What did he do to get my brothers to leave? That question kept appearing over and over again. As I flipped and dropped and dressed people’s orders, I decided he had to be armed. I could see him picking up the corner of his shirt like the bad guys did in the movies as a silent warning. Only he wasn’t the bad guy. At least, he wasn’t in my eyes.
That would work against my brothers more than anything else. They had the physical advantage against humans, but guns—guns always won. Not to mention it was three to one. Yeah, he had to be packing.
The fryer beeped, snapping me back to work. I hurried and plated everything as quickly as I could, putting the dishes in the pass-through, tapping the bell, and snagging the new orders. There were nearly as many as when I came back inside. That was how it worked here. Everyone at once and then nothing.
They were more of the same, burgers and fries and tenders with a couple of orders of pancakes to mix it up, all in the hen scratch of Layla and Gary. Except for one. One order, in Gary’s handwriting, stood out. It was neater than the others and had a note at the bottom:
For the hottie from out back!He punctuated it with a winky smiley face, or at least his version thereof.
If it had been anyone else he’d written the note about, I’d have rolled my eyes and gone back to work, but for this man? It was a relief. It meant that Gary wasn’t mad at me for the disaster he’d walked into and was instead playing matchmaker.
He and Layla were huge into that. They loved getting people together. It didn’t happen often. Most people around here were born here, and if they were going to fall in love with someone,they’d already done it. But when someone new came to town, they saw it as their mission. Maybe he wasn’t just someone passing through looking for a quick meal. If that was the case, I needed to warn him to stay clear of my brothers. He might move on, but they were grudge holders to the core.
That was why they hated me. I was proof our omega father did the unthinkable. They were never letting that go. As if I had anything to do with any of what happened before I was conceived.
My knight in shining armor didn’t want anything particularly special, just a burger with grilled onions and cheese. But I was going to make that the best grilled onion cheeseburger that ever did exist. I even grilled the bun, making sure it was picture-perfect. The fries had the exact crispness I would want, and I went so far as to turn the orange slice into a little smiley face.
I put it up, tapped the bell, and Layla hollered from across the way for me to get it. “I’m too busy!”
If that had been true, I wouldn’t have thought she was in cahoots with Gary, but she was sitting in a booth drinking coffee by herself. She totally had the time. She just wanted me to bring it to him. So typical.
I walked out of the kitchen and behind the counter to serve him his food. “Hot off the grill.”
In my head, that sounded a whole lot cooler.
“Looks delicious.” He kept his eye on me, not the food, and I kinda wanted that to mean he thought I looked delicious. How ridiculous.
Gary set a cup of coffee down in front of the seat next to him. “Figured you might want this.”
The guy looked at his coffee. “I’m good. Thank you, though.”
“I meant Temple,” Gary said, nodding at me. He patted the seat next to the guy. “Come on, take your break. I got the grill.”
I walked around to the customer side, knowing that a full-on rejection of Gary’s offer would only lead to embarrassment. Since he and Layla were deciding to be all matchmakery, the only way out was to play along.
My gods, this guy was hot.
“I’m sorry, they can be—”
“Don’t be sorry,” he said. “I’m Gabe, by the way.”
He picked up his plate, walked over to a booth, set it down, and came back for both his coffee and mine before returning to the seat and sliding into the spot. Looked like I was doing this.
Chapter Seven
Gabe
“I guess I’m going to join you.” The omega slid into the other side of the booth and reached for the cream pitcher. “On my break.”
“What good timing.” I picked up the burger and breathed in the scent of meat. My wolf was getting calmer by the moment. Partly the burger but mostly the fact that our mate was within reach. Our human mate. Wasn’t that a surprise. But a wonderful one—not because he was human but because he was himself. Although we hadn’t exchanged more than a couple of comments, I felt like he’d been a part of me always.
The problem was, did he know it, too?
About to take a bite, I couldn’t. My mate had nothing to eat, just that cup of coffee. I cut the burger down the middle and set half of it on a napkin then pushed the plate toward him. “If you’re on a break, you probably should eat.”
“No, it’s yours. I can get something later.” He tried to return the plate, but I held it in place.
“I can’t enjoy my food if you don’t have something, too.” Adding a little alpha push, I said, “Eat up.”
