Page 3 of Baking for His Omega

I parked in front of the building and carried the cake box up to the door, where I rang the bell. No answer, and I didn’t hear any sounds of a party or even a television inside. After a moment, I rang again, I had agreed to take payment when I arrived, so the thought that maybe the order was a prank did cross my mind before someone called, “Coming,” from inside the house.

I shifted the cake in my hands and waited another minute at least before the door started to open and the scent of fresh, sweet peaches filled my nostrils. The man who answered wore jeans and a T-shirt, but his feet were bare and he had a case of bedhead that surprised me at this time in the afternoon. But his scruffiness just added to his appeal, and my bear surged up from where he lounged deep within me to announce,Mate.

Everything I’d suppressed about my hopes of finding my other half surged to the forefront. He had been here in my town all along, and I’d just not happened to run into him yet. Fate really knew what she was doing.

“Thank you so much for baking the cake and bringing it here. I know it was above and beyond the call of duty.”

“Hi.” I’d never been the most eloquent of bears, but this was sad even for me. When a person met their mate, they should have something to say that they could remember all their life. “I didn’t mind.”

Ugh!Yeah, words just flowed from me.

“No, it was a lot of trouble to go to at the last minute, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it.”

“Really, it’s fine. My good deed for the day.”

His smile lit up his whole face, making him even more attractive if that was possible. “Let me get my wallet.” He disappeared inside and then came back. “Cash is okay?”

“Perfect. I don’t have a card swiper with me.” And usually I would have insisted on a card on the phone for such a special request—if I even granted it.

He counted out the bills, not leaving many in the wallet, and handed them to me. “Oh, and I want to give you a tip.”

“No tip for me.” I wasn’t taking the last of his money.

“Are you sure? It doesn’t seem fair.”

“I’m the owner and baker of the shop.”

“Even so, you went to a lot of trouble.” He still held his wallet as if he was going to insist, but I shook my head.

“Positive.”

“Well, thank you. I will tell everyone at the party about the kindness you did for Wyatt. Most of my guests are daddy playdate friends, so they will for sure need birthday cakes at some point.”

A cloud of peach scent and bear excitement was clouding my brain and hiding something I needed to remember. “We always appreciate the business. Listen, after you help with the—”

“Dada!”

My focus left the omega’s face and dropped to find a little child clinging to his leg. “Oh, this must be Wyatt.” And what I should have remembered. I was here to bring a cake for a child’sbirthday party. In the fog of meeting the omega, I hadn’t even considered that he’d be one of the fathers. “Happy Birthday.”

I made my escape as quickly as possible before I could make a fool of myself. For a minute there, I thought I saw a happy future, but now…now, I saw only what I could never have.

Chapter Four

Kelly

The man who saved me from a disaster told me he was not only the baker of the cakes but the owner of Bearly Baked. He’d made the delivery himself because I’d placed the order so late; it was completed after hours. He also mentioned he’d only agreed to the order because I sounded so frantic on the phone. He wasn’t wrong. I had been distraught thinking Wyatt wouldn’t have a proper cake for this birthday.

“Happy Birthday, Wyatt,” he said to my son as the toddler clung to me.

“How did you know his name?”

“It’s on the cake. Wyatt and the number one, right?”

I nodded. My heart was beating out of my chest, and my deer was bouncing inside me. He liked this alpha. And boy, was he an alpha. Built like a brick wall. His gray shirt with the logo of his bakery stretched across his chest. The logo was cute as could be. A bear with an apron on and flour on his fur, holding a cake. The apron had the same logo on it, and the bear on that logo had one on as well, until it was too small to make out details.

The alpha had a chiseled jaw and thick lips that beckoned me. Goddess, I might have been fawning over someone else’s mate. Although, there wasn’t an omega’s scent on him. Only the enticing smells of vanilla, sugar, and chocolate.

“Kelly? Is the cake right?”

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