Chapter 20 Knox #2
“So beautiful,” she whispers to herself.
My gaze roves over her features. “Very.”
She looks over at me and does a double take before she gives me the honor of giggling. “You’re missing it, Knox.”
“I promise, I’m not.”
Her blush gives me life as I finally start pulling out some of the finger foods I brought with me. I take my time, filling her a small plate of the fruits and cheeses before I pull out the Thermos of hot water.
“You take your tea and vitamins this morning?” I ask.
“Oh! Thank you for reminding me,” she says as she jams her hand into the pocket of her coat. “We may have to go somewhere after this so that I can get a cup of hot water—”
I grin as I pour some of the steaming water into the top of the Thermos I unscrewed. “No need, Sunshine. Here.”
Her smile is brighter than the sunrise as she takes it from me. “Thank you, Knox. I really appreciate it.”
After getting everything ready, I force myself to look at the sunrise.
Gold bleeds into pink with Honeysuckle Grove spread out below us like it’s still half-asleep.
The old oak tree stands off to the side, gnarled and blooming with buds that still have yet to unfurl.
Its branches stretch wide and tall, as if reaching for the beauty of the sunrise.
I watch out of the corner of my eye while Lia sips her tea and swallows down her vitamins like a champ.
Good girl, Sunshine.
“Knox, this is…”
I look back over at her. “We can come up here anytime you want.”
She looks at me. “Yeah?”
I reach out and tuck a rogue strand of hair behind her ear. “Yeah. Anytime. You just let me know when you want me to come get you, Sunshine.”
I love it when she blushes.
We sit together in a comfortable silence as we watch the sun climb high into the sky. Its presence erases all of the beautiful colors, and soon the sound of cars and people milling about reaches our ears.
It doesn’t deter us, though. She doesn’t tell me that she’s ready to go, so I keep silently filling her plate with food. I keep pouring hot water over her tea bag, just to make sure she gets all of it that she can into her system.
If we sat here until her date with Walker, I wouldn’t care.
Just being in her presence is an honor.
“Did you know about Honeysuckle Grove before you hitchhiked here?” she asks.
Her green eyes find me and I shake my head. “I’d like to think this place found me. When I hitchhiked into it, I told myself I’d stay here long enough to drum up enough money to buy me a bus ticket.”
“Obviously, you’ve made a good life for yourself here. What made you stay?”
I shrug and turn my gaze back toward the sunlit sky.
“I don’t know, really. After working on Bea’s fence, jobs just sort of kept coming.
Before I knew it, I had enough money for the bus ticket, but my schedule was filled with odd jobs.
So, I told myself I’d work until no more work came in.
” I chuckle as the memories flood me. “That was fifteen years ago.”
She giggles. “That’s a lot of work.”
I take a sip of hot chocolate I made with some of the leftover hot water. “A question for a question?”
“Shoot,” she says before popping a grape into her mouth.
“Why did things end with your last pack?”
Her chewing slows, and I wonder if I’ve ruined our morning together. I’m so curious, though. Curious as to why someone would give her up. Curious as to why a pack of Alphas felt like their only choice was to walk away from the one Omega that lights up my world every time she’s in it.
I can’t wrap my head around it.
“We didn’t end badly or anything,” she says with a soft shrug.
She picks up another piece of cheese and chews.
“Not exactly, anyway. We just weren’t right for one another.
I was much too independent for them. They wanted an Omega to stay in the nest, make them a home, and bear them children.
I’m just not a traditional Omega in that regard. ”
“I’m sorry, Lia.”
She just shrugs. “I’m not. They weren’t for me, and even though I’ll have to deal with my ARS for the rest of my life, I still wouldn’t change things. I want more than just kids and a nest, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.”
God, what a woman she is. “Nothing wrong with that at all.”
She fires another question right back at me. “Is it true that you guys have a group chat about me?”
I almost swallow my tongue. “Who told you that?”
She grins. “Eli sort of spilled the beans.”
I prepare for damage control. “We’re just worried about you. Especially after everything that—”
She holds up her hand and shakes her head. “It’s fine, really. I don’t actually mind it, I don’t think.”
