Page 25 of Convincing the Heartbroken Beta

Chapter Eight

“Ooh, did they have the chocolate fudge frosting? Not the regular, but the fudge?”

Sascha pawed through the tote bags Cam had just hauled in from his shopping trip. Cam plopped the last one onto the kitchen table.

“They did. And the yellow cake mix.”

Sascha smiled at Cam, observing him as he removed the groceries, then carefully arranging them by type. Having someone dote on him the past couple weeks had been amazing. Plus, Brandon would be back the next afternoon. When he’d called, he said he’d be leaving extra early to get back to Sascha as soon as possible. How had he gotten so lucky that he had two incredible men who cared about him so much?

Sascha’s throat tightened and he almost dropped the can of frosting. Careful to push it back from the edge of the counter, he gave himself a mental slap. He’d better get his head on straight before Brandon got back. He didn’t want his mate getting the wrong idea. After all, it wasn’t as if he was attracted to Cam. That was impossible. He had a fated mate he had a clear connection with and that was that. Sascha chewed on his fingernail.

Except it seemed as though how he felt about Cam was more than what two friends should feel. As matter of fact, it seemed pretty damn similar to how he felt about Brandon.

He peered over his shoulder and caught Cam staring at him. Cam reddened then quickly averted his gaze. Sascha returned his attention to the frosting. That had been happening way too much lately.

Cam cleared his throat a bit too loudly. “So, I’m thinking that old truck of Brandon’s could use a couple new hoses and an air filter. Maybe I’ll run back into town and grab them before everything closes. Then I can work on it after dinner while you’re making Brandon’s welcome home cake.” He cleared his throat again. That way, we’ll each have a surprise for him.”

Sascha turned around and leaned with his back against the counter. “I guess I’ve been too needy, huh?”

Cam regarded him with a creased brow. “What? You’re not needy. Why would you say that?”

Sascha tugged on the hem of the over-sized T-shirt he’d stolen from Brandon’s dresser. His belly had gotten noticeably bigger in the past two weeks and barely anything fit him.

He gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Because I want you to hang out with me all the time.”

Cam lowered his head, muttering something that Sascha couldn’t make out.

“I can’t hear you, Cam.”

Cam still wouldn’t meet his gaze as he rubbed his forehead. “I wanna hang out with you all the time too. But your mate is going to be home tomorrow, and we need—I need—to start getting used to that.”

“Used to what?” He hoped Cam wasn’t planning on leaving after all.

Cam ran a hand across the top of his head then locked eyes with him. “He’s your guy. Plus, everything’s so new between you both. It’s only natural the two of you will want to spend all your time together.” One corner of his mouth tugged into a smile. “And I doubt you want an audience for that.”

Sascha barked out a laugh. “That’s hardly an issue right now because of the pregnancy.”

“Huh?” Cam tilted his head. “I’m confused. What’s the pregnancy have to do with anything?” He crossed his arms as red crawled up his neck. “Besides, you guys slept together the night before he left.”

Sascha sighed. He wasn’t sure how the conversation had gotten steered toward sex. “Slept. We slept together. Nothing else.”

Cam frowned. “Why? Can’t he get it up?”

Sascha slapped his hands over his eyes. “Oh my gods. I can’t believe you just said that.”

“Sorry.”

Sascha lowered his hands then almost laughed at how sheepish Cam appeared. “No, it’s okay. What I meant was that since we can’t have sex while I’m pregnant, we just cuddled together.”

Cam arched his eyebrows. “Is that because the healer advised you not to get busy or because you guys actually believe you can’t have sex?”

Sascha winced. “We didn’t think we should have sex. That it might be bad for the baby or something.”

With a barely masked snort, Cam shook his head. “Dude. You guys can have sex. My sister was going at it all the time when she was pregnant. She said being preggers made her hornier.” Cam wrinkled his nose. “I probably could’ve done without her sharing that with me, but our whole family is just as gabby as I am.”

Sascha chuckled. “I guess so.” He crossed his arms as he contemplated how much further he should carry the conversation. “But we weren’t going to go that far anyway. I mean, I don’t think I want to lose my virginity while I’m pregnant.”

When he chanced a peek at Cam, his friend’s mouth was formed in an ‘o’. “For real?”