Chapter 14 Lia
Lia
The corner Walker leads us to is dim and quiet.
There’s a quaint atmosphere to the restaurant in the main building of his vineyard.
White lattice decorates the walls of the restaurant, and what I’m pretty sure is actual ivy crawls up through the slats.
The ivy is layered with fairy lights that glow with a warmth that accents the dim atmosphere of the place.
Amazing smells filter in from the kitchen, too.
A few random people sit at the restaurant tables, but we’re ushered to a booth in the corner by Walker. It’s almost like he thought about sight-lines and noise and decided I didn’t need either.
My gaze finds him to thank him, but he’s already blazing a trail back in the direction of the kitchen.
I sink into the booth before my knees can argue about going after him.
Knox sits beside me without asking, but I don’t mind. Our upper arms brush, and the contact sends a small, grounding jolt through my system. There’s a pleasantness to him that reminds me of a steady tree.
His smell of spring rain and mocha swirls around me, providing a heat deep in my belly that threads its way through my veins. I want to lean into it instead of away from it. My body aches to seek more of it. Draw comfort from it.
I’m not sure how I feel about that yet.
The haze of my trance is pierced when I hear a familiar voice.
“Hey, hey, hey,” Eli says as he slides into the booth across the table from me. “This seat taken?”
His glasses frame his beautiful face, and his sleeves are rolled up to his elbows. The sweater-vest he’s got on suits him, but there’s concern behind his gaze.
I actually smile. “Hey there. I didn’t know you were joining us.”
Eli’s smile is breathtaking. “Got a text from Knox. Said everyone was gathering for some lunch. Figured I’d drop by since it’s my free period at the school.”
Eli’s scent of citrus and honey soothes something inside of me. Like a cup of hot tea when one is sick.
“He also said you almost tipped over because you’re so hungry,” Eli adds.
I balk. “What? I did not almost tip over.”
Knox snorts.
Traitor.
I quickly change the subject. “How’s Amber feeling?”
Walker comes over with silverware and water for all of us. “Hey, Eli.”
Eli smiles at Walker. “Need any help with anything?”
Walker just shakes his head. “Give me twenty and I’ll be back.”
I hold up my finger to try and get Walker’s attention, but he’s gone just as quickly as he popped up.
Shouldn’t a waiter or a waitress be doing this for us?
“Amber’s good,” Eli says, snapping me out of my trance and tugging my attention back to him. “Those honey popsicles were a great idea.”
I smile. “How are the lavender baths? Helping with the sleep at night?”
Eli nods emphatically. “It’s helping her to focus at school as well.
They really relax her. She’s been doing the lavender baths at night, but I got her these little lavender-scented shower tablet things.
She just places one under the water and it fizzes and gives off a nice lavender scent that helps calm her before we have to leave the house. ”
Knox nods toward me. “Speaking of Omegas, our brilliant Omega here forgot to eat breakfast this morning.”
Our Omega.
The words slam against my chest and make something inside of me ache.
Eli’s eyebrows hike up. “If there’s anything I’ve learned in my time around Omegas, it’s that meals can’t be skipped during times like these.”
The truth is, I don’t know how in the world I forgot to eat.
I know better. I always know better. My body doesn’t forgive mistakes like that anymore, not with my cycles the way they are.
Food isn’t optional, it’s preventative care, especially when I’m buzzing like I’ve been with that faint, restless hum under my skin.
But the kitchen got into my bones. The countertops. The space. The permission Walker gave me to make it mine for the foreseeable future, until I can get all of my orders done before I crash into my heat.
I got excited. I got focused.
I got stupid.
“I know, I know,” I groan as I lean back against the cushions of the booth. “I just couldn’t wait to get into a decent kitchen, especially after I had already fallen behind on my orders. It completely slipped my mind.”
“Uh-huh,” Knox says playfully as he nudges me.
I giggle and swat at him. “What? I didn’t do it intentionally. Meanie.”
He clutches his chest. “Oh. You wound me with your words, Sunshine.”
“Sunshine, huh?” Eli asks with a wiggle of his eyebrows. “Does that mean I can call you ‘Alley Cat’?”
“Alley Cat?” Knox asks.
