Page 2 of Double Delivery
“Of course.”
He batted his eyelashes at me. “Looking forward to it.”
I chuckled, shook my head, and headed toward the exit. “The answer is still no, but maybe Tripp will be interested.”
Bryce huffed again. “He’s another flirting-only. The two best-looking alphas I know, and you’ve both rejected me.”
I blinked, then shook my head. “Something’s obviously wrong with him then. Cause you’re a catch.”
“The same could be said of you,” Bryce grumbled as I reached the door.
I laughed. “See you this afternoon.”
He let out a dramatic sigh. “See you then.”
I pushed the door open and strode back to my truck. I had a full day ahead, and I couldn’t let myself get distracted flirting with men who weren’t right for me.
Chapter 2 - Tripp
There was something soothing about routine. Sure, there were slight variations in the day-to-day, but a lot of it was the same: report to work at the shipping hub, load my truck, and head out. My route took me past the same landmarks and into the same businesses. I watched children grow and wave at me as I drove past houses in the residential part of my route.
Some men craved adventure. Not me. I was happy knowing what to expect.
I pulled into a strip mall and grumbled at the sight of the orange Deliveries R Us truck parked along the side of the building. It meant that Axel had gotten ahead of me, despite my beating him to flirting with Bryce that morning.
I parked behind Axel’s truck and grabbed a stack of envelopes and small packages. I loaded them into my bag, then slung it over my shoulder as I climbed out.
I couldn’t pinpoint the first time Axel and I met. Instead, it was the slow realization that I kept seeing the same face on my route. Eventually, we learned each other’s names and had been friendly rivals ever since.
I spotted Axel’s familiar head of black hair as he exited an insurance agent’s office a few doors down. I glanced around to make sure nobody else was within earshot as I approached.
“Morning, Asshole,” I chirped.
He turned to face me. “Finally caught up, did you, Slip?”
“How many stops did you skip to get ahead of me?”
“Why would I need to skip stops when I know you’re distracted by a pretty face?”
I laughed. “I could say the same about you.”
He snorted and rolled his blue eyes. “Keep dreaming, ‘cause I’m not distracted by you.”
Axel turned and started walking to his next stop in the strip mall.
“Are you calling me pretty?” I called after him.
“Figure it out yourself,” he shouted over his shoulder before ducking into a jewelry store.
I gaped for several seconds, then shook my head. Axel seemed to like playing with my head, and I had too busy a day ahead of me to dwell on it. I dropped off a box at an acupuncturist’s office, then headed to the same insurance agent’s office he’d exited only minutes prior.
Axel’s truck was gone by the time I’d made my rounds, but I wasn’t surprised. It was common for us to leapfrog each other throughout the day, depending on what deliveries we had. Our routes were practically identical, except for Axel’s early customers.
I next spotted him parked outside a dental office, but I didn’t have anything for them, so I continued on. Not long after that, he drove past as I was leaving a pharmacy.
It was all part of the routine.
Morning turned to afternoon, and with it the switch from delivering to businesses to residential addresses. While I saw Axel’s orange truck less in the afternoons, the computers and consultants that optimized routes still kept us on mostly the same path. It was a rare day that I didn’t spot him after lunch.
