we can’t be parents,” he said, finishing his snack and wadding
up the wrapper. “Children start out as babies first. They need a lot of looking after, but they can’t get into that much trouble
straight out of the womb. It gives us time to figure out what we’re doing.”
I smiled. “Yeah, taking Aiden to the zoo was like a peewee team playing in the all-star game.”
“And hey, we were doing okay for the first period, right?” John asked.
I peeked at him with a smile as I turned onto the road leading to our apartment. Fortunately, it wasn’t that far from Todd and
Graham’s house.
“Not bad at all,” I said. “Well, except for the whole having serious conversations about the state of our relationship and our
feelings in the middle of a zoo when we were supposed to be watching a three-year-old.”
John laughed tightly, going pink all over.
He let a beat pass before saying, “I meant what I said, you know.”
My breath caught, and my heart sped up. “Yeah,” I said, sending him a quick smile before turning into the apartment
complex parking lot. “I meant what I said, too.”
Neither of us seemed to know what to say after that. We just smiled, at each other, and at the world in general.
I found a parking spot and turned off the car. We got out at the same time, almost like nothing too earth-shattering had
happened, and strolled casually towards the apartment. John pulled out his keys once we reached his door, and we sidled on
into the place like it was just another day.
Until the door shut behind us.
“I really do love you, and I want us to be a family,” I said.
“I hate being broken up with you and I want us to get back together,” John said at the exact same time.
We just stood there for a second, blinking at the emotional bomb we’d just set off.
Then I surged forward as John stepped towards me, grasping the sides of his face and bending to kiss him so hard it
knocked his glasses sideways. I didn’t even mind that he tasted like mediocre burrito.
John groaned into my mouth as he gripped my arms and kissed me back with as much passion as we’d had in the earliest
days of our relationship. The first time around. I drank in the taste of him, teasing my tongue against his and shifting so that our
bodies were momentarily plastered together.
Momentarily, because as soon as our kiss paused for breath, John tugged at my jacket, fighting to get it off.
“I don’t care if it’s the middle of the afternoon,” he panted, working to undress me as I did the same. “I don’t care if it’s just
pregnancy hormones making me horny, if I don’t get you in bed right now, I think I might die.”
“I don’t have a problem with that,” I panted, backing him towards the bedroom as I yanked his jacket off and shrugged out
of mine.
Everything was a whirlwind of movement and clothes being shed from there. John smelled absolutely irresistible. His
usual omega scent seemed amplified by a thousand, and it had new notes of springtime and urgency in it. His skin seemed warm
to the touch and so, so soft as I peeled him out of his shirt, then nudged him to flop on his back on the bed so I could tug off his
shoes, then his trousers.
As soon as John was naked, he swung around and started pulling my clothes off as if they were on fire and he was trying to
save my life. He was usually pretty tidy, but everything from my jeans to my socks ended up being flung this way and that in his
haste to get me naked with him.
Once I was, he swung me around and pushed my shoulders so I lay on my back.
“You’re the hottest alpha I’ve ever known,” he panted before pinning me with a kiss.
I growled and brushed my hands over his sides as he took whatever he wanted from me. I’d always loved it when John
took charge in the bedroom. I had no problem at all pretending that my only purpose was to be there for him to take what he
wanted and for me to give him all the pleasure he craved.
I buried my hands in his hair as he kissed a trail down my neck and over my collarbone to take one of my nipples in his
mouth. He was greedy when he was this horny, but I had no problem letting him do what he wanted with me.
“That’s right, baby,” I gasped as he flicked his tongue over my nipple, then nipped it.
I let out a short cry, which only encouraged him to do the same to my other nipple.
“I’ve missed this,” he panted as he shifted position. “I’ve missed your body.”
I’d missed his, too, so much that I couldn’t verbalize it. Especially when he went back to kissing my belly lower and lower,
until he could nuzzle his cheek against my groin. That had my cock hard and leaking. John breathed in, then let out a groan like
my scent was the best thing ever.
He moved again to plant himself between my spread legs, then lowered himself so that he could grasp my rigid cock and
close his mouth over the tip. I nearly lost it then and there as he licked the precum from my slit, then bobbed lower and lower,
like he was challenging himself to see how much of me he could take before choking.
The answer was a lot. So much that, between his hot, wet mouth and his hand teasing my balls, I was in serious danger of
ending the afternoon way too early.
“Stop,” I gasped, grabbing John under his arms and pulling him away from my cock. “I’m so close, and I’m nowhere near
done with you yet.”
Lust shone in John’s eyes. “Yes,” he breathed. “Fuck me.”
There was no way I could say no to an offer like that, even though it would take some serious control to make it last more
than a second.
I pulled John forward, then held the base of my cock so he could slide into position. His hole was damp with slick, which
made it so gloriously easy for him to line up and bear down on me. I broke into a sweat as he enveloped me inch by slow,
luxurious inch.
“Oh, God, yeah,” he groaned, his eyes fluttering closed as he slowly fucked himself on my cock. “I’m not even in heat, and
this feels so good.”
It felt amazing for me, too, but there was no way I could find words to tell him. I slid my hands up his thighs, noticing that
he’d already put on a little bit of weight. I loved it.
His whole body was a treasure and a work of art, one that had subtly changed since the last time I’d seen it. He was so
much softer now than he had been. His belly had just the faintest curve to it. His chest was already starting to fill out a little so
he could feed our baby. I’d never had much of a pregnant omega fetish, like I knew some alphas did, but just looking at John’s
curves and running my hands over his growing roundness had me jerking my hips up into him faster and harder.
“Yes,” he panted harder, eyes still closed. “Oh, yes, that feels so good. More.”
I thrust harder as he bore down repeatedly on me, then, in a fit of inspiration, I cupped his soft chest and pinched both
nipples as hard as I could.
The effect was stellar. John screamed and bucked on me so hard that there was no way I could stop my orgasm from hitting.
His cock, which had been bouncing, hard and untouched, between us, erupted with jet after jet of cum. The sounds he made
went on and on, and they mingled with my own groans as I started coming.
It was so fucking good that I didn’t know what hit me. It wasn’t just the powerful orgasm that struck me to the quick, either.
It was the fusion of our bodies and souls and the brightness of the bond that was forming between us. And it seemed to go on
and on as our bodies smashed together, drawing the pleasure deeper.
I didn’t think I’d ever been so spent in my life when everything started to subside. I let out a long moan of satisfaction,
smiling when John did the same. John sprawled atop me once we separated, and his moaning continued. I circled my arms
around him, basking in the perfect contentment of the moment.
Except it wasn’t perfect. And John’s moans didn’t stop. More than that, instead of being warm and relaxed, his body was
hot and tense.
He wasn’t moaning with pleasure, he was in pain.
“John? Baby?” I asked, sitting up and bringing him with me. “Sweetheart, are you alright?”
John curled in a bit, crossing his arms over his belly and clutching himself.
“John?” I grabbed the sides of his face and tilted it up so he would look at me. “What’s wrong?”
All he could manage was a desperate, glassy look and, “It hurts.”
Chapter Ten
John
The cramping started almost as soon as my orgasm ended. It was just a niggle at the back of my mind at first, like a leftover
feeling of being stretched and filled with Michael’s cock. But it continued after he’d pulled out, in that moment when all I
should have felt was contentment and satisfaction.
It grew as Michael and I collapsed to catch our breaths, but instead of relaxing, I tensed against the pain.
“It hurts,” I moaned when Michael asked me what was wrong.
It was the most horrible pain I’d ever experienced, because as bad as the cramping was, the horror of the idea that I might
be losing the baby made it a thousand times worse.
“Stay still,” Michael said, slipping out from under me and settling me on my side. “Stay right there and don’t move. I’ve got
you.”
I started to cry, because of course I did, as Michael hurried out of bed and into the bathroom. He was only there for a
couple of seconds before coming out again with a damp rag. The pain radiated through me, but I felt a tiny bit better with
Michael there, rubbing the warm washcloth over my body to clean up the most obvious bits of our lovemaking.
“You’re not bleeding,” he reassured me. “That has to be a good sign. It’s probably food poisoning from that burrito.”
I opened my mouth to say I guessed it was, but another pinch of pain hit my insides, and all that came out was a groan.
“I’m taking you to the hospital,” Michael said with so much more decisiveness and control than I’d ever heard from him.
That made me cry, too. I was so deeply afraid, my entire life felt like it hung in the balance, but Michael was taking charge,
and I trusted him.
He dressed in record speed, then came over to the bed to gently get me into my clothes as well. I wanted to tell him it
wasn’t that bad as I tried to take at least some initiative to dress myself. Michael wouldn’t hear of it, though.
“Come on, baby,” he said, lifting me from the bed with so much tenderness it had my heart squeezing along with the rest of
my body. “We can do this. Everything is going to be fine.”
“I can walk,” I told him in a pitiful voice once he had me in his arms.
“Nope,” he said. “I’m not going to risk it.”
Secretly, I loved being in his arms. I looped my arms around his neck and pressed my face against his shoulder as he
carried me out of the apartment and to his SUV. Another burst of pain hit me, and I groaned into him.
“I’ve got you,” Michael told me as he somehow managed to open the car door with one hand and ease me into the
passenger seat.
