Page 75 of The Alpha and the Baker
She shrugged as much as her arms would allow with how she was clinging to me. “I understand it. I just dropped that on you. I didn’t realize shifters had such scary enemies. If I’d known about the hunters, I never would have sprang it on you like that.”
“Eh, hindsight is twenty-twenty.” I let go of her and cupped her face, brushing away her tears with my thumbs. “You know I don’t blame you one iota, right?”
She nodded, tilting her face just enough to the side to kiss my palm. “Yeah, I know. You’re pretty easy-going for a wolf. Most of what I read online said that your beastly side makes it so you had to constantly stay in control of your anger.”
“You read all that and you still drove out to a pack’s territory all on your own?”
She smiled softly at that, looking only slightly chagrined. “Yeah, I suppose I’m lucky how that all turned out.”
I leaned forward to kiss the top of her head. I’d never been huge into PDA, but with Felicia, it was just so hard to stay away from her. Whether I was ravishing her, comforting her, or just playing around, I wanted to be in constant contact with her. “I think I’m the lucky one.”
“Maybe we’re both lucky.”
We continued to hold each other until duty called and we had to separate. Still, I found time to give her a quick kiss, nothing more than a little kiss, but I put a lot of meaning into it.
“If I manage to get my orders increased a bit more, I could pay one of the young ones minimum wage for a short shift every week. Preferably Sunday mornings, because those are always crazy with the church crowd.”
“Sounds perfect. I assure you, your orders are gonna pick up with all the birthdays and celebrations we have in the pack.”
“You know, everyone doesn’t have to shop here just because we’re dating, right?”
I shrugged. “We’re a loyal bunch. Now that the whole pack knows you’re a safe person and you deliver quality work, you won’t be able to get rid of us.”
“Maybe eventually I’ll get that, but right now…”
“It’s okay.” I pulled her close for another quick squeeze. One day, I’d be able to go more than five minutes without touching her when we were in close proximity of each other, but today was most certainly not that day. “You take as long as you need.”
“Thanks, Cas.”
“Of course.”
We separated, and I went to watch the front as she busied herself with some custard. It wasn’t quite seven in the morning, and the bakery had already been open for an hour. I definitely wasn’t a night owl, but I also didn’t get up at the ass-crack of dawn unless it was my day to drive to the market.
“Shit!” Felicia hissed quietly from the kitchen. I wouldn’t have heard her without my enhanced hearing, but concern still flashed through me, and I hurried to the back.
“Everything okay?”
“I don’t have enough dates for some of the stuff I was going to make today,” she muttered, chewing on her thumb. “It’s not a huge deal, but I was looking forward to making a play on devils on horseback with goat’s cheese.”
“Hey, I actually know a vendor at the public market that sells the best medjool dates. If you want, I can go grab a bunch.”
Cue the wide eyes. “You’d do?—”
“I promise I will never offer to do something if I’m not ready, willing, and able to do it with a happy spirit,” I said. I got the feeling that gentle repetition was the key to getting through to her.
“Okay. Right. I’ll get used to that, I swear.” She took a deep breath, then leveled me with what I was beginning to think of asher “business time” look. “Yes, would you please grab me those dates? I need at least two pounds.”
“I would be happy to. Anything you need me to do before I head out?”
She shook her head, then stood on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek. I loved that she was just as eager to touch me as I was to have my hands on her at all times. “No, but thanks.”
“All right, I’m gonna head out. Be back in thirty minutes?”
“Perfect! I’ll get the batter started.”
I had no idea what devils on horseback were, but I liked dates and goat’s cheese. Felicia had yet to make anything unappealing, and I was excited to taste whatever she created.
Somehow, I made it out to my car without kissing, hugging, or otherwise getting all up into Felicia’s undercarriage. I whistled happily to myself as I headed to the market. Never in a million years had I thought I would date a human, but I had to admit, it was going incredible so far. Granted, we’d only been officially dating for a few hours, but whatever. If I couldn’t be ridiculously optimistic during the honeymoon phase, when could I?
