Page 82 of Knot Baked Out For This
"Is that supposed to be reassuring?"
"It's supposed to be honest."
I leave before I do something stupid like tell her I've been drawing hearts around her name in the margins of my spreadsheets like a lovesick teenager.
Midnight finds Levi and me on the ranch house porch, beers sweating in the October chill. Rowan's truck pulls up, headlights cutting through darkness before dying.
"Started without me?" He grabs a beer from the cooler.
"You're late," Levi points out.
"Had to check the bakery. Make sure she got home safe."
"We all checked," I admit. "Separately. Like idiots."
"Caring idiots," Levi corrects.
We sit in silence, three Alphas on a porch, facing something none of us trained for.
"So," Rowan says finally. "We're really doing this."
"Apparently."
"All three of us."
"Unless someone wants to bow out?" Levi asks, but his tone says he already knows the answer.
No one moves.
"Her choice," I say firmly. "No competition between us. No undermining each other."
"Agreed," Rowan says.
"But we're going all in," Levi adds. "Full court. Show her what being ours would mean."
"Ours individually or ours collectively?" Rowan asks.
"Yes," Levi and I say simultaneously.
More silence. Then Rowan laughs, dark and amused.
"We're so fucked."
"Completely," I agree.
"But maybe in a good way?" Levi suggests.
"Jury's out."
We drink, stare at stars, think about a baker with hazel eyes who's got us all twisted up without trying.
"Security upgrades," I say. "On the bakery. Cameras, locks, maybe a panic button."
"She won't like it," Rowan warns.
"She'll hate it," Levi agrees.
"But we're doing it anyway?"
