Chapter 14
Leo
I leaned out the front door of my shop. Don’t mind me. Nothing suspicious happening here.
My heart skipped a beat when I saw the sign on Lucy’s door was finally flipped to Open.
Her shop had been closed for several days, and it had been torture to go so long without seeing her.
I’d been tempted to text her, but I didn’t feel I had the right to after I’d pushed her away.
All I could do now was cling to the hope that she’d be willing to give me another chance to…
to what? Be friends? I could barely admit it to myself, but what I really wanted was to court her.
I wouldn’t delude myself into thinking I would be enough for her. Omegas needed alphas. But maybe I would be lucky enough to find some sort of place by her side, even as a beta…even with the cane currently in my hand as I crossed the street to Beans ’n Bliss.
Ella hooked me up with Lucy’s latest favorite drink, which just so happened to be a strawberry cardamom latte with sweet cream.
I tried not to let it go to my head that her favorite was a mix of both of our scents, but I couldn’t deny the extra lightness in my steps as I carefully crossed the street, drink carrier clutched in my free hand.
I awkwardly pushed her shop door open with my shoulder. My beta sense of smell couldn’t pick up scents like an alpha or omega could, but Lucy’s floral strawberry was thick enough in the air for it to fill my lungs, soothing and arousing in equal measure.
Lucy was leaning over her checkout counter, a small frown creasing her forehead as she flipped through a stack of papers.
At the gentle chime of the door, she looked up and smiled, causing a burst of butterflies to flutter through my stomach.
She looked as beautiful as ever, maybe even more so because my eyeballs had been deprived of her beauty the past few days.
“Hey, Leo.” She glanced down at the coffee carrier and chewed her lip. “Would it be presumptuous of me to assume one of those might be for me?”
I grinned. “Maybe I just really need caffeine this morning.”
She jutted her lip out in the saddest little pout I’d ever seen and sighed. “I guess I’ll just have to get my own…”
I shook my head and held out her latte—size large, because I wasn’t about to skimp on courting gifts. “You know you have me wrapped around your little finger.”
Her parted lips and wide eyes told me she, in fact, did not know. She reached out to take the drink and her fingers brushed against mine, the movement slow enough to be purposeful.
She took a sip. “I feel very spoiled this morning. I was waiting for Ella’s shift to start before heading over.”
“She had just arrived. She said she’d be in tomorrow for her fitting.”
“I’m making her graduation outfit.” She gestured over to a mannequin that currently held black suit pants and a vest with a subtle gray stripe.
“A suit?”
“Yeah. Ella’s a badass.”
“I didn’t realize how much of your work was sewing custom clothes. I thought you mostly did tailoring.”
An emotion I couldn’t identify flashed across Lucy’s face. “I mostly just make outfits for fun. I’m not a real designer.”
I frowned. It was obvious how talented she was. She sewed most of her own clothes, which were always beautiful, and she’d made pieces for tons of people in town—which I knew because anytime someone wore one of her designs, they couldn’t help but brag about it.
“Your stuff is amazing. My dad is excited for his upcoming appointment with you.”
She smiled softly, the tension in her shoulders easing. “It’s been so fun talking with him about all his ideas. Let me show you some of the fabric samples I got for him.”
She came out from behind the counter, and my heart pounded as panic worked its way up my body because she was limping.
“Did you hurt yourself?” I choked out.
She glanced down at her ankle, lifting her floral pants enough for me to see the edge of a white bandage. “Oh yeah. It’s just a sprain. I, um, went camping this weekend and ended up getting caught in that storm and twisted my ankle in some mud.”
The storm this weekend had been one of the worst I’d experienced in the area.
The torrential rain had started overnight and hadn’t let up all Saturday.
Lucy had been camping during it? If my knee wasn’t messed up, I would pick her up right now and carry her around in my arms until her ankle was healed.
I would go with her on her next camping trip and make sure she was safe.
I would…well, pretty much follow her around like a lovesick puppy.
“You need to sit down.”
She waved off my concern. “It’s fine.”
But I was already slinging my arm around her waist. My chest warmed with intense satisfaction at how perfectly she fit against my side. The top of her head brushed my chin, her soft, curvy body molded to the ridges of mine. Her scent bloomed, strong enough to overwhelm even my beta senses.
“You have to be careful,” I said sternly. I kept my grip on her as the two of us awkwardly hobbled over to a table. We almost knocked each other over twice covering the short distance, and Lucy was giggling by the time she sat down.
Her eyes twinkled. “She is beauty, she is grace.”
I inclined my head. “Thank you for the compliment.”
She laughed, slowly shaking her head.
“You need to elevate your ankle.” My brow furrowed as I got a better look at the ankle wrap. “Who wrapped that? It’s not done correctly.”
