Chapter 14
Chapter
Fourteen
Xander looked forward to hanging out with Iago in Secret Springs.
They’d stopped at the birth center to check in with Devon and get the all clear for the hot springs pool.
Devon had just said to make sure the pool was at its usual ninety-two degrees, which was safe, and to only soak for half an hour at a time, tops.
And to stay out of the therapy pool, which was too hot at one-oh-four.
So now they were going to go swim, and then head to lunch. And maybe go to Clinton’s Crapitorium. That vintage shop had it all.
They stripped down to their shorts, putting out their towels and all before sinking into the water together.
Xander moaned. He hadn’t realized how tense he was, until he was soaking.
“Mmmm. Oh, that’s nice.” Iago waded out into the pool and kicked his feet up, floating.
“Right? I love this silly place.” The pool wasn’t as big as Glenwood’s or anything, but it was big enough for lap swimming and also had plenty of room for just hanging. And at this time of day it was pretty deserted.
Iago closed his eyes, legs floating up, feet bobbing. “So, what are you looking for at the Crapitorium?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Stuff that goes with the house more? My mom was kind of stuck in her childhood. Seventies and eighties stuff. I want to take it back more to the late 1800s through the boarding house age. Like the thirties.” He melted, his muscles like cooked noodles.
“Oh, neat.”
“And we need to start thinking about the baby’s room, right? I know it’s early, but we need an idea.”
Iago blinked at him, waving his hands gently to stay afloat. “In your house?”
“Well, I hope it’s our house.”
“I do too.” Iago floated over to him, leg brushing against his thigh. “I really do. I like soft, soothing colors for babies — not just blue or pink, but violets or peaches too.”
“Yum. What about like, green?”
“A nice sagey green can be good for sleeping. Not so much ba-doing Kelly green.”
“Right.” He knew from green. He looked like a leprechaun. Everyone gave him green stuff.
Iago grinned at him. “We can paint each wall a different color. I’m easy. Or stripes!”
“Oh my God. My mom did stripes back when I was a kid. That sucked hugely, trying to get the tape right.” Xander hooted, kicking his legs up too. “Man, you need to meet them.”
“I do. Have you told them about the baby? About me?”
“I have.” Well, he’d talked to Mom for like, five minutes while Iago had been off at his place packing a bag and all. “I need to take you to see them. They’re just over in Montrose.”
“I’d love that. I…” Iago stopped himself, and Xander pulled him closer.
“You?” he encouraged.
“I just…I’ve never thought I’d be a part of a real family — my own family. I’ve always just been an add-on.”
“Nope. You and me, baby.” He stroked a hand over Iago’s hip. “We’re going to do it.”
Xander got it. His folks were cheerful, solid, outdoorsy Colorado people. They didn’t understand his moods at all.
Iago, on the other hand, understood him down to the bone, got it when he was down or when he just couldn’t cope.
He didn’t jolly him along; he simply listened.
Xander adored that about him. He thought he got Iago pretty well. The guy was a ball of energy and insecurity wrapped in a blue-haired, seemingly confident package. But once Xander had seen the vulnerability beneath it, he’d fallen hard.
His lover was a gentle soul, someone who deserved and needed care and protection — he got it, and he loved that Iago was more than willing to care for and protect him in return.
“You’re thinking hard.” Iago bumped into him before floating away a little.
“I am. Just about how happy you make me.”
“Me? Really?” Iago beamed at him. “That’s good to hear. Honest.”
“I want to be good for you, baby. With you. I know I’m not a prize sometimes. You have yet to experience me at my worst.”
“Well, hopefully those moments will be few and far between.” Iago winked at him.
“That’s my goal, for sure.” Iago already made him want to be a better man. How much more would he want that when they had a kid together? It was wild. He was just a dude renovating his house only a few months ago. Now he was in a relationship with a baby on the way.
“So…tell me something about you that I don’t know?” Iago slipped up out of the pool to cool off, feet dangling in the water.
“Uh…” He turned to tread water. “Well, I wanted to be a cowboy when I was a kid. Like in a Tombstone way.”
“No, really?” Iago looked him up and down. “Okay, I can see it. You have the confidence, the bravado.”
That made his spine a little longer, made him smile. “You think?”
“Sure. You are hot.”
“Thanks, baby.” He preened a little. “I am hot, though. Like, literally.” He waded to the edge of the pool to climb out next to Iago. “So, tell me something about you that I don't know.”
