Page 36 of Forced Knocked-Up Mate

“Hostile?” he scoffs. “I’m not being hostile.”

“Okay,” I say with a sigh. “I’m going to call in some help from the other girls. Can you work the ovens until they get here?”

“No way,” he says. “I’m really getting the hang of this.”

He turns and goes back to the counter while I use every last scrap of my restraint to hold in a long, hopeless wail. Peter’s voice echoes back to me through the open kitchen door.

“Oh, you’re still here? I thought you’d take off for sure. What do you want?”

Pulling out my phone, I text Fiona and Sarah. Fiona promises to come in as soon as possible, but that will still be over an hour. Thankfully, Sarah is free and can get here within twenty minutes.

I hurry back to the counter and try to serve as many customers as possible while not slapping Peter. He doesn’t seem to notice the strange looks people give him or the way they hurry out of the store.

This might be the worst day of my life. Well, except for my wedding day.

When Sarah arrives, the relief is so powerful, I go weak at the knees. Clinging to the counter, I make a wild gesture towards the kitchen.

“Okay, Peter,” I say. “Thanks, but we can take it from here.”

“Sure,” he says as he literally throws a cinnamon roll into a paper bag. He tosses it across the counter, and it slides toward the customer like a hockey puck.

“You alright with that?” he asks, raising an eyebrow at the poor kid who just caught the bag with his face.

The boy just grunts and flees the store.

For the next couple of hours, Sarah and I work the counter and I try to forget about Peter. Fiona arrives, and even though the store stays busy, we find time to talk as we work.

“It can’t be that bad,” Fiona whispers.

“It really was!” I whisper back. “Sarah, tell her.”

“Can confirm,” Sarah agrees as she busily wraps fried pastry twists. “I think he offended every person in the place, not just the customer he was serving.”

“Seriously, I thought I was going to die of embarrassment,” I groan. “I shudder to think of the online reviews we’re going to get.”

Fiona finishes up with her customer, then turns back to me. “Well, what did you think was going to happen? The poor guy can’t be expected to have much skill with people.”

I gape at her. “You’re sticking up for him!”

“Well, kinda. I mean, it’s not like he and Rider went to school or had any normal kind of life.”

Even though I’m still pretty upset, Fiona’s words make sense. I’m still mortified by how Peter treated our customers, but he did try. Maybe I didn’t give him enough credit for that.

“Hey, check this out,” Fiona whispers, nudging me with her elbow.

I look over to see Sarah serving a few of the wild wolves—Kelta and her scouts. Since I’m not really involved in pack business, I don’t know all their names, but one of the boys is grinning shyly as he talks with Sarah. She’s usually very reserved and almost never comes out of her shell, but her face has lit up as she talks with the cute blond boy.

“That’s Dane,” Fiona says. “Kelta’s brother. He’s only just started coming into town. I know Bae would love to make a match between the town crew and the wild ones. He still worries that they feel like a separate pack. A wedding would make them feel more included.”

“Well, I’ve never seen Sarah flirt,” I reply, chuckling. “If flirting is what I’m seeing.”

“She’s human, isn’t she? Did you tell me she was a witch?”

“Potentially,” I clarify. “She’s not from my old coven. We’ve never really talked about it much.”

“Interesting,” Fiona mutters as she watches the wild scouts leave.

Sarah notices us looking and blushes. “What?”

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