Lucy bit her lip. “That would be me. Guess I should have paid more attention to the YouTube video.” She let out a self-deprecating laugh and I wanted to kick myself. I thought she’d gone to the local clinic and the doctor there had done a shit job, which was unacceptable.
It was also unacceptable for my omega to have to wrap her own fucking ankle, even if she wasn’t mine.
“It can be hard to do if you’re not used to it. You haven’t gone to the doctor?”
“No, but someone looked at it.” At my confused expression, she clarified. “The fire chief. He said it was sprained and wrapped it for me.”
Wilder Everett was the fire chief. I’d met him a couple of times at Ocean Rescue trainings since he was the head of Mountain Rescue.
He was a man of few words. Literally. I wasn’t sure I’d ever heard him actually speak beyond the occasional grunt.
But he had advanced training as an EMT, and I begrudgingly had to admit he probably knew what he was doing.
“If it doesn’t improve over the next few days, you should definitely go to the clinic.
For now, will you let me redo the wrap?” A brilliant idea hit me. “I can do it every morning for you.”
Her lips parted as she looked up at me, and my cock twitched at my deeply inappropriate thoughts. “It won’t be inconvenient?”
Inconvenient? To spend my mornings with her? Try dream come true. “Nah, of course not. It’s not like I have to go far to track you down.”
“That would probably be helpful, if you don’t mind. I can send you the video I watched this morning. Although, maybe it wasn’t very good.”
I chuckled. “I’m an EMT. It was part of the required training for Ocean Rescue.”
Her cheeks turned pink. “I guess you don’t need a video, then.
But you do need a chair.” Before I could say anything, she pulled out a second chair from the table, tipping it forward to dump the large box of bubble wrap off the seat and onto the floor.
“For you.” She waved her hand in front of it in a dramatic gesture. Damn, she was cute.
I sat down and leaned my cane against the table. She glanced at it but didn’t say anything. I wished I could read her mind.
I patted my good leg. “Put your foot up here.”
She did what I asked and I froze. I did not think this through. Her foot was inches from my crotch. Warning alarms blared in my brain. Don’t pop a boner. She’s going to think you have a foot fetish.
A shiver ran through me when I gently touched her foot. Get ahold of yourself. This is just another day as an EMT.
“Did you hurt your leg?” Lucy asked.
My fingers faltered and my heart sank. Here it was. Time to face the music.
“Sort of.”
I fussed with the wrap, ensuring the tension was just right. My eyes didn’t leave her ankle as I started talking.
“I have osteoarthritis in my knee. My grandpa had it, and it started young for him, so I guess I was genetically predisposed. When I was a teenager, I tore my ACL, which strained my knee. The pain got worse the past couple years, but I ignored it.” I had been so fucking young and stupid, believing I would be the exception and could just power through.
“This past winter, I had an accident while doing Ocean Rescue and it pushed me to stage three osteoarthritis. The goal now is to prevent a knee replacement for as long as possible. And this”—I held up my cane, my face on fire—“is part of that.”
Lucy moved her foot off my lap, and I was about to protest when she scooted her chair even closer to mine and grasped my hands. The heat of her touch and the strawberry sweetness of her scent eased my urge to run away.
“That’s why you left Ocean Rescue?”
I nodded, fixing my gaze on her thumb softly moving across the back of my hand. Her fingers sported little red pinpricks from her sewing needles that matched my scratches from my early morning rose delivery.
“That really sucks.” She squeezed my hands tightly. “Well, for you. It’s pretty great for me.”
I glanced up to meet her bright eyes. “Huh?”
“I get free flowers and medical care out of this deal. So honestly, pretty great.”
Was…was she joking? I’d played out this scenario so many times in my mind. I had braced myself for the worst-case scenario—seeing her disgust and disappointment. Even my imagined best-case scenario had included a hefty dose of pity. I couldn’t wrap my mind around her teasing smile.
“You’re right,” I choked out. “This is really great for you.”
She wiggled her toes. “That wrap feels so much better. Thank you.”
“Of course. I’ll come back and redo it tomorrow morning for you.”
“I’ll provide the coffee and breakfast in exchange for your doctoring. What latte are you drinking?” Lucy asked.
“The same as you.” I took a sip, gathering my courage before speaking.
Before my accident, when I could ignore the twinges in my knee and my muscles were strong from daily workouts and Ocean Rescue drills, I wouldn’t have been as anxious about asking Lucy out.
Now it felt like jumping from a plane without a parachute.
“I will bring the coffee and breakfast,” I said. “I can’t have you supplying the food for our first date.”
I held my breath. I was sure she would protest, say it wasn’t a date, but then she smiled.
“If you insist.”
When I was eventually forced to return to my shop because I apparently had to work and take care of customers, I felt lighter than I had since my accident. Lucy and I officially had a date tomorrow, and I was going to do everything in my power to make it special for her.