Page 100 of The Pack Next Door
One look at the project management software we used to assign work showed me all the different dependencies that were still open. Focus on this, I told myself. The business had never let me down and so I’d make sure I did the same. My fingers moved, opening different tasks and reading the comments Seb and Emma had left, familiarising myself with the things that were impeding workflows and working out solutions. A familiar calm settled over me, forcing my heart rate to slow.
Right up until there was a knock on the door.
I frowned as my head jerked up. A glance at my computer clock let me know hours had gone by. That was the amazing and frightening thing about work. Sometimes it felt like I lost myself in the to and fro of it, forgetting about everything else.
Like Jace.
That blond head looked out of place as he poked it in through the door, his brilliance too much for the gloom of my office.
“Sandwiches.” He brandished a plastic container like it was a white flag. “And juice, coffee, cake and…” I couldn’t help but let out a little laugh, which just had him looking up. That cocky smile, it didn’t take much for it to appear again. “Look, I might’ve bought the entire range the local cafe had trying to work out what you might like.” He came forward, lining it all up on the desk. “But I promise, if you give me an indication of what you like, I’ll make sure you have it tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?” I cocked an eyebrow, frankly surprised he was still here, let alone willing to come back another day.
“Tomorrow.” He flopped into the chair on the other side of the desk. “So… are you a sandwich or a soup kinda girl?”
“Salad.” I pulled a plastic container towards me, then groaned. “You got the beetroot, apple, and goat’s cheese one? It’s my favourite.”
“Beetroot and apple aberration is a fave.” He tapped that into his notes. “Noted.”
“You don’t need to get me lunch.”
So why was I opening the container and stabbing a fork into a spear of apple? The sweetness of the fruit in contrast with the sour of the dressing was a revelation. My taste buds always felt somehow more alive after a heat.
“Yeah, I did.”
Jace sat back in his chair, opening a sandwich and taking a bite.
“Is this about before?” My fork landed in the salad container. “Because this?—”
“Is me making sure you eat something,” he replied. “Your employees let me know that you tend to forget to eat, and after being in heat, you don’t have the same reserves as before.”
“They did, did they?” My smile was tight. “Seems like it's past time I have a conversation with them about boundaries.”
“And it’s about every damn day since the moment I saw you sitting in that cute little car of yours, behind the moving truck.” Had his eyes always contained that little bit of green and hazel around the pupils? I don’t know if I’d ever looked close enough. “I was cocky and a dick, and I fucked everything up. You’re right. We didn’t make you a priority, and while that was an unforgivable error, it might take me a while to learn something, but I’m a pretty dedicated student once I know what I need to do.”
I was forced to look away. Somehow, having sex with him for days was less intimate than this moment. I stabbed my fork into a chunk of beetroot and then shoved it into my mouth.
“Maybe I’ve made too many wrong decisions for you to ever consider accepting the mate bond.” I could hear him moving, but my focus remained on the salad. A chunk of goat cheese, a walnut, more apple. “But that doesn’t mean I’m gonna stop looking after you. The last couple of days were… life changing.” My thighs shifted, the slip of my skin so very distracting. Everything was still really tender. “But as far as I’m concerned, that was just the start. Now, what did you want to drink?”
I looked up to see him push a coffee, a tea, a bottle of juice and some flavoured water my way. My mouth opened, ready to tell him I had my own coffee machine, but he just smiled.
“Take one, or I’ll have to go back to the cafe and order more.”
“Chai?” I asked, selecting the tea. The spicy smell filled my office, or was that him? He nodded. “This is fine. Thanks.”
“Acceptable, but not really what you want…” He tapped that out onto his phone as well. “Note to self, try more tea variations.”
“You don’t?—”
People doing things for me always made me feel guilty somehow, but he rose then, not letting me get another word in.
“Yes, I do.” All that easy good humour left him then and I wasn’t sure how to deal with the resulting vulnerability. “If I can photograph broken vessels and feed you, then…” His head shook back and forth. “Then I can stop my wolf from taking control and spending the rest of my days panting at your feet.”
I had no scripts to deal with this, no prior experience. Beta men seemed at pains not to feel anything other than what was easy. My eyes searched his face, sure to see signs of a lie, but my wolf pushed forward. She peered through my eyes, and whileshe wasn’t exactly wagging her tail at him, she didn’t turn tail and stick her nose in the air.
“Now, Emma says your favourite restaurant is down by the bay.”
He gave me an out. I waved him away, turning back to my computer.
