“Is this about Ronnie?” Her words caught me off guard, but she must’ve seen the truth hidden in my eyes because she squeezed my wrist. “Mackenzie Renee, look at me. Ronnie was an asshole, okay? What he did to you? It’s inexcusable, but it’s been fouryears. Four years of you pining away every winter because you’re lonely and miserable. You know what you need?”
I choked on a laugh. “No, but I bet you’re gonna tell me.”
“Damn straight. Mac, what you need is to move past your failures with Ronnie. You need to find a gorgeous man of your own, maybe settle down and adopt some babies. Start a family. That’s what you’ve always dreamed about, so why are you letting this shit with your ex hold you back?”
“It’s not that easy,” I muttered. No Omega worth their weight in gold would want anything to do with a sterile Alpha. They were nurturers, born to love and raise their young. I couldn’t give them what they needed. What they deserved. I failed as an Alpha in that regard.
“Sure it is. You just need to open your eyes to the possibilities.” She flicked me on the nose, an ornery glint to her eye. Uh-oh... Iknewthat look. “Now you listen to me. One of my friends has a son who would be absolutely perfect for?—”
“Nope.”
“Yep. Would you justlisten?You’re so stubborn.”
“I told you, it won’t work. It doesn’t matter if you know the guy or not. I can’t?—”
“You can. One date. Please, Mac? Pretty please, for me?” Her eyes welled up with tears, surprising me. “I love you so much, bro, but you’re killing yourself. You’re so lonely, and don’t try and argue that you’re not because I’m not stupid. One date. Let me set you up on thisonedate and if you hate it, you can leave. You can be rude as hell if you want, but you have to at least try. Please? I want you to be happy.”
I groaned. The last thing I wanted was to be set up with a stranger, especially if said stranger was good-looking and charming and sweet. Nope. I’d get attached and then, when the truth came seeping out, I’d be kicked to the curb all over again. I wanted to refuse. I wanted to tell my sister where to stick it, but she looked so hopeful…
“Fine.” I sighed. “One date. That’s it.”
She clapped her hands together like an excited child. “Yay! I won’t let you down.”
Yeah. We’d see about that.
CHAPTER 2
Nathaniel
Bah-humbug.
I flopped down in Mum’s overstuffed chair and pulled my legs to my chest with a melodramatic sigh. Even though the house smelled of pumpkin spice and cinnamon, and the ten-foot Christmas tree was decked out in glittering lights and shimmery garland, and my sisters had been singing non-stop fucking Christmas carols…
I just wasn’t feeling the holiday spirit this year, and it was bumming me out.
Usually I’d spend it with the boyfriend-of-the-month, but I’d been single for far too long and lately, even hookups weren’t as enticing as they used to be. There was no spark, so how could there ever be a flame? Maybe I was finally tired of whoring around. Maybe it was time to turn my shit around and put my good looks to good use and hook myself an Alpha.
Maybe it’s time to settle down, hmm, peanut?I rubbed my belly to comfort my little one. Wasn’t the baby’s fault I’d gone and fucked up—and it wasn’t eventhatbig of a fuck-up, because I’d always wanted kids. It just happened a little sooner than I’dexpected.Yeah, and with some random Alpha at the strip club. You’re a wreck.
I grew up in a huge family, surrounded by warmth and love and acceptance. I’d always been free to be myself, and my two moms had always been completely supportive of me and my choices, no matter how outlandish they tended to be.
Until now.
Let’s just say that telling Mum and Ma that I was pregnant with some fly-by-night businessman’s baby didn’t go over as well as I’d imagined. I mean, not that I blamed them. Their son was a hot mess on a good day, and now I was a hot mess with a plus-one for the next eighteen or so years.Great job!
Worse? For the past two weeks, they’d both been up my ass, nagging me about settling down. “At least try!” Ma had exclaimed. “Pull yourself out of this funk and meet someone, Nathaniel!” Like it was that easy. Right.
What they didn’t seem to understand was, in a world full of Alpha-holes, it’d be damn near impossible to find one who would accept a pregnant Omega. The baby wouldn’t be his. There would always be that disconnect, and I didn’t want that for my peanut.
Maybe we’d both be better off if I waited until the little one was two or three. Then I could pass it off as an “oops” from my past and move past it. But let’s face it—I couldn’t go three years without sex. Just wasn’t possible.
I groaned out loud.Fuck me…
Ma must’ve heard me, because she came puttering into the living room in her frilly pink apron, looking the picture of a sweet, domestic housewife. Hah! Ma was more Alpha than any of the men I’d dated, and she didn’t care what people thought.
She pointed a spatula at me in warning. “There will be absolutelynomoping this holiday season, Nathaniel. None. Do I make myself clear?”
I groaned again. “Yes, Ma.”
