Page 127 of Craving Their Omega

“Done,” he says, eyes sparking.

Tristan intercepts him before he can take the tray, picking it up smoothly. “If you do it, half the cookies will be in your mouth and not on the tables,” he says. “I’ll handle this.”

Xavier pouts, but doesn’t argue. Instead he makes sure the water dispenser is full and helps put out more flyers.

All three of them take my directions with ease, clearly accepting that this is my space and they’re here to help. That also makes me feel good. None of them are the type to follow if they don’t believe in who’s leading, so they must think I’m doing okay.

Having them believe in me makes things a whole lot easier.

Once everything is done, I stand back and give everything another once over. There’s nothing else to do, and changing anything now would just be wasting time.

All there is now is to officially open for the first time.

I take a deep breath and stride to the door. All three of the Alphas watch as I flip the sign on the door to ‘open’, inviting the public to come on in.

For the first ten minutes or so, I’m incredibly nervous all over again. What if no one comes? I put out an announcement online, and I know the men spread the word at their office, but that doesn’t mean the public will come.

People have been looking curiously at the building as I got it ready over the last couple of weeks, but maybe there’s enough bakeries in town now. Maybe they don’t need anymore.

I chew on my bottom lip, trying not to watch the clock.

Another ten minutes pass. Then fifteen.

Tristan grabs Xavier’s hand before he can sneak a cookie and my stomach roils with dread. What if this was all for nothing? The men buying this building for me, me baking all this stuff and putting so much effort into it. What if it’s just been a waste of time?

I’m yanked out of my doom spiral by the sound of the chime above the door jingling merrily.

A woman with two young kids steps inside, glancing around. “Oh!” she says brightly. “You’re finally open!”

I gape a little, until Xavier pokes me in the side.

“We are!” I say, smiling to try to cover for my lapse. “Today’s our grand opening.”

“How exciting,” she says warmly. “We live just a block or two over, and my kids have been asking for something sweet all day. What do you have today?”

I gesture for her and her kids to follow me to the counter and start explaining today’s offerings to them. The kids hang on my every word with wide eyes, practically drooling as they look at the sweets.

The little boy picks out a massive carrot cake cupcake, and his sister goes for one of the lemon bars.

“Good choice,” Xavier mock whispers to her with a grin.

She grins back and ends up with powdered sugar all over her face after her first big bite.

Her mom gets a half dozen snickerdoodles, and they stay and chat for a while before taking their purchases and heading out.

The smooth interaction relaxes me and makes it easier to handle the steady trickle of customers we get after that.

I see people I recognize from the office, all of them coming over to congratulate me and say how lovely everything looks. One of the other assistants tries one of the cookies from the tables and murmurs a soft, “Holy fuck,” that makes me giggle.

He goes home with a dozen more cookies in a box, claiming his partner will be thrilled with him for getting them.

Amelia, the assistant who replaced Sienna comes over with a big smile and shakes my hand.

“This must be a lot better than working in an office,” she says with a smile.

“The office wasn’t so bad.” I glance at the men as I say it. “But this does suit me better.”

Everyone buys something, and I feel the confidence in my baking returning with every purchase.

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