“You don’t think?”
She turns her attention back to the town below us. “I don’t know. I mean, it doesn’t rub me the wrong way. It sort of reminds me of those magazines in the doctor’s offices I read.”
“The ones with the quizzes in them and stuff?”
“Those are the ones. Every once in a while, they’ll have a spread of a pack. They’ll talk about themselves and how they all got together. It’s actually pretty common for Alphas to have group chat texts about their Omega.”
Their Omega.
It’s the first time I’ve ever heard her acknowledge the fact that she might actually be ours.
I try not to get my hopes up.
“Plus,” she says as she tips back the last of her tea, “it means I don’t have to keep repeating myself. It’s not that I don’t want to talk to you guys or anything, but sometimes I just don’t want to keep talking about things over and over again, you know?”
I nod. “I know. But if it ever bothers you, please don’t hesitate to tell us.”
“I don’t think ‘bother’ is the right word. It’s more like I feel… protected.”
I swallow down the growl threatening to bubble up. “Protected?”
She nods as she looks back at me. “You guys having a group chat text about me sort of makes me feel protected. Is that weird?”
The shake of my head is instant. “Not at all. That’s what we want. Above all else, we want you to feel safe.”
Silence falls between us again and I take another chance. I’ve been wanting to give her space. To not crowd her and yank her into my lap the way I wish I could. But after hearing her admit all of that, I can’t not try.
I move the picnic basket backward and scoot a bit closer to her on the tailgate.
I still give her space. Our thighs aren’t quite touching, though I can feel the heat of her body radiating toward me. My attention goes back to Honeysuckle Grove, which is in full swing now that the sun has risen into the sky.
The pebbled dots of the people that fill the town move about on the sidewalks, with a few cars here and there driving through town. The old oak tree looms high and mighty, as if watching over the place.
The pressure against my thigh pulls my gaze down, however.
I hardly get a moment to register the fact that Lia has scooted closer to me before her head falls to my shoulder.
I can’t hold back. Something within me snaps. My arm sweeps around her, sliding against her waist and pulling her closer into my side. I tuck her there, just to remind me she’s real and that this is all happening.
I love the way she sighs when I do.
It doesn’t sound burdened.
“How much longer do we have?” she asks softly.
I drop a kiss to the top of her head without thinking. “We have as long as you’d like.”
“Good.”
Her legs swing aimlessly off the tailgate of my truck while we watch the sun rise. I’m not sure what time it is, and to be honest, I really don’t care. We could sit here until lunch if she wanted, and then all I’d do is invite her to the diner to sit and have a bite to eat with me.
Walker doesn’t need her until this evening, anyway.
But the sound of buzzing interrupts my thoughts.
She picks up her head. “Is that you?”
I shake my head. “My phone’s in the truck.”
“Ugh.”
She leans away from me, and my gut plummets. I want her back against me. I want her tucked into the crook of my body so that I can keep her warm. The wind whips toward us, ushering in the rest of the day, and I watch as it ruffles her skirt and hair.
She pulls her phone out of her purse and groans. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
“What?”
I watch as her eyes scan the screen of her phone. “I’m so sorry, Knox.”
“No apologies. Work?”
She sighs and looks over at me. “I mean, it’s a good problem, it just cuts our time short.”
“Tell me what you need and where we’re headed.”
A small, but proud, smile creeps across her face. “One of my clients needs an emergency order. Apparently, the cherry and rhubarb cinnamon rolls I made were a hit. They’re wondering if I can deliver more sometime today.”
I hop off the tailgate and turn to her. “Sounds like you’re in demand, Sunshine.”
“Come on. I need to get started if they need these by this afternoon.”
She reaches her arms out for help before I can even reach for her, and if my ego wasn’t already pumped up, that would have done it. Pride is ready to burst from my chest as I clasp her waist again, helping her back down onto her feet.
Her hands settle onto my shoulders. My hands grasp the softness of her hips. And as she gazes up at me, the whole of the morning sky reflects back in her wondrous green eyes.
I’ve always considered Honeysuckle Grove to be my home.
But it has nothing on the way I feel at home with Lia.