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He sighed. “Are you going to take the job?”
“I’m thinking about it. But I have the feeling you’ve already made up your mind.”
He took my hand across the table but then tugged.
I knew what he wanted. I ate most of my meals on his lap. I moved to sit sideways across his legs and pulled my plate closer. “Tell me what’s going on. You knew I was going to try and get a job. It’s at your alma mater. It’s only fifteen minutes away. I don’t want to be useless around here.”
“You are never useless. I don’t want to hear that again. But you’re pregnant. What if you slip and fall? What about out-of-town meets?”
“I’m not going to slip and fall. I’ll be careful, I swear it. And if I go out of town, I thought you could come with me. We could make a weekend of it.”
Locke held onto me tighter. “I can provide for us. You don’t have to work. Who is going to take care of the baby? I…”
He was running out of excuses and fast.
“Locke, I need this. I need to have a purpose beyond this home, not that it’s not enough. Being your mate and eventually being a father will fulfill me, but I want to keep up my knowledge and pass it on to others. What if the next Olympian is in that pool? What if I can help someone? Not everyone has amazing, supportive parents like I did. Swimming was a big part of my life, and I don’t want to completely let go of it.”
“And the baby?” he asked. “You don’t even want someone else painting his or her room.”
He was right. The last thing I wanted was someone else raising our child. “I will work around it and, honestly, I’m getting that baby into the water early. Can we work this out?”
He nodded. “If this is what you want, we absolutely can. My bear was being a bit overbearing. And so was I. I’m sorry.”
I kissed him long and hard. He wasn’t overbearing. Just protective and fierce about me being safe. “You don’t have to be. You can’t help it. You’re an amazing alpha.”
Chapter Twenty
Locke
Sheppard took the job, and I offered him my full support. How could I do anything else when he was so excited about the position?
“I’m head coach for the varsity, but I was also asked to work with the kids who come for workshops and other events. Isn’t that exciting?” He was shoveling bread and jam into his mouth, his current favorite after-dinner snack. “And there are some high school kids who will get to work out with the team in the summer and…”
We were still going to have to figure out what we would do once the baby came, but as he continued to tell me all about the job he was starting tomorrow morning, I knew we would. “How are the facilities?”
“I forgot you wouldn’t know. Since you went to school there, they’ve totally rebuilt the aquatic center, and it’s huge.”
I hadn’t ever entered the old pool, avoiding anything like PE while obtaining my business degree if at all possible. There had been a requirement that I take a couple of classes in phys ed, but I’d taken racquetball figuring it might be something I could do with other business people for a kind of athletic meeting. Swimming…not so much. In fact, I’d done more of it in the past few months than ever before it my life—most of which consisted of floating around while my mate did thousands of laps. It might not have been that many, but it sure seemed like he went by me that many times.
“It’s nice, then?”
“Oh my gosh. Better than that. It’s state of the art, set up for just about any kind of water sports you like. Water polo, volleyball, of course swimming and diving… Don’t get me started about the diving venue. It’s never been my skill, but I can watch those divers all day.”
“It sounds spectacular.”
“More than.” He snuggled closer to me on the couch. “And there’s a new sport they just started offering. I’m going to learn it after the baby comes because it’s not something I can do now.”
“Really?” I pressed my lips on the top of his head, loving just sitting here talking and his enthusiasm for what he’d be doing for work. Maybe a little envy even.
“Yeah, they’re putting together a faculty squad, but I just don’t have the breath to do it right now with someone filling the whole middle of my body.”
“What is this new sport you want to play once your body is your own again?”
“Oh…underwater hockey. Doesn’t that sound amazing? It’s just like regular hockey where you use a stick or paddle to move a puck from one side of the pool to the other.”
“With scuba gear?”
“No, that’s the very best part. No breathing apparatus at all!”
