Page 14

“Good. Until you learn what your mate likes best, you have to offer him a selection.” She giggled, like the sound of bells. “And if he’s like me, a selection will be what he likes best.”

“Are you talking about sweets?” Warren arrived, as he so often did when Karma was present. My cousin was more than smitten with his beautiful, kind mate. “Because Karma is the reason we offer so many of them.”

“And they do very well, Warren.” She offered him a stern stare that turned into another giggle. “I was just going to ask your cousin when he and his mate will be moving in and starting work.”

Warren hugged her close to his side. “I’ll ask. When?”

“He doesn’t seem to want to, which I can’t understand because everything at that motel is awful. We are mated now.”

“Congratulations,” Karma said, echoed by her mate.

“Thank you. So, why didn’t he just grab his backpack and hop in the car, wiping the dust of that place off his shoes?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know, but maybe be a little patient and everything will work out.”

I expected something more precise like a magical phrase that would change Tyler’s mind, but Karma couldn’t always fix everything, I supposed.”

Warren walked me out to the car, parked just outside the kitchen door, and rested a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from getting in. “Just one thing, Cousin. Don’t assume what Karma said was a platitude. She doesn’t do those. And she’s always right.” He grinned. “Sometimes it drives me just a little nuts, but she is. Now, go feed your mate.”

Chapter Eleven

Tyler

Today had been intense on the work front, but it had also been one of the best days since my arrival. Having my mate by my side for most of the time had been wonderful. We hadn’t made any decisions as to what was coming next, but that had been because of me. He offered a suggestion, a solution really, and I ignored it. Not intentionally, at first. That had been the water’s fault. But there had been plenty of opportunities to bring it up again later, and I didn’t.

And before I knew it, our time together was over. I was sad when he had to leave, but I understood. I wasn’t the only person in his life. He had his cousin and mate. Abandoning them because he found me…yeah no. They were important to him and, by default, to me.

The timing was for the best, anyway. I had to get the paperwork done, and that was not a two-man job. There was no way I’d be able to keep everything straight with my sexy mate in the room.

Every time I thought I finally figure it out, I found a mistake, and one led to another and another. When my boss came in later that night, it was a hot ass mess. Not only was it not done, it was completely fucked up.

“I need the papers,” he barked at me as he gathered the cash from the drop box.

That was the only time I saw him, really, was when he needed the money, which was good, because he wasn’t what you’d call a pleasant person to be around on the best of days.

“It was not as simple to do as I hoped it would be, and, honestly, between the exterminator and some plumbing issuesand a thousand other things, I just didn’t have the time to fix it. I’m sorry. If I can get it to you in the morning—”

He cut me off with a growl—fucking growl.

If he was a lion or a wolf or bear, maybe I might have excused it, but he was a human. It wasn’t his beast shining through. It was his assholedom, and I wasn’t there for it.

“This is because you left last night.”

That caught me off guard. I thought I’d been pretty tricky about it, but apparently he knew I left the note out and called it good.

“Before you deny it, I know you went out. My brother told me.” Brother? Who the fuck was his brother, and why was he here?

“Who?” Talking back wasn’t the best choice, but it came across that way and I flinched.

“Bob.”

Well that explain why Bob was…Bob. He wasn’t a renter, he was the owner’s brother and possibly one of the owners. I wasn’t positive how that all worked, and it didn’t matter.

“From now on, you can’t leave the motel. It gets in the way of you doing your job.”

“You want me to stay here twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week?” I had to be misunderstanding.

“No, of course not. You can go to the grocery store and post office, but this going out at night? Yeah, that has to end.”