The Arrangement (Omegas of Hunter's Point Book 1)

Chapter 18

Damian sat back with a groan, surrendering his spoon, as Von and Michael finished off what had been, upon reflection, a foolishly enormous hot fudge sundae. With only a few bites remaining, the two of them were engaged in a mock battle to see who'd get the last of it. Michael crossed his spoon with Von's, sliding hers to the side as she reached for the remaining bite of ice cream.

"I am vanquished," she conceded. "Last bite's yours, kiddo."

If Michael wasn't demonstrating as alpha by age eleven or twelve, Damian would eat his briefcase. The boy scraped the bowl for every last, minute morsel of hot fudge before setting his spoon down. "Gramma never lets me have sweets. So, we shouldn't tell her."

"My thoughts exactly," Damian chimed in, wishing he'd had Von's good sense and worn pants with an elastic waistband.

"Well, the good news is it looks like you got more hot fudge on your face than you did in your mouth," Von teased. "Let's get you cleaned up." Then, to Damian, "We'll be right back."

As he watched them head for the nearest family rest room, it occurred to him that Von's pants were still wet from the flume ride they'd recently ridden. The sodden fabric clung to her shape, defining the apple-bottom roundness of her ass. He very much wanted to feel those voluptuous curves pressed against his...

Stop that, Ambrose, he chided himself, chuckling.

Gods, she was more than he could have hoped for. She was lovely, and smart, and talented, and compassionate, and so, so good with Michael. She'd already been mistaken for the boy's mother on more than one occasion by Luna Park employees, and it hadn't escaped his notice the blush that had come to her cheeks at the error. In turn, Michael had been glued to her side for most of the day. When they'd all gone through a (fairly mild) haunted house, it had been Von that Michael had clung to when an animatronic ghost had startled him, even though Damian had been standing right next to the kid. It had been Von he'd wanted to sit with on the flume ride. And it was Von he requested take him to the bathroom when he needed to go.

To Damian, Michael's behavior confirmed every suspicion he'd been harboring concerning the kind of care the boy was receiving at the hands of the other Mrs. Ambrose. The kid was so starved for maternal affection that he latched on to the first woman who provided it, regardless of the fact that he'd only met said woman a few hours ago. That created a potential problem, as well. Von's presence in Damian's life was a temporary one. Once he had custody of Michael, she'd be moving on. He briefly considered asking her to amend their arrangement in order to include provisions that would make her a more consistent part of Michael's life, but dismissed the idea. Von had signed up to be a fake mate, not a surrogate mother. He wasn't about to ask her to inconvenience herself by taking on that role as she was also shouldering the burden of being a full-time student.

"Your son is so well mannered," Damian heard a woman say as Von and Michael were exiting the restroom.

"Oh, I'm not his mother," Von countered, "but I wish I was."

Damian's heart gave a lurch. Had she meant that, or was she just being polite? Because, if she'd meant it...no. He ruthlessly banished the thought. The arrangement was temporary, and they both had reasons for why it had to be that way. There would be no real mate-pairing coming out of this. There couldn't be.

Von wadded up the hand towel she'd been drying her hands with and tucked it back into her tote bag. "We should get going if we're going to make it to the puppet show. Did you still want to go, kiddo?"

Michael gave an enthusiastic nod. "Yes, please." He reached for Von's hand on reflex. He'd been doing that all day, Damian had noticed.

The children's theatre shows were on the other side of the park. Damian took Michael's free