Chapter Fifteen
Dante
“Is the office just about ready?” Augie sat down to breakfast. “Not that I’m rushing you or anything, but Andi is probably ready to have space to spread out.”
“Slightly,” she called from across the room. “You two lovebirds are charming, but I feel like a major third wheel.”
“I’m sorry it’s taking so long, but we’re about a week out according to the contractor.
” I finished my eggs and reached for the cinnamon rolls in the middle of the table.
Living above a bakery had some major perks.
Not for my waistline…but I tried to be careful with other calories.
“Maybe you should go by and check this morning while I help out downstairs.”
Augie snickered, and I flashed him a serious look, one he ignored. “Yeah, Andi. I’m sure Clary would be glad to give you…an update.”
My mate was never one for innuendo, except with my assistant.
Mostly because she was the same with him.
It was no secret to anyone that Andi had a crush on the other wolf shifter.
We were sure they were mates, but they spent most of their time trying to pretend they weren’t.
Andi was also a wolf, and both were from local packs, but there was some kind of bad blood between them.
Anyway, as Karma said, Fate would help them figure it out if they were mates.
I’d been around long enough now to know she was generally right.
Always, according to her mate. But my mate and I, in love with love, wished we could help them to get past whatever their issues were.
They were wasting precious time where they could be blissfully happy. Like us.
“As soon as you’re done, come on down. I need to get back to the ovens. My sourdough is about ready to come out.” Augie stood and carried his plate to the sink, and I followed.
“I’m ready.” The apartment above the bakery didn’t have the outdoor space of the fixer-upper/my office, but it had a huge advantage in location, and plenty of room for us.
So, I’d moved in here. With a mate who had to roll out of bed in the dark and go right to work, it made sense to accommodate his commute before mine.
It was only about a seven minute drive to my place anyway. “Who is this order for again?”
“It’s for that big conference in the next town over.” Augie beamed. “Apparently, they had enough people attending who had heard of our little bakery, that they requested our breads and breakfast pastries.”
Of course, I knew that and would not forget, but my mate looked so happy every time we talked about it, I couldn’t resist getting him to tell me.
And he’d hired another staff member, but I liked to help when I could.
Any time in his presence was the best time ever.
Especially as our young grew within him.
No matter how often I said it, I could barely believe it.
This time last year I was along, moving from town to town and trying to learn how to be among people of all kinds.
Then I walked through the doors of Animals, and my whole world changed.
Now I was a mated alpha with a baby on the way.
And of course two businesses to run between us.
How very adult.
I followed Augie downstairs to where his small staff was busy at work.
One, a baking apprentice, was buried elbows deep in a huge bowl of bread dough.
We had equipment for that, but certain breads just responded better to hand kneading.
The other employee passed me pushing the multi-level cart to stock the front shelves.
No matter how often I came in here, the scents of the bakery combined with my mate’s went right to my head.
“Alpha, can you take over loading the van for the big order?” Augie passed me a printed out sheet showing what I would need to load. “You’ll have to offload the artisan flour order first.”
Something else that never changed was the fact that I couldn’t bake. Not even muffins from a box. My mate had put in some long hours trying to train me after I begged him, but I just didn’t
But I could still help with things that required strength or organization.
Like using Jenga skills to fit a large order in a not very large van.
Folding the page, I tucked it in my shirt pocket and grabbed a clean apron from the shelf.
If I’d learned one thing it was that flour would get on anything no matter what, and my dark-blue button down with the Bake a Little Love logo on the pocket would not benefit from a coating of white fluffy dust.
Andi, an alpha herself, teased me at first about doing grunt work but she stopped when she saw how much pleasure I got from doing it for my omega. But she insisted her independence came first. “It’s okay for you,” she said, “but I’m happy on my own, thank you very much.”
I carried the bags of flour and other items in and went back to sweep out the van before loading the racks of bread.
One of our first investments after the event at Animals had been a lift gate for the van.
So much easier than lifting things over and over.
Also, less loss due to product getting dropped.
With everything loaded, I went back in to see if there was anything else I could pick up while I was out, and also for another kiss. After my delivery, I would go back upstairs to our temporary office space in the living room to work with Andi on our upcoming events. Then lunch with my omega.
Any wonder I looked forward to every day?