Page 72 of Knot Her Reality

I wave at them before shrugging my shoulders. He does look yummy—why wouldn’t I tell him? I don’t care who heard me. “Are we ready, then?”

“Sure are.” Koda offers me his arm, and I take it while my eyes find the others once more.

“Excellent. We’ll be eating by the pool. Everyone provided their favorite dinners to the kitchen, right?” Everyone nods or gives a verbal yes, and I nod. “Good. I think tonight is going to be fun. Lots of learning about one another.”

Koda leads me away from my room, the others trailing behind us as we head for the back deck.

“Remind me how tonight’s going to go?” Natalie asks as she appears at my side.

“Everyone’s favorite meals were prepared—enough for each of us to have a taste, or probably a whole serving. We’ll eat what we want of them, and then everyone will guess who they think the meal belongs to.” I shoot Ronan a grin as he moves around us, sliding the door to the deck open and gesturing for us to go ahead. “Why thank you, kind sir. After that, we have a bartender making each of our favorite drinks and the game will go the same. Honestly, we can play guessing games all night. We can do our favorite colors, favorite movies, whatever we want. But dinner and drinks are what’s on the schedule.”

Tessa pulls out my chair, and I let go of Koda’s arm to sit. I don’t bother fighting back my smile when she does the same for Koda. He thanks her as he sinks into his seat. Ronan does the same for Natalie before the two alphas find their own seats. Before any of us can speak, the staff bustles out of the house and begin laying food on the table. Millie follows them out, a smile on her face as she moves over to us.

“Good evening, everyone. We have prepared each of your favorite meals at Evangeline’s request. Your first option for the night is chicken and dumplings, cinnamon sugar apples, and cornbread. Your second option for the night is surf and turf—ribeye and lobster tail with grilled asparagus. Next, we have beef stroganoff served over noodles with buttery garlic green beans. After that, we have homemade macaroni and cheese and braised short ribs. Lastly, we have country-fried steak, mashed potatoes, and rolls.” Millie smiles as she looks around the table. “Now, what would each of you like to drink?”

I decide on water as my eyes wander over the feast that’s been prepared for us. I don’t even know where to begin. Everything looks amazing. Maybe getting five meals for us to eat wasn’t the way to go. They’re going to have to roll me out of here when we’re done.

Once we have our drinks, the staff disappears and Koda picks up my plate. “Would you like to try a little of everything, Evangeline?”

“I would, but you don’t have to make my plate. I’m perfectly capable of doing it myself.” My attention is locked on him as I fight back a laugh. This is the behavior I would’ve expected from the alphas, not Koda.

He starts piling food onto my plate, his eyes cutting to me for just a moment. “Just because you’re capable of doing something doesn’t mean you have to do it.”

“Ro, does this mean you’re going to make my plate?” Natalie asks, fluttering her eyelashes at her alpha. Laughter spills from my lips as he shakes his head, but he picks up her plate and begins to pile it with food.

“Guess I’ll just make my own plate since Koda beat me to making Evangeline’s,” Tessa says with a laugh. She doesn’t look even remotely put out, and her amusement seems genuine, allowing me to breathe a sigh of relief. Not all alphas like what they consider being their role to be taken over by others. Not that I thought Tessa was like that, but you just never know with people.

Koda sets my plate in front of me and as the scents rise to my nose, I let out a small moan as my stomach lets out a loud growl. All eyes turn to me while I just shrug. “I’m hungry.”

“Then you should go ahead and eat, omega.” Ronan grins as he sets Natalie’s plate in front of her. “You too, beta. I know you’re starving.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice,” she says before digging in. With a shrug, I follow suit. All around the table, moans and groans spill from everyone as we eat. Everything tastes amazing, and I make a mental note to thank Millie for her hard work. Well, her and the rest of the cooking staff.

I eat more than I should, but eventually have to push my plate away. Leaning back in my chair, I rub a hand over my very full stomach. “Damn, that was good.”

“It really was,” Natalie agrees from her chair where she’s in a similar position to me. Ronan, Tessa, and Koda are still eating, and all I can do is shake my head.

“Where do you put all that food?” I can’t help asking, and the three of them laugh together.

“Two of us are alphas,” Tessa reminds us. “I’m not sure about Koda.”

Koda shrugs. “I’ve always eaten like this. Maybe it’s a male omega thing. Plus, I like to work out, so that means extra calories.”

Running my eyes over his body, I hum. Even though he’s not as built, as say Ronan, it’s clear he takes care of himself. As an omega, he’ll never be able to match an alpha’s build, but having seen him without a shirt, I know just how fit he is.

A cloth napkin flies across the table and hits me in the face. I grab it with a frown, turning my attention to a giggling Natalie. “You were drooling. I thought you might like something to clean it up with.”

“Whatever. Ronan’s right. You are a brat.” My cheeks flush, but I return her smile. She’s not wrong. I absolutely was drooling. How can I not?

“That’s okay, babe. You can drool over me anytime you want,” Koda is quick to assure me. “Because I guarantee I’m doing the same thing to you.”

I don’t know why his words have me ducking my head, my flush deepening. This man really does something to me that I don’t fully understand. I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to keep fighting it—or if I even want to.

Tessa clears her throat. “Since we’re all done, I guess that means we need to guess which meal is whose favorite. How are we planning to do this? Just shout them out?”

“Nope, because I’m sure Natalie and Ronan know each other’s favorites, so that would be an unfair advantage. We’d just guess whatever they did.” I push myself to my feet and walk over to the bar where I left pens and notecards before returning to our table. “Write your name at the top of your card. You’ll find that each meal has already been written on the card, so all you have to do is write the name of the person whose favorite you think it is.”

Handing everyone a pen and card, I realize I haven’t even begun to think about which meal could be anyone’s favorite. I know mine, so I quickly add my name next to surf and turf. I’m currently hating myself for planning this. How am I supposed to know this? I snort because I’m sure the others are feeling the same way right now.

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