Page 78 of Follow Your Instincts

“I had some coffee,” he said dismissively.

“So, no. Come on, let’s get you out of your cave.”

Lachlan gave me his best serious businessman look. “I do actually work all day, you know.”

I scoffed. “You are such a workaholic. From what I can tell, your company basically runs itself. Don’t you have people whomanage everything for you?”

“That’s… so inaccurate. Do you have any idea what I do for a living? At all?”

“No, as soon as you start talking about it, I start disassociating. But seriously, what’s the point of being a CEO if you can’t take a break every once in a while?” I said.

“Fine. I’ll go to breakfast,” he grumbled.

I bullied him into walking to the diner around the block, despite the chill in the air. I ordered chocolate chip waffles for both of us before he could protest.

“Cheers,” I said, clinking my coffee mug against his.

“Chocolate waffles? I am a grown man, you know,” he said.

“Yes, oh my god, we get it. You’re a big, serious Alpha. Spare me. We both know you watchReal Housewives,” I said.

“I donotwatchReal Housewives,” he said, then hesitated. “I watchBelow Deck.”

“Whatever, it’s still onBravo,” I quipped. “Can’t you just enjoy a morning with your favorite packmate?”

He grumbled something about enjoying it more if he got to have an omelet.

I chattered about my clients from that morning. First was a woman who’d been on a reality show a few years before and was desperate to make a comeback, and an influencer who wasquitepopular on gay social media.

“All he wants to do are hip thrusts and bicep curls,” I griped. “Which is very annoying because he already has a great ass but his calves are super weak and he’s going to make me look like an amateur.”

Lachlan looked up sharply. “What’s this guy’s name?”

“Why, you want to follow him?” I joked.

“No… just curious,” he said. He looked away from me.

“His name is Alex, and you might have seen him around the house,” I said casually. Lachlan was the most buttoned-up of all of my packmates, and I couldn’t miss a chance to tease him a little.

“Why?” The server arrived with our waffles, and I made ashow of slathering both of our plates in syrup. Lachlan huffed in annoyance.

“Oh, we hooked a couple of times. That’s how I became his trainer,” I replied.

Lachlan choked on his coffee. “You WHAT?”

“Oh, don’t worry, I’m not engaging in anyextracurricularsanymore. Maggie’s honor is safe. Although I will say that having her in the house is making me a little crazy. I feel like a teenager, just hornyall the time,” I said.

Lachlan turned beet red, and a piece of waffle fell off his fork.

“What, are you not walking around with a perpetual hard-on?” I asked innocently. “We’re going to have to talk about this kind of stuff now that Maggie’s around. I mean… during her heat I’m definitely going to watch you fuck her.”

His knee jerked under the table hard enough to rattle our plates and slosh coffee over the side of our cups. “We… you have to… we’re inpublic,” he stammered, his green eyes not meeting mine. He was still blushing, and my plan backfired a bit because those very pesky feelings forhimwere starting to bubble up again. I tried to shut them down and smiled coyly.

“Whoops,” I said. I took a big bite of the waffle and hummed in delight.

Despite his grumbling, Lachlan ate every bite of breakfast and let me bully him into splitting a piece of pie. I was enjoying him being back to his normal, grouchy self rather than the very depressed Lachlan of the previous couple of weeks.

We walked back home slowly, letting the food settle. “You know… we’re going to have to work out now after such a rich breakfast,” I said, as if the idea had just occurred to me.

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