Page 56 of Crushes and Confections

“Buckle up, Buttercup,” I said. “You needed chocolate? Do you want to head straight there, or explore?”

“Oh, definitely explore,” he said as he matched my energy. Apparently telling me about his past and finally realizing just how much we were in his corner had lightened his mood significantly.

By the time we reached the chocolate, Adrien had a few new chocolate molds, some new kitchen gadgets, and I’d found my way to the cupcake liner section. They always had seasonal ones, and I nabbed four different Valentine’s styles.

He’d gushed about the prices and was shocked by the random finds. Sometimes it was like finding a needle in a haystack and other times it was incredible. It was hilarious watching him be a mix of shocked and excited as we searched for sales.

“This place is crazy,” Adrien said as he stared at the entire aisle of chocolate.

I half expected him to find nothing until my crazy chocolatier had more than enough chocolate to make anything he could possibly dream up and then some. Apparently, even though it wasn’t the quality he was used to, he decided he could make a lower-end line for kids and families to enjoy.

His stomach rumbled loudly and his eyes widened.

“I have to feed you.”

I laughed. “Your stomach rumbles and your first thought is me?”

“I lost track of time. I apologize,” he said sincerely, but I waved it off.

“This store will do that to you. And I told you, we can get lunch here. Are you finished?”

He gave a reluctant yes and took us to the checkout. Adrien, not so slyly, put my liners up on the belt with his and gave me a look that begged me to argue. I bit back my tongue for once and let the alpha take the lead. It might be strange to do because I knew it wasn’t about me not being able to afford it, but him being able to provide it.

The best part of the trip was seeing Adrien side-eye the menu.

“What kind of pizza could be this cheap?” he hissed.

“The best kind,” I said, ordering a drink and slice for both of us and shooing him to one of the tables. When I brought the plates back he didn’t hesitate to take a bite.

“Okay, this is amazing,” he gushed as he chewed the slice of pepperoni. “New favorite store. We might have to sneak off to shop once a month or something. Make a new tradition.”

“I love the sound of that.”

It was not where I expected the day to go, but he was right, this was the kind of day that starts crazy and ends in the best way possible. And I knew it was just one of many we’d have together.

CHAPTER 19

Claire

Later that night I found myself on a scavenger hunt.

We’d split up again, Adrien and Riley having an impromptu date while I had one with Vance. We were trying to figure out exactly what we needed to do for the second clue.

I couldn’t fault the founder’s logic as cuckoo as it all seemed. We did seem to be growing closer by the day, and the moment that Hector had with our pack had meant a lot to all of us. I could tell how surprised Adrien and Vance were at their easy inclusion.

Plus, after Adrien’s confession today about his family, I couldn’t help but want to smother him in love and show him that not all parents were crap.

Fuck, what if they didn’t even want kids?

“What’s got that look on your face, Peach?” Vance asked as we walked to our destination.

“I just realized that we’ve never talked about whether Adrien or you actually want kids,” I said with a shrug. “I know you both haven’t had the greatest experience with that.”

“True,” Vance said, his blue eyes twinkling behind his glasses. “But if anything, I think that’s made us want them more over the years. To be able to give someone the unconditional love growing up that we didn’t get to experience would be amazing. We actually had begun talking about adoption recently.”

The tension completely slid from my shoulders as a breath of relief left me.

“Is that something you still want to do? Adoption, I mean?”

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