“Summer is closing in, Auburn. Are you going to be ready?”
As soon as the question left my mouth, I felt bad about it. He cocked his head and let out a long, drawn-out sigh. I’d struck a nerve. Poor guy. The deadlines and opening this place were probably on his mind twenty-four hours a day, and here I was, bringing it up on his one break. “I don’t know, to be honest. I’m working sixteen hours a day, but I knew this place needed a lot of work when I bought it.”
“Maybe I could help.” I blurted the offer before thinking, but I meant it.
“I couldn’t ask that of you, Oakley. You have your own job.”
I looked around the place. Painting needed to be finished. Holes patched. Light fixtures still sat in boxes in the corner. Not to mention the flooring. He’d chosen a black-and-white checkered pattern judging from the label, but they weren’t installed.
There was a lot to do.
“You didn’t ask, and I have days off and, other than my eight-hour shifts, I’m available. Let me help.”
He took a look around the place and his shoulders relaxed. “I could really use the help.”
“Then it’s settled. I’ll start in the morning. I work this afternoon, but tomorrow is my day off.”
“You have to let me pay you.”
I scoffed. “What? No. I offered.”
“And I have a budget for this. Money to use on paying someone to help, among other things. I just hadn’t gottenaround to advertising. Please. It wouldn’t be right for you to work for free.”
I could use the money. Building my savings up was taking a lot more time than I planned on. “I wouldn’t be completely opposed to getting paid.”
He chuckled, and again the sound bundled me up like a blanket fresh out of the dryer. “Sounds like a deal.” He stuck his hand out to shake, and I hesitated. I knew touching him might be the start of something more.
Oh, who was I kidding? It was already more.
My bear was completely invested. Now, I was investing my time.
The only thing left was my heart.
Slowly, I took his outstretched hand and as we shook hands, the movement slowed. There was no more Oliver Creek. No more sounds from outside. There was just me and this beautiful alpha and the pounding of my heart. He stared into my eyes. “Deal.”
Chapter Seven
Auburn
Finally, I could stop buying plants, and just in the nick of time. If I hadn’t, I’d have had to switch from ice cream to plant store. My apartment couldn’t hold another one without achieving jungle status. In truth, I rather liked my leafy friends, but I had filled the bathroom windowsill and the shelves I’d hung on the wall above my love seat and had a couple more on the kitchen counter.
Adding in the fact I truly did need help if I was going to open for the summer foodie tourism rush I’d heard described by the other business owners in town. When I threw a dart into a map to figure out where to go, Fate had a hand in where that point stuck. Not only because it was perfect for what I wanted to do but because I had met Oakley.
Oakley had not said a thing to indicate he saw me as his mate, but I was glad to enjoy his company for the time being. Any moment spent with my fated—as my bear insisted he was—held so much joy. I’d spent two weeks surviving on the emotional rise gained by our brief conversations at his job.
The first day he was scheduled to work with me, I woke up when the first rays of sunlight warmed my face. I scrambled out of bed and into the shower, anxious to be ready when he arrived. No, it wasn’t a date, but I had a faint glimpse of the connection shared by my parents. There were other mated couples in the sleuth I grew up in who were also very close, who seemed to get most of their happiness from time spent with one another.
I hadn’t explored the town as much as I had planned to, spending nearly all of my time working on getting the shop ready, but I had walked past a little bakery on my way back from the nursery. Also new, The Bun occupied a tiny space onthe opposite end of my block and specialized in pastries from somewhere in Europe. Eastern Europe, I believed. I’d wanted to say hello and try their products, and what better day to do that than today.
A bell chimed over the door when I stepped inside. The scent of yeasted rolls and spices and warm apples as well as something else, maybe sausage, filled the space, and a half dozen people were in line ahead of me. Before I even got close enough to see what lay inside the glass case, my stomach rumbled and my mouth watered. One by one, those in front of me got their orders and squeezed past on the way out with the teal-and-orange striped boxes emblazoned with the cartoon sweet roll that hung above their door. I leaned to the left and right, trying to get a glimpse of what they were offering, but the space was so narrow, I had no luck until the final person in front of me paid and turned to go.
I squeezed against the wall, far more excited than anyone should be over a pastry. Maybe part of that was anticipation of sharing something delicious with Oakley.
“Next.” The being behind the counter was a shifter. Of that I was sure, but what kind? “Sweet or savory?”
I’d just laid eyes on the case, and I didn’t know what was even on offer yet, but I knew I wanted some, so I blurted out, “Both, if that’s allowed?”
The young man, built more like a fae than a shifter with delicate features and aquamarine eyes, smiled at me. “We are here to sell, so yes, you may have as many of either or both as suits you.”
