Page 119 of Packed in the Fire house

“That’s a good thing, though,” Walker said, taking my hand in his. “We want him to be happy here. That doesn't mean he loves you any less.”

“I know.” I pouted, making Walker chuckle.

He leaned back against the wall. “What do you want to do after this? We've got the entire day. I'm pretty sure the guys will be finished and back at the house around the same time as us. We could go get food.”

My stomach gurgled. I wasn't going to turn down an offer of food.

“Maybe that Italian place we saw in town?” I asked hopefully. I had passed there the other day while shopping for some produce at the farmers market, and the smells emanating from that restaurant had been downright glorious. I hadn't been able to stop thinking about it since.

“We all love Italian food, so it sounds like a good idea.” As he spoke, he pulled out his phone, no doubt shooting off a text to the others.

Sure enough, a second later, my phone buzzed with a new message in the pack group chat, which Blaze had named the Red Hot Hotties.

Walker: Italian good tonight?

Blaze: You know I’ll eat anything.

Rune: That new place near the farmers market? I had a feeling it was only a matter of time until we went there.

I smiled as their replies came in. In the past, whenever I recommended a restaurant to Gregory, he would usually complain that it wasn't nice enough for him. He was so caught up with appearances that we never really got to enjoy ourselves.

My pack, on the other hand, just wanted to eat some good food, and they didn't care if I wore sweatpants to the restaurant.

Rune: The farmers market is still open. Should we grab more strawberries for the little man? I noticed there was only one or two left after I made his breakfast this morning.

Blaze: There’s an extra container in the back of the fridge I picked up yesterday, but the way our boy gets through berries, I don’t think that’s a bad idea.

Smiling down at the screen, I put my phone away and focused on watching Luka. He played for a few more hours before he finally got exhausted and crawled into my lap.

“Looks like someone's ready for a nap,” Walker said as Luka snuggled deeper into my arms.

“He’ll sleep in his car seat on the way to the restaurant.”

“I'm sure one of the guys will happily stay in the car with him while you run to the farmers market as well. That way, he'll probably have a good hour nap before we get to the restaurant. There's no rush, though. We can eat whenever works best forhim. The last thing I want to do is deprive this little terror of his meatballs.”

I cocked my head to the side as I brushed Luka’s hair out of his face. All my guys were so considerate of his needs. Even now that we were officially bonded, it was still heartwarming.

“It looks like Luka’s had a good day!” the young, blonde day care worker said as she approached us.

“He has,” I agreed, slowly getting to my feet, trying to avoid disturbing the toddler, who was quickly falling asleep in my arms.

Walker, seeing my struggle, shot to his feet and gently hoisted me up by my elbows. I shot him a thankful look before turning back to the daycare worker.

“So, do you think this setting will be a good fit for Luka?” she asked.

Walker and I both nodded before I said, “We do.”

Her smile widened, and she excitedly clapped her hands together. “Excellent. It's always amazing getting to welcome a new member to our little family. I'm going to quickly take you through a bit of the paperwork for security—who can pick him up and drop him off, all that stuff—and then I will let you guys go! When do you want him to officially start?”

“Probably soon,” Walker said, looking between me and the day care worker. “Sunny has classes right now, so it could be really useful. Can we do a slow schedule where we start him with two days a week for the first week or two, just until he’s a little more used to the routine?”

My eyebrows rose. Why hadn’t I thought of that? It was a really good idea and would help Luka acclimate to being away from me again.

“Of course. Why don't we start him off on Wednesday and work from there?”

“Sounds perfect,” I agreed.

Blaze and Rune were already in the parking lot for the farmers market when we pulled up. They were leaning against the truck, talking casually, until they saw Walker’s SUV pull into the lot.

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