Eli nods in my direction. “Lia here’s a really good bowler. She walked into the bowling alley a few days ago while Amber and I were playing. We convinced her to play with us, and she whooped my ass.”
Knox chuckles. “Is that so? I love a good bowling session, especially with the lasers and the black lights and everything. They still do that at the bowling alley?”
Eli grins. “Every Friday night. Amber calls it ‘Twinkle Bowling.’”
“We should definitely go twinkle bowling this weekend,” Knox says as he motions between all of us.
“Do what now?” Walker asks as he walks up with a tray balanced on his fingertips.
The smell of food jerks me out of my mind again and I watch as he places plates in front of us.
We’ve all got the same thing: a nice, juicy steak with roasted red potatoes, sautéed broccolini, and a peppercorn sauce to drizzle over everything.
There’s also a basket of bread and butter, as if we don’t already have a veritable feast on our plates.
It smells divine, and suddenly, my mouth is filling with saliva.
“Whoa-ho-ho!” Knox says as Walker tucks the tray beneath his arm. “I didn’t know you had steaks on the menu.”
I furrow my brow as I look at Walker. “We didn’t order.”
“I know,” he says as he motions to the tray beneath his arm. “Eat. I’ll be right back.”
“Wait, but Walker—”
He whips around, his voice firm in a way that stills me instantly. “Lia. This isn’t on the menu. You don’t need finger food right now, which is what we focus on here at the restaurant. You need something that will actually hold. I’m going to go put this tray up, and then I’ll be back.”
The pieces click into place, and by the time he’s sliding into the booth next to Eli, I realize what he was doing.
“You cooked this,” I say.
Eli spreads his napkin on his lap while Knox tucks it into his collar.
Walker, however, just shrugs. “I cook when I need to. Now, eat.”
Something in my chest tightens as the three Alphas around me dig into the food. Of course he cooks. Of course the man who runs his family’s legacy vineyard and carries the weight of his reputation on his shoulders knows how to feed people as well.
I can’t resist it any longer. I pick up my fork and take a massive bite of the potatoes.
“Oh, yeah,” I groan as the buttery Parmesan goodness hits my tongue. “Walker, this is amazing. Thank you.”
“Not a problem,” he says as he cuts into his steak.
The first bite of food hits my bloodstream like I injected it through my jugular. With every bite of hot food I take, my shoulders drop a bit more. Their scents swirl around me, grapes and oranges and a nice spring rain.
The faint sheen of sweat along my spine cools. My breathing evens out. The tightness behind my eyes that I chose to ignore all day slowly fades.
The constant buzzing under my skin softens, like someone turned down the volume. My nostrils flare just as greedily as my throat swallows, and I tell myself it’s the food. I’m just feeling better because my blood sugar isn’t plummeting any longer. My instincts know the truth, though.
It’s them steadying me.
It’s their scents that have me so grounded.
For the first time all day, my instincts have faded in a way that feels almost reverent.
It’s like a holy moment, the four of us sitting there, enjoying a meal prepared by Walker’s dexterous hands.
I take a bite of my steak, and it practically melts in my mouth.
I can’t help the hum that rushes up my throat with each bite.
They’re all very quiet.
I glance up, my fork paused halfway to my mouth with some broccolini on it, and I see Walker watching me. I look over at Eli and his gaze quickly darts down to his food, and when I look over at Knox I find him flagrantly staring at me with that stereotypical grin on his face.
His expression softens when our eyes lock. I can’t help the sheepish little smile that crosses my lips before I look back down at my food.
Eli’s voice pulls my attention back to him, however. “So. What were you working on in the kitchen that had you forgetting breakfast?”
I smile at the thought of my baking. “A round of cherry rhubarb cinnamon rolls. A bakery out of Rocky Creek wants to start doing seasonal flavors of cinnamon rolls. Figured cherry and rhubarb would be good flavors for spring, so I’m working on that order today.”
“I didn’t know cinnamon rolls came in different flavors,” Knox says.
I nod. “It’s a very versatile recipe. You can do just about any combination. If the cherry-rhubarb ones sell well, I’ve got my eyes set on a lemon-blueberry-poppyseed one for summer.”
“Now that I want to try,” Eli says as he points his fork at me.
