Page 27 of Deep Fake

He took my hand, leading me down the hall and then into the secret door that led to his lair. We went down the stairs and I could tell, just by the extra lights, that something was different but when my feet hit the last step, I saw it.

“What did you do?” I asked in complete awe.

“It’s our lair now. You can be next to me while we work. It’s a desk that you can use standing or sitting. And there are big monitors like mine. And if you turn…” He pulled me over to show me. “I set you up for video games. I know you like those cozy games.”

I did love the cozy games. The ones where you farmed and planted gardens and fished all day. Not Riglan’s thing, but he had played with me a few times.

“You did all this for me?”

He shrugged one shoulder and kissed me on the temple. “Selfish, really. I wanted you to be near me and…do you like it?”

I threw my arms around his neck. “I love it, Rig. This is incredible.”

“Really? I thought maybe you would want your own space. I thought maybe you would think this is a bit possessive.”

“Not this omega. Any time I can spend with you is perfect. Thank you.”

He showed me everything, and soon we settled in to our respective sides of the room. I caught him looking at me more than once. Gosh, this was perfect. The work was mundane, but at least here, it was better than sitting alone in my apartment.

I finished a few hours later and went upstairs to make us some lunch or late dinner. Riglan couldn’t stop what he was doing, but he hugged me and rubbed my belly and turned back to the monitor. Goddess, he was cute when he was concentrating.

Instead of playing my game, I dove into pregnancy sites and watched videos until my eyelids drooped and Rig’s keystrokes slowed.

“Time for bed, baby?” he asked, coming to look over my shoulder.

“Yes. We are tired tonight. But I can stay up if you’re not finished.”

“No, I’m done for the night. Besides, it’s our first official night with you moved in. I just want to go to bed and hold you. You’ve been really tired lately growing our little one inside you.”

I had been exhausted. The healer said it was all normal and would go away come the second trimester, and that time couldn’t come soon enough. My appetite had been fine and there was no more nausea, but tired? Definitely.

“Take me to bed, then, please. In the morning, I’m making you breakfast.”

We went upstairs and were in bed in no time. There was no more urgency. No more fear or waiting for another text or nasty message. I was free to be happy and at peace.

That was, until this baby decided to come out.

Chapter Twenty-One

Riglan

Time to set up a nursery.

Past time, really, but we’d been so busy. Malone was trying to tie up loose ends at work before he went on paternity leave, and I’d had some contracts I wanted to finish as well. And we couldn’t find a healer who kept the hours we did. Turned out, even shifter healers preferred bankers’ hours when possible, so we had to shift our schedules a bit for that. But every night, we said “tomorrow” we’d go shopping and buy the furniture. I’d drag the boxes out of the bedroom next to ours, which we’d both been using as storage, so we could paint and decorate. We’d do it all. And babyproofing! From what we read online, nearly every square inch of our home was a potential landmine for a growing, curious child.

And if it was a ferret baby? They had the tendency to start shifting early, and that would bring a whole new set of dangers with their incredible agility.

Now, as he grew nearly too big to fit behind the wheel of the car, we had accomplished nearly nothing. This could not go on unless we wanted our child to sleep in one of our dresser drawers until they outgrew it.

Rolling over in bed, I kissed my mate’s forehead. “Omega mine, we need to go shopping.”

“Mmm, we’ll just order online. I have a list started. We need bacon.”

We did a lot of online grocery shopping.

“No, not food. We need baby furniture, clothes, diapers…paint for the walls, and a rug for the floor. A car seat. Everything.”

“Online?”