Page 9 of Wishes and Research

That had his mind going blank and his spoon stopped halfway to the bowl. “That’s…that would be too hard to pick.”

Oh.

“Because they’re both good choices or because it’s easier to grab muffins when you’re heading out to work?” I had a guess but I wasn’t sure if I was right.

“I…” And nothing. After a few seconds, he swallowed and his body started working again. “I don’t make breakfast. So that’s not…I don’t…”

Was someone else supposed to make him breakfast?

A Daddy perhaps?

“Then you shouldn’t have to answer silly questions.” Shrugging like it was a perfectly normal answer to a reasonable question, I shrugged. “Whoever feeds you your breakfasts should know the answer.”

It was definitely a Daddy’s job to learn how to make his little boy happy.

But luckily, Paxton was saved because my burger arrived…and it was delivered by a battle-ax of a woman. Nancy seemed to like my cutie based on her glare and the heavy-handed way she set the plate down. “He likes my food, and he doesn’t complain or talk about his sex life.”

Saved by the death threat.

“Got it.”

No scaring off her new favorite customer.

And my mate.

Chapter 3

Paxton

If it was a date, he’d have called it a date, right?

Looking out the window of the small room I was renting, I should’ve been confident about the answer…but I wasn’t. I’d been second-guessing it all afternoon and I still hadn’t come to any conclusions. Fraser had talked about work and he’d talked about the locals. He’d even talked about our food while we’d eaten lunch.

But he hadn’t explained what we were doing.

Yes, we were going to talk about the plans for my research and for our hike in the morning, but he was making me dinner at his house and he’d been wearing a look.

A mischievous one.

Where the rest of the town was weird and generally looked like they were confused puppies, Fraser’s smile wasn’t nearly as innocent.

But he hadn’t said it was a date.

So I shouldn’t have showered or dressed up, right?

Sending the wrong message wasn’t my goal, but I wasn’t sure what my goal should’ve been. Logically, the only thing I should’ve been worried about was making sure he could get me around their strangely confusing forests so I could find the specimens I was looking for.

Which, after meeting the locals, didn’t seem nearly as weird as they first had.

If bugs could disappear like they were from a sci-fi movie, this must have been where they’d originated.

Yes, that should’ve been the only thing I was focusing on, but Fraser was taking up entirely too much of my ability to think…and most of that was about if this was a date or not.

He’d asked me to get food with him.

He’d asked about my work and my food preferences.

He’d understood why I shouldn’t have to take random surveys.

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