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“Awesome, you won’t hurt your back.” She fished out some chopsticks and wandered off as Zeke’s face contorted in a scowl and my face burned in the first true blush I’d had in a while.

Mesmer gave that catlike grin again. “I’ll take my leave. Text me what you find out.”

Mesmer waltzed out with his portion of food, and I coughed, looking anywhere but at Zeke.

“What?”

“Nothing.” I cleared my throat and fished out my food.

“No, seriously. What?” Zeke put his hand on my food box, and the truth was the only thing between me and delicious chewy rice cakes.

“It’s the perfect fucking height.” I gave a mortified sigh and somewhere, Bitty giggled.

“Oh.” Zeke’s brows shot up. “Ohhhh…”

“This better not be going into one of your books, Bitty.” I stalked off as she snickered, and Zeke trailed after me. “Unsanitary as fuck, too.”

We halted in the doorway as Jess met us with the portable ultrasound, waving the wand at me as she gestured at the table, moving the food aside.

I glanced at Zeke, who stared at the table, thoughts of fucking gone from his mind as I hopped up.

Jess lifted my shirt, and I laid back, the scent of food making my stomach growl as she held up something that looked like a phone but thicker in one hand, a probe in the other with a wire that tethered them. She squeezed a packet of gel underneath my navel and pressed the wand in, rolling the tip around before drawing it up, over my navel and pressed in, face morphing into a little smile.

She flashed the screen toward us, and I stared at the curled shape of our little one, legs spread in almost a butterfly as she focused in. Still, I wasn’t sure what I was staring at.

“Congratulations, it’s a boy.” Jess gave us a half smile as she milled around and squinted. “More than that, I can’t tell. “They have some blood test they do with omegas in the book that the author never fully outlined, so I can’t replicate it here and I’m hesitant to do so after—you know.”

“Might get another house out of it.” Zeke’s snide remark made me laugh, jostling our baby.

“Yeah, no. K-Drama time.” Jess took a picture of the device’s screen and texted it to us and Mesmer before waltzing out.

As it hit me, I almost spoke, but Zeke beat me to it. “I have no idea what I’m doing.”

And neither did I.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Zeke

Jess fell asleep on the couch halfway through the first episode mini movie thing, and Lex snuggled into my lap, head on my thigh while Bitty laid out on the floor, legs swinging up behind her. I had no idea what was going on as some Korean mega CEO was dating a ghost. After the first few minutes, I stopped asking questions.

So, when Lex patted my thigh and rose at the end of an episode, I followed him through the new home, both of us searching out where our bedroom had been set up.

I glanced toward the kitchen as we approached the staircase, and Lex leaned over, eyeing the table. “It is the perfect height…”

We sat in silence.

“I can hear you thinking about it. And the answer is yes.” Bitty’s little giggle made the answer a solid no.

Lex eyed his phone for a moment and followed me upstairs. The first door we opened had our bed—already made. I sighed in relief and hunted around for my clothes, stripping and throwing things into the dirty clothes basket as I stole glances of Lex, watching him turn his back to me as he shucked his shirt.

I hated it.

I hated how he hid from me, how he felt this shame about his body. So, I turned out the light, moonlight filtering in through the window as I used the cover of darkness to lower his inhibition.

As he glanced over his shoulder, his outline barely visible, I guided him to the bed and aided him in laying back with gentle caresses. Wordlessly, I planted kisses over his neck and lips, tugging at his hands that he kept drawing over his belly, reaching for the covers to keep me from feeling or seeing him. “Shh. Every part of you is beautiful. It’s our baby in here,” I said, drawing my hand to the soft swell that I planted a trail of kisses toward.

He huffed and gave breathy whimpers as I rubbed my chin over his soft flesh, trailing one kiss after another over stretch marks that lined his waist as I made my way to his navel and lower. And with every kiss came a breathy little gasp, a whimper, a shiver, his scent growing stronger, telling my alpha nature to consume. When I trailed my tongue down the line beneath his navel, caressing the place where our child would emerge, he lost his composure and kicked his legs a little, hips rocking up. “Zeke.”