Page 19 of Alpha’s Sunflower Smiles (Sweet in Silford #8)

Pete had got my doors and the dodgy window of my cottage fixed and there was no reason for us not to move in together straight away.

We’d boxed up the things that he wanted to bring with him, I’d cleared some of my clothes and old crafts away to make room for his stuff, and we’d hired a van to transport everything.

We weren’t taking all of the furniture but there were a few items, such as an old dresser that Pete liked and would look good in our bedroom in our cottage.

There was enough stuff that we’d asked Ty, Ronnie and Alder to come and help us move things.

Well, they’d volunteered, really, when I’d told them that Pete was moving in.

It was incredibly kind of them and I was trying to think of something nice I could do for them in return.

Pete wrapped his arms around my waist and looked into my eyes.

“Second thoughts?”

I shook my head.

“No. None. Do you—?”

“No,” he said.

“None at all. I want this.”

We stood there for a moment with him holding me close.

I loved the feeling of it when he did that and I’d been right, it was his favourite position.

He’d confessed to me one night, while he’d been spooned up behind me, that it helped him to feel more grounded when he held me close to him like that.

I was enjoying the moment of calm, the feel of Pete’s body against mine, and looking forward to our life together when the doorbell rang.

“Time to get going, then.”

Pete dropped a peck on my lips and let me go.

He went to start moving boxes and I opened the front door to Ty.

“Thank you for helping us out,” I said.

“We really appreciate it.”

He came into the house, wiping his feet on the mat.

I’d have to remember to pack that, too.

“No problem, Wilf. We’re happy to help. I don’t mind lugging stuff around for a day and Alder will enjoy bossing everyone around for a while.”

Alder followed his alpha inside, his lips pursed.

“I think you mean ‘supervising,’ Ty.”

Ty tried not to laugh.

“Yes, that’s what I mean.”

Ronnie came in, too, and I was about to close the door when Richard called from the end of the garden path, “Wait up, we made it.”

He and Gui hurried in together.

“I didn’t know you were coming,” I said.

Richard looked at me like I’d grown an extra head.

“Of course we are. This is a big day for you, Wilfred.”

Gui said, “We want to help.”

“That’s so kind. Well, there’s lot to be moved so we appreciate the help. If you go through, Pete can show you—”

I didn’t even get to finish my sentence before yet another man appeared.

I was sure I recognised him and it took me a moment to place him.

“Jared?” I asked.

He smiled at me, dazzling me with the energy of it.

“Hi, Gui said you needed hands. I have hands. I bought my hot boyfriend, too.”

Behind him was a large alpha who looked torn between being uncomfortable and being flattered at being called ‘hot’ by his omega.

“Oh, thank you. That’s very kind of you.”

I was ushering them inside when someone else appeared.

“How many people did you bring?”

Jared looked over his shoulder.

“Well Richard and Gui are here, and as Gui’s absolute bestest friend, I volunteered. Richard bought his BFF, Simon. Oh, also I think half the football team is here.”

He said it so casually that I actually did a double take.

And he was right.

Half a football team of large alpha and non-presenting men were walking up the path to the front door.

“Oh, that’s a lot of people. I’m not sure they’ll all fit in the house.”

Jared walked past me.

“We won’t all be in the house at the same time. Besides, we’re emptying it, right?”

I found myself standing there, watching a stream of people squeeze past me and disappear inside Pete’s house.

Eventually, some of them started leaving again with boxes and Pete went with them to open the van and help them load the stuff inside.

There were so many people .

I smiled at them and introduced myself and accidentally got talking to a couple of them.

By the time I realised I’d been meant to be helping, half the house was empty.

Feeling guilty, I hurried into the lounge to see what I could carry and found it packed with people.

Pete saw me and waved me over.

“How are you doing?” he asked.

“I might have got distracted and not helped much, but I’ll do my best now.”

He kissed my cheek.

“You don’t need to worry about being helpful, Wilfred. Everyone is here for you.”

“They’ve all been working so hard, though.”

Pete smiled at me as though I were being silly and adorable.

“There’s really not that much to move. We’ve got more than enough people to do it. Besides, I’ll buy everyone pizza and beer as a thank you for helping.”

Several people nearby who’d been in the middle of lifting Pete’s couch heard him and gave a raucous cheer.

I smiled as they hefted the couch up and carried it to the door.

