“Am I that obvious?”
“Yes.”
Nash chuckled. “Send me a bill for the hours you’ve put in, all right?”
Jake scowled. “Fuck, no. Aria’s family. If I charged you for her protection, mom would never speak to me again. By the way, I spoke to mom earlier and told her where I was and now she’s arranging a family barbecue so everyone can meet Aria. Oh, and she’s pissed at you for not telling her you met your mate.”
Nash pinched the bridge of his nose. “Great. We’re not even together yet and now she’s got to meet the whole family? Talk about a way to scare her off. And don’t change the subject. You are not footing the bill yourself. Aria is my responsibility. And anyway, your time is valuable. You can’t work for nothing.”
“I’m not working for nothing. I’m getting payment in honeyed buns.”
Nash rolled his eyes. “We’ll talk about this later.”
“Sure, whatever,” Jake said. “See you later, baby brother.”
Nash scowled. He hated when Jake called him that, but he didn’t have the time or inclination to stand around arguing. He wanted to see his mate.
“See you later. And thanks.”
Chapter Six
Aria
Aria handed Nash the cup of coffee then sat down on the sofa beside him. She hadn’t admitted to it, even to herself, but she’d been looking forward to seeing him again all day. At first, she thought it had been overkill having his brother Jake stand outside on guard duty all day long, but it was sweet that Nash wanted to do it for her. It had been a long time since anyone had wanted to put her wellbeing before theirs, never mind going to such lengths to make it happen. And she had to admit, she hadn’t been as concerned with the threat of the cartel as she maybe should have been, but now she had another threat to worry about—Diego.
Diego was hot-headed and he wouldn’t like that she and Nash had thrown him out of the house. She didn’t know how vindictive he would be, but perhaps it was better not to find out. She had to be honest with herself, knowing that Jake was outside the bakery all day watching out for her, gave her an immense amount of relief—it gave her a safety she hadn’t known she craved.
She still felt guilty that she couldn’t afford to pay Jake for his services, but the least she could do was see that he didn’t go hungry, and from what she knew of shifters, they liked their food—andeveryoneliked Maya’s honeyed buns.
“Tell me more about this wolf you dated in high school,” Nash said, after taking a sip from his coffee cup.
A girlish giggle escaped Aria’s lips. “Why? Don’t tell me you’re jealous of someone I dated nearly ten years ago.”
Nash furrowed his brow. “Jealous? Who, me?”
“So, that’s a yes then,” she said around a grin.
“Were you two ever, you know, intimate?”
She coughed out a laugh. “No! We were only fifteen.”
“But you were close.”
She shrugged. “We grew up together, you know, same neighborhood, same schools, although I never knew he was a shifter until we started dating and he told me his secret.”
“He could have gotten into a lot of trouble for that,” Nash said. “We’re not allowed to reveal our secret to anyone except for our mates.”
“He told me that and made me swear not to tell another soul—and I didn’t, until you, and well, that doesn’t count as you’re a shifter yourself.” She sighed. “I don’t know, I guess we were both so young and naïve. I don’t think he realized the implications of what telling me could mean. I never revealed his secret, but I could have of course. So easily.”
“He was lucky. Although I’m not sure how many people would have believed a fifteen-year-old girl when she told people her boyfriend was a werewolf.”
“Yeah, I guess so. I hadn’t really thought of that.”
“What happened to him?”
“I don’t know. He went off to college and I moved to Miami, and we lost touch.”
“Oh, you’re not from Miami?”
