Page 56 of Knot So Sweet
Then I need to talk to him. Make him tell me what changed. What spooked him overnight.
Because I'm not running away from this. Not when two weeks ago he made me feel things I didn't think I could feel again.
Not when yesterday he held me like I was precious and today he's treating me like a mistake.
"You should talk to him," Liam says quietly.
"He's busy."
"He's hiding."
Before I can respond, my phone buzzes. Work piling up. Success I should be celebrating.
Instead I'm watching a man who kissed me senseless yesterday pretend I'm invisible today.
When the lunch rush finally dies down, I close my laptop. I need answers. Need to know what changed between last night and this morning.
Need to know if the past two weeks meant anything to him at all.
Because leaving would mean giving up on something that feels like home.
Something that includes a grumpy alpha baker who made me believe in second chances and is now taking it all back without explanation.
And I'm not leaving without a fight.
Even if I'm not nearly as smart as I thought I was for falling for him in the first place.
14
XADEN
Keeping busy is good. It stops me thinking about Violet's lips, her body, what it feels like when I'm inside of her. Dinner rush hits Raven's Table, and for the first time in three years, we're completely sold out. Every table packed. Every reservation booked. Waiting list stretching to New Year's. Not bad for a mountain-town restaurant that used to limp through service with twenty covers on a good night.
I adjust my charcoal shirt, sleeves already rolled because the kitchen's hotter than hell. The dining room hums, silverware clinks, laughter and wine-fueled conversation bouncing off wood-paneled walls. Servers thread through the chaos, the lighting soft and golden, casting everything in the kind of glow that turns good food into something people remember.
I don't do mediocre. Never have. Never will.
My scent's stronger tonight, dark roast coffee and cedar wood, with smokier notes rising when I'm in my element like this. Pure alpha satisfaction. Because everything's hitting.
All thanks to one small, sharp-eyed omega tapping away at her laptop in the corner.
"Chef?" Maya appears at my elbow with a ticket. "Table seven's allergic to shellfish but still wants the seafood risotto."
"Wild mushroom version. Same saffron base." I don't look up from plating. "Tell them it's better than the original."
She nods and disappears.
Through the pass window, I catch sight of Violet. Cream sweater. Jeans that hug her like they were made for her. She's been here for hours, nursing one glass of wine and nibbling on breadsticks, attention fixed on her screen.
Supposed to be writing an article on rural farm-to-table movements, with us front and center. It's not even published yet, and business has already doubled.
But if I'm honest? I'd keep her close even if she never wrote another word.
"Xaden!" Garrick shoves through the swinging doors, scowl locked in place. Bakery apron still on over his black tee. Flour in his sandy hair despite closing Rise & Shine two hours ago.
His scent carries the usual bread and cinnamon, but there's frustration underneath. Something wound tight.
"Busy night?" he says flatly, stepping aside for a server barreling through with a tray of drinks.