Part of me wanted to say everything was fine, I could take care of myself, and I didn’t need all the help. Another part of me
knew that was a lie, and that it was high time I stopped trying to be so in control of everything all the time.
“It’s a good thing the hospital is only a few blocks away,” Michael said, speaking rapidly and a little too loudly as he
backed the SUV out of its parking space and zoomed out of the parking lot. “We should be able to get you right in. I’m sure this
kind of emergency will bump you right to the top of the queue of people waiting. And if it doesn’t, I think this is the hospital
where Brendan works.”
I groaned, which probably made it sound like I dreaded the idea of going to a hospital where Brendan Fairchild was a
doctor, but really, I was just scared.
“Everything is going to be okay,” Michael said, still talking out his panic. “Nothing is going to happen to our baby. He’s
going to be perfectly fine and show up just in time for Christmas. And he’s going to be beautiful and perfect and wonderful, just
like his papa.”
“I’m not perfect,” I groaned, tears streaming down my face. Maybe that was why this was happening to me. Maybe losing
the baby was punishment for how horrible I’d been to Michael last year.
Or maybe it was the burrito.
“You’re the most perfect person I’ve ever met,” Michael told me, so much emotion in his voice that it made me cry even
more.
I shook my head. “I was mean to you,” I sobbed. “I was impatient and bossy. I let things get bad between us when they
really shouldn’t have. And I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
“Hey, I wasn’t any better,” Michael said, reaching across to squeeze my thigh before returning both hands to the wheel. “I
let crap that had nothing to do with you get in the way of our relationship. And I let my parents poison my life and steer me
away from the things I really wanted. That didn’t just affect me, it affected you, too.”
“I should have stood up for you sooner,” I said, shifting to sit a little straighter as the wave of pain passed. The problem
was, now I was nauseated, which wasn’t much better. Especially considering the speed Michael was driving. “We were
supposed to be partners. I should have been a better partner and seen what you were going through sooner.”
Michael shook his head as he turned. I could see the hospital farther along the street he’d turned onto. “You had your own
life going on. You were getting a job and then working so hard doing something so important. Teaching is the most important
job I can think of.”
My brow shot up. “You really think so?”
“Yeah,” he said with a surprised laugh. “The way you work so hard for those kids who have such a crap deal in life to
begin with is awe-inspiring. I’m not sure I could do anything like that. I…I didn’t want to add to the stress in your life by
telling you my problems, because I…I’ve always felt like those kids are more important than me.”
“No one is more important to me than you,” I said softly, tears still streaming down my face. “You, and now this baby.” I
rested a hand on my belly, infusing every hope and prayer I had into his health and safety.
Michael glanced briefly to me as he pulled into the temporary parking lot next to the ER. “I’m not going to let anything
happen to you guys,” he said, cutting the engine, then turning to me fully. “You guys are my family. You’re my life. Everything is
going to be okay, I swear it.”
Even though I knew logically that Michael didn’t really have control of life or death, I believed him.
That didn’t stop the horrible pang that hit my belly as he got out of the car, then walked around to throw open my door, undo
my seatbelt, and pull me into his arms.
Michael was right about the hospital prioritizing me because of the level of pain I was in as a pregnant omega. As soon as
he told the admitting nurse behind the desk what we suspected was wrong with me, we were shown directly to a bed in a cubby
that was actually slightly private at the end of the vast emergency unit.
“What if this is it?” I asked plaintively after the nurse took my vitals then left. “What if I lose the baby? What if…what if he
was the only thing holding us together again and we fall apart without him?”
“That’s not going to happen,” Michael said with so much decisiveness that it made me blink.
I was reclined on the hospital bed at that point, and Michael sat beside me. He leaned in close, almost like he would stop
me from getting out of the bed, as if I had any inclination to do that.
“The baby isn’t what’s holding us together,” he went on. “It’s the eighty-eight-point-eight that’s holding us together.”
“Eight is your lucky number,” I said, breathing hard, my emotions all over the place.
“It is,” Michael said, grasping my hand. “And you want to know why? Because we met on August eighth at eight in the
evening. I knew from that moment that you were the only omega for me, and that eight is a magic number.”
Not that I wasn’t weepy before, but the tears really started to fall then.
Michael gripped my hand harder. “You’re my magic, John. Yes, we screwed up along the way. We let life get the better of
us, and we lost sight of each other. We never should have let that happen, but it’s all water under the bridge now. Someday
we’ll laugh about it with our grandkids.”
I blurted a short laugh and nodded, squeezing his hand tighter as the pain seemed to increase a little.
“You know what else I think?” Michael went on, the calm and confidence in his voice soothing me. “I think that even if we
hadn’t both signed up for the Perfect Match Agency, we would have found our way back together. I think the fact that we both
did something so hugely out of character, something that defied the odds to bring us back to each other, is proof that we were
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
Motorcyclist, Hand Guards for, 372
Mounting Tracing-Cloth Drawings on Muslin, 418
Moving Crates and Furniture, Three-Caster Truck for, 419
Moving Heavy Objects with a Broom, 445
Moving Train, Writing on, 228
Mucilage Brush and Container Made of a Test Tube, 335
Muffin-Pan Trays, Nail Cabinet with, 230
Muffling the Ticking of a Watch or Clock, 223
Music, Sheet, Tabs for Turning Quickly, 368
Music Stand, Book Rest for, 328
Muslin, Mounting Tracing-Cloth Drawings on, 418
Mustard Pots, Earthen, Used as Acid Jars, 391
Mysterious Watch, 70
Mystery Sounding Glass, 157
Mystic Climbing Ring, 22
Nail Cabinet with Muffin-Pan Trays, 230
Nail Carrier Made of Cans, 414
Nails, Driving to Prevent Splitting, 373
Nails, Kink for Driving, 193
Nails, Plier Drives in Backing Picture Frame, 450
Name Plates, Imitation-Celluloid Scales and, 353
Naming a Written Card, Magically, 61
Needle Cushion, Emery, on Sewing Machine, 197
Needle, Darning, Threading, 153
Needle, Split, Causes Echo on Talking Machine, 217
Needle Threader for Sewing Machine, 134
Needles, Fiber Phonograph, Device for Sharpening, 361
Needles, Uses for Worn Talking-Machine, 329
Negative Filing System, Phonographic, 434
Negative, Lettering Photo Prints Without Marking, 440
Negatives and Prints, Photographic, Kinks in Washing, 181
Negatives, Retouching, for Printing, 397
Nets, Tennis, Tightening Lever for, 158
Netted Hammock, How to Make, 282
Netting, Poultry Fence Construction Economical of, 409
New Method of Developing Roll Films, 339
Newspaper Rack and Smokers’ Trays, Morris Chair with, 309
Newspaper Stand, Penny-in-the-Slot, 364
Night Light, Bedroom, Flash Light Used as, 423
Non-Blow-Out Cigar and Pipe Lighter, 321
Nontangling Pasture Stake, 136
Novel Covered Box for Index Trays, 414
Novel Masks for Printing Pictures, 182
Novel Uses for Safety Pins, 445
Novelty, Window-Advertising, Moth-Ball Puzzle as, 444
Nozzle, Spray, Made of Acetylene Burner, 248
