So far, the attempt has been unsuccessful.
Why the fuck am I so grumpy? Saturdays should never be spent being irritated.
I’ve been looking forward to making these damn houses all week, but instead of being excited, I’m overstimulated and annoyed by every little thing. Is it because I worked way more than I should have this week? I got so many ornaments made and managed to restock before the farm opened for the Christmas Village today. I even made enough to cover next weekend as well.
None of this explains my agitation with the world at the moment.
“Plum!” Sable rushes me, pulling me in for a hug once I’ve removed my jacket and made my way further into the bar. She squeezes the hell out of me, and thank fuck for best friends, because I instantly relax.
Not completely, but enough to hug her back just as hard.
“Missed you,” she murmurs as she releases me. So far, it looks like it's just Sable, her mates, and the maid of honor, Felicity.
“Am I early?” I ask, looking around at the room that's still being set up with several folding tables and chairs. There are dozens of shopping bags on the bar as well.
“Yeah. Stella and Val should be here in a little over an hour.” Sable nods, hooking our arms and dragging me further into the bar.
And my irritation is back. Why the shit did I think I was supposed to be here at seven?Gah!
“Reinforcements!” Sable cheers, and Felicity snaps her head around, eyes wide when she sees me.
“Thank fuck. Here, you start setting up these tables. Each bag has one full kit.” She jumps right in, wasting no time on pleasantries. I’ve always liked that about her. She takes no shit and is confident as hell. It’s easy to see why Stella claims her as her best friend.
She’s got beautiful black curls, brown eyes, and dark brown skin. Her sparkly graham cracker brown dress has gumdrops down the front, but her shoes are what draw my attention. They have gingerbread men on them.
“Those are so cute!” I say as I get busy with my assigned task.
“Thanks, Hun. They’re my mom’s. Sadly, I have to give them back.” Felicity lowers her voice like we’re sharing something top secret as she whispers, “She didn’t say when I have to give them back though.” She then winks and swiftly returns to her task.
By the time we’re done setting up, everyone has arrived except the happy couple.
Benson, Nick, and Kai all come over to greet me, and I try really hard not to be an epically irritated bitch about them distracting me. There is nothing worse than being locked intoa task, only for a man to show up and start bugging you for attention.
Let a woman work, fellas!
We’re done now, though, so I head to the bar to grab a drink, hoping it will help me chill the fuck out.
“You’re very tense, Omega,” Nick growls in a husky, sexy tone behind me, leaning into me and crowding me against the bar.
“More than just tense,” I growl right back, but much more aggressively and a lot less sexily. “I’m also very easily aggravated.”
“Mmm, do you need someone to give you an attitude adjustment?” he fucking purrs, his lips brushing against my earlobe with every word. I shiver as the sensation sends tingles across my body.
“No,” I snap, glaring at him over my shoulder. The smug alpha smirks, tilting his head to the side as we lock eyes. “How are you going to adjust my attitude, Alpha? Are you going to spank me?” I challenge, not backing down from his stare as he radiates alpha dominance.
“Tempting. Very tempting,” he murmurs. “I have a better idea though.” He takes my hand and drags me away from the bar. When I gripe at him about my drink, he shoots a look back at me that screams, ‘Keep it up.’
He moves through the scattered guests quickly and into the back hall. Memories of him pinning me to these walls resurface, and I bite my lip. I assume he’s going to repeat the move now. Instead, he tugs me to the supply closet.
I’m too stunned to speak as he pushes me through the door in front of him. Especially when I see Kai is already in here. The beta spins around with wide eyes until he sees it's us, and then he turns back to the shelf he’d been searching.
“Why’d you send me in here to get the cake cutter if you were just going to stomp in here and do it yourself?” Kai complains, confusing the hell out of me.
“What?” I ask. Individually, I understood those words, but I have no idea what the man is talking about.
“The cake cutter is already out there with the cake,” Nick responds, and then the words click, finally making sense. Nick sent him in here to look for something he already knew wasn’t in here. This is a setup.
“Well then, why the heck…” Kai trails off as he spins around to face us once again. The alpha is still behind me, so I don’t know what Kai is seeing on his face, but it seems the beta is catching on as well.
