“Of course not. This is just pre-date flirting. I’m not so good with words, so I thought I’d pin you down and force you to give me your number.”
We both laughed again, and our lips were so close I thought he would kiss me. His stare was fixed on my mouth, and his other parts showed their peak in interest.
“I can’t get my phone out of my pocket.”
He broke from staring. “Oh, yeah, of course. Sorry.”
We got up and brushed ourselves off. Liam went to get a cloth to clean up the little bit of coffee that had spilled on the floor. I tried to do it for him, but he shooed me off.
A customer tried the doorknob and he sighed. “That’s Mrs. Bleaker. I’ve got a special order in for her party this week. Can you excuse me?”
“I’ll go. I’m late, now.”
He cringed. “I’m sorry.”
I winked back, trying to be flirty but probably failing. “I’m not. See you later.”
I walked out and still riding the high, took off at a sprint. I kept up the pace until I reached my townhouse just up the block. As fast as possible, I showered and changed and darted out the door.
I popped in the rear entrance a little more than ten minutes late. George, my best friend gave me a surprised look. “You’re late.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
He remained sitting at his sixties-era metal desk and waved his hands at me. “No, what I mean is, you’re never late. What gives?”
I waggled my eyebrows. “I made a pit stop.”
“Shut your damn mouth. You talked to him? The chocolate guy?”
I put my stuff down and sat in the chair, chest puffed out. “It’s not chocolate. It’s a candy store. And yeah. His name is Liam.”
We both did a desk dance and tried to be quiet about the whole thing—and failed.
“So, when are you going to see him again?”
I went on for another half hour explaining in detail the morning and the coffee and the falling on top of me—the whole gamut.
“I can’t believe he does that display by himself. It’s gorgeous.”
“And his voice. I bet he doesn’t even have to melt the chocolate. It hears his voice and melts all on its own. I sure as hell did. Okay, back to work.”
We began typing out schedules. The kids had a cool activity planned for the day. We had the local firefighters coming to the after-school program to teach them about fire safety and to, of course, show them the fire truck.
They had talked about it for weeks.
“It’s twelve,” George said and got up from his desk. Twelve was the time our GED program started. We took in kids who had dropped out of school and provided testing classes for free. George taught the classes, but we both preferred the after-school kids.
I worked out the schedules for the month including the big Halloween parade. The kids dressed up, and we wheeled them around in wagons. They got candy and bobbed for apples. It was a date we looked forward to all year.
George popped his head in not fifteen minutes later. “You never told me when your date is,” he said in a loud whisper.
I sighed and plopped my face in my hands. “We didn’t set it.” In all my excitement I’d missed the target.
“Please tell me you at least got his number or he got yours.”
I let my head hit the desk and shook it back and forth.
“Dude, you’ll just have to go back.”
“It took me ten months to go this time.”
George laughed and shut the door.
Fuck.
Chapter Three
Liam
We had a busy day at the shop. Many of our regulars waited all year for the special treats we created only for Halloween and by the late afternoon, we were just about out of bats and spiders, zombies and witches, ghosts and goblins, even the bagged-up “grave dirt.” I had just locked the door behind my weary staff and taken up the broom to sweep the floor—something I always did myself by custom. The last task at the end of the day, making sure everything was just so, clean and neat.
A few moments to appreciate this place where I was able to make a living doing what I loved best.
I moved to the front of the store to start my task, grinning at the sight of the nearly empty cases my staff would be coming in early to refill with fresh treats. While October was a big month for us, I realized I’d need to bring on some extra help this year. Halfway through a day of nonstop customers, some of whom reported they’d driven quite a few miles to get to us, one of my regular customers showed me our YELP rating. We were the best Halloween candy store in the tri-state area. Hazel had taken a break from her all-day fudge-making demo to print out the screenshot, and tomorrow I’d buy a frame for it. For now, it lay in a folder on my desk, giving me happy bubbles in my chest every time I glanced at it.
I might have glanced at it a lot.
I’d already turned off the music, but whistling “Monster Mash” worked just fine to top off the best day both store wise and me wise in a long, long time. Flicking off the front lights, I jumped back, startled at a face in the door glass. As I worked to get my thudding heart back under control again, the features came into focus and the beats sped right back up. Leaning the broom against the wall, I reached for the lock and let in the omega who’d brightened my morning and my thoughts for the whole day.
“Edison! What a pleasant surprise. What brings you by here so late?”
He held up his phone and grinned. “We never actually exchanged numbers.”
Oops. I had planned to call him when I got home and set up our date. “We were about to when…”
“When you knocked me down and squashed me flat.”
My cheeks flamed. “I didn’t —”
He burst into laughter. “It’s okay, I re-inflated to my usual curvy size.” The man was ripped. He wore a blue-denim button-down shirt with a logo of little kids holding hands in a circle over the left side of his chest, which I suspected was his work uniform. What was the name of the place again? Oh yeah. My Brother, My Sister. But the logo was far less of a standout than the body that shirt filled out to perfection. His rolled-up sleeves showed muscular forearms. Why were forearms always my weakness. They were the predictor of so many other good body parts...in my limited experience.