Numbers, Magic of, 222
Nutcracker, Backwoodsman’s, 450
Nuts, Brass Machine Screws with, 68
Oarlock of Rope, Emergency, 218
Oars Flattened to Make Rowing Easier, 319
Oars, Take-Down Emergency, 395
Octagonal Mission Center Table, 7
Odd Jobs, Practical Memorandum for, 322
Oilcan, Old, Pressure Spray Made of, 212
Oilcan Stopper, 349
Oiler for a Hand-Drill Press, 276
Oiling Sewing Machine, Prevents Soiling Goods After, 402
Oiling Tool for Clocks, 107
Old Toothbrushes, Uses for, 428
One-Piece Bracelet Cut from Calling Card, 319
One-Runner Sled, 45
Onlaying Script on a Trophy Cup, 188
Opening, Rectangular, to Use Over Camera View Finder, 125
Opening Screw, Watch Bezel, Rubber Pads for, 448
Opening Springs for a Tennis-Racket Clamp, 393
Order-Memo Device for Delivery Routes, 443
Orient, Pulley and Weight Exerciser Homemade in, 365
Ornament, Radiator, Lighted Whirling Fan Used as, 260
Ornamental Horn Match Holder, 247
Ornamental Pencil and Pincushion Holder, 286
Ornamenting an Old Tree Stump, 123
Outdoor Lunch Table, Revolving, 363
Outing Trips, Camping and Memorandum List for, 365
Outlet, Water-Jacket, Bilge Water Siphoned Through, 413
Oven, Gas-Stove, Substitute for, 45
Pad, Combined Label and Cover, for Preserve Glasses, 4
Pad for Glass Vessels Made of Corks, 161
Pad, Record-Cleaning, Fixed to Talking Machine, 444
Paddle, Broken Canoe, Repairing, 158
Paddle, Knack of Handling, 102
Paddle-Wheel Boats, Model, 443
Paddling Canoe, Fitting Motor into, 89
Paddling Canoe, Open, Sailing, 86
Paddling Your Own Canoe:
Part I.—Kinds of Canoes, 95
Part II.—Knack of Handling Paddle, 102
Pail, Fisherman’s, with Wire-Mesh Cage, 454
Pail, Milking, Knee-Rest Holder for, 434
Pail, Tin, Safety Flue Stopper Made of, 328
Pail, Vacuum, How to Make, 315
Pail, Valve-Bottom, for Dipping Water, 344
Painter’s Knife, Scoop on, Catches Scrapings, 365
Painting, Scenic, Enlarged, Lantern Pictures as Guides for, 419
Pan, Feeding, for Poultry, 248
Pan, Frying, Made of Tin Cover, 298
Panels, Linoleum, for Homemade Chest, 425
Paper Glider, Toy, Carefully Designed, 324
Paper, Inkstand Made of Sheet of, 136
Paper Muslin, Portable Tent Made from an Umbrella and, 364
Paper, Straightening Sheets of, 456
Paper Trimmer, Photo and, Homemade Guide for, 366
Paper Warships, Toy, 293
Paper Weight, Small Desk Lamp Supported by, 424
Paper, Wire Clips Weight in Typewriter, 409
Papers, Proper Way to Wrap for Mailing, 44
Parachute, Releasing from a Kite, 354
Parade, Cart for Carrying Huge Drum in, 435
Paraffin Covers for Jars, Removable, 298
Parcel Carrier, Handy, with Caster Supports, 6
Parcel-Delivery Bicycle, Sidecar for, 407
Parcels, Device for Suspending from Overhead Hooks, 162
Paring Knife, Handy, Made from Old Hacksaw Blade, 207
Parlor Cue Alley, 341
Parlor Table, 151
Paste, Mixing, 241
Paste Pot, Utilizing Empty, 306
Paste, Squeezing from Tubes, 391
Paste Tubes, Wall Pocket for, 16
Pasteboard Box, Shortening, 337
Pasture Stake, Nontangling, 136
Patch, Leather Tire, 400
Patching Canvas Bottom of a Canoe, 430
Pattern of Gun, Choke and, 63
Patterns, Castings Without, 374
Pedals for Typewriter Space and Shift Keys Increase Speed, 364
Pen, Ordinary, Converted into Fountain Pen, 362
Pen, Revolving-Wheel Ruling, 134
Pen, Split-Bamboo Lettering, 142
Pencil and Clip, Improvised Penholder Made with, 457
Pencil and Pincushion Holder, Ornamental, 286
Pencil Holder for Workbench, 236
Pencil, Lead, Measuring Resistance with, 249
Pencil Sharpener, Cleanly, 247
Pencil Sharpener Made of Wafer Razor Blade, 361
Pencils and Penholders, Handy Tray for, 430
Pencils, Roll-Film Spools Useful in Economizing, 170
Penholder, Improvised, Made with Pencil and Clip, 457
Penholders, Pencils and, Handy Tray for, 430
Penny-in-the-Slot Newspaper Stand, 364
Pens, Grinding Writing and Lettering, 169
Periscope Which a Boy Can Make, Useful, 305
Perpetual Calendar, 43
Perpetual-Motion Puzzle, 138
Perpetual Whirligig, 400
Phonograph Needles, Fiber, Device for Sharpening, 361
Photo and Paper Trimmer, Homemade Guide for, 366
Photo-Copying Lens Increases Angle of Camera, 160
Photo Films, Drying, Rapidly, 338
Photo-Print Washing Device, Automatic, 329
Photo Prints, Lettering Without Marking Negative, 440
Photographic Developing, Film Holder for, 452
Photographic Developing Tank, Reversible, 325
Photographic Films, Stenciling with, 416
Photographic-Negative Filing System, 434
Photographic Negatives and Prints, Kinks in Washing, 181
Photographic-Print Washing Machine, 327
Photographic Printing Machine, 333
Photographic Prints, Making Glossy, 76
Photographic Trays, Making, 406
Photographic Workroom, Daylight, Red Windows in, 169
Photographing Electric Sparks, 399
Photographs in Falling Snow, Taking, 140
Photography, Bird, Camera for, 426
Photography, Putty Deadens Glossy Surface in, 360
Piano or Reading Lamp, 290
Pick-Up Material, Garden Plow Made of, 227
Picture Frame, Plier Drives Nails in Backing, 450
Picture Frame, Sailors’ Sweetheart, 268
Picture Frames, Novel Homemade, 124
Picture, Small Hook for Hanging, 276
Pictures, Camera for Taking, from Kite, 52
Pictures, Enlarged Lantern, as Guides for Scenic Painting, 419
Pictures, Novel Masks for Printing, 182
Pictures, Shielding from Damp Walls, 338
Pictures, Transferring to Glass, 443
Pie-Plate Gas Heater, 423
Pigeon House, 403
Pigeon, Mechanical Toy, Made of Wood, 433
Pigeonhole, Desk-Light Arm Folds into, 452
Pile Driver, Small Working, 215
Pillar, Hollow, Porch Gate Folds into, 193
Pin Setter for Home Tenpins, 61
Pincushion Holder, Ornamental Pencil and, 286
Pincushion, Wire-Screen, 456
Pipe Lighter, Non-Blow-Out Cigar and, 321
Pipe Straps, Bottle Carrier Made of, 217
Pipe, Water, Broken Spade Handle Repaired with, 242
Pipes, Child’s Swing Built of, in Narrow Space, 358
Pipes, Repairing Leaks in, 212
Pitch or Wax, Frayed Shoe Laces Repaired with, 129
Plane, Block, Converted for Use on Circular Work, 211
Planing Thin Sticks Held in Flooring Groove, 218
Plans in a Shop, Protecting, 376
Plant, Miniature Cement, 383
Plant, Miniature Illuminating-Gas, 379
Plant Shelf, Bark-Covered Porch Light and, 432
Plants, Garden, Starting, 373
Plaster of Paris to Set Screws into Wall, 266
Plate Holder, Using as Printing Frame, 408
Play Area, Baby’s, Portable Fence for, 195
Play Auto, Barrel Staves as Springs for, 311
Play or Stage Use, Comic Chest Expander for, 429
Playground Swings, Bearing for, 276
Playing-Card Holder, 414
Playing Talking-Machine Records with the Finger Nail, 187
Plier Drives Nails in Backing Picture Frame, 450
Plow, Garden, Made of Pick-Up Material, 227
Pneumatic Door Check Made of Bicycle Pump, 169
Pocket, Flash Lamps, Improvement on, 267
Pocket, Wall, for Paste Tubes, 16
Pointer, Timing, on Watch Crystal, 364
Points of Grip, Scale on Vaulting Pole Indicates, 411
Polarity, Direct Current, Testing with Litmus Paper, 369
Polarity Indicator, Simple, 422
Pole, Fruit-Picking, with Gravity Delivery Chute, 367
Pole Supports Rug for Cleaning, 10
Polish Instrument Bases, How to, 30
Polisher, Flatiron, 399
Polishing with a Hand Drill, 354
Pop-Corn Cakes, How to Make, 153
Popular Mechanics Magazine on Bookshelf, Index for, 308
Porch Gate Folds into Hollow Pillar, 193
Porch Light and Plant Shelf, Bark-Covered, 432
Porch Swing, 167
Porch Swing, Headrest for, 367
Porch Swing Made from Automobile Seat, 425
Porch Swings, Safety Spring for, 297
Portable Fence for Baby’s Play Area, 195
Portable Fire Screen, 68
Portable Folding Boat, 135
Portable Sectional Poultry Fencing, 329
Portable Skylight for Home Portraiture, 330
Portable Tent Made from an Umbrella and Paper Muslin, 364
Portraiture, Home, Portable Skylight for, 330
Post-Card Projector and Enlarging Camera, Improvised, 209
Posts for Tennis Court, Removable, 415
Pot, Empty Paste, Utilizing, 306
Pots, Earthen Mustard, Used as Acid Jars, 391
