Page 68 of A Farmer’s Guide To Gamers

I was eager to start on the town. He’d given me some art to convert for the general store, a cafe, and a seed shop. It was a nice change from the character models I’d done previously. All of his work was impressive and bringing it to life was honestly exhilarating.

“You alright? You seem a bit out of it?”

A jolt hit me when I realized that the barista was holding out my drinks and the alpha at my side had to jostle me for my attention.

“Sorry, sorry!” I stumbled and carefully reached out to take the tray. “It was a long night.”

Johnny’s face was a bit red, a flash of what I thought was anger was there and gone in a blink before he smiled widely at me. A rough slap on the back and a wink was his response before snagging his coffee that was ready as well.

“Sounds like you’ve found a good time here in Magnolia Ridge already,” Johnny said, his smile a bit too wide to be joking.

I bristled, immediately taking offense to how he spoke about my omega.

“I’d suggest you rethink how you talk and think about omegas if you’re wanting to settle down with one,” I told him bluntly, my tone clipped as I put some distance between us. That scent of lemon turned from sour to bitter at my words.

“Some people just act a certain way, you know,” he shrugged. “When the shoe fits it doesn’t make sense to call a duck a chicken. If you act like a whore then that’s exactly what you are.”

“Well, my omega is nothing like that,” I told him, briskly. “So, I suggest you try to make friends with someone who can tolerate your bullshit because it isn’t me.”

Johnny huffed and just did a sarcastic wave before sauntering away from me. My stomach rolled watching him, something in my gut telling me to watch out for this alpha around town.

Who does this alpha think he is?

A small part of me was proud of myself for standing up like I did. Usually, Dean did that or Kai, but this guy did not give me good vibes at all.

I’m going to tell the others to watch out for this guy when we get some time alone. No reason to alarm Tillie if it’s some random guy around town she already knows about. But no way would we not be on the lookout.

The house was the perfect kind of chaos when I walked back in with our coffee. All the annoyance from that asshole alpha fell away as I took in Kai and Tillie dancing around the kitchen as she piled the ingredients on the kitchen island.

Aiden was watching them with a small smile, his work in his lap forgotten. The chemistry between the three of them was escalating and I was waiting for Kai and Aiden to finally have that talk.

Dean was leaning close to his laptop screen as he worked. His face was scrunched in full concentration. Somehow he’d locked in with all the noise.

“Coffee’s here!” I shouted over the noise. I walked over to Aiden and handed him a latte. Dean was next with a cold brew.

Tillie and Kai found me, snatching their drinks, both overly sweet in my opinion. Though, I’d never tell them that.

That left mine, an iced, cold brew with no added syrup. I liked the mix of bitter and sweet, not too much of either. Most didn’t make it right but the one in town was impeccable.

“Thank you,” Tillie said as she leaned in, kissing me. She tasted like sweet coffee and I almost amended my previous thought on it being too sweet. It tasted like heaven on her tongue.

Then she was off again. This time, Kai grabbed his own work and settled in. I thought working here without our full setup would be hard, but so far it was working out.

I was still working on coding the game’s intro and pulled up where I’d left off. This part of game design was crucial and intense, but my brain thrived with this sort of challenge.

Soon the music faded to background noise and it wasn’t until the scent of something rich and sweet filled the air that I looked up. Tillie met my eyes and grinned when I looked at her.

She crooked a finger, beckoning me over. I didn’t hesitate to close my laptop and stand, groaning. Sitting on the floor wasn’t ideal.

She frowned and looked at the others until I was close.

“Holy cow,” I said as I took in the three kinds of cookies she’d already made.

“I love baking,” she said, unapologetic. “And the rain started. What better day than this to stay in and bake?”

“I’m not complaining,” I said as I took a cookie.

“That one is cranberry and white chocolate,” she informed me as I bit down. This was my kind of cookie. Sweet, but not overly so, and a bit of a tart kick.