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Sunshine beamed and linked her arm in mine. “It’s okay, Daisy. I’ll take him back.”

“Have a nice lunch,” the girl said. Christ, she looked young.

I nodded at her and allowed Sunshine to lead me into the kitchen.

“You’re always welcome to use the back door, but the front is fine too,” she said briskly. “I know you, and you’re thinking that you’re going to bother them, but you’re not. He’ll be happy to see you, and if he’s in the middle of cooking, we get to sit at a side table and eat.”

I let myself relax a fraction. That matched Ember’s description of what happened when she came.

“You didn’t feel nervous before you were bonded into the pack?” I asked. Damn it, my mouth decided to work and here was a question I wasn’t sure I wanted to say out loud.

Not that I wasn’t happy for Sunshine, but it said too much about my own mental state.

“All the time.” She laughed. Her soft scent of linen and blue skies relaxed me. “I kept making up work reasons to come and help ‘plan the menus.’” She made air quotes. “It’s so much easier now that I can just wander in.”

A large door swung open into the kitchen. Logan, Alejandro, and three other chefs were cooking in front of a massive row of stoves and countertops. To the side was a smaller kitchen setup.

“Look who I found,” Sunshine said brightly.

Alejandro’s entire face lit up when he saw me. My nerves settled and gave a little twitch of happiness.

Of course he looked happy to see me. I’m good in bed and we’re dating.

My instincts settled, even though it was too noisy and busy to get a good whiff of him. Stupid omega hormones. I should not be relaxed just because I saw the alpha. I’d see him when I got backto the house. I didn’t have a good reason to be overjoyed to see Alejandro in the middle of the day.

Mine, mine, mine, my instincts said.

Sunshine showed me to the side table and brought me a drink. Alejandro waved. I nodded and opened my laptop. Sunshine thankfully had a pile of paperwork, so I wasn’t forced to make small talk with my omega’s cousin. She knew me well enough to know I sucked at it, and took pity on me.

It was on the tip of my tongue to ask her how bonding her pack had been, but I squelched that urge quickly. Definitely not in front of Alejandro.

Bonding was down the line. A long time from now. If I felt like it. Ever. I didn’t need to bond alphas to want them, and they didn’t seem to require me to bond them to show how much I cared about them.

The lunch rush slowed down, and Logan came over to Sunshine. He nodded at me before chatting with his beta.

Alejandro beamed at me, leaning his forearms on the countertop. “Is there anything special to which I owe the pleasure of your company, mi amor, or just because?”

“I got tired of working in a random space at Cosmic Bonds.” I sounded grumpier than I actually felt, but I didn’t see how Ember stood the noise and lights of the kitchen. “I also wanted to see where you worked,” I added. That cost me nothing to say.

“We have a room that’s not booked out.” This close, he smelled heavenly, like sweaty delicious alpha. He gestured at my laptop. “I could make you something to eat, get you away from these bright lights.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” Sunshine frowned. “I could have taken you somewhere else.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “Alejandro is just being all…alpha-y.” I waved my hand.

And right, but he already knew that.

Alejandro looked smug but didn’t say anything. He showed me a small conference room to the side of the kitchen and came back ten minutes later with two plates. They were burgers and fries, Talk of the Town–style, of course. The fries were thick steak fries, and the burger was ground sirloin, with a toasted bun, lettuce, sautéed onion, and garlic aioli.

I raised an eyebrow. “What, no three-course meal with pasta you lovingly rolled yourself?”

Alejandro took off his white apron and sat down next to me. “Nope. Something good and simple. I can make you pasta from scratch later, when you’re in the mood for it.”

The alpha had my cravings pegged, because the cheeseburger hit the spot. Some of my cranky mood dissipated after I’d eaten the entire plate of food.

Maybe I was also hungry.

Alejandro looked tired but pleased.