Best Nest In Vegas (Sin City Omegas #4)

Chapter 1

“You’re not kidnapping her, are you?” I paused my jog, sweating and full of endorphins.

The man, who was carrying a blonde toddler with one hand and pushing a stroller with the other, startled. I recognized the little girl, but not him, which was unusual for the people in our ritzy neighborhood.

“You scared the shit out of me.” He let out a relieved breath. “I think if I were going to kidnap her, I’d have chucked her in the car and driven off. Harder to do that with a stroller she doesn’t want to sit in.”

I laughed and he relaxed a little more. “You know what? Fair enough.”

He raised a questioning eyebrow, forcing me to notice his gorgeous blue eyes and tidy dark blond hair. “Why do you think I’m kidnapping her?”

“Well, I know Lucy, but I don’t know you.

” The girl was my neighbor’s daughter, and while I knew her from waving as I ran by on my jogs when the family was outside, I wasn’t close with her or her parents.

My boyfriend wasn’t really into talking with the neighbors, but I always tried to be friendly.

When the stranger didn’t offer his identity, I prompted him. “Gonna tell me who you are, stranger?”

“Sorry. Nathan Malone. I’m Ava’s older brother.” He held out his hand and I shook it, noting the lack of calluses. He probably did some sort of office work to have hands that soft. “I’m assuming you know my sister?”

“We’ve met a few times. Charlotte and I are friends, so I know her better, but Ava seems sweet.”

Charlotte and Ava’s history was a tangled web, but I knew the gist of it: Ava had been the unwitting mistress to Charlotte’s husband, and when the whole thing had blown up, the two of them had become friends, and the husband had very quickly become an ex for both of them.

Now they both had loving packs of their own.

Charlotte had moved out to a ranch not too far from the city and was expecting triplets pretty soon.

To say I was jealous that fate had dumped a pile of amazing scent matches into Charlotte’s lap wouldn’t be entirely inaccurate.

I was happy for her, and I’d accepted my packless existence.

Mostly.

I’d been dating my alpha boyfriend for ten years, but Tyler wasn’t a scent match, and he was in no hurry to bond me or marry me. What did a girl have to do to get a ring or a bite around here?

“And what’s your name?” Nathan asked, bouncing Lucy when she fussed, then kissing her chubby cheek.

Be still my ovaries.

“Madison. I live right there.” I pointed to the house a couple of lots down.

Lucy wriggled, demanding to be put down, forcing Nathan to hold her hands.

He was certainly tall enough to be an alpha, though his scent was muted and I struggled to catch it.

Blockers, probably. I was usually on the daily dose ones when I knew I’d be running around buying product so I didn’t get my scent all over the merchandise, so I understood why some people kept their scent under wraps.

“Did you want to join us for a painfully slow walk?” Nathan asked.

“Sure. I’ve got to cool down after my run, anyway.

” I adored winter in Vegas, mostly because I could get outside without melting into a puddle.

Summer was for AC and my home gym, but winter was for working up a sweat in the great outdoors.

If suburban Vegas could count as that. “Want me to handle the stroller?”

“That would be great, since I haven’t developed the ability to become an octopus yet.”

I took over pushing duty while he walked hunched over, Lucy marching down the sidewalk with his assistance. “How are you enjoying being an uncle?”

“It’s grown on me a lot. I used to live life on the road, but I moved here recently to avoid missing too much of this little gal growing up.”

That statement set off fireworks in my chest. I’d probably seen him a few times when he popped by, but not long enough to find out who he was. “That’s cute as hell.”

“Ava and I don’t have much family. Lucy has a flip-ton.”

I couldn’t help smiling at the swear modifier. Did he not normally swear, or was it because he was around little ears?

“But I’m committed to competing for the position of favorite uncle.”

“She has so many. I have to imagine that’s some stiff competition, sir.”

Nathan laughed. “Don’t I know it. Keeps me on my toes though.”

“So what did you do before you ended up here?”

“I was a junior architect. And don’t let the junior part fool you. It takes a billion flipping years to become a senior architect. I did a ton of traveling around the world with my mentor, and it was amazing, don’t get me wrong, but it’s nice to have a homebase again.”

“I’d love to travel. My boyfriend travels a lot for work, so when he doesn’t have to, he becomes a complete homebody. He won’t go anywhere with me.”

“Go by yourself?” Nathan suggested. “Or get a better boyfriend.”

The cackle I let out instantly assuaged his look of panic that he might’ve overstepped. I whacked him on the arm. “Don’t let him hear you suggest that. It’s honestly not that bad. He’s taken care of me for a long time, so it wouldn’t be very grateful of me to complain too much.”

“Nothing wrong with a good vent,” he replied. “Where would you go if you could convince him to take a trip?”

“Anywhere, really. I’m kind of a slut for palaces from a design perspective. They’re gorgeous and I love using the concepts in my designs. Some places are getting really good at replicating the opulence but way more affordably, so I get to have fun putting together nests for people.”

“You’re a nest designer?”

“An all things designer, really, and not officially. Nests are just my favorite. I don’t have a business since Tyler thought that would be too stressful, so instead, I design for my friends and their friends.

I don’t think it’s too stressful, even if it did take me some time to figure out the design software, and finding companies to source exactly what my sort-of-clients were looking for. ”

“Sounds like a business to me.”

“I’d like it to be one, but I’d have no idea what to charge.”

Nathan choked. “You’re doing that much work for free? For how many people? Are you overseeing renovations with this, too?”

“A couple dozen per year for clients. I’ve been doing it for about five years now. Not all of them need renovations, but for all the smaller-scale ones I do the painting, installation, and all that jazz.”