But carrying a baby, he would be curvier.
OMG what was I doing, carrying one, almost but not quite, arranged date to marriage and family. I’d never done that before, but then I’d never been so attracted to anyone.
He was still holding out his phone, but I was frozen, unsure what to do with it. As if it was a device of unknown origin. And the grin quirking the edge of his lip let me know he noticed. “If you give me yours,” he said, “I’ll connect us.”
“That sounds good,” I replied instead of apologizing for being a doofus of an alpha, omega-struck at almost first sight. I watched him put the two phones together, almost as if they were kissing then he handed mine back.
“There. Now you can call me and let me know when you’d like to go on a date…” He grimaced. “That is if you still want to?”
“Call you? I don’t think so,” I said, recovering my alpha cool at the last possible moment.
His face fell, and I felt a little guilty. “Oh...?”
“I thought we could go out right now. I’m surrounded by sugar all day, couldn’t even find time to send for lunch, so I am starving for a real meal. Protein, starch, maybe some vegetables?”
As quickly as he’d frowned, his grin returned. “Don’t do that to me!”
“I was kidding.”
He shook his head slowly, slipping his phone back into his pocket. “We just met and I have a sneaking suspicion it will take some time before I totally get your sense of humor.”
Now I really did feel guilty. I extended my arms. “Hug and forgiveness?”
He stepped forward with no hesitation, melting into my embrace and making me vow to tease him often if it would get me this reaction. He was a few inches
shorter than me, and he rested his head on my shoulder with a sigh. “I forgive you. You smell like chocolate and butter and cinnamon...who can stay mad at that?”
“I’m always trying to shower it off so I don’t have little kids taking bites out of me everywhere I go.”
Edison chuckled, linking his hands behind my back and making no move to step away. “So you don’t like to be nibbled on?”
Outside, the streetlights had snapped on, and the last of rush hour traffic had dissipated. “Depends on who’s nibbling.”
Edison tipped his head back and ran his tongue over his lips. “If it was me?”
I didn’t flirt often, but this crossed that line anyway. Bending, I pressed my lips to his, tasting a flavor entirely different than candy. Traces of salt, probably from the athletic pursuits a kids’ club would entail mingled with a clean, outdoorsiness, creating an enticing combination. I used the tip of my tongue to part his and delve inside for more. I wanted more. I wanted all I could get.
His arms moved up to circle my neck, and I cupped his buns, pressing our groins together and leaving no doubt of either of our desire. We were hard and we were well matched. With my lower brain making louder and louder suggestions that I undress him and bend him over the marble counter in a move sure to take away the A from the Health Department proudly displayed in the shop window, I broke the kiss and set him away from me.
He was flushed and panting, and I was the same, but I didn’t want this to be a one-off. I didn’t think he did, either, but the best way to find out was to ask, and I just didn’t think this was the moment. I’d buy some more time with him, in any case.
“Let’s go to dinner, omega,” I said, rubbing my palm over the scruff on his jaw, goose bumps running all over me at the prickly, sensual scrape. “I want to buy you a steak.”
“And then?” His eyes were half-lidded, his lips swollen from our kiss.
“And then...we’ll see where the night takes us.”
Chapter Four
Edison
I came in my T-shirt and jeans. Of course, I did.
I’d gone over to his shop simply to pop in and make sure he had my number because I was all things goofiness and hadn’t given it to him.
Now I was in his car, a smaller hybrid that barely went fifty miles per hour. Then again, I was happy going slow with him with me. Our elbows touched, and my face heated with every graze of his arm against mine.
“Where are we going?” I asked, knowing full well, or thinking I did.
“Actually, it’s a tiny bit of a drive. I hope you don’t mind.” He took my hand in his and squeezed, smiling with those perfect teeth of his. Clearly, he brushed well after eating any of his own goodies.
“No, I don’t mind.”
He nodded. “That’s good. So, Edison, what else do you do besides shape young lives?”
Shape young lives. I hadn’t thought of what I did in that way, but it fit. At least, I hoped I was helping the kids in that way.
“I love to cook and take road trips, actually. I’ve traveled to every state. Sometimes I just pack a bag and leave an hour later.”
He looked at me at a stoplight and gifted me that grin I was learning to love. “Spontaneous. I like that.”
“What about you? Other than giving the dentist business, what do you do? Who are you?”
He turned off the beaten path onto a road that could’ve possibly taken us to any of several surrounding towns. Not knowing was fun.
He stayed quiet for a while. Had I said something wrong?
“Actually, now that I think about it, not a lot. I make candy and go home and Pinterest until I fall asleep.”
His brown eyebrows furrowed while he shook his head. I’d hit a nerve.
I tried to break the ice with a chuckle. “Maybe you need one of my road trips. You can bring the snacks. I’ll bring the enthusiasm.”
He sighed and pulled into a parking lot in Bethel, a town I didn’t visit often. “This is my family’s restaurant. I didn’t want you to be overwhelmed, but they are, well, boisterous, to be diplomatic. They are all going to hug you and probably say inappropriate things. But, they are my roots.”