Xander figured that pool of knowledge was probably vast, so he was incredibly curious to find things out.
“Me. Hmm…I went to school to study ballet.”
He blinked. “What?”
“Like dancing. Seriously.”
“You’re a ballet dancer?” He’d never even imagine that in a thousand years.
“I was. I had a bad injury.” Iago shrugged and smiled. “I have an ankle that has been basically reconstructed. Thank God for Gent and Colton.”
“Did they help with that or something?” He wanted to understand how those friendships had come about.
“They helped with costs, and more important, they helped me figure out that my life wasn’t over, you know?”
“I guess so. Wow. Does it hurt to think about it?”
“Not now. I never dance, though. I feel weird and awkward.”
“Not even for fun?” He rubbed his ankle against Iago’s. “I would totally dance with you, baby.”
“Oh, I’d love that. Snuggling with you to music.” Iago beamed at him.
“That’s it. Vertical making out.” He leaned his shoulder against Iago’s, loving how that wet body felt against his. His friend Xavi had a weird thing about getting wet. Xander had no such compunctions.
“I like making out.” Iago slid back into the water, tugging him down too and moving onto his lap. “With you.”
“Me too, baby. So much.” They sank down until just their heads were above water, and Xander took a kiss.
Iago opened to him like a morning glory to the touch of sunshine, and that made him shiver, top to bottom. He knew they had to scale it back, or he’d never be able to get out of the pool again, but damn.
Iago did it for him.
He grabbed Iago’s hips and held them a little bit apart. “I want you. I’ll never make it out of the pool.”
“Mmm. We’ll have to get out in about fifteen minutes. You can swim laps for a few before we do.”
“I’ll be like an upside-down shark.”
Iago blinked at him for a second, and then started laughing uproariously, just bubbling with it. This sound was infectious enough to draw glances from the people who were in the pool with them, most of them smiling at them. Xander had to join him because it was hysterical really.
They clung to each other and just chuckled like lunatics for a good while, setting each other off every time one of them would stop.
Finally they stopped to breathe, and he had to admit that had sort of rectified the below the belt situation. “You ready to say it's time to get out of the pool and go grab something to eat?”
“I think I am. Where do you think we should go to get good soup? I mean it's not gonna be as good as yours…”
“How about Alicia's? They have soup to go with the bagel sandwiches. I know their chicken and rice is really good, so is their potato.”
“You don't think it's too hot for soup?” Iago took his hand and they started wading to the stairs.
“I think if it is, I could have a bagel and a salad, and you can have soup.
It doesn't matter. That's the nice thing about eating out, right?” He squeezed Iago's hand.
He was certainly not going to go against the cravings.
From what everybody told him, mostly Sebastian, because he didn't know a lot of other omegas who'd had a baby, it only got worse.
He loved that he was going to be able to feed his omega, satisfy him. Food was love to him, even if he didn’t make it himself.
They hopped into the showers at the pool to rinse off, then got themselves together to head to downtown Secret Springs. He drove, so they could park up by the library and be close to everything.
The town was buzzing with people and fun, and he loved coming down here, seeing how Secret Springs was growing. It was finite. Everyone knew it. The town sat in a bowl bounded by mountain passes and more small towns, but it was so damn revitalized.
“So you never wanted to open a restaurant here?”
“Nah.” Xander shrugged. “But I am thinking of taking on some catering. The ladies at the hotel have offered the kitchen for a small cut.” They did events, but not catering offsite.
“Oh, that’s neat. I think you should talk to Gent about catering the lunches for the show. We’d love it, and you already to the work. You should get paid for it.”
He wasn’t sure how he felt about that — getting paid to feed his omega. No, he didn't think he would do that. Maybe he could get Gent to pay for some of the groceries if he fed the guys from the show, which seemed like a fine hair to split but he didn't want to get actually paid for doing the work.
“Luckily, I'm pretty flexible, baby. Now, I have to admit Mason and Law do eat a lot.”
“They do, but they love your food so it's a compliment, right?”
“It is, especially since I know I didn't make the best second or third impression on them.”
“They just really care for me. I think they genuinely are my family, so...I got the benefit of the doubt. You know, they forgave you. You’re an amazing thing, my person.”
“It was incredibly gracious of you. On the other hand, I'm incredibly glad I'm one of your things.”
Iago rolled his eyes and blushed. “Me too. I sort of like your thing.”
They looked at each other, and then they started chuckling again.
God, Iago made him laugh.