He covered Lucy’s ears. “Madison. That’s a fucking business. You should be getting paid for that.”

Nathan getting worked up, combined with a slight shift in the breeze, wafted the barest hint of balsam and blueberry in my direction. The scent was light but it lit me up from the inside out. Holy mama. He smelled incredible.

I stared into his ice blue eyes. “That’s a lot of passion for a stranger you just met.”

“I get my hackles up when people are being exploited. You have a regular clientele. There’s no reason they shouldn’t be paying for your expertise.”

“But I never went to design school.”

Lucy stopped to investigate some shiny rocks in someone’s front yard and Nathan kneeled next to her, but stared up at me.

“Doesn’t sound like your clients care about that.

Besides, you can’t teach natural talent.

If you’ve got a good eye, that’s something you’re born with and no amount of design school could help if you don’t have that. ”

I hummed thoughtfully. “I suppose that’s fair. I’ll think about it. I’d have to ask Tyler for money for the business license and everything to get it set up.”

Nathan blinked, his brow furrowing. “You work for free and he controls all the finances?”

“Yes. Why?”

“For the sake of this being our first meeting, I’m not going to say my inside thoughts out loud.”

I pouted. “That’s not fair. Now I want to know.”

“Sorry to disappoint. I try to keep things at least marginally pleasant when I meet new people.”

“Fine.”

I kept pouting, but Nathan didn’t relent. Once Lucy got bored with the rocks, we started walking again, him still looking completely ridiculous as he bent over to assist her.

I’d convinced myself I didn’t want children since I knew that was off the table with Tyler, but I could still appreciate an alpha taking care of a kid.

I was more than ready to slide into the cool auntie role with Charlotte’s babies. She had two older boys, but they were a bit wild for me, so we were still working on connecting. I had grown up with girl cousins and was used to a very different dynamic, but I was learning with the boys.

“Anything else you wanna do that you’re not allowed to?” Nathan asked. “Running a business and travelling are pretty big. I’m gonna start getting offended on your behalf.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Sounds like you already are.”

Nathan grimaced. “Sorry. I know I’m opinionated.”

“Twinsies. I get wanting the best for people, but I swear my life is pretty good.”

“You’re not answering the question.”

I shrugged. “Lots of stuff, but it’s not important.”

“Like what?”

“I want to learn how to ride horses and how to do aerial silks.”

“So why can’t you do them?”

“Tyler would be the one paying. I’ve been considering poking him again about letting me take horseback riding lessons. I’m pretty sure he’d cave with the condition that Charlotte be the one to teach me.”

“Who else would?”

“A couple of the men that work at Night of Knights teach lessons, too.”

“I gotta say, you’re not selling me on this guy. Is he really so insecure that only an omega woman is allowed to teach you?”

“In his defense, one of the teachers is really cute.”

Nathan barked a laugh. “And why aren’t you allowed to do silks?”

“Because it’s sexy as hell when you get good at it.”

“And that’s bad?” Nathan tilted his head, examining me carefully.

“I don’t think so, but I can see how an alpha might not want his omega performing for people.”

“Is this like a dance class, where you have end of year recitals?” he asked.

Lucy parked herself on the grass and we paused to let her fuss with the greenery that wasn’t being baked into oblivion now that it was winter.

“Honestly, I have no idea. I haven’t looked into it that much.”

“You should,” Nathan insisted. “There have to be classes that don’t make you perform. Do the lessons for fun.”

I mused. Why couldn’t Tyler be this flexible?

No, that wasn’t fair. Nathan didn’t know me and he had no investment in my life or relationship.

He could say whatever he wanted without a single consequence.

Still, the idea of skirting the rules to do what I wanted without Tyler having a reason to get mad was tempting.

I had gotten good at that over the years.

There was always a loophole, and Tyler was relatively easy to distract from any rage I accidentally drummed up.

Sex usually worked off a lot of his aggression, and then we could go right back to normal.

Lucy flopped back onto the grass.

“Tired of our walk already?” Nathan asked her. “Ready to go home?”

She lifted her little arms and he scooped her up with an exaggerated groan, as if she weighed a thousand pounds.

“You’re getting sooo big, Luce. Gonna be taller than me soon.” He hoisted her into the air while she shrieked with laughter, tossing her just high enough to give me a spike of anxiety, then catching her again to pepper her face with kisses.

Tyler hated kids. And not in the sense of never wanting to have them. If they were in his space, he was complaining. Anytime I had Charlotte bring the boys over for a swim, I made sure Tyler would be gone for the day.

“I should get her back if she’s done with outside time,” said Nathan. He popped Lucy into the stroller and we turned back. When we paused in front of my house, Nathan turned to me. “It was nice to meet you.”

“Samesies.”

“Don’t be a stranger.”

“Basically impossible, since you know where I live,” I said with a laugh.

He waved and set off to cover the short distance to Ava’s house, but not before calling back, “Sign up for those lessons. Fuck that guy.”

I laughed and went inside. Pausing in our entryway, I absorbed the beautiful details of our home: white marble, gold detailing, soft complimenting colors.

Tyler’s dark cherry scent lingered in the air, but I found myself looking for hints of blueberry and balsam, despite knowing I wouldn’t find any.

Tyler had bought this house a decade ago with his inheritance and let me do whatever I wanted with the decor. We’d been dating since I was eighteen, when he’d swept me off my feet, convinced me to be his omega, move in, and not worry about anything for the rest of my life.

I still didn’t really worry about much, but I was coming to realize how long the rest of my life was.

With a sigh, I slipped upstairs to shower and make myself presentable before Tyler got home.

I had a good life, I reminded myself of that regularly.

I didn’t need more than this.

Right?