I nodded. “Yep. I mean, I already paid through Saturday, so I think I’m all set.”
“You already paid through Saturday,” he repeated, his smile growing a little.
I nodded before a strange feeling hit me. “Um, didn’t the owner tell you? I booked it kind of late last night.”
“I see. No, I hadn’t heard yet.” He rose gracefully considering his massive bulk and held his hand out to help me to my feet. “My name is Stan.”
“Nice to meet you, Stan. Are you the manager or..” I trailed off, not sure what other options there were.
“More of the caretaker,” he said smoothly. “Hopefully you didn’t have any special needs in the food department since I already went to the store?”
I shook my head quickly. “No. I mean, I’m pregnant so I try to eat healthy but that’s hardly your problem.”
“Nonsense,” Stan said cheerfully. “We’re full-service. Have you eaten yet?”
“Um, no. I was kind of rushed getting here,” I admitted, blushing when my stomach growled.
Stan just laughed and started collecting the groceries scattered on the floor, waving me off when I started to pick up the glass from the broken pickle jar. “I’ve got this. You go back to what you were doing and I’ll rustle up some breakfast. After that, I’ll show you to the guest room.”
Twenty minutes later I was back on the sofa with the fuzzy blanket covering me and a plate of velvety scrambled eggs, wholegrain toast, and fresh fruit on the table beside me.
Yep, Corbin had the best idea ever.
~*~
Otto
I looked everywhere and still couldn’t find Dexter.
Okay, obviously I didn't literally lookedeverywhereor I would have found him, but I had scoured the entire town and even done a cursory search of the local campgrounds and cabin rentals to no avail. I was absolutelynotstalking Dex, I was simply worried about a friend who wandered off with a large suitcase and who-the-hell-knew-who.
Okay, maybe I was stalking him a little, but he taken off before I could tell him that we might actually be fated mates, surely that superseded any claim this new asshole had on him, right? That’s what I was telling myself, anyway, and since Dex was still missing, it wasn’t like he was even going to know I was trying to stalk him.
Finally giving up in the late afternoon, I returned home to contemplate what our relationship might look like in the future, assuming I could convince Dex to give me a chance.
No, I was not sulking, I was contemplating, damn it. That’s my story and I stuck to it until the next morning when someone banging on my front door pulled me out of the fitful sleep I finally fallen into.
“What the hell?” I grumbled, grabbing my jeans from the day before off the floor and pulling them up. “I know that damn gate was closed.”
When I pulled the front door open, it was later than I thought. From the position of the sun in the sky, it had to be almost noon and there were two men standing on my porch, both Omegas. Corbin, who I knew casually, was hovering near the step. Taylor, Dexter’s best friend for years, was right up in my face, eyes snapping with hostility.
“Where is he?”
I shook my head to clear some of the sleep cobwebs. “Who?”
“You know who,” Taylor huffed, shoving past me and storming into the house.
“Come on in,” I invited dryly as he thundered down the hall to my bedroom before stomping back out to the living room. “There’s no one here but me. Who are you looking for?”
Standing in the doorway instead of following Taylor and me inside, Corbin was biting his lip. “Dex isn’t here?”
“No,” I said slowly. “I went by his place last night and his neighbor said he packed a suitcase and left with some guy she didn’t know.”
“That was me,” Corbin said quietly.
“Then shouldn’tyouknow where he is?” I growled, my hostility toward Dex’s mystery lover flooding back through me now that I had a target.
“I should,” Corbin huffed, “but he isn’t there. That’s the problem.”
