Page 52 of Crushes and Confections

By the time dessert hit, the twenty questions were over, and it felt like any other gathering. I’d given updates on the orchard, dad talked about business changes, and Blaire was talking about taking a new pottery class.

I couldn’t help but glance over at the alphas as the night wore on. They went from uneasy to more relaxed, smiling and laughing, showing they were actually enjoying themselves.

As the sky started to darken and most had escaped, my alpha dad moved us over to the fire and pulled out a box.

“Now I’m not supposed to let you all off this easy, but I figured that meeting the entire family should qualify you all for gaining your first item,” Hector said.

“Wait, we completed the first line?” Claire asked, pulling out that list Janet had given us.

To go forward you must go back, learn each other and take a page from the rack.

“How is bringing them to family dinner completing that?” I asked my dad.

“It’s all about learning who each other is and where you come from, building a good foundational knowledge of each other,” Hector said before turning to Vance and Adrien. “Look, boys, I’m not one to pry, something clearly led you to Holiday Hollow, and as long as you’re open with Claire and Riley about it, then it’s none of my business. Unless I need to go sic the whole Ortiz clan on them.”

“You’ve just met us,” Adrien said slowly.

“I don’t have to have known you to see how you treat my kids, to see how you look at them,” Hector says, his voice dead serious. “Me and every other member in this house have watched all four of you the entire night, and you know what variation I got from everyone? They all commented on how all of you fit together, how happy and well Claire and Riley seem to be. I don’t need any other reason other than that to be on your side, Adrien. We’re all rooting for you.”

Claire took Adrien’s hand in hers as he blew out a breath, his hand running over his goatee.

“Thank you,” he said finally. “That means a lot to me.”

Hector handed the box over to me and Vance that were closest to him and I peeked inside to find a set of thick wooden planks. Of course, they couldn’t just give us an obvious clue as to what the final piece would be. Then again, this was one of five and hopefully, along the way, we’d figure it out.

It couldn’t be that difficult. Tons of packs had gone through this before us. I was hardly the romantic type, but for once, I was excited to go through these steps together and see what Holiday Hollow threw our way.

CHAPTER 18

Claire

“Does this ever feel surreal to you?” I asked Riley the next morning as we were laying in bed.

It was a blessed day where Corey took the morning bake schedule, and I didn’t have to do anything other than second batches and looking at our production schedule for the goods we distributed.

“The fact that we actually get to spend a morning together? Or that we’re lying here cuddled together, naked?” Riley asked.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m serious. It’s like I spent my entire life wanting something I couldn’t have and deciding that maybe I didn’t need a pack in my life, and now that’s been turned upside down.”

The playfulness dropped from his expression as he pulled me closer, tucking me against his chest. The tightness in his grip was reassuring and I let myself take slow soothing inhales of his spring rain scent.

“Do you not trust what you’re feeling?” Riley asked solemnly. “With us or them?”

“No,” I said immediately. “I bit you, Ri. And if I could, I would have already made the bond between us. It’s not even that I don’t trust what I feel with them, because I do. Hell, I basically went feral when I smelled Vance’s scent for the first time the other day. I don’t doubt they’re ours.”

He was quiet for a moment, and I could tell the gears were working in his head.

“For a long time, when it came to your personal relationships, you didn’t let yourself daydream of everything you wanted, and I know that’s in large part due to me, and I’m so sorry, Claire Bear. I should have talked to you the first time I realized I had feelings for you, and we could have worked it out from there.”

“I could have talked to you too, Ri,” I said. “The past is in the past, I’m not trying to dwell on that. I’m overjoyed with what we have now.

“I am too,” he said, bending down to place a kiss on my lips. “But Claire, it’s okay to hope now. It’s okay to think about kids and our pack, and where we want to live, and how you want your nest to be and all of that. Whatever you want, you know we’ll make it happen.”

“I’m falling in love with them,” I admitted.

“Me too,” he said softly.

Every instinctual drive in my body was calling out to them, and although they’d been over a couple of times, my house felt noticeably empty without their scents. I’d never push Adrien, but maybe Vance could give me some of his shirts or something. Or maybe we should have more sleepovers.

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