Potted Flowers, Turntable Stand for, 308
Poultry, Concrete Water Basin for, 236
Poultry Coops, Double Roofs Provide Ideal Shade for, 180
Poultry, Feeding Pan for, 248
Poultry Fence Construction Economical of Netting, 409
Poultry Fencing, Portable Sectional, 329
Poultry-House Door Latch, Spring Roost Releases, 448
Poultry House, Trap Nest for, 455
Poultry, Live, Weighed Handily in Funnel Scale, 442
Poultry Yard, Feeding Geese in, 373
Pouring Liquids Quickly from Container, 21
Practical Memorandum for Odd Jobs, 322
Practical Uses for Old Button Clasps, 432
Practice Batting for Baseball Playing, 100
Preserve Glasses, Combined Label and Cover Pad for, 4
Preserving Leaves in Specimen Book, 10
Press, Hand-Drill, Oiler for, 276
Preventing Looseness of Drawer Handles, 357
Prevents Soiling Goods After Oiling Sewing Machine, 402
Printer, Developing-Paper, 375
Printer, Homemade Magnesium, 226
Printing Frame, Using Plate Holder as, 408
Printing Machine, Photographic, 333
Printing Pictures, Novel Masks for, 182
Printing, Retouching Negatives for, 397
Printing Surface, Curved, for Sharp Focus in Bromide
Enlargements, 186
Prints, Photographic, Making Glossy, 76
Prints, Photographic Negatives and, Kinks in Washing, 181
Projector, Post-Card, and Enlarging Camera, Improvised, 209
Propeller Blades, How to Make Quickly, 395
Protect Extra Spark Plugs, Box to, 440
Protecting an Air Pump Against Denting, 412
Protecting Light in a Gymnasium, 337
Protecting Plans in a Shop, 376
Protecting Wall Back of Range or Sink, 354
Protection from Mosquitoes, Camp Shelter Affords, 181
Protector, Book and Document, 294
Pruning and Brush-Cutting Knife, 449
Pulley and Weight Exerciser Homemade in the Orient, 365
Pulley Slings, Canoe or Boat Stored in, 361
Pump, Bicycle, Cleaning Type Cases with, 451
Pump, Detachable Motor-Driven Tire, Made of Foot Pump, 454
Pump, Small Rotary, Easily Made, 451
Push Button, Doorbell, on Screen Door, 150
Push Buttons, Miniature, 251
Putty Deadens Glossy Surfaces in Photography, 360
Putty, Good, How to Make, 396
Putty, To Prevent Sticking to the Hands, 314
Putty, To Remove from Hands, 387
Puzzle, Moth-Ball, as Window-Advertising Novelty, 444
Puzzle, Perpetual-Motion, 138
Quick-Acting Bench Vise, 85
Rabbits, Tile Trap for, 184
Rack, Sewing, Attached to Rocker, 291
Radiator Cover, Summer, Serves as Cupboard in Winter, 297
Radiator Ornament, Lighted Whirling Fan Used as, 260
Radiator Valve, Ship’s-Wheel Device for, 259
Raft, Woodsman’s Log, 185
Rain Alarm with Drop-of-Water Contact, 161
Raising and Lowering Curtain at a Distance, 22
Raising the Temperature of a Room, 356
Rake Handle, Bicycle-Handle Grip on, 372
Rake, Hoe or, Second Handle on, Saves Stooping, 160
Range or Sink, Protecting Wall Back of, 354
Rat Trap, Self-Setting, 31
Ratchet Wheels, Small, Making in a Lathe, 266
Rattle in Motorcycle Stand, Stopping, 414
Rattling of Door, Eccentric Drawbolt Stops, 457
Rattling of Windows, To Stop, 417
Razor Blade, Wafer, Pencil Sharpener Made of, 361
Reading Lamp, Piano or, 290
Readings, Temperature, Transposing, 376
Rear Seat for Motorcycle or Bicycle, 446
Receptacles, Bench, for Small Articles, 350
Receptacle for Shellac Varnish, 346
Record-Cleaning Pad Fixed to Talking Machine, 444
Record Time of Appointments and Other Events, Clock Device to,
322
Recording Annunciator Target, 310
Records, Disk Talking-Machine, Played Eccentrically, 328
Records, Talking-Machine, Playing with the Finger Nail, 187
Rectangular Opening to Use over Camera View Finder, 125
Red Lens Hinged to Flash Light, for Dark-Room Use, 6
Red Lights, Green and, Signal Telegraph with, 176
Red Windows in Daylight Photographic Workroom, 169
Reed Furniture, Woven, , 269 261
Reed Handle, Repairing Broken, 187
Reel for Use with Seed-Planting Guide String, 422
Reflected-Light Illumination with Homemade Arrangement, 128
Reflector and Mirror, Combination Indirect-Light, 460
Reflectors, Light, White Blotting Paper Improves, 196
Refrigerator, Making Use of in Winter, 344
Refrigerator, Window, 323
Refuse-Catching Drawer, Wood Box with, 114
Register, Hot-Air, Catch-All Screen Inside, 432
Reinforcing a Strained Auto-Truck Frame, 454
Reinforcing the Ends of Rubber Handlebar Grips, 452
Relay of inexpensive Materials, Homemade, 332
Releasing a Parachute from a Kite, 354
Removable Drawer Stop, 10
Removable Headrest for Chair, 432
Removable Paraffin Covers for Jars, 298
Removable Posts for Tennis Court, 415
Removal Marker for Card Index, 372
Removal of Wall Paper, Kink for, 295
Remove Putty from Hands, 387
Removing Sag from Couch Spring, 430
Repair Rubber Gloves, How to, 286
Repairing a Brass Candlestick, 372
Repairing a Broken Canoe Paddle, 158
Repairing a Broken Fly-Screen Frame, 356
Repairing a Broken Metal Cross, 389
Repairing a Broken Reed Handle, 187
Repairing Burned-Out Incandescent Globes, 236
Repairing Sectional Spun-Metal Candlestick, 382
Repairing Shade-Roller Springs, 338
Replacing a Broken Coffee Pot Knob, 226
Reproducing Flowers and Leaves in Colors, 152
Resistance, Measuring with a Lead Pencil, 249
Retouching Negatives for Printing, 397
Reversible Photographic Developing Tank, 325
Reversing Switch, Cylinder, 297
Revolving Card or Ticket Holder, 369
Revolving Outdoor Lunch Table, 363
Revolving-Wheel Ruling Pen, 134
Revolving Window Display, 229
Rheostat, Small, for Experiments and Testing, 206
Rheostat, Water, for Small Electrical Devices, 196
Rifle, Sporting, and How to Use It, 47
Rigging Economizes Space in Closet, 433
Rigging, Simple, Lawn Mower Sharpened Efficiently with, 448
Ring-and-Egg Trick, 84
Ring, Mystic Climbing, 22
Ring, String-Cutting, Made of Horseshoe Nail, 5
Rip in Tire Tubes, Checking, 354
Rivets in Couches, Substitute for, 371
Road Maps, Celluloid Cover for, 295
Roadster with Motorcycle Engine, Homemade, 437
Rocker, Developing or Etching-Tray, 218
Rocker, Sewing Rack Attached to, 291
Rod for Picking Fruit, Tin Can on, 54
Rods, Round, for Fish Poles, Making, 40
Rods, Turning Long Wood, 349
Roll-Film Spools Useful in Economizing Pencils, 170
Roll Films, New Method of Developing, 339
Roll-Paper Feed for Typewriter, 207
Roller, Shade, Toy Submarine Made of, 441
Roller Skates, Homemade, 377
Roller Truck for Use in Scrubbing, 210
Rolling Can, Come-Back, 298
Roofs, Double, Provide Ideal Shade for Poultry Coops, 180
Room, Dark, Loading Box to Dispense with, 268
Room, Electric Fan Aid to Heating, 426
Room, Raising Temperature of, 356
Roost, Spring, Releases Poultry-House Door Latch, 448
Rope and Lever, Emergency Lifting Device of, 334
Rope, Emergency Oarlock of, 218
Rope Pad Prevents Slamming of Door, 440
Rope, Sheepshank, Knot Used to Recover, 168
Rope, Weighted, Holds Flag Upright, 451
Roses Tinged Blue by Chemicals, 406
Rotary Pump, Small, Easily Made, 451
Round and Flat Edges, Ruler with, 350
Round Rods for Fish Poles, Making, 40
Rowing, Oars Flattened to Make Easier, 319
Rubber Balloons, Toy, Filling with Hydrogen, 30
Rubber Band, Making Scale Enlargements with, 175
Rubber Band Prevents Tangling of Telephone Cord, 367
Rubber Bands Made from Old Inner Tubes, 268
Rubber Faucet Plug, Coffee Grinder Repaired with, 129
Rubber Gloves, How to Repair, 286
Rubber Pads for Opening Screw Watch Bezel, 448
Rubbers, Drying Rack for Shoes and, 454
Rudder for a Toboggan, 323
Rug, Heavy, Hanging on Line for Beating, 389
Rug, Pole Supports, for Cleaning, 10
Ruler with Round and Flat Edges, 350
Ruling Pen, Revolving-Wheel, 134
Ruling Uniform Cards or Sheets, Aid in, 420
Running Board of Automobile, Suitcase Holder for, 329
Rust, Keeping Tools Bright and Free from, 212
Rustic Trellis to Shade Door or Window, 175
Rustic Well for a Bazaar or Fair Booth, 182
Safeguarding Contents of Unsealed Envelopes, 363
Safety Brake, Coaster with, 273
Safety Chopping Block, 187
