Page 70 of Knight With Benefits

“It’ll be more of a café, but I plan to offer baked goods and coffee, as well as simple meals. I’ll be open for breakfast and lunch all week, maybe dinner on the weekends. Then if it seems like there’s interest, I might expand to doing dinner all week too.”

Nodding, he rubbed his hands together as he took another look around the inside, as if trying to imagine what it was going to be like. I loved that it was getting closer and closer to the image I had in my head.

“I’ll definitely be back then. And I’ll spread the word.”

I thanked him again as I walked him out, energy humming beneath my skin from the interaction. It had taken a massive leap of faith to buy the building and start working toward my dream, and it had been hard to ignore the doubts that still plagued me about failing, but every step I took towards my goal brought me more confidence that it was going to work. That despite being nothing more than an omega, I’d be able to accomplish something with meaning. Even if I never made a massive profit, as long as I could pay the bills and provide a place for people to come together and enjoy a full belly and safe space, I’d be happy.

And with the main task of the day complete, it was time to get to the store and stock up for what I hoped would begin that night.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Carl

It was hard to be exhausted yet so wired you couldn’t sit still at the same time, but I managed it.

I’d spent the entire night outside Gwyn’s. Usually I would sneak off in the early hours of the morning to get a bit of sleep, but with her so close to her heat, my bear was feeling too possessive to leave. He took over and curled up behind the bush at the side of her house, completely uncaring that he would be obvious if anyone happened to shine a light our way. Luckily we made it through the night, and I managed to pull him back inside before the sun came up.

“You okay, Carl?”

I waved a hand at Knox, barely swallowing the growl that wanted to break free. The kid was no threat to me or Gwyn, but there was no telling that to my bear. He was still an unmated alpha.

Pacing across the front of the shop, I kept one eye on the window between the garage and lobby to be sure no customers came in while I tried to release some of the energy coursing through me. I should have tried to rest since I wasn’t planning to get any sleep for a while, but there was no way I could sit still.

A grin broke across my face as I thought about all the ways I’d be spending my night, none of them involving sleep. Gwyn was close enough I was determined to trigger her heat, no matter what it took.

“I’m done, so I’m going to cut out. Already called the customer and told him he could pick it up in the morning.”

“Good.”

I grunted my response, not even bothering to pay attention to which of the guys had spoken. My anxiety usually had me hyper aware of everyone around me and I’d have known who it was that had come into my bubble without looking, but I was so distracted even their voice didn’t register.

It didn’t matter. All that mattered was waiting out the hours until I could sink into Gwyn.

As impatient as I was, I’d expected the day to drag on, but it was already close to closing time. The guys finished up what they were working on or found a good place to stop for the day, and slowly trickled out until there was only me and two others left.

Guilt hit when I spotted Jackson’s blond head under a hood, arm deep in an engine. I hadn’t checked up on him since I’d gotten distracted with Gwyn, and I had no idea if he’d been attending his therapy. I caught Tim’s attention and motioned for him to go ahead and go while I closed the distance between me and the young wolf.

“Need a hand?”

I wasn’t as good a mechanic as I was a handyman, but I’d helped enough to be able to manage simple repairs, or more complicated things with instructions.

“Not unless you can magically shrink your arm. Yours is bigger than mine.”

I couldn’t help the huff that escaped, or the automatic comeback.

“That’s what she said.”

Jax rolled his eyes, choosing not to encourage me by responding. If I wasn’t already distracted I might have kept going anyway, but I wasn’t trying to hang around the shop any longer than necessary.

“What’s the problem?”

He grunted, straining to push his arm deeper into the hole he’d jammed it in to reach whatever he was working on.

“Fingers keep slipping, but I’ve almost got it.”

One of the many bonuses shifters had over humans was that we could control our shift, sometimes only changing one part for a moment. It was difficult and took practice, but most shifters could manage it by adulthood. It came in handy when we were working, letting us use our claws, or in this case, the rough pads we had as animals, where plain humans were stuck with smooth, slippery skin.

Except Jackson clearly still refused to shift, or he wouldn’t be having issues. His were-form had longer arms, and his fingers wouldn’t have been slipping. I’d seen him control his shift to get work done before, so he was capable of it, but what the Purists had done to him had left more than physical scars.

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