Page 1 of Cheese Daddy

PROLOGUE

Owen

“So, did you hear Bree is single now?”

Owen raised an eyebrow at Andres, one of his best friends and owner of the taco truck next to his gourmet grilled cheese truck. They often ate from each other’s trucks at the end of a shift, so it was normal enough to see him in line, but that was the last thing he’d expected to hear out of Andres’ mouth.

“Really? That’s how you’re going to greet me?” he asked, trying to keep his expression blank while his heart was doing an odd, thuddy dance in his chest. He hadn’t heard Bree was single now.

Doesn’t matter. Newly single is not the time to hit on a woman.

“Hello, Owen. Did you hear that Bree is single now?” Andres grinned at him, his dark eyes sparkling with mirth. Somehow, even though Owen hadn’t said a word about it, he’d figured out that Owen had a thing for Bree.

“You know, funny enough, I feel like someone just mentioned that to me recently,” he replied dryly. “I don’t know why people keep telling me.”

“Um, because you were immediately attracted to her and have kept your distance since she had a boyfriend?” Andres didn’t look at all ashamed, despite the dirty look Owen shot him. The two girls in line behind him had stopped talking and were clearly listening in on the conversation.

“You’re holding up my line. Either order or move.”

“We’re good!” Girl One said from behind Andres. “We’re still deciding what to eat.”

Things had slowed down, so they were the only other ones in line at the moment. Owen sighed. He was pretty sure they knew exactly what they wanted, which was to hear everything else Andres had to say.

“Yup. They broke up two days ago. Rita and Eden didn’t know until yesterday when they finally went over because Bree wasn’t answering her phone.”

“Well, I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Are you, though?”

Owen shot him a dirty look.

“Of course, I am. It’s always painful when a relationship ends, and Bree was really invested in hers.” Even if that douchebag she’d been with hadn’t been nearly as invested. Rita and Andres had been together for three months now and in that entire time, Bree’s boyfriend Samuel had come to hang out with the group of friends exactly once. He’d made an effort about half the time and spent the other half on his phone, ignoring all of them.

Rita and Eden hadn’t liked him very much, clearly tolerating him for Bree’s sake, which was another red flag.

The biggest red flag, however, had been the number of times Bree had come to the Outlands with Rita and Eden, while Samuel hadn’t been once. Who let his girlfriend go to a kinky sex club without him? Owen had wanted to pound his smug face into the ground. Sure, there was no reason to be jealous because Bree had been obviously one hundred percent loyal to the man, but there was also such a thing as taking the lack of jealousy too far.

At a certain point, it stopped looking like a lack of jealousy and started looking like indifference. Which was not what someone like Bree deserved. She was sweet, bubbly, fucking hot-as-hell, and way too good for someone like Samuel. They’d been going out for a little over a year, and it didn’t seem like he was that interested in being in a relationship with her… which Owen didn’t understand at all.

If he had a girlfriend like Bree, he’d be spending all his time making sure she felt loved and cherished. Also protected. Cared for. The service side of his Daddy Dom wanted to wrap her up and show her how she deserved to be treated, even as his disciplinarian side wanted to spank the hell out of her for settling for so much less.

“Who broke up with who?” he asked, hating himself for encouraging Andres but unable to keep himself from asking.

“Bree says it was mutual.” Andres shrugged. “Okay, I’m going to have the ham and gouda melt.”

“Great.” Owen forced a smile onto his face, glancing over to make sure that Daniel, his weekday cook, had heard the order. He looked over Andres’ head, shooing him off to the side. They never paid for their food. With as often as they ate at each other’s trucks, they’d just be passing the same ten dollars back and forth all week long. “Do you ladies need another minute?”

“No, we know what we want,” Girl Two said, stepping up. They put in their order, then lingered by the window instead of stepping away the way Andres had. He was on his phone, smiling at something, probably a text from Rita.

“So, we couldn’t help but overhear… you have a crush on a girl named Bree? And your truck is Touch of Brie. Is it named after her?” Girl One asked with a sly smile. The two of them practically had hearts dancing in their eyes at the idea, but he was going to have to disappoint them.

“No, it’s just a coincidence. I named the truck long before I met her.” He handed Girl Two her credit card, along with the receipt.

“Ooooh, then maybe it’s fate!” Girl Two pressed the credit card to her chest. Yup, starry-eyed.

Owen shook his head, even though he’d had the same thought more than once. Not so much fate, he didn’t think. More like torture since he had to hear and say her name multiple times a day while she belonged to another man. It had doubly sucked because he hadn’t found anyone else he wanted, and he wasn’t going to date someone just to date them when he wasn’t actually interested.

He hadn’t even been able to bring himself to scene with anyone at the Outlands since meeting her. It was frustrating as hell, and…

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