Chapter Twelve
Augie
For the first time in years, I didn’t wake hours before the sun. But then again, I’d still been awake when I usually started my workday. I snuggled in closer, Dante’s arm wrapped around me. Light cut through the curtains.
Sierra sending me that text yesterday to let me know they had the bakery covered was the gift I needed. I owed her big-time, and I wasn’t one to not pay debts. She was going to get a bonus and vacation days and a cookie named after her. Possibly more, if I could think of anything else.
I rolled over carefully, not wanting to wake my mate but needing to see his face.
I brushed a hair from his forehead and watched as he slept.
One thing about my schedule was that sleeping in, in the sense most people considered it, wasn’t going to happen.
But that didn’t mean that my mate needed to get up.
He’d had a very important event for his career yesterday, and I hadn’t exactly let him sleep when we got home. That man had earned his sleep.
My bearcat was more content than I’d seen him in a long time. Finding our mate, marking him, and meeting his beast, those three things combined gave us both a sense of completeness, one I hoped Dante felt as well.
I must’ve moved too much because Dante’s steady breaths shifted, and a few seconds later, his eyes opened. I should’ve been embarrassed to have him catch me staring at him, but I wasn’t. He was my mate. It would’ve been weirder if I hadn’t been focused on him.
He smiled at me.
“Did I wake you?”
“Maybe, but I don’t mind. It means more time with you.” He tightened his hold on me. “How late is it?”
I lifted my head to look at the clock behind him. “It’s almost 6:30.”
“We don’t sleep in well, do we?” he teased.
“I slept in four extra hours.”
His eyes went wide.
“Baker’s hours are not for the weak.”
I reached over and ran my finger on where I marked him, needing to be sure it was really there and not in my imagination.
He did the same to me and from there, all planning for the day was out the window.
One touch had us both needing more. It started with a sweet kiss and ended with both of us connected by his knot. Best way to wake up, ever.
But as much as I loved that Sierra and Sal were covering for me today, I felt too guilty to not go down and check on them. So after a quick nap, we showered and changed back into clothes. At first, he didn’t love the idea, but then I promised him cinnamon rolls and a grand tour and he was all in.
“It smells so good in here,” he said as we rounded the corner at the bottom of the steps.
“It’s fresh bread, a gift from the gods.”
He rubbed his cheek against mine and whispered in my ear, “No, it’s you.” Then he nibbled on my earlobe, and we nearly ended up back upstairs.
“If you keep doing that, we are not going to get our cinnamon rolls.”
He straightened. “Lead the way.”
I took him for a tour of the kitchen, trying not to be overly detailed. It might be incredibly interesting to me to see how a kitchen was set up, but I was not the norm.
“You guys bake all of this every day?”
“No.”
I turned to see Sierra in the doorway staring at my mating mark with a huge grin on her face.
“Your mate does all of this every day by himself.” She was attempting to show me off and brag on me a little, and I suppose she accomplished that, but it also had my cheeks burning. “Looks like the rumors were true.”
Now, she was staring at Dante’s mark.
“Yeah, the rumors were true.” I suspected there was photographic evidence to go alongside them. There had been nothing subtle about our meeting.
She rushed over, lowered her voice. “Did you really throw a mic and then stalk over to my boss?” She was living for the juicy tidbits.
“Yeah, I did do that.” He wrapped his arm around my waist. “Smartest thing I’ve ever done.”
“Epic. Totally worth me getting here when most people are going to bed.”
“I’d argue that most people were in bed way before 2:00,” I said.
She rolled her eyes.
Sal came in carrying some empty trays. “It looks like we’re gonna sell out today.”
“Oh crap! I gotta go.” Sierra grabbed some muffins and bread and rushed back out to the customers.
“Did I interrupt something?” Sal asked.
“No, Sierra just loves a good love story.” I took my mate’s hand and held it up.
“I didn’t know you were dating anyone.”
“Yeah, it’s kind of new, but it’s pretty serious.” I wasn’t sure how to talk about this with humans. Saying that it was love at first scent and that we’d already committed for life less than twelve hours later, would only lead to him worrying. Vaguing it was a better option.
Thankfully, Dante picked up the hint that this human didn’t know about shifters, even though the other one did. I’d have to give him the lowdown on everyone here later.
“Very serious.” Dante kissed my hand.
“If you hurry up, I just saw Marty getting to the crosswalk. He’ll worry if he doesn’t see you.”
“Marty?” Dante’s voice was steady, but his eyes told me he very much did not like the sound of a man waiting for me.
“Oh, you’ll love him. Come meet him.” I dragged my mate out to the front, and as we were picking out cinnamon rolls for our breakfast, Marty came in. I grabbed his bread and met him at the counter when he got there.
“How do you know I wasn’t going to be adventurous?” he asked.
“Are you?”
“Not today, but one day, I’m going to catch you off guard.”
“I’m looking forward to it.”
Marty looked at Dante. “New guy?”
“Better.” I put my arm around him. “This is my Evelyn. His name is Dante.”
“You’re Evelyn?” He held his hands in front of his face, his smile wide like he could barely contain his excitement.
A-freaking-dorable. “It’s so nice to meet you, Dante.
Evelyn’s my wife, forty-two years. Gonna have to bring her over one day to meet you.
” Then he went on and on, telling their story and how they ended up living where they did.
“How is she doing?” I tried not to ask too often because he tended to get teary-eyed at her deteriorating mobility.
“She’s gonna be doing a lot better when she knows there’s some eye candy to come look at.
Congratulations, you two. Will there be wedding bells, or are you gonna do that little eloping thing like I did?
” Their parents hadn’t agreed to their marriage, so they went to city hall and did it behind their backs.
They went home as if nothing happened, only to tell their families a few weeks later after they found their first apartment. Humans were weird.
“We’re gonna go with that elope thing,” I said. I wasn’t going to explain to him that we were pretty much already married in shifter eyes and that we didn’t need rings or visits to city hall to make things official. We already were connected in all ways that counted.
Marty left, and my mate and I took our cinnamon rolls upstairs. I put a pot of coffee on as we nibbled on the cinnamony goodness. It was the perfect start to a day, and I was looking forward to a lifetime of them.