Page 11 of His Protective Bear

What did his family have to do with anything?

“I promise I’ll think about what you said, but I need to go. I’m running late.” I got to my feet, and Dad stood as well. He pulled me in for a hug, and I couldn’t help but wrap my arms around him. I breathed in deeply even though I couldn’t scent him, but he smelled like home.

When I pulled away, dad smiled down at me, “All right, get on with you. Give your Papa a kiss for me.”

I smiled and nodded, hurrying out of the door. Dad’s words echoed in my head during the whole drive to the diner. I couldn’t think of one reason the alpha would want to talk to me. Can’t you? Yeah, in your dreams. I ignored all that and decided I would at least give him a chance. If he approached again, I would listen to what he had to say.

By the time I parked in the diner’s lot, I was already late, so I hurried around the back and let myself in. The usual kitchen craziness hit me. Papa was at the griddle, flipping a line of what looked like grilled cheese so they would brown to perfection on both sides. Steven, one of our other cooks, was dishing up gravy before handing off the plate to Mark, one of our servers. He smiled at me before grabbing some biscuits, putting the plate on his already full tray, and heading out. Several other servers came in and out, grabbing what they needed.

“Where do you need me, Papa?” I asked.

He glanced back at me, “Can you handle the folks at the counter? We have a busy one. You might need to help with some tables too.”

I nodded and hurried to put my bag away in my locker. Removing my apron, I hurried out to meet Simon, who had just collected a to-go bag from the kitchen service window.

I jumped into the fray, finding those that hadn’t been served. By the time I had a chance to breathe again, more than two hours had passed. And now, we were into the late lunch crowd. I’d just served another table and walked back behind the counter when I had that strange feeling again. I could swear people were staring at me. I chalked it up earlier to them trying to get my attention, but dread crawled up my spine. Maybe someone mentioned something about me not being able to smell.

I looked around, but everyone seemed to face their food or continue their own conversation, but I couldn’t help it. My guard shot up.

I did my best to get back to work, but I couldn’t stop looking around to make sure I was fully aware of my surroundings. So when a man walked carrying a bouquet of red roses in a glass vase, I saw him come in. Simon came up to me, “Aww, I wonder who that’s for?” my cousin sighed.

We watched as the short ginger-haired delivery man looked around the diner. He walked up to the counter, then said,” Hey guys, I have a delivery for….”

We waited with bated breath to see who the lucky person was.

“Sage Matthews?” he checked.

I nodded. “That’s me!”

“Then these are for you.”

“Uh,” I looked around, unsure what was happening.

“I’ve not been out of work that long cuz, something you have to tell me?” Simon asked as I took the roses from the expectant man.

I faced away from the diner and whispered to Simon, “I don’t know who these could be from.”

Hunter? The name floated in my mind, but I promptly dismissed it. Why would he?

He chuckled, “Well, brace yourself because it looks like there’s more where that came from.”

I turned around again, and sure enough, there was someone else coming in with another bouquet of roses. That same scene played out another four times until I had six dozen roses, at least I think that’s what they called them. I’d never gotten flowers before.

“Those are beautiful, son.” I turned at my dad’s voice. He must have heard about what was happening and come out.

“I—” I wasn’t sure what I was about to say.

“We should get them into the office so they’re safe till we can get them home,” Papa said, smiling like he knew something.

“Yeah. Yes,” I nodded. That was a good idea. I was still a little stunned because, well, who would do this?

Dad grabbed two bouquets from me, and Simon held two, so I had the last two. We were about to go to the office when the sound of sirens had us turning to see what was going on. The sound seemed to get closer and closer until we saw two police cars pull into our lot.

They parked, and I watched as Hunter got out of one of the cars in his full sheriff uniform, and damn no one should look that good in brown polyester. When he entered the diner, I looked away from the too-handsome-for-his-own-good alpha toward the people in the diner to see if anyone looked apprehensive. The only reason they would have come here with the siren blaring was surely to arrest someone, right? But no one looked like they were worried.

My heart was trying to jump out of my chest when Hunter stopped in front of me. How the fuck had I missed the roses in his hand? When he held them out to me, my Papa took the other two in my hands, and I glanced his way. He had a look that said he knew what was going on.

“Sage?” At the sound of my name, I looked back at him. He still held out the bouquet wrapped in paper to me. I wasn’t sure if it was a reflex from collecting the last six bouquets, but I took them from him.

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