Safety Cover for Valves on Gas Stove, 298
Safety Flue Stopper Made of Tin Pail, 328
Safety Pins, Novel Uses for, 445
Safety Spring for Porch Swings, 297
Sag, Removing from Couch Spring, 430
Sail-Rigged Wind Motor, 172
Sailing the Open Paddling Canoe, 86
Sailors’ Sweetheart Picture Frame, 268
Sal-Ammoniac, Renewing Dry Batteries with, 14
Salt-and-Pepper Holder, Camper’s, 115
Sandpapering Square Edges on Small Machine Bases, 418
Sanitary Drinking Tube, 69
Sanitary Holder for Thread and Dental Floss, 46
Sapling, Hickory, Swing Made of, 335
Scale Enlargements, Making with a Rubber Band, 175
Scale Funnel, Live Poultry Weighed Handily in, 442
Scale on Vaulting Pole Indicates Points of Grip, 411
Scaler, Fish, 154
Scales and Name Plates, Imitation-Celluloid, 353
Scarecrow, Cat-and-Bells, 426
Scarecrow, Swinging Bags on Arms of, 340
Scenic Painting, Enlarged Lantern Pictures as Guides for, 419
Scissors Blades, Keeping Apart Lengthens Their Service, 454
Scoop Made of Box End, 433
Scoop on Painter’s Knife Catches Scrapings, 365
Scraper for Dishes, 337
Scraper for Tennis Court, 311
Scrapings, Scoop on Painter’s Knife Catches, 365
Screen, Catch-All, Inside Hot-Air Register, 432
Screen-Door Check, Homemade, 392
Screen Door, Device Frightens Flies at, 425
Screen Door, Doorbell Push Button on, 150
Screen, Fluorescent, How to Make, 92
Screen, Focusing, for Enlarging Cameras, 388
Screw, Experimental Lead, How to Make, 31
Screw Hooks, Putting in Neatly, 312
Screw Watch Bezel, Rubber Pads for Opening, 448
Screwdriver Made from Buttonhook, 362
Screws, Driving in Hard Wood, 94
Screws, Plaster of Paris to Set into Wall, 266
Script on a Trophy Cup, Onlaying, 188
Scrubbing and Floorwork, Caster Board for, 293
Scrubbing, Roller Truck for Use in, 210
Searchlight, Pivoted, Made of Old Milk Strainer, 139
Seat, Automobile, Porch Swing Made from, 425
Seat, Combination Workshop, 370
Seat, Folding Ground, with Back Rest, 190
Seat for Garden Workers, Movable Sunshade and, 148
Seat, Fuel Box in, Filled from Floor Trapdoor, 332
Seat, Hall, with Storage Compartment, 312
Seat, Homemade Spring Wagon, 440
Seat, Rear, for Motorcycle or Bicycle, 446
Seats, Lawn, Built on Tree Stump, 141
Second Handle on Hoe or Rake Saves Stooping, 160
Secret Trinket Case for the Bookshelf, 296
Section Liner, Homemade, 280
Sectional Poultry Fencing, Portable, 329
Sectional Spun-Metal Candlesticks, Repairing, 382
Secure, Making Chest Lock More, 94
Seed-Planting Guide String, Reel for Use with, 422
Seeding Bare Spots on Lawns, 167
Seeing an Alternating Current in a Mirror, 392
Self-Setting Rat Trap, 31
Set of Electric Chimes, 368
Sewing Basket, Hourglass, 137
Sewing Machine, Emery Needle Cushion in, 197
Sewing Machine, Needle Threader for, 134
Sewing Machine, Prevents Soiling Goods After Oiling, 402
Sewing-Machine Thread, Preventing from Tangling, 382
Sewing Rack Attached to Rocker, 291
Sewing Stand with Workbag in Top, 293
Shade and Curtains, Bedroom, Arranged for Thorough Ventilation,
128
Shade, Ideal, Double Roofs Provide for Poultry Coops, 180
Shade-Roller Springs, Repairing, 338
Shade Roller, Toy Submarine Made of, 441
Sharpener, Table-Knife, 22
Sharpening Fiber Phonograph Needles, Device for, 361
Shaving-Brush Holder, 76
Shaving Lamp and Mirror for Camp, 162
Sheath for Hunter’s Knife, Locking, 428
Shed, Double Lock for, 157
Sheepshank Knot Used to Recover Rope, 168
Sheet-Metal Stand for Flatiron, 182
Sheet Music, Tabs for Turning Quickly, 368
Sheets of Paper, Straightening, 456
Sheets, Typewritten Bound, Inserting or Correcting on, 419
Sheets, Uniform Cards or, Aid in Ruling, 420
Shellac Varnish, Receptacle for, 346
Shelves, Wall, Easily Constructed, 108
Shield for Heater in Chick Brooding House, 295
Shielding Pictures from Damp Wall, 338
Shipment, Convenient, Trunk Bookcase for, 217
Ship’s-Wheel Device for a Radiator Valve, 259
Shoe Laces, Frayed, Repaired with Pitch or Wax, 129
Shoe-Polishing Strop, 344
Shoes and Rubbers, Drying Rack for, 454
Shoes, Tan, To Keep from Turning Dark, 377
Shop, Protecting Plans in, 376
Shop Use, Ironing or, Gas-Hose Bracket for, 366
Shortening a Pasteboard Box, 337
Shotgun and How to Use It:
Part I.—How a Shotgun is Made, 55
Part II.—Choke and Pattern of a Gun, 63
Shotgun Shell, Fishing-Tackle Outfit in, 142
Shotgun Shell, Golf Tee Made of, 430
Shoulder-Pack Tent, Homemade, 131
Sideboard Converted into Kitchenette, 192
Sidecar for a Parcel-Delivery Bicycle, 407
Sign, Homemade Gate, with Metal Letters, 451
Signal for Lighted Lights in Basement, 314
Signal Telegraph with Green and Red Lights, 176
Signboard, Antique, Made of Headboard of Bed, 15
Silverware, Cleaning, 158
Simple Barometer, 415
Simple Concealed Locking Device for Cases of Drawers, 4
Sink, Dishwashing, Combination Laundry Tub and, 218
Sink, Old, Installed as Dish-Draining Basin, 452
Sink, Protecting Wall Back of Range or, 354
Sitting Hens, Coop for, 360
Skates, Homemade Roller, 377
Ski Sled, 41
Skill, Marble-Under-Bridge Game of, 298
Skis and Ski Running:
Part I.—Prominent Types of Modern Skis, 23
Part II.—Running, Jumping and Climbing, 33
Skylight, Portable, for Home Portraiture, 330
Slamming of Door, Rope Pad Prevents, 440
Sled, Folding Ice, 44
Sled, One-Runner, 45
Sled, Ski, 41
Sleeping Tent, Hammock, 242
Sleeve Aids in Distinguishing Gas-Fixture Chains, 247
Slicing Board for Camp or Kitchen, 247
Slide in Top of Drawer, Desk, 356
Slide Tray, Nonbinding Tool-Chest, 371
Slide, Water-Coasting Toboggan and, 183
Sliding Board for Coasting, 14
Sliding Windows, Horizontal, Hinge Lock for, 372
Small Articles, Bench Receptacles for, 350
Small Working Pile Driver, 215
Smoker’s Cabinet or Cellarette, 32
Smoker’s Trays, Morris Chair with Newspaper Rack, 309
Smoking of Lamp Overcome by Increasing Draft, 361
Snake Game, Indian, 388
Snakes Inlaid, Turned Cane with, 325
Snapper-Shell Ash Tray, 68
Snow Blocks Made in Box Form, Fort Built of, 409
Snow, Falling, Taking Photographs in, 140
Snowshoe Toe Clips, Homemade, 418
Socket, Fuse, Inkwell Base Made from, 344
Sockets, Table, for Electrical Heating Apparatus, 396
Sod Cutter, Horse-Drawn, 229
Soiling Goods After Oiling Sewing Machine, Prevents, 402
Solder, Making String, 235
Soldering, Difficult, Alcohol Blowtorch for, 382
Soldier, Compact Toilet Outfit for, 9
Soldiers, Lead, and Similar Small Castings, Making, 455
Soldier’s or Traveler’s Kit for Sundries and Toilet Articles, 453
Sounding Glass, Mystery, 157
Space in Closet, Rigging Economizes, 433
Spacer for Curtain Rings, Cord Used as, 211
Spade Handle, Broken, Repaired with Water Pipe, 242
Spark Plugs, Extra, Box to Protect, 440
Sparks, Electric, Photographing, 399
Specimen Book, Preserving Leaves in, 10
Speed, Pedals for Typewriter Space and Shift Key Increase, 364
Spit, Water Wheel Turns over Campfire, 429
Split-Bamboo Lettering Pen, 142
Split-Bamboo Tray for Top, Folding Table with, 424
Split Needle Causes Echo on Talking Machine, 217
Splitting, Driving Nails to Prevent, 373
Spokes, Wire, in Wheels, Handy Tool for Tightening, 450
Spoon Attachment to Prevent Child from Using Left Hand, 317
Sporting Rifle and How to Use It, 47
Sportsman’s Cabinet for Guns, Equipment and Books, 434
Spray Liquid in Atomizer, Bottle Economizes, 450
Spray Nozzle Made of Acetylene Burner, 248
Spray, Pressure, Made of Old Oilcan, 212
Spring for Porch Swings, Safety, 297
Spring-Roller Curtains, Automatic Stop for, 317
Spring Roost Releases Poultry-House Door Latch, 448
Spring Wagon Seat, Homemade, 440
Springs, Coiled, Winding, 134
Springs, Discarded Buggy, for Diving Board, 429
Springs, for Play Auto, Barrel Staves as, 311
Springs, Opening, for a Tennis-Racket Clamp, 393
Springs, Repairing Shade-Roller, 338
Springy Hammock Supports Made of Boughs, 369
Sprocket Drive, Belt for, Made of Brass Strips, 160
Square Edges on Small Machine Bases, Sandpapering, 418
