Page 123 of Sunshine

The beep of the starting race intruded on my thoughts, and in the kitchen, Logan was moving pots and pans around.

Biting my lip, I opened three more spreadsheets. I was also working on Carsen’s bonding ceremony the same day, so maybe I jotted the list down in there so I wouldn’t forget.

Haha, the biggest joke. Writing it down so I won’t forget. If only I could remember where I wrote it down, I’d be great.

Julian shouted, half jumping in his seat. “Got you with a banana!”

Annoyed, I opened three more worksheets. He was adorably energetic, but I didn’t have the mental space for Julian’s bouncy energy.

If I wasn’t so hideously behind on everything, I would have put my laptop away for the night.

Dread coiled in my stomach. If I just focused really hard the next few days, I could catch up. It would be fine. I was adult, this was my job. I should be able to handle this.

And next time, I would budget my time better. It was my own fault, for forgetting about these random tasks. I’d had client meeting after client meeting, event space conversations, and several fires to put out with the wrong food being ordered, the embroidered napkins coming in wrong.

I loved being calm in a crisis like that, but it also meant I pushed off ordering two dozen white napkins to be folded into an origami shape until the last freaking minute.

Oh, maybe the list was under my event planning document. I clicked on the folder to open it, and Julian squealed, jumping up again.

“For the love of cookies,” I snapped. “Scoot over if you’re going to bump into me every five seconds.”

Julian froze, and I sucked in a breath. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Guilt flooded me until I felt like I was about to cry. Julian wiped the hurt look off his face. “It’s okay.”

I shook my head. “I shouldn’t have snapped. I’m stressed about work, but that’s not your fault.”

Luca and Logan both looked at me like I was a wild animal that was about to go feral.

“I’m sorry,” I said again, holding my laptop in my lap, not sure what to do with my hands. “Julian, I’m so sorry.”

Julian put his controller down and snuggled into my side. “Sunshine, it’s okay. It’s not a big deal.”

“I snapped at you.”

He shrugged. “You also said sorry right away. It’s fine, no one expects you to be perfect all the time.”

I let out a breath. And then another. My insides twisted, sure that this was going to be the last straw. I snapped at Julian when he didn’t do anything wrong. That was it, we were going to break up. Panic beat in my chest, making blood rush in my ears.

My omega cocked his head and touched my arm. “Are you okay?”

“It’s just work. I’m almost done.” I gestured at my laptop. My stomach rolled like I was going to be sick. I kept waiting for the fight. For him to be mad at me for snapping at him.

“Do you want to use the office?” Luca looked worried. “Julian is adorable, but I couldn’t focus on anything important in the middle of the living room with all this noise and commotion either.”

Julian batted his eyelashes at me. “Iampretty distracting.”

“You are,” I said, still too afraid to hope that this was it. I’d snapped, apologized, and now Julian was moving on. I glanced at Logan, but he just looked at me with a worried expression.

If I had snapped at Mason, the entire pack would have torn me a new one. If I had lost my temper with Talia, we would have talked about why it wasn’t okay for the next three hours.

Julian seemed fine.

I touched his arm carefully. “You’re not mad? It’s okay if you’re mad.”

“Why would I be mad?” He put his arm around my waist. “It hurt my feelings for about five seconds, mostly because I was surprised. But you apologized, and you look so guilty. Like you accidentally ran me over or something.”

“I didn’t mean to take my bad mood out on you,” I said again, wishing the guilt would go away.

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