Page 24 of A Pack of Honey
Sunny'sactingstrange.Eversince she woke up this morning, she's been all over the place. Blushing whenever one of us speaks to her, tripping over random stuff. I had to take away the chef's knife she was holding at lunch because I feared she might cut off one of her thin, beautiful fingers. She's stuttering, which I've never heard her do before.
I want to confront her, but she won't let us corner her long enough to ask.
"Anyone got any ideas on what's going on with Sunny?" I ask at the table. Everyone looks up from their work.
"Oh, thank fuck. I thought it was just me, like maybe I said something wrong," Jess says. I roll my eyes. The man fucked up every courting before Sunny, basically on purpose. To see him so overly concerned about manners now is almost comical.
"Maybe something happened at the dinner?" Hunt suggests. That was when this strange behavior started.
"I'll try to talk to her tonight," I say. Everyone seems mollified by this. But Sunny doesn't come to dinner. However, she doestext us as a group for the first time since we gave her our numbers. I didn't think she'd put them in her phone.
Sunny has named this group chat Sunny's Stalkers.
Sunny:
I'm not going to be able to get back for dinner but there's leftovers and stuff in the fridge.
Cole:
Where are you?
Sunny:
Still on the farm, in the barn. There's a problem with the equipment and I have to wait for the repair guys to get done.
Luca:
We are not Stalkers.
Sunny:
You're creepily hanging out on my lawn every single day.
Cole:
That's completely out of context.
Jess:
I'll stalk you any day.
Hunt:
Jesus Jess.
Sunny
I'mcompletelyspentbythe time I return to the house, my body heavy with exhaustion. The guy's tent looms in the darkness. I still haven't talked to them the way I need to. Since the dinner, something clicked within me, and I want to take a chance on this pack. I'm not saying that I'm definitely going to bond with them or anything, but moving them out of the yard, seeing if a few courting dates work out, doesn't seem so bad anymore. I want to ask them at this point. But I haven't, and I don't know when I'll be able to. Definitely not tonight. My legs are jelly, and my eyes keep slipping closed. I'm so tired.
"Are you all right, Little One?" Cole's deep, growling voice slices through the silence, jolting me. I squeak in surprise, barely stifling the sound, praying it hasn't woken the guys in the tent.
I place my hand on my chest, breathing for my life. He just smirks. His sharp green eyes crinkle. His muscles flex as he gets out of the rocking chair he's sitting in on the porch. Now that he no longer wears suits, how ripped the man is is ridiculous. The familiar scent of smoke and leather wraps around me, tinglingmy senses with something primal, something deeply inviting, and I want nothing more than to curl up in that scent forever.
"I just wanted to make sure you got back to the house okay," he says, stopping just a little too close to be considered respectful of my personal space bubble. His hands hang casually from his pockets, radiating an easy confidence. "Are you okay?"
"I did—I mean–are… am." I stumble over my words, heat rising to my cheeks. Ever since I'd decided that I might give this pack a chance and actually do the courting thing, I've turned into a nervous bundle. I'm hyper aware of every movement and word. This is the same pack I yelled at, swore at, and cursed under my breath in the middle of the night. I haven't been nervous with them so far at all. If anything, I've been aggressive. I knew I came off as such. It's my default setting. But now that I've decided I'm interested, my brain seems to have short-circuited. Maybe it's my omega. Perhaps she's died of happiness that I'm finally doing what she's wanted all along, and that part of my brain has gone brain-dead.
The corners of his mouth twitch, a barely suppressed laughter dancing in his eyes.
