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“I can’t lose her,” Carter whispered, clasping his hands behind his head and bending over a little.

Suddenly Mila was there, rubbing his back. “Carter, are you okay?”

He suddenly felt warm all over, as if sinking into a hot bath. His body relaxed, and his fear eased. He unclasped his hands and wrapped his arms around Mila.

“I’m perfect,” he whispered. “Whenever you’re with me, everything is perfect.”

Mila snuggled up against him. “You looked upset.”

“I was, a little,” he admitted, looking up at Mikey. “But I feel fine now.”

Mikey gave him a knowing look as Maddy joined them.

“Time for lunch at The Pack House?”

“Absolutely!” Mikey agreed. “But we have to come right back here. I have to open this place in two hours.”

“Yay!” Maddy cheered. “Patty melts!”

Carter wasn’t surprised to find other shifters at the diner. They ended up at a big table with ten other people all talking, laughing, and eating. Shifters liked nothing more than to gather and they tended to mate with humans who were the same.

Because there were so many people here he wanted to introduce Mila to, they brought in three boxes of baked goods that she’d prepared. That left only two boxes to give out. The boxes were opened even before the meal was finished and everyone couldn’t compliment Mila enough.

She blushed and made all kinds of excuses, but everyone at the table was deaf to her self-deprecating comments. Carter loved how she blushed and looked so pleased by everyone’s enjoyment of her efforts.

“Face it,” he said after polishing off his burger. “You’re a damn fine pastry chef.”

“They’re all just being nice,” she demurred.

“They are nice people, but I promise if your food tasted bad or even mediocre they’d take a few bites, then find a way to hide it in napkins. Jesse definitely wouldn’t be coming over here and demanding that you start delivery to the diner!”

“He didn’t even try any,” Mila said with a shake of her head.

“He ate an entire cookie in one bite, you missed it,” Carter said with a laugh. Mila had been busy chatting with Maddy when Jesse tried the cookie. Jesse’s eyes had gone wide, he snatched two more cookies, then disappeared to the back, probably to feed them to his mate, Will. He reappeared several minutes later on a mission to get Mila delivering goods regularly.

Carter had ended the discussion with: “We’re not ready to take orders yet,” but he could see that Jesse wasn’t going to take no for an answer. The wolf shifter would be calling until something was arranged.

“They really like it,” Mila said. She looked a little stunned.

“Of course they do,” Carter answered.

“I mean, people are usually nice,” Mila said with a shake of her head. “But they aren’t just being nice, are they?”

Carter gripped the back of her head and pulled her close. “They like you and admire your talents.”

She flushed and didn’t even protest when he kissed her. By the time he let go and pulled back she was beet red. “You like me too.”

That comment flummoxed Carter. “I don’t like you,” he argued. “I love you.”

Her mouth made a little O of surprise. Then she blinked rapidly before leaning her head against his shoulder. “I love you too, and I’m a little scared.”

“Same,” Carter admitted, wrapping an arm around her. He knew the shifters at the table could clearly hear their conversation and were giving them privacy by engaging the humans in a discussion and keeping the focus off the two of them. “But we’ll figure it out together.”

Chapter 19

Mila

They’d stayed at the diner hours after the meal was over. Mila decided to leave the rest of the baked goods at The Pack House to appease Jesse. He’d actually snarled when Mikey tried to take a cookie out of one of the boxes. It made everyone except Mikey laugh.