Page 31 of The Knotty Omega

“Only the best kind.” He grins at her, before taking mercy on her and motioning toward Simon. “Come on Sy, now that our girl knows how we all met, connect the dots and tell her what you do.”

Our girl.

He might be jumping the gun, but I have to admit I like the sound of it, and based on Simon’s rumble in his chest, he does too.

He may look shy and timid, but when it comes to his pack, he’s just as alpha as the rest of us.

“I’m a doctor. I work at Starbrook Hospital in the ER,” he says, adjusting his glasses.

“That’s amazing, Simon.” Cady smiles. “What do you do for fun?”

“I read, mostly,” he says, ears turning pink. “Not…not romances or anything. Mostly biographies and medical journals.”

“Sometimes we can get him to join us for a game of Call of Duty,” Archie chimes in grinning ear to ear. “He says he doesn’t want to play, but then he kicks all of our asses.”

“I’m not surprised,” Cady says, her lips quirking up. “Video games require hand-eye coordination, which as a doctor, I’m sure Simon has plenty of.”

Simon flushes further at her praise, and Archie jumps in. “You like to play video games?”

“I’m not good at the first person shooter, but I do love a fantasy RPG with a good story. There’s a new one that came out that I want to get—”

For some reason, I jump in and we both say at the same time, “The Redemption of the Broken Sword.” Everyone at the table looks at me, shocked for a moment. I only shrug. “What? My everyday job requires the possibility of shooting someone, sometimes I’d rather leave work at work and use magic to kill people instead.”

Cady is the first to recover. “Makes sense to me.” She grins at me, and then her smile falters, and she tentatively asks, “When I get it…they have online multiplayer. Would you…would you want to play it at the same time?”

Fuck. I had wanted to keep my distance, but I hadn’t expected her to be so…so sweet. So kind, and soft. Fuck.

“I…I think I would like that, gorgeous.”Great. Another nickname to add to the roster.

“When you say your job has the possibility of shooting people, do you mean… I thought you said you were admin and investigation?”

I had planned on silently brooding this entire conversation but the little omega is quickly tearing down all my defenses.

“We're Lone Star security. We do everything from providing bodyguards to private clients to contracting with the government on rescue missions and…other jobs that aren’t polite conversation for a restaurant at lunch time. Sometimes clients are...insistent that I'm present for some of the more dangerous situations.”

“Oh.” She looks shocked for a moment, but nods, and then Matteo speaks up, drawing her attention.

“I inherited my family’s business many years ago and I am currently the CEO.”

“What kind of business?” She asks looking between Matteo and Archie, who are leaning close together.

Archie smirks. “NeoTek."

Cady’s jaw drops. “Neotek? Like…like my phone, laptop, and smart-watch Neotek?”

Matteo’s face flushes, a phenomenon I’m not sure I’ve ever seen in our ten years together as a pack. “That would be the one. It is really not that big of a deal.”

"He doesn’t like it when people find out because they treat him differently,” Archie stage-whispers, and I resist the urge to cuff him upside the head.

I may not swing that way but sometimes his sass makes me want to bend him over and swat his bratty ass.

“That must be hard.” Her bottom lip pushes out before she bites it. “I kind of get it though. I promise I’ll never treat you differently though, okay?” She looks at him shyly, and a small smile quirks on his lips before he nods.

“I greatly appreciate that,tesoro mio.”

At that, the waiter comes by and Matteo pays the bill, much to Cady’s dismay as she tries to pay for her own meal.

“We’re a pack of five, Tink. We make more than enough to cover this meal. Better get used to it.” Ollie smirks as she shoots him a glare with no heat in it.

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