Page 101 of The Pack Next Door
“I don’t have time to get dressed up all fancy, not when I’m dealing with a metric fuck ton of work I’ve been forced to put off and finding a nurse to look in on Mum.”
“She said you’d say something like that. You have to eat, omega.” My eyes jerked up to meet his, and the smile was back. “I can bring another bowl of soup in and sit you on my lap as I?—”
“Fish and chips at the place by the pier.” I ground that out. “Once I’m done here. Emma will give you the address as apparently she’s sharing every single detail of my life with you. If I agree to that, can I go back to work in peace?”
“You got it.”
He sketched a salute, grinning as he walked towards the door.
“Oh, and Jace…” Slowly, he spun on his heel to face me. “Thank you for lunch.” I hefted the salad. “And if you can give me an updated list of exactly what’s damaged from Tom’s shipment by the end of the day, I’ll go to dinner and breakfast, too.”
“Now you’ve done it.” He looked me up and down. “I guess we haven’t exactly had a chance to cover this, but letting me know I did a good job? That’s basically foreplay, omega.” My eyes narrowed at him using my designation as my name, but he was completely unrepentant. “I’ll have that report to you by the time we head to the pier.”
My wolf let out a chuff, as if slightly amused by what he was saying, but I turned back to my computer, lest he see my cheeksflush pink. Flirty, intrusive alphas were fun, but if I didn’t try to catch up on the work I’d missed, I was jeopardising everything I’d built. That had me taking another bite of salad, right before my fingers started moving over the keyboard.
Chapter 50
Jace
“Where did you get to?”
My brothers got up from the worktable, the remains of their lunch in front of them. I added my own, taking another bite of my sandwich before answering.
“Made sure our mate had some lunch.”
“I told you we needed to feed Briar.” Some of Gideon’s old iron was back in his voice. “But you…” Watching him stop, blink, and consider what he was about to say to Mads was so freaking weird. When had he ever pulled his punches? Now, apparently. “Were concerned that we would be interrupting her at work, which was valid.” His eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at me. “Did you?”
“Only momentarily.” I strolled over, scanning the tally sheet we had going. “Just enough to remind Briar that her reserves are low after a heat. And to ask her out for dinner tonight.”
“What?” I grinned as Mads strode around the table. “I thought we were going to take things slow?”
“You said that.” I shrugged, then straightened up. “Since I don’t have to spend all my time keeping the peace between youtwo, I could focus on what’s important. Our mate. We fucked up, that’s clear, but sitting around here moping isn’t helping. Making amends.” I nodded. “Proving with action as well as words that we’re in for the long haul. That’s what we need to do.”
“So we all go to dinner?—”
Bloody Mads, always trying to horn in on my plans.
“You can organise your own date.” I sat down and grabbed the scalpel I’d been using to remove all the bubble wrap. Slicing through the tape became satisfying in a whole other way now. I could see Briar’s lips twisting into an involuntary smile, her thanks ringing in my ears. “I need to spend some one-on-one time with my girl, but first…”
I sighed, unwrapping the vessel to find the rim was sheared off on one side.
“Bloody hell. Did they wreck every damn piece when they dropped the pallet?” We’d gotten the whole story from Emma and Seb. “It’s such a waste.”
We had piece after cracked piece sitting on the table, a testament to the freight company’s incompetence. No wonder Tom was pissed.
“So what do we do with it?” Mads picked up a piece and turned it back and forth in his hands. “Toss the lot after documenting the damage? Like can’t we just glue stuff back together?”
“If we were in Japan, maybe.” Seb appeared, carrying a load of empty boxes headed for the recycling bin. “We did a range ofkintsugivessels a while back and they sold like hot cakes.” At our collective look of ignorance, he continued. “They use this special glue mixed with gold to put the vessels back together, making them more beautiful than if they were still whole. People love a cracked bowl if it comes from Japan.” He shook his head. “From Australia? Not so much.”
“Huh…”
I had opened up my phone, looking up ‘gold cracked bowl’ because I had no idea how to spell, let alone say,kintsugi. The vessels did look freaking cool in the photos that came up.
“Alright, art lesson over.” Mads wiped his hands on his jeans. “Let's see if we can finish the last of the unpacking before Briar leaves for the day.”
“You’re close to done?” Seb stared at the table as if only just seeing everything we’d already unpacked. Blue vessel after blue, all across the tabletop. “Gods, you guys are never leaving. I don’t care if Briar wants to accept the mate bond. I’ll let you bite me if you can tear through that much work that fast.”
“There’s only one person for us.” Gideon’s tone was gentle but firm as he sat down in front of his box. “And you’ll find we are very motivated by making her happy.”
