Page 20 of Crushes and Confections

“It was self-preservation at first and kind of a habit now,” Vance agreed. “I’ve been off and on them for the past decade and found it was easier to be on them in most situations. You may accept it, but will Holiday Hollow?”

Riley and I looked at each other, both coming to a silent agreement.

“You wouldn’t be the first. Hell, we have two omegas in love here in the Hollow,” Riley said.

“This is a safe place, in all aspects of the word,” I agreed. “You don’t have to hide here.”

“That’ll be…something to get used to,” Adrien admitted. His hand rubbed absently at his goatee. I had a feeling it was a nervous tick. I’d noticed it this afternoon once or twice as well.

“It will. But there’s no rush, it’s on your terms,” I promised. “Remember when you said you wanted me to feel safe here? We want you to feel that as well.”

“Exactly,” Riley agreed before finally grabbing the serving spoon. “I’m starving, let’s eat.”

“There’s just one more thing we need to discuss, then,” Vance said with a grin as he loaded my plate, then his with pasta and a breadstick, all of which smelled amazing. I was starving.

“And what’s that?” I asked before I bit into a breadstick, groaning at the mix of spices and salty butter. Clearly Adrien wasn’t the only one who knew his way around a kitchen.

“You two.”

CHAPTER 8

Riley

“What about the two of us?” Claire questioned.

“Before this goes any further, the two of you should talk to each other about what you want from each other and what you want out of a pack. We said no pressure and we meant it, but the last thing we want is to start this off on the wrong foot without all the cards on the table,” Vance said, giving me a very pointed look.

It was refreshing how straightforward he was. Guessing games were definitely not my style.

I wanted to be the drama, not deal with it.

“As you may have surmised, we do not open up our lives to just anyone,” Adrien said, swirling the red wine in his glass around. “Honesty and communication are incredibly important to us, and you should know that those are two things that are non-negotiable for us.”

“That’s a relief to hear actually,” Claire said, setting her fork down. “I—well, I haven’t dated all that much, and the few times I did…let’s just say there’s a reason I focus on my work so much.”

I knew Claire had dated, although only one of those I would truly count, and the beta and her were like polar opposites, but it still hurt to hear in a weird way. I wanted her to have the very best of everything, she absolutely deserved it.

A foot trailing up my calf had me startling at the table, my eyes scanning the table to find an insistent Vance still staring holes into the side of my head with his damn dreamy blue eyes.

I knew what he wanted me to say, to be open with Claire about how I felt, that while we both agreed we wanted to be in a pack together, that I wanted to date her as well. That I wanted all of us to date each other.

“I’m going to grab some more wine,” I said, moving from the table and walking to the kitchen.

I knew telling her was the right thing to do, I just needed a minute. Or two. Or another couple of weeks. A month really.

Footsteps echoed behind me and when no scent followed in its wake, I knew one of the alphas had followed me.

“What do you need right now, Gorgeous?” Vance asked.

“To find my balls that I love so much,” I muttered under my breath before turning to face him. “I didn’t expect this tonight.”

“That’s fair, but you’re Riley fucking Ortiz. You’re the beta who doesn’t back down, who has the town eating out of the palm of his hand, and who loves with his whole heart. You don’t have to do it tonight if you’re truly not ready, but I can tell you that you won’t be alone. The fact that you love Claire with every fiber of your soul, that you would do anything for her? It means that you literally will go to the ends of the earth to protect her. Take a chance, Riley. You won’t regret it.”

“I guess you would know.” I blew out a breath, tugging at my necklace to center me. “Okay, let’s do this. I want to start this off with everything out in the open, but if this goes horribly wrong I expect Adrien and you to ply me with wine all night and kiss it better.”

“Promise,” Vance said. “But it won’t come to that, Riley. Plus, we’ll do that one night just for fun.”

He placed his hand on the small of my back, eliciting a shiver down my spine, as we rejoined the table. Thankfully, he’d remembered to grab a new bottle of red.

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