Page 2 of Home for Nathan
Solid and muscular. Not too tall, but taller than him. Shaggy blond hair. Smiling hazel eyes, more green than gold. And the best smile lines around said eyes and the man’s mouth. The best.
And here he was with tuna ick.
“May I help you?”
“I hope so. I am in desperate need of shaved turkey and baby Swiss. Unless you react to that like you do tuna.”
“Of course not. I’m sorry. It’s not normally like this…” Shaved turkey, baby Swiss. Got it. “How much do you need?”
Do you like pregnant omegas?
The smile he got almost knocked him clean over it was so amazing.“Half a pound of each, I think. The only thing working at my new place is the fridge, so I anticipate a lot of sammies.”
“Are you new in town too?” Was that coming on too strong? God, he was a dork.
“I am. My friend Kaleb convinced me that this was just the place for an outdoor sports junkie.”
Something poked at the back of his mind, something familiar about the guy, but Nathan couldn’t place it.
“That’s neat. I’ve only been here for a few weeks myself.”
“Do you all like it?” Mr. Stunningly Beautiful asked, and Nathan nodded.
“I like it just fine. It’s a good place to have a new start, a fresh start.” He cleaned the slicer and cut a single slice of Swiss, offering it over. “Is this a good thickness?”
He didn’t know how to just say, “Look, I don’t have a husband or a wife or a baby daddy or anything. I don’t have an alpha of my own. I’m doing this by myself. I’m single but for the baby.” It really was not something that one brought up at work at the grocery store.
Not to mention that this man was totally out of his league. Nathan knew he had to be. It was a nice fantasy, though. He might be able to use it to have some stress relief later in the evening when he was home from work.
“Perfect on the Swiss, but I want the turkey shaved so as thin as you can get it. I like to mound it up and pretend like it’s a mountain of turkey.”
Okay, yeah, that was good enough to make him gag again, but he kept it in this time, “Right on. Half a pound of Swiss on one and half a pound of turkey on triple zero.”
“That’s it.” That smile came again, just as devastating as the…
“Zion McKellan.”
The guy blinked. “That’s me. You a snowboarding fan?”
“Are you kidding? I’ve probably seen every run Shaun White and Chloe Kim have ever made. And you’re a terror on the halfpipe! Wow.”
“Thanks. I have been known to shred.” Zion’s smile went wry. “Though that last crash was pretty much my swan song. I’m retired except for some exhibitions.”
“Oh.” He stopped slicing Swiss to stare. “Are you—I mean, is that a congratulations or an I’m sorry?”
“I guess it’s an ‘it is what it is.’ I’m hoping to do some outdoor sports outfitting here.”
“Oh, neat.” He wrapped up the cheese, printing the sticker by weight to put on it. Then he started on the turkey. Not gonna puke. Not not notty not.
“So, uh…”
He glanced over, making sure not to slice his fingers. “Not good?”
“No, it’s great. I just—Are you on your own? And if that’s none of my business, just tell me.” Those tanned cheeks had gone red, which was adorable, even if it was a little nosy.
His own face heated almost painfully. “I am. I made a bad choice, and he took off.”
Zion suddenly seemed confident again, the smile back. “Is that an I’m sorry, or a congratulations?”
