Page 67 of Harvest Moon

“Sorry?” he scoffed, waving a hand. “Good lord, Alexis, don’t be sorry. It’s—it’s Ridge, right? The young man working for the Hills, from your hometown?”

I ducked my head and nodded, but trying to keep the smile off my face was like trying to hold back the tide. “Ridge Paterson.”

“Good. I wondered when you seemed so bothered, but—” He motioned toward my bedroom. “Every sign said the man’s crazy about you. All those little gifts. Following you halfway across the state. I was sure I didn’t have all the information, one way or another.”

I scowled at the counter. “It’s all that alpha nonsense about being a good provider. He was worried because his parents sold the farm out from under him, and he’s got all this student-loan debt.”

His expression was more sympathetic than I’d have expected from a man who smashed alpha stereotypes at every turn. “It’s hard sometimes.” He waved at the fridge. “Want to grab the eggs? Bacon? I’m going to cut that cantaloupe you got at the store. Claudia should like that, even if she turns her nose up at the bacon.”

I complied instantly, grabbing the packages of bacon, eggs, and cheddar from the fridge as he set a pan on the stove. I figured between the three of us, two alphas and me, we could eat the whole package of bacon if we tried hard enough. “What do you mean, hard?” I asked, as I started to lay the strips out in the pan. “You’re nothing like one of those meatheaded alphas who thinks his designation means he has to be some kind of twentieth-century nuclear-family husband.”

“Are you saying Claudia and I don’t seem like we walked off the set of a show where the husband and wife sleep in separate beds?” he asked, pulling a huge chef’s knife from the block, handling it like he knew what he was doing. Of course he did. Did I think Claudia was the one using kitchen knives in their house? Silly.

I chuckled and shook my head, and apparently that was answer enough for him. He cut the melon in half and started scooping its guts into the trash. “You’re right. I’m not one of those alphas that obviously fulfills the stereotypes. I’m nice, and kind to small children and animals, and—hell, I teach little kids. I come home from work covered in glitter.”

This was true. There was glitter all over sometimes, and neither Birch nor Claudia ever batted an eye at it. I shrugged, covering the bacon pan so it wouldn’t pop grease all over the place, and grabbing another pan for the eggs. “I think it makes you the perfect alpha.”

He gave me a soft smile. “That’s sweet, and I appreciate it, but we both know it also makes me an oddity among alphas. I’m not saying I want to be a controlling ass, or think with my instincts instead of my brain. Just that sometimes it’s hard to know you’re not what society thinks you’re supposed to be.”

It made sense. It was exactly what Ridge had been going through, as far as I could tell. He thought he was supposed to be some kind of provider, and circumstances had left him unable to do that. The breath left me in a gusty sigh, taking the wind out of my indignation at the same time. “I don’t suppose the pack has a retroactive college fund, do they?”

He cocked his head at me, an eyebrow lifted in question.

“College debt,” I explained. “I guess it’s expensive to go to school. Which is ridiculous, if you ask me.”

“It’s ridiculous if you ask anyone sensible.” He’d managed to cut up the whole melon and was slicing the rind off the pieces, then piling them onto a plate. “I know the pack does have a college fund. I can talk to Linden about using it to help with Ridge’s debts. I mean, if he’s using that education in the name of the Grove pack, it only seems right we help pay for his educational debts.”

I bit my lip. Would Ridge feel like I was interfering? Would it make his feelings of inadequacy even worse? All I wanted to do was help. To take care of him the way he wanted to take care of me. That was the point of mating, wasn’t it? A partnership. I didn’t have college debt that needed paying, but he did, so it was our burden, together. Just like if I had the Condition, he’d be there for me, because mates didn’t get sick alone.

I uncovered and turned the bacon, and Birch let me think. The man really was the next best thing to perfect. When I turned around, he was setting four plates out on the island, splitting the melon slices onto them almost evenly—a little more on one than the other three. I skipped putting bacon on that plate, piling the other three with it, and then splitting the eggs evenly.

“Whatever the two of you decide, Alexis, you’re welcome to stay in the guest room as long as you’d like. I really do appreciate everything you’re doing for Claudia.” He turned to pull silverware out of a drawer, and I stared at his back.

Did he—did he mean “you” in the plural, like both Ridge and I were welcome to stay?

When he turned back, the answer made itself clear without me needing to ask. He winked. “Well, come on. It’s not like you’re loud, and the guest room is all the way on the other side of the house. I know you’ll want your own place eventually, but I also know how expensive that is.” He glanced toward his and Claudia’s room, then leaned toward me conspiratorially. “If you ever want to hear about how even I fold to stereotypes, ask Claudia sometime about whether an alpha should be able to provide a home for his family before he agrees to start one.”

I winced at the notion. I could imagine how that had gone over with Claudia. She’d grown up in a trailer that probably wouldn’t fit most people’s idea of a home. This house was a palace, comparatively. Birch insisting that it was necessary had probably been a hell of a fight.

If even Birch and Claudia went through it, though, maybe it was a normal thing. Maybe Ridge and I were going to be just fine.

All we had to do was find a way to pay his student loans and get Claudia through this pregnancy without the Condition taking her from us. Not a tall order at all, right?

38

Ridge

Ihad lost my entire damn mind, but instinct took over the very second I felt Alexis sigh against my lips, took him in my arms and held him tight. No way was I strong enough to let him go at any point—not even when Banjo started making biscuits on my ribcage with his sharp little claws and I came to with the realization that if I wanted to slip out unnoticed, it’d have to be right then.

But I wasn’t a slip-out-unnoticed kind of guy. I didn’t want to leave Alexis thinking for one single second that I didn’t want to be there with him.

Since I’d spent weeks, months, and years making him feel that way, I could stand to do a walk of shame. Or, at the very least, wait until he was awake before I snuck out to my car so I might have a chance to properly introduce myself to his family as a man with pure intentions.

Ah, the best laid plans...

I woke up, and Alexis was already gone, the smell of bacon wafting in from the kitchen along with the sound of cutlery on plates.

With a jolt, I sat upright. All I had on was my underwear, but I rushed to pull on my jeans and shirt.

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