Squeezing Paste from Tubes, 391
Squirrel-Skin Bill Fold, 265
Stage Use, Player or, Comic Chest Expander for, 429
Stake, Nontangling Pasture, 136
Stand for Flatiron, Sheet-Metal, 182
Stand for Potted Flowers, Turntable, 308
Stand for Test-Tube Flower Vase, 21
Staples, Tinned, for Bell-Circuit Wiring, 420
Star-Kite, Eight-Pointed, 159
Starting Garden Plants, 373
Steam-Propelled Motorcycle Made by Mechanic, 191
Steam Tractor, Model, Made by Boy, 410
Steel Fishing Rods, Enamel for, 349
Steel Wool as Aluminum-Ware Cleaner, 162
Steel Wool, Uses for, 348
Steering Gear, Coaster, Made from Cream-Freezer Drive, 161
Stenciling with Photographic Films, 416
Stepmother for Incubator Chicks, 130
Stick, Mixing, That Breaks Up Lumps, 54
Sticking to Hands, Preventing Putty, 314
Sticks Held in Flooring Groove, Planing Thin, 218
Stool, High, How to Make, 378
Stools, Small, and Foot Rests, Variety of, 261
Stooping, Second Handle on Rake or Hoe Saves, 160
Stop, Bench, 395
Stop for Spring-Roller Curtains, Automatic, 317
Stop, Removable Drawer, 10
Stopper for a Bunghole, 254
Stopper, Oilcan, 349
Stopping Rattle in Motorcycle Stand, 414
Storage Compartment, Hall Seat with, 312
Storage of Camp Equipment, Care and, 304
Storage of Wood for Cabinetwork, 389
Stove, Emergency Alcohol, 350
Stove, Fifty-Cent Electric, 260
Stove, Gas, for the Dining Table, 373
Stove, Gasoline, Denatured Alcohol to Start, 413
Stove Lighter with Feeding Wick Guards Against Burns, 459
Stove, Small Cooking, Economical Use of Wood Alcohol in, 210
Stoves, Emergency Camp, Quickly Made, 449
Straightening Sheets of Paper, 456
Strained Auto-Truck Frame, Reinforcing, 454
Strap, Carrying, and Lock for Hand Cases, 328
Straw Hat, Old, Bird House Made of, 181
Stretcher for Drying Small Fur Hides, 421
Strength of a Giant, Showing, 108
Striking of Clock, Electrical Device Transmits, 14
String-Cutting Ring Made of Horseshoe Nail, 5
String Solder, Making, 235
String, To Uncork a Bottle with, 402
Strips, Device for Corrugating, 421
Strop, Shoe-Polishing, 344
Stump, Ornamenting Old Tree, 123
Stumps, Tree, Lawn Seats Built on, 141
Submarine Camera, 219
Submarine, Toy, Made of Shade Roller, 441
Substitute for Gas-Stove Oven, 45
Substitute for Ground Glass in Camera, 236
Substitute for Rivets in Couches, 371
Suitcase Extension, Homemade, 360
Suitcase Holder for Running Board of Automobile, 329
Summer Camp, Diving Tower for, 274
Summer Radiator Cover Serves as Cupboard in Winter, 297
Summer Veranda, Taborets and Small Tables for, 269
Sundial Plate, Horizontal, Laying Out, 436
Sundries and Toilet Articles, Soldier’s or Traveler’s Kit, 453
Sunshade and Seat, Movable, for Garden Workers, 148
Support for Flower Centerpiece, Wire-Mesh, 344
Support for Wagon Pole Aids in Hooking Up Team, 5
Support, Springy Hammock, Made of Boughs, 369
Sweetheart, Sailor’s, Picture Frame, 268
Swimmers, Webfoot Attachments for, 381
Swing, Child’s, Built of Pipes in Narrow Space, 358
Swing, Circular, 177
Swing Made of Hickory Sapling, 335
Swing, Porch, 167
Swing, Porch, Headrest for, 367
Swing, Porch, Made from Automobile Seat, 425
Swinging Bags on Arms of Scarecrow, 340
Swings, Playground, Bearing for, 276
Swings, Safety Spring for Porch, 297
Switch, Cylinder Reversing, 297
Switch, Lightning, for Wireless Aerials, 415
“Switchboard” Protects Milker from Cow’s Tail, 128
T-Squares, Making, 101
Table, Bird, Cat-Proof, 76
Table Box for Campers, 124
Table, Combination Camp-Kitchen Cabinet and, 126
Table, Dining, Gas Stove for, 373
Table, Folding Card, Handy for Invalid in Bed, 308
Table, Folding, with Split-Bamboo Tray for Top, 424
Table, Ironing Board for Use on, 315
Table, Jig-Saw, for Vise, 93
Table-Knife Sharpener, 22
Table Lamp, Inexpensive, Made of Electrical-Fixture Parts, 127
Table Mats, Asbestos, Reinforced with Wire Netting, 421
Table, Octagonal Mission Center, 7
Table, Old, Used as Wall Workbench, 440
Table, Parlor, 151
Table, Revolving Outdoor Lunch, 363
Table Sockets for Electrical Heating Apparatus, 396
Table Stands for Hot Dishes, Attractive, 210
Table, Window Frame and, for Dark Room, 320
Tables, Small, and Taborets for the Summer Veranda, 269
Taborets and Small Tables for the Summer Veranda, 269
Tabs for Turning Sheet Music Quickly, 368
Take-Down Emergency Oars, 395
Taking Pictures from Kite, Camera for, 52
Talking-Machine Cabinet, Automatic Electric Light on, 162
Talking-Machine Cabinet, Homemade, 310
Talking Machine, Disk, as China Banding Wheel, 10
Talking Machine, Kinks for, 179
Talking-Machine Needles, Uses for Worn, 329
Talking Machine, Record-Cleaning Pad Fixed to, 445
Talking-Machine Records, Disk, Played Eccentrically, 328
Talking-Machine Records, Playing with the Finger Nail, 187
Talking Machine, Split Needle Causes Echo on, 217
You might also like
- Baby Lock Quest II BLQ2 Sewing Machine Instruction ManualDocument104 pagesBaby Lock Quest II BLQ2 Sewing Machine Instruction ManualiliiexpugnansNo ratings yet
- 7 Ways To Get Rich Men (Grace Harper) (Z-Library)Document68 pages7 Ways To Get Rich Men (Grace Harper) (Z-Library)FoxyNo ratings yet
- Id Items For Growtopia Private ServerDocument171 pagesId Items For Growtopia Private ServerGregorius Agung87% (30)
- BigBrightIdeas 5 ReinforcementWorksheets V2 Op PDFDocument19 pagesBigBrightIdeas 5 ReinforcementWorksheets V2 Op PDFMariajosé Escrich Rincón88% (8)
- Ex Combatants Voices Transitioning From War To Peace in Northern Ireland South Africa and Sri Lanka Palgrave Studies in Compromise After Conflict 1St Ed 2021 Edition John D Brewer Edit Full ChapterDocument68 pagesEx Combatants Voices Transitioning From War To Peace in Northern Ireland South Africa and Sri Lanka Palgrave Studies in Compromise After Conflict 1St Ed 2021 Edition John D Brewer Edit Full Chapterbrian.calloway212100% (5)
- Exam Ref Ai 900 Microsoft Azure Ai Fundamentals Julian Sharp Full ChapterDocument65 pagesExam Ref Ai 900 Microsoft Azure Ai Fundamentals Julian Sharp Full Chapterbrian.calloway212100% (5)
- Exam Ref 70 764 Administering A SQL Database Infrastructure Victor Isakov Full ChapterDocument67 pagesExam Ref 70 764 Administering A SQL Database Infrastructure Victor Isakov Full Chapterbrian.calloway212100% (3)
- Statistics For Business Economics 13Th Revised Edition Edition David Ray Anderson All ChapterDocument67 pagesStatistics For Business Economics 13Th Revised Edition Edition David Ray Anderson All Chapterpatricia.wong683100% (2)
- Statistical Topics and Stochastic Models For Dependent Data With Applications Vlad Stefan Barbu All ChapterDocument67 pagesStatistical Topics and Stochastic Models For Dependent Data With Applications Vlad Stefan Barbu All Chapterpatricia.wong683100% (3)
- Exam Success in Biology For Cambridge International As A Level Richard Fosbery Full ChapterDocument67 pagesExam Success in Biology For Cambridge International As A Level Richard Fosbery Full Chapterbrian.calloway212100% (4)
- Statistics For Business and Economics Metric Edition 14Th Edition Cengage South Western All ChapterDocument67 pagesStatistics For Business and Economics Metric Edition 14Th Edition Cengage South Western All Chapterpatricia.wong683100% (3)
- Exam Success in Mathematics For Cambridge Igcse Core Extended Ian Bettison Full ChapterDocument53 pagesExam Success in Mathematics For Cambridge Igcse Core Extended Ian Bettison Full Chapterbrian.calloway212100% (3)
- Islamism and The Quest For Hegemony in Indonesia Luqman Nul Hakim Full ChapterDocument67 pagesIslamism and The Quest For Hegemony in Indonesia Luqman Nul Hakim Full Chapterelizabeth.nelson517100% (5)
- Evolving Narratives of Hazard and Risk The Gorkha Earthquake Nepal 2015 1St Edition Louise Bracken Full ChapterDocument67 pagesEvolving Narratives of Hazard and Risk The Gorkha Earthquake Nepal 2015 1St Edition Louise Bracken Full Chaptervivian.arriola772100% (5)
