She said we’re cute.My wolf preens.
I look at the camera and see her with a scale and bowl, measuring something. “Cute and smart? Are you talking about yourself?”
“Pft,” Leticia huffs, and she blows her bangs out of her face. “No, I hardly count for either of those things. Just now I forgot to put my hair up before opening the flour container. Luckily, I caught it before I got dirty.” Mesmerized, I watch as she puts it first into a ponytail and then into a messy bun. “And now to put you in my ears.”
“In your ears?” I joke, but I know she means her earbuds, and I long for the more crisp sound of her voice.
“There. Much better,” Leticia says before a soft yawn.
“So, what are you cooking tonight?” I force myself to turn away from the monitor and get back to work. Otherwise, I’ll be here literally all night.
“I’m doing the prep work for tomorrow morning. It’s too early to start most things, like the fresh pasta. But I get it all measured out so it’s dump and cook.” She makes a clanging noise on her end.
“What are you cooking tomorrow?” I just want to hear her voice.
But I also think Leticia is probably a fantastic cook, and maybe I can order something similar tomorrow for food and pretend like we’re eating the same thing at the same time.
For a moment, Leticia hums a little melody I haven’t heard before, but I immediately love it. “Three kinds of ravioli, two different sauces, two fresh salads, a soup, and mini panettone.”
“Oh, is that all?” I’m floored by the sizable task at hand. “Who are you, Juliette Child?”
“That’s not— You know what? Never mind.” I can imagine her waving a hand dismissively at my error. “But of course not, she didn’t care for Italian cooking anyway.”
I want to look over at her and watch her speak, but I force myself to stay turned away from the screen.
Leticia helps by continuing to explain. “But this is Mom’s bigevent for the season. She throws something almost every year and acts like it’s this total surprise and then is totally last minute about it. I guess what’s worse is I just let it happen. I pretend it isn’t happening and then rush around on her timetable to make it all work. She likes to go all out. Now that I’m old enough — trusted enough — to make it happen, I get the kitchen to myself.”
“So you like cooking for everybody?” I keep wiping down the machine I’m working on, clearing the dust and debris away.
“I don’t hate it, but it would be nice if, once in a while, someone told me to take the whole day off.” She seems so sad.
I look over at the screen and find her having weighed out multiple bowls of flour and moving on to the next task, which looks like packages of meats from the refrigerator.
We can provide for our mate.My wolf shakes with delight.You will learn to cook.
I drop the rag I was wiping with and knock over a small stand of tools. Everything clatters to the ground around me.
Excuse me, our mate? We— I?—
“Everything okay?” Leticia’s voice pitches with worry.
“Yeah. Yup. Mhm.” My voice is all over the place, and I put a hand over my racing heart to try and focus. I get better control over myself and answer her better. “I was clumsy and knocked over a cart of cleaning supplies.”
“Oh gosh.” I look over at the monitor. She places a hand on her heart, and we’re doing the same thing. “Had me worried there that something bad happened.”
Our mate is worried about us.My wolf uses that damn word again.
“Nah.” I brush it off and try to reassure her of our safety. “A materials cart. This location is safe. Deep in Cavanagh territory. Someone would have to be really stupid to come all the way out here. We don’t even keep inventory here.”
We haven’t even met her. We can’t be her mate. Most of the time, humans don’t have wolf mates.I try all the arguments, flimsy ones and real ones, but my heart is siding with the wolf. Before I can even stop the decline down the slippery slope, it feels like I’m already at rock bottom.
I want her.
Bad.
“What’s it like living in the country?” Leticia asks innocently and completely unaware of my brain going full meltdown mode.
“It’s nice.” I force myself to move and start cleaning up what I dropped. “I like the open spaces, it’s really good for running.”
