With everything else going on, I’d been ignoring what the beast had to say.
But now, in the quiet of this home, my fox became loud.
He called Greg his mate.
And my human side was smitten. Not only because of his looks but because of who he was as a person. He took me in when I had no other place to go. Made me or bought me dinner and breakfast. Held me when I was at my lowest and tried to make things better.
Helped me to work out a solution to stay here when I was blind to one.
I’d known him less than a day, and the alpha had grown on me. I felt closer to him in these few hours than I had in years with Maxwell. A part of me wanted to blame it all on biology and paranormal magic, the things that made me a shifter.
But another big part of me thought it was simply who Greg was. How could anyone not fall head over heels for this teddy bear of an alpha?
“Life is wild. Just when you think you’ve gotten everything figured out, it laughs in your face and tosses you into the storm.”
Greg frowned. “I’m sorry all of this is happening to you. But I hope this new arrangement will help a bit.”
Damn it. I sounded ungrateful and whiny. I hadn’t meant to. “It will. I can’t thank you enough for offering me a place tostay and supporting me through this. You barely know me, and you’ve given me hope. Thank you, Greg.”
He washed his hands at the gorgeous farmhouse sink surrounded by cabinets with plywood for countertops. There was a lot to do in this inn but, with my help, I was sure we could get it done in time for the summer season so he could rack up the bookings.
When he turned, he blushed. Cheeks, neck, even the earlobes.
Goddess, what a cutie. A big, tall, yummy cutie.
“I hope to know you better, Oswald. What did you want for dinner?” He dried his hands on a towel and hung it on the refrigerator door. “I really wish I had a working kitchen.”
“Do you like to cook?”
He beamed, smiling ear to ear. “I love it. If I had the stove connected, I’d make you something special.”
I pressed my hand to the back of my neck. Greg wasn’t the only one blushing. “Like what?”
“Anything you want. There aren’t very many recipes I can’t make. Especially now with social media and videos available online. One day, I’m going to make you three meals a day and love every minute of it.”
Swallowing, I paused to focus on those words. Maybe I wasn’t the only one feeling like this was more than a chance meeting. Maybe Fate steered me to Greg on purpose. Because he was my mate. He wanted to cook for meone day. Meaning, I would be here for a while.
That didn’t sound like a bad idea at all.
I walked over to stand closer to him, needing to be in his orbit. My fox demanded it. “Should we get to work on the kitchen first? Get the hardest project done to give us a boost in morale?”
His eyebrows raised. “We could do that. At least we could have a good meal at the end of the workdays.”
“For tonight, how about sandwiches? Something simple while we make a plan.”
“Are you sure you don’t want me to order something? I don’t mind at all.”
“We’re both on a budget, mister. Let’s eat here until we have some income.”
Laughing, he took the sandwich fixings from his tiny apartment fridge. “You speak the truth, omega.” His body froze.
I was an omega. There was no question about my designation, but alphas didn’t really go around calling us by our designation.
Unless they suspected the omega was their mate.
Or unless they knew for sure.
I felt like I needed to save him from the slip, even though hearing him call me that word made me tingle. Everywhere. “Is there roast beef because I don’t think I can have a sandwich unless there’s roast beef.” I laughed and took some of the packages from his hands.