- Therapeutic Dressings and Wound Healing Applications Boateng Full ChapterDocument67 pagesTherapeutic Dressings and Wound Healing Applications Boateng Full Chaptersteven.williams996100% (3)
- Therapy As Discourse Practice and Research 1St Ed Edition Olga Smoliak Full ChapterDocument67 pagesTherapy As Discourse Practice and Research 1St Ed Edition Olga Smoliak Full Chaptersteven.williams996100% (3)
- Statistics For Business Economics 14E Edition David R Anderson All ChapterDocument67 pagesStatistics For Business Economics 14E Edition David R Anderson All Chapterpatricia.wong683100% (2)
- Islam Migration and Jinn Spiritual Medicine in Muslim Health Management Annabelle Bottcher Full ChapterDocument67 pagesIslam Migration and Jinn Spiritual Medicine in Muslim Health Management Annabelle Bottcher Full Chaptermadeline.bryant891100% (5)
- Statistical Thinking From Scratch A Primer For Scientists M D Edge All ChapterDocument67 pagesStatistical Thinking From Scratch A Primer For Scientists M D Edge All Chapterpatricia.wong683100% (5)
- Happy LGBTQ Experiences of Australian Pentecostal Charismatic Christianity Mark Jennings Full ChapterDocument67 pagesHappy LGBTQ Experiences of Australian Pentecostal Charismatic Christianity Mark Jennings Full Chapterlinda.barnette462100% (4)
- Hard Count A F On The Football Field Redemption Story Ariana ST Claire Full ChapterDocument67 pagesHard Count A F On The Football Field Redemption Story Ariana ST Claire Full Chapterlinda.barnette462100% (5)
- Islamist Terrorism in Europe Petter Nesser Full ChapterDocument66 pagesIslamist Terrorism in Europe Petter Nesser Full Chapterelizabeth.nelson517100% (3)
- Islamic Theology and Extraterrestrial Life Jorg Matthias Determann Full ChapterDocument67 pagesIslamic Theology and Extraterrestrial Life Jorg Matthias Determann Full Chapterelizabeth.nelson517100% (4)
- Happy Dreams of Liberty An American Family in Slavery and Freedom R Isabela Morales Full ChapterDocument67 pagesHappy Dreams of Liberty An American Family in Slavery and Freedom R Isabela Morales Full Chapterlinda.barnette462100% (3)
- Islamic Finance Fintech and The Road To Sustainability Reframing The Approach in The Post Pandemic Era Zul Hakim Jumat Full ChapterDocument68 pagesIslamic Finance Fintech and The Road To Sustainability Reframing The Approach in The Post Pandemic Era Zul Hakim Jumat Full Chaptermadeline.bryant891100% (3)
- Islamic Law and International Law Peaceful Resolution of Disputes Emilia Justyna Powell Full ChapterDocument56 pagesIslamic Law and International Law Peaceful Resolution of Disputes Emilia Justyna Powell Full Chaptermadeline.bryant891100% (4)
- Islamic Finance and Global Capitalism An Alternative To The Market Economy 1St Edition James Simon Watkins Full ChapterDocument67 pagesIslamic Finance and Global Capitalism An Alternative To The Market Economy 1St Edition James Simon Watkins Full Chaptermadeline.bryant891100% (4)
- Islamic Ethics and Female Volunteering Committing To Society Committing To God 1St Ed Edition Merve Reyhan Kayikci Full ChapterDocument68 pagesIslamic Ethics and Female Volunteering Committing To Society Committing To God 1St Ed Edition Merve Reyhan Kayikci Full Chaptermadeline.bryant891100% (2)
- Island Criminology John Scott Full ChapterDocument67 pagesIsland Criminology John Scott Full Chapterelizabeth.nelson517100% (4)
- Ebook PDF of Trabalhista O Que Mudou Reforma Trabalhista 2017 Marlos Augusto Melek Full ChapterDocument53 pagesEbook PDF of Trabalhista O Que Mudou Reforma Trabalhista 2017 Marlos Augusto Melek Full Chapterfaqmaeche100% (15)
- Full Consumer Behavior Buying Having and Being 12Th Edition Solomon Solutions Manual PDFDocument65 pagesFull Consumer Behavior Buying Having and Being 12Th Edition Solomon Solutions Manual PDFblaine.nevill224100% (18)
- Calculus Third Edition Gujarat Technological University 2017 Ravish R Singh Full ChapterDocument67 pagesCalculus Third Edition Gujarat Technological University 2017 Ravish R Singh Full Chaptercarla.campbell348100% (2)
- Dangerous Gifts Imperialism Security and Civil Wars in The Levant 1798 1864 Ozan Ozavci Full ChapterDocument67 pagesDangerous Gifts Imperialism Security and Civil Wars in The Levant 1798 1864 Ozan Ozavci Full Chapterjerome.gomez926100% (7)
- Islamist Militancy in Bangladesh A Pyramid Root Cause Model 1St Edition Mostofa Full ChapterDocument67 pagesIslamist Militancy in Bangladesh A Pyramid Root Cause Model 1St Edition Mostofa Full Chapterelizabeth.nelson517100% (3)
- At Last Dineen Full ChapterDocument51 pagesAt Last Dineen Full Chapterhenry.browne966100% (6)
- The Experimental Translator 1St Edition Douglas Robinson Full ChapterDocument67 pagesThe Experimental Translator 1St Edition Douglas Robinson Full Chaptergerardo.munoz362100% (6)
- Textbook Dragon Conjurer Book 06 1St Edition Eric Vall Ebook All Chapter PDFDocument53 pagesTextbook Dragon Conjurer Book 06 1St Edition Eric Vall Ebook All Chapter PDFjames.tucker421100% (16)
- Evolutionary Computation in Scheduling 1 Edition Amir H Gandomi Full ChapterDocument67 pagesEvolutionary Computation in Scheduling 1 Edition Amir H Gandomi Full Chaptervivian.arriola772100% (3)
- Free Download Active Electrical Distribution Network Issues Solution Techniques and Applications Sanjeevikumar Padmanaban Full Chapter PDFDocument52 pagesFree Download Active Electrical Distribution Network Issues Solution Techniques and Applications Sanjeevikumar Padmanaban Full Chapter PDFmarcella.white877100% (22)
- Hard Questions Facing The Problems of Life John Kekes Full ChapterDocument67 pagesHard Questions Facing The Problems of Life John Kekes Full Chaptersean.woodham570100% (4)
- Read Online Textbook General and Oral Pathology For The Dental Hygienist Third Edition Ebook All Chapter PDFDocument22 pagesRead Online Textbook General and Oral Pathology For The Dental Hygienist Third Edition Ebook All Chapter PDFlouise.whipple464100% (4)
- Read Online Textbook The Story Upon A Hill The Puritan Myth in Contemporary American Fiction Christopher Leise Ebook All Chapter PDFDocument22 pagesRead Online Textbook The Story Upon A Hill The Puritan Myth in Contemporary American Fiction Christopher Leise Ebook All Chapter PDFbetty.lumpkin102100% (5)
- Evolving Tomorrow Genetic Engineering and The Evolutionary Future of The Anthropocene Prof Asher D Cutter Full ChapterDocument68 pagesEvolving Tomorrow Genetic Engineering and The Evolutionary Future of The Anthropocene Prof Asher D Cutter Full Chaptervivian.arriola772100% (4)
- Textbook Ebook Machines and Mechanisms Applied Kinematic Analysis 4Th Ed Edition David H Myszka All Chapter PDFDocument43 pagesTextbook Ebook Machines and Mechanisms Applied Kinematic Analysis 4Th Ed Edition David H Myszka All Chapter PDFmatt.fajardo988100% (7)
- Moon Southwest Road Trip: Drive The Loop From Las Vegas To Santa Fe, Visiting 8 National Parks Along The Way 3rd Edition Tim HullDocument70 pagesMoon Southwest Road Trip: Drive The Loop From Las Vegas To Santa Fe, Visiting 8 National Parks Along The Way 3rd Edition Tim Hulllellyreby100% (5)
- Saving The Marquess Book 1 A Steamy Regency Romance I Have A Secret Happily Ever After Book Mihwa Lee All ChapterDocument67 pagesSaving The Marquess Book 1 A Steamy Regency Romance I Have A Secret Happily Ever After Book Mihwa Lee All Chapterhelen.golding628100% (9)
- Oswald Wiener S Theory of Thought Conversations and Essays On Fundamental Issues in Cognitive Science 1st Edition Thomas Eder (Editor)Document70 pagesOswald Wiener S Theory of Thought Conversations and Essays On Fundamental Issues in Cognitive Science 1st Edition Thomas Eder (Editor)pemgitaek100% (4)