“The ovens treating you well?” Walker asks, not looking up from his food.
“They’re running and heating perfectly,” I say.
“Good,” Walker says as he casts Knox a look.
But then his gaze travels to mine.
For a moment, time is completely suspended. The world fades away as their intermingled scents rush me, and my instincts attempt to tug to the surface. The beating of my heart rushes blood through my ears that I can hear roaring through my body.
I have to force myself to look down at my plate before I do something stupid.
Like throw myself at him from across the table.
“So. Friday night,” Eli says as he takes another bite from his plate. “Are we all going Twinkle Bowling?”
Walker’s attention is still on me. I can feel those brown eyes of his burning a hole into the profile of my face.
“Is that want you want, Lia?”
All eyes are on me, and it makes me want to shrink away. The last time I was under the scrutiny of Alphas like this, it didn’t end well. It changed my entire life, leaving me with medical issues I have to dance my entire life around.
My prior pack didn’t care to ask me my opinion on anything.
These guys are different, though.
Or so I’m finding.
“I mean, I’m up for it if you guys are,” I say as I take another bite of food.
Knox grins. “You heard the woman, Walker. You coming with us?”
I peek over at Walker and catch his gaze before he nods. “Of course. I’ll be there. And I’ll kick every single one of your asses, too.”
I scoff at his audacity. “Oh, I don’t think so. I’m whooping your tail, and you know it.”
Walker smirks, and I swear I feel my scent glands kick into gear. “Confident enough to make a bet on it?”
“Oh, you’re so on,” I say as I put down my fork and reach for my water. “What’s the bet?”
“Hmmm,” he says as he leans back against the booth, thinking. “If I win, I get to take you out on a date.”
My eyebrows hike up. “What happens if I win?”
Walker shrugs. “I don’t know. What do you want if you win?”
Your knot stuffing me full.
Dear God, where the hell did that come from?
“Ummm…” I act like I’m thinking really hard when all I can think about now is how empty I feel. “How about a bakery feature in your vineyard?”
“Oh, that’s a good one,” Eli says with a chuckle.
“I don’t know that the vineyard sells sweets like that, do you, Walker?” Knox asks.
Walker shoots him a look that could kill before his attention comes back to me. “You’re on. If I win, I get to whisk you away for an evening. But if you win, you get to collaborate with my head chef to put something on the menu that runs through the season.”
“Tansy is gonna be pissed,” Knox says with a chuckle.
“Who?” I ask.
“Tansy,” Eli says. “She runs a bakery here in town. She’s been trying to wiggle her way into selling some of her things at the vineyard for a while now.”
“Oh,” I say as I look over at Walker. “Why won’t you let her sell stuff here?”
“She wants to set up her own place here, like a second location for her bakery. There’s nowhere to build her an installation that doesn’t obstruct a view that I need for weddings and such.”
“It would be good practice for that bakery you told me you want to open someday,” Knox says. “Especially if Walker wants to sell them fresh. You’ll have to get into the groove of cooking for an open kitchen placing orders.”
Walker’s eyebrows lift. “You want to open your own bakery?”
I smile. “One of these days, that’s the goal.”
“I think you’d do great, running your own bakery,” Eli says.
“Thanks,” I say as a blush creeps across my cheeks.
“That’s a good look on you, Alley Cat,” Eli says with a wink.
Walker clears his throat. “Tell me all about this bakery you want to open. Leave nothing out.”
Their scents are so open and inviting. I almost forget about my food.
My instincts want to feed off them. I want to bury my nose into every single one of their scent glands and inhale until I’m drowning in them.
But I manage to take another bite of my food to give myself a chance to gather my thoughts.
“Well,” I say after I swallow, “I do research on it, in my spare time. I can’t fathom having to move out of the state in order to open my bakery. But a lot of the bigger cities around here have multiple bakeries within their limits.”
“That’s neither here nor there,” Walker says as he waves his hand through the air. “Competition is the heart of business. You’ll do fine as long as we can find you prime real estate.”
“I actually thought about opening one up in Hollow Mill Junction, since there’s only one other bakery in that town. That way, I’m still close enough to the other bakeries that order from me that I could deliver on their orders within my own business.”
And just like that, an acrid sourness taints their scents all at once.