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“Where did he disappear to?”
I scan the garden party, sprawled across the lawn of the packhouse, for my mate’s broad frame. His messy chestnut curls and booming laugh are usually easy to find, even in a crowd. Everyone is here to welcome the new arrivals to the pack, and the atmosphere is jovial. Normally, Nathan would be in the middle of all of this, in his element, especially since there was a cloud hanging over the pack for so long - but no more. Since then, they celebrate everything.
“Do you really need to ask?” Leila laughs as she bounces her beautiful, dark-haired baby boy on her knee.
Surely not? Not today.
Sighing, I get up from my chair and head toward the back doors and into the packhouse. Hayley and Cooper stand chatting to Rex and Leah, wide grins on their faces. Hayley clutches the baby monitor in one hand as she leans back against Cooper’s chest, a content smile on her face. Cooper rubs one hand up her arm, the other resting possessively on her hip as he speaks to his brother.
As I walk over, Hayley laughs, turning the screen toward me to confirm what I suspected. With a roll of my eyes, I disappear inside and take the stairs up to the alpha suite. He’s obsessed. I should be offended that he abandoned me for someone who can’t yet talk. Except when I push open the door to Hunter’s room to see Nathan sprawled on his back, swinging a grinning and babbling Hunter back and forth through the air, I can’t help but love him for it.
Hunter’s little legs and arms kick and flail in delight as he smiles a big gummy grin at his adoring uncle.
“As future Alpha of this pack, Hunter says you’re not allowed to ruin his fun.”
“Nathan, Cooper put him up for his nap half an hour ago. What are you doing here?”
Nathan tucks Hunter into his chest before sitting up, making goofy faces at him while speaking to me.
“He told me he wanted to play some more before he went to sleep. His mean mommy and daddy left him on his own and he was bored.”
Shaking my head at him, I fold my arms over my chest, ready to give him a lecture about respecting the schedule they are trying to get him on. I don’t need to say anything, though. The monitor on the shelf crackles, and Hayley’s voice comes through loud and clear.
“Stop blaming the baby, Nathan. He was perfectly happy.”
Nathan scowls and stands, turning Hunter to face me, waving a chubby little arm at me adorably. Those rolls. There is something about them that makes my uterus twitch.
“Nathan, step away from the baby.”
Cooper’s more serious tone has Nathan grumbling as he reluctantly settles Hunter back into his cot and zips him into his sleep sack. Giving him a wink, he steps back, looking torn about leaving him there alone.
“Uncle Nathan will be here when you wake up, buddy,” he promises, as though Nathan is the one person his tiny little nephew will search for, and he feels guilty even being in another room. My mate has it bad. Who’d have thought this reformed playboy would love babies so much?
“Come on, you,” I coax as he loiters in the doorway. “You’ll see him again as soon as he gets up.”
With a pout, he follows me into the living room, taking my hand and drawing me in for a kiss.
“I’m sorry I snuck off.”
Wrapping his arms around me, he kisses the top of my head and breathes me in. I feel his contentment and it warms my heart.
“As long as you’re not running off to see another woman, we’re good,” I joke as he sways me side to side.
“Never,” he whispers his promise against my hair and repeats it down the mind-link to drive his point home. Not that he needs to. From the moment we met, he hasn’t given me any reason to doubt him. Not even for a second.
We creep out to the hallway just as Cooper arrives, shaking his head at Nathan’s duties, and slips back into the suite to stay close as Hunter sleeps. He’s a doting dad, and while he gives out to Nathan for spoiling him, he’s almost as bad.
As the door closes, Nathan cups my face in his two hands and leans in, pressing sweet kisses to my lips at first, before the kiss turns into something more. When he tangles his hand in my hair, keeping me in place as his hunger rises and he growls. With his hands on my hips, he walks me backward across the landing. I’m so absorbed in the kiss that I go with him easily, my own arousal rising to meet his.
“Nathan, what are you doing?”
We’re not at home. There’s a party in full swing downstairs and the guests of honour haven’t even arrived yet.
“I still have my key.”
He doesn’t take his lips off mine as he speaks and his words are muffled, but I get the message loud and clear when I feel him pressing hard and thick against my belly. I shake my head, but he ignores me, crowding me back until my ass hits the door to his old apartment with a thud.
“Can’t wait. Need you now.”
