Page 7 of Romancing the Omega

Chapter Three

Caden walked around Farm Fresh. Huckleberry was riding in his baby sling, and Sassy walked beside him on her leash. The three searched the store, looking for the perfect gift for Yeo.

“Caden?” Elijah’s aunt came to stand beside him as he eyed a bunch of Ernie’s scarves. It almost physically hurt to consider buying the man’s homemade, knitted scarves. He was one of Carter’s best friend and Caden was irrationally jealous of the omega. Caden and Carter were brothers, so they should have been best friends. They had never been close as kids, though, and that distance followed them into adulthood. Carter sure found it easy to make friends wherever he went, Caden thought sourly. Fucker.

“Anna,” Caden said, nodding. “I’m looking for a gift.”

She put a hand on her hip and eyed him. “A gift? Would it be for a certain bookstore owner?”

“Who told?”

“My Eli-baby tells me everything,” she said, smirking. “He also told me your idiot father completely embarrassed you in front of Yeo.”

“He did,” Caden said, eyes narrowing. He would have his revenge.

“Well, how about a pretty scarf to start? What about this bright red one or maybe this dark teal one?”

“The teal one is pretty,” he said reluctantly. It really was nice, damn it. “What about something of Harper’s?” Caden liked Harper. He was Grey’s alpha.

“I know! I know,” she said. “What about a set of Harper’s bowls? They’re hand-carved, maple.”

“I like that idea,” he said. “They’re beautiful too.” Harper always tried to make his crafts special in some way. This set of bowls had flowers carved onto the sides of them.

“I’ll bag them up for you. Wait. I better wrap them. Men never seem to take that last step.” Anna took her time wrapping the bowls in tissue paper and taping them. She did the same with the scarf, then set them all inside a large, plain brown paper bag, adding some more tissue paper to the bag. “There we go. It’s basic, but better than just handing them over.”

“Thanks, Anna. How much do I owe you?”

“Seriously?” She looked at him as if he were crazy. “You’re family, Caden. You don’t pay in money. You pay in labor. Spring is coming. Be ready.”

“Why do I feel like I’d rather pay with money?” The Wilson family ran a large farm and every last one of them worked their asses off. Hard manual labor wasn’t Caden’s thing.

Anna smiled sweetly and patted his cheek. “Don’t you worry, baby doll. We’ll go easy on you this first time.”

Caden left the store and drove to town. There was still a bit of a crowd at The Book Worm. It had been open for a few days now, but the town was small and it was winter. A group of older women and omegas sat in chairs towards the back. It looked like the first weekly book club meeting. The book for this month was a light read – a romance about an omega and an alpha by Roxanne Baxter. Caden strongly felt Grey and Elijah had something to do with that.

The line died down and Caden took a deep breath and stood in front of his angel. “Yeo,” he said, then stared blankly at the gorgeous omega. He blinked. Yeo blinked. They stared for a few minutes. “I got you a gift.” Caden pushed the bag toward Yeo. The omega stumbled back a bit, startled.

“Thank you, Caden. You didn’t have to do that,” Yeo said, smile hesitant.

“It’s no big deal,” he mumbled.

“Cay Cay?” Linc poked his head over the baby gate that closed in the back area of the register. “Bun bun?”

“Hey buddy,” Caden said. He looked to Yeo. “Can I put Sassy and Huckleberry back there so Linc can play with them? They’re both really good with kids.”

Yeo smiled wide, black eyes sparkling. “That would be great. Linc loves animals, especially rabbits.” Caden froze, unable to move. Yeo’s smile was so damn sweet.

“Caden? Back at the bookstore again?” His dad came to stand by him, and Caden almost winced. “Don’t you work, son? I know reading is important for your job, but you don’t need to get lazy. Routines are important.” Great. Now it sounded like he just lazed about all day. “I see you brought the rabbit again. Son, you’re never going to meet an omega if you’re carrying a rabbit around like a baby. They’ll think you’re weird.”

A giggle escaped Yeo and his wide eyes met Caden’s. He gave in and rolled his eyes, pleased to hear another giggle. He picked up Sassy and put her in with Linc, then unstrapped Huck and set him down. “Bun bun,” Linc said and plopped down on his butt to play with the rabbit. Sassy licked his face, and the little boy laughed, hugging her around her neck.

Caden turned and walked toward the door to Honey Buns. “Come on, Dad. I’ll buy you a coffee.” He loved his dad. He really did.

“That’s wonderful. We don’t talk enough since you moved,” John said, following him into the restaurant to wait in line. “That new man Cain hired is doing great. Plus, Smithson stepped right into your cases and everything has gone smoothly so far.”

“I’m glad,” Caden said. “I felt so guilty for leaving, but I just couldn’t do it anymore. I didn’t want the quality of my work to start deteriorating.”

“Don’t worry about it,” John said. “You’re happy and relaxed now. You’re still quiet, but it’s a peaceful quiet.”