- Read Online Textbook Final Hour 01 Every Last Breath Juno Rushdan Ebook All Chapter PDFDocument22 pagesRead Online Textbook Final Hour 01 Every Last Breath Juno Rushdan Ebook All Chapter PDFkimberly.brown693100% (4)
- The Economy of Ghana 50 Years of Economic Development 1St Ed Edition Mozammel Huq Full ChapterDocument67 pagesThe Economy of Ghana 50 Years of Economic Development 1St Ed Edition Mozammel Huq Full Chapterkaren.wynne813100% (7)
- Read Online Textbook Final Hour 02 Nothing To Fear Rushdan Ebook All Chapter PDFDocument22 pagesRead Online Textbook Final Hour 02 Nothing To Fear Rushdan Ebook All Chapter PDFkimberly.brown693100% (4)
- Master React in 5 Days Become A React Expert in Under A Week Eric Sarrion 2 Full ChapterDocument67 pagesMaster React in 5 Days Become A React Expert in Under A Week Eric Sarrion 2 Full Chapterchase.lloyd882100% (6)
- Ebook Elementary Geometry For College Students PDF Full Chapter PDFDocument67 pagesEbook Elementary Geometry For College Students PDF Full Chapter PDFhelen.reid678100% (24)
- Full Contemporary Corporate Finance International Edition 12Th Edition Mcguigan Solutions Manual PDFDocument34 pagesFull Contemporary Corporate Finance International Edition 12Th Edition Mcguigan Solutions Manual PDFblaine.nevill224100% (17)
- Read Online Textbook The Charmed Heir The Secrets of Nedworth Hall Book 4 Merry Farmer Ebook All Chapter PDFDocument22 pagesRead Online Textbook The Charmed Heir The Secrets of Nedworth Hall Book 4 Merry Farmer Ebook All Chapter PDFjudy.steele575100% (3)
- An Anxious Inheritance Religious Others and The Shaping of Sunni Orthodoxy Aaron W Hughes Full ChapterDocument67 pagesAn Anxious Inheritance Religious Others and The Shaping of Sunni Orthodoxy Aaron W Hughes Full Chapterpaul.marshall936100% (7)
- Read Online Textbook The Stormbringer Isabel Cooper Ebook All Chapter PDFDocument22 pagesRead Online Textbook The Stormbringer Isabel Cooper Ebook All Chapter PDFbetty.lumpkin102100% (5)
- The Ethics of Surveillance in Times of Emergency 1St Edition Macnish Full ChapterDocument67 pagesThe Ethics of Surveillance in Times of Emergency 1St Edition Macnish Full Chapterbyron.abbey266100% (7)
- Textbook Dragons of The Temple The Winter Court Chronicles 4 1St Edition Stephany Wallace Ebook All Chapter PDFDocument53 pagesTextbook Dragons of The Temple The Winter Court Chronicles 4 1St Edition Stephany Wallace Ebook All Chapter PDFjames.tucker421100% (16)
- Read Online Textbook Gender Roles A Sociological Perspective Version Ebook All Chapter PDFDocument22 pagesRead Online Textbook Gender Roles A Sociological Perspective Version Ebook All Chapter PDFlouise.whipple464100% (4)
- Consciousness Life and The Universe Xue Fan 2 Full ChapterDocument67 pagesConsciousness Life and The Universe Xue Fan 2 Full Chapterlinda.kinney529100% (6)
- Island Criminology 1St Edition John Scott Full ChapterDocument67 pagesIsland Criminology 1St Edition John Scott Full Chapterelizabeth.nelson517100% (3)
- Men Masculinity and Contemporary Dating 1St Ed Edition Chris Haywood Download PDF ChapterDocument51 pagesMen Masculinity and Contemporary Dating 1St Ed Edition Chris Haywood Download PDF Chapteremily.kerrigan962100% (20)
- Islamophobia and Radicalisation A Vicious Cycle Tahir Abbas Full ChapterDocument67 pagesIslamophobia and Radicalisation A Vicious Cycle Tahir Abbas Full Chapterelizabeth.nelson517100% (4)
- (Download PDF) Ex Match Perfect Match Agency Springtime Book 1 MM Farmer Merry Farmer Full Chapter PDFDocument69 pages(Download PDF) Ex Match Perfect Match Agency Springtime Book 1 MM Farmer Merry Farmer Full Chapter PDFcuneydariqat100% (7)
- Exam Success in Biology For Cambridge International As A Level Richard Fosbery Full ChapterDocument67 pagesExam Success in Biology For Cambridge International As A Level Richard Fosbery Full Chapterbrian.calloway212100% (4)
- Exam Success in Mathematics For Cambridge Igcse Core Extended Ian Bettison Full ChapterDocument53 pagesExam Success in Mathematics For Cambridge Igcse Core Extended Ian Bettison Full Chapterbrian.calloway212100% (3)
- Exam Ref 70 764 Administering A SQL Database Infrastructure Victor Isakov Full ChapterDocument67 pagesExam Ref 70 764 Administering A SQL Database Infrastructure Victor Isakov Full Chapterbrian.calloway212100% (3)
- Exam Ref Ai 900 Microsoft Azure Ai Fundamentals Julian Sharp Full ChapterDocument65 pagesExam Ref Ai 900 Microsoft Azure Ai Fundamentals Julian Sharp Full Chapterbrian.calloway212100% (5)
- Ex Combatants Voices Transitioning From War To Peace in Northern Ireland South Africa and Sri Lanka Palgrave Studies in Compromise After Conflict 1St Ed 2021 Edition John D Brewer Edit Full ChapterDocument68 pagesEx Combatants Voices Transitioning From War To Peace in Northern Ireland South Africa and Sri Lanka Palgrave Studies in Compromise After Conflict 1St Ed 2021 Edition John D Brewer Edit Full Chapterbrian.calloway212100% (5)
- Bing SimalungunDocument9 pagesBing SimalungunAristawidya Utami HasibuanNo ratings yet
- WorksheetDocument2 pagesWorksheetAlexandra BurdaNo ratings yet
- Naskah - PBIS4325 - The - 1 2023Document8 pagesNaskah - PBIS4325 - The - 1 2023Karibs EnglishtcNo ratings yet
- OCA Circular No. 62-2022Document16 pagesOCA Circular No. 62-2022Catherine SergioNo ratings yet
- Chapter 2 Functions of Houskeeping DepartmentDocument21 pagesChapter 2 Functions of Houskeeping Departmentnizam100% (1)
- MKT 3 New ProductDocument3 pagesMKT 3 New Productzayyar htooNo ratings yet
- Waray Tribes WPS OfficeDocument2 pagesWaray Tribes WPS OfficedaveacselgalvezNo ratings yet
- Strategic Fashion Company ProfileDocument44 pagesStrategic Fashion Company ProfileBhasinNo ratings yet
- Vestment For Altar ServerDocument2 pagesVestment For Altar ServerMinistry of Altar Servers Diocese of CabanatuanNo ratings yet
- Homework Relative Clause 1. Complete The Article. Use Relative PronounsDocument3 pagesHomework Relative Clause 1. Complete The Article. Use Relative Pronounstrang phạmNo ratings yet
- Renaissance Designs LTDDocument4 pagesRenaissance Designs LTDmasud sharifNo ratings yet
- Simple Present Present Continuous Choose The Correct and More ExercisesDocument2 pagesSimple Present Present Continuous Choose The Correct and More ExercisesavecrenNo ratings yet
- Chapter 5 Lesson 2Document98 pagesChapter 5 Lesson 2Sun SetNo ratings yet
- Something Wicked Black and Blue Series Book 3 Lily Morton All ChapterDocument67 pagesSomething Wicked Black and Blue Series Book 3 Lily Morton All Chapterramona.clark109100% (5)
- Cost SheetDocument10 pagesCost Sheetpanuganty_20064088100% (1)
- Class 12 English Flamingo Chapter 6Document7 pagesClass 12 English Flamingo Chapter 6Krupa SindhuNo ratings yet
- Packing List 11th ContainerDocument9 pagesPacking List 11th ContainerswatiNo ratings yet
- Az Otthon És Szűkebb KörnyezetDocument2 pagesAz Otthon És Szűkebb KörnyezetGabi Disztlné SzitaNo ratings yet
- A Litol NSFWDocument10 pagesA Litol NSFWGlovie Marie SemillaNo ratings yet
- Soal Pas Bing 8Document4 pagesSoal Pas Bing 8IlhamNo ratings yet
- Near Miss On Board Tanker VesselDocument1 pageNear Miss On Board Tanker VesselStevien HendryanNo ratings yet
- Back To School Sales Tax Holiday 2022Document7 pagesBack To School Sales Tax Holiday 2022ABC Action NewsNo ratings yet
- I. Choose A, B, C, D or E For The Correct Answer! Exercise: The Following Text Is For Questions 1 To 4Document2 pagesI. Choose A, B, C, D or E For The Correct Answer! Exercise: The Following Text Is For Questions 1 To 4Helmi SyafrizalNo ratings yet
- Doc-20231128-Wa0001 231128 154333Document1 pageDoc-20231128-Wa0001 231128 154333Elaine McfarlaneNo ratings yet
- My Research PaperDocument13 pagesMy Research PaperGarima PandeyNo ratings yet
- Pattern Durable Cabled Cushion Summer UsDocument5 pagesPattern Durable Cabled Cushion Summer UsZoe GozaloNo ratings yet