Liam had roots, something I’d never had before. My parents died when I was ten, and even before they passed, they were absent, and with no siblings for either of them, I was left to bounce around in the system until I turned eighteen. And with a garbage sack of clothes and seventy-three dollars to my name, I was set out into the world.
George and I became fast friends, and he took me in.
I had no roots. All I knew were wings.
“Family is great. And I’m pretty resilient.”
Liam reached over and trailed his hand over my pecs and then to my shoulder and biceps. “I can see that. Must have some abs, too.”
I reached for the hem of my shirt but decided against it. Instead, I winked. “Nah, you have to wait for these. Now, where’s this steak we were talking about?”
He got out and came around to let me out, holding out his palm when I tried to get out by myself. Liam was a true gentleman—hard to find.
“Welcome to Drummond’s.”
“Is that your last name?” I asked as he held the large and heavy-looking door open for me. Inside, the place was pristine and smelled like heaven. Garlic, butter, and other herb scents filled my nose as I saw a variety of dishes fill each table with people obviously enjoying themselves.
“It is.”
As soon as the words left his mouth, a large woman approached us from the kitchen like she knew we were coming.
“There’s my boy.”
“I’m one of eight boys, don’t let her fool you,” Liam whispered and then allowed her to scoop him up into a hug that looked to me like strangulation.
“And you must be the boy who runs into my boy’s candy shop,” she bellowed, and then pulled me into a similar embrace. I was right—strangulation. “He shows you the little penises?” Her accent was thick, but I couldn’t place it.
I thought Liam was going to be embarrassed, but instead he laughed.
“Mom, he thinks you’re talking about my parts, and now he won’t want to date me.”
Her words hadn’t fazed him at all.
“No! I mean the little chocolate ones...so tiny. So yummy.”
I looked around to see if anyone was as shocked as I was, but apparently talking about chocolate penises was the thing at Drummond’s.
“I can’t wait to see those,” I said, winking at Liam.
“Okay, now we get you steak and lamb. Right, Li?”
Liam nodded and waved for me to follow him. I thought we might be escorted, by his mother, to a table, but instead, we went through the steel doors and into the kitchen where the smells and sounds intensified.
“Come sit. You family now.”
The woman yelled something in another language, and Liam leaned forward, laying his arms on the wooden table for two. “Family eats in the kitchen, sorry. I hope this isn’t too much.”
I took his hands in mine, not being able to restrain myself from touching him. “No, this is actually great. One of eight, huh? You’re the middle or the oldest or the youngest?”
He laughed, and a dimple I hadn’t seen appeared on his cheek. “I’m the baby.”
“Really? Wow. You’re lucky. I have no siblings.”
He chewed on his bottom lip and I wished I could do it for him, but much gentler. “Well, my family tends to take people right in so don’t get scared off, okay? I think I’d like you to stick around for a while.”
Chapter Five
Liam
I’d taken a chance bringing someone to my family’s restaurant on a first date. But then I’d never brought anyone there before so I wasn’t sure whether it was the newness or the fact I was willing to expose Edison to my overwhelming, amazing family that was the aberration.
He mentioned having no siblings, but he seemed so comfortable with my mom and delighted to be ushered into the far-less-fancy family
dining area. Mom plied us with food, all my favorites and anything special that night she wanted me—wanted us—to try.
I held my knife poised over the porterhouse steak that covered the whole plate, and winked at my date. “Don’t feel like you have to eat more than you want. Mom will stuff you like a Thanksgiving turkey if you let her.” We’d already had soup and salad, a basket of homemade rolls of several kinds, and a number of “new things I want your opinion on.” I truly didn’t eat a lot of candy except as a tasting thing, and without having managed to get lunch, I’d been starving. But even I was filling up.
Yet, Edison was shoveling it in like he’d never seen food before. He’d joked that he was curvy, but he wasn’t. Did he not eat regularly? Or was it something more?
Mom bustled back over with wedges of her Halloween special—yes, I came by my love of the holiday naturally—an apple pie with an intricate chocolate spiderweb top crust. Scoops of her homemade cinnamon vanilla ice cream melted over the crisp, flaky crust, seeping into the wedges of apples from her own backyard tree.
“Ohhh.” Edison stuffed the last bite of fluffy potato into his mouth and reached out. I swear he had a tear in his eye. “That looks incredible.”
Mom waved over one of my nieces who was working her way through college, as nearly everyone in the family did, and as soon as Sophie had the plates cleared, we faced the best dessert I’d ever eaten. If any of my candy customers got hold of this, I’d never sell another square of pumpkin fudge or a bittersweet bat.
Luckily, the restaurant lay in another town.
Half an hour later, we were back on the road, enough food in the back seat to keep my omega fed for days. Mom recognized my need to feed this omega so special to me and had surpassed even her usual care package. As we were heading out the door, she’d pulled me aside for a hug and whispered that she was so glad I’d met my omega.
I protested, a little, but not too much.
I was glad I’d met my omega, too. Now I just had to hope he’d met his alpha.
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