Page 5 of Baking for His Omega

As I’d suspected, it said,Please don’t go to any more trouble. The one you already brought was more than enough.

I didn’t reply. Nor did I look too closely at why I really wanted to do this. Even if it hurt, I wanted to see my fated one more time. In this town, it was likely it would be more than once. And that would really be a problem.

Parking in the same spot I left not long before, I reached over the seat for the small cake box and tried to slow my heartbeat. And quiet my bear. We were going to see our mate for the second time, but that meant nothing since he belonged to someone else. Fated mates took precedence to chosen—if they were found first. I couldn’t ever ask him to leave Wyatt’s father. That little guy deserved the love and attention and secure home his two dads were providing for him. No, they didn’t live in a fancy house, but what I saw past him as we stood in the doorway was a decent place with lots of cheerful decorations celebrating their son’s very first birthday.

If I was going to be decent, I’d hand off the box as quickly as possible and run for it, never to return. Hopefully, he’d never come into the shop and I wouldn’t run into him anywhere else in town. I could do my shopping elsewhere.

I rang the bell, and this time, the door opened much faster.

My omega—not my omega—stood there in front of me, wearing a friendly smile and a different set of clothing. Still casual, these jeans fitted him in a way I shouldn’t be noticing, and the pale-blue polo was almost the same color as his eyes and my cake box. “You really didn’t have to do this.”

“Oh, I did. Not only for you, but if I didn’t deliver it, what would I do with a cake that says Wyatt and has a number oneon it? What are the odds I’d get another order like that before morning?”

“Not good?” he guessed.

“Nonexistent, I think.” I tried not to stare at him, but I was drinking in a memory I’d have to consult whenever I was sad or lonely in the future. Fate had indeed given me a mate, even if that mate had chosen someone else before I found them. He wouldn’t be the first to make that mistake. “I-I hope I’m not too late with this for the festivities.” I could hear chattering of both adults and toddlers in the background, and see people moving around in the dining room off the living room. “I know it’s a very important cake.”

“It is that,” he said. “But if you hadn’t come, we’d have made do with the other one. My family didn’t even do smash cakes, we just had a piece of cake to make a mess with. Judson, Wyatt’s other dad, wanted to do that.”

“I see. And you wanted to keep up that tradition for Wyatt.”

“I guess. I’m not sure, but it suddenly seemed very important to have for him. And also, I had no cake at all because…well, it fell through.”

“I guess I’d better just give this to you and let you get back to your guests. Tell Wyatt happy birthday again from me, and I hope he enjoys smashing the cake.”

He wrinkled his nose, looking even more adorable. “Yeah, not looking forward to cleaning it up, but he’ll have fun.”

“Absolutely.” I’d already stood here about four times longer than planned, and I was keeping this polite omega from his mate and others at the party. “I guess I’ll go, then. Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.” Kelly took the box from me, and I started to turn away but then he said, “If you don’t have other plans, why not come in for the party?”

Chapter Six

Kelly

“Are you sure? I just came to bring the cake.”

Gideon was standing there while our guests chatted in the background. His green eyes flitted behind me. The party was in full swing. It would be rude not to invite him to stay. After all, he’d made the cakes last minute and came back to deliver the smash cake. A second trip deserved an invite, at the very least.

“I’m absolutely sure,” I said, nudging Wyatt higher up my hip. “Please, come in. It’s a small party but you are welcome.”

He looked at me and then Wyatt. “It’s been a while since I was invited to a party,” he said, almost grumpy. Goddess, grumpy was cute on him.

“You can’t say that anymore. Come on in.”

My modest furniture was fine with us. I wondered what he thought of it. With a successful and thriving bakery, he lived in a big house with fine things inside.

I really needed to find out if he was mated.

Then again, I didn’t.

This was hard.

“Everyone, you might already know Gideon, the baker who saved the day. Gideon these are all of our new friends.”

Gideon waved but seemed a bit shy. Maybe he took a few minutes to warm up. I did that myself sometimes.

Several people walked up to him and began talking about his bakery and the cake. The smell of it filled the room with vanilla and sugar.

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