Alder appeared by my side.

“You realise it’ll cost you a fortune in pizza if you do that. Every member of that football team eats like four people.”

Pete shrugged.

“They earned it by coming to help out.”

“It would have been cheaper to hire movers, at that rate. I bullied— I mean, I asked them to come and help to save you money.”

He had a point.

I glanced at Pete, who shrugged again, looking totally unconcerned.

“I can afford it. Besides, this way, we all get pizza too. And Wilfred gets his community round him all day. Win-win.”

Damn, Pete was so sweet.

I practically melted with the sweetness of my boyfriend thinking about whether I’d have more fun with professional movers or a mish-mash of people my friends knew.

Alder, however, was not moved by Pete’s sweetness.

He was eyeing the couch, which three people had had to tip onto its side to fit through the doorway.

“Why are we taking the couch? Don’t you have one already, Wilfred?”

“Yes, I do, but mine is old and the cushions sag.”

Alder put his hands on his hips and glared at Pete.

“Has Pete told you that you have saggy cushions, Wilfred? Well perhaps his cushions aren’t as amazing as he thinks they are.”

I stepped in front of my boyfriend, defending him from Alder’s misplaced ire.

“No, Pete would never say anything nasty to me, even about my cushions.” Were we even still talking about cushions?

Anyway, the point was, “I asked Pete if we could take the couch. It’s nicer than mine.”

Pete leaned down and murmured in my ear, “It’s bigger, too.”

I tried not to remember us lying together on that couch and kissing…

It was very comfortable.

From the kitchen, someone shouted, “Is this box to go?”

I hurried out there to supervise and found two omegas, three alphas and a baby, who was sitting in an empty cardboard box and chewing one of Pete’s wooden spoons.

Alder had followed me out and he tutted.

“Not the most efficient kitchen equipment, Wilfred.”

“That box isn’t ours,” I said.

One of the nearby alphas, a large man with a scar across his cheek, said, “That one’s mine. I, uh, might need to buy you a new spoon, though.”

I waved aside his concern.

“Don’t worry about it. This little lady is enjoying it.”

A young omega man called from the other side of the kitchen.

“I meant this box,” and pointed.

“Yes, that one is going in the van, thank you. Do you want me to—”

He was already lifting it and making his way out the door.

People were everywhere, and I could hardly keep track of what had been done.

I sort of hoped Ty had been right and Alder was on top of it.

There did seem to be some kind of order, somehow.

Beside me, Alder suddenly twisted round.

It was like he had a sixth sense or something, because he shouted, “Waggoner, where are you going with that?”

An older omega man looked down at what he was carrying.

It was a mug.

A single mug.

And, from the way he was holding it, I’d say it was empty, too.

“Uh, I was taking it to the van,” he said.

Alder put his hands on his hips.

“Are you trying to get me into trouble? Pregnant men don’t carry things. What’s your alpha going to do to me when he finds out about this?”

Waggoner pulled an amused face and I hid my smile behind my hand.

We all knew that Alder could more than take care of himself where alphas were concerned.

In fact, I’d be willing to bet that Waggoner’s alpha was scared of Alder.

Most alphas were.

It seemed that either he’d been summoned by some mystical connection or he’d been keeping an eye on his omega, because a young man came over and slid his arm straight round Waggoner’s waist.

His hand rested just where the swell of his stomach began, and he seemed at once to be holding his omega and the baby bump.

He plucked the mug from Waggoner’s hand.

“I told you not to carry anything, Foxy. That’s what you’ve got me for.”

“It was hardly heavy!” protested Waggoner.

“Still, I don’t want you tiring yourself out.”

Alder butted in to what was quite a sweet moment.

He waggled his eyebrows at Waggoner.

“ That ’s what you’ve got an alpha for.”

To my surprise, Waggoner began to blush.

He looked so adorable, since he was such a sophisticated man.

Seeing him blush was cute.

He tried to rally, saying, “Why did you ask me to come and help out if you didn’t want me to actually do anything?”

Alder snorted.

“I didn’t want you to do anything. I just knew that you came with a whole football team attached. I wanted them to do it. Besides, Liam owes me for last week.”

I couldn’t mind my own business.

I had to ask.

“What happened last week?”

“Liam snuck into our office and did unspeakable things to Waggoner, and I had to lock the door so nobody would barge in on them. I was locked out of my own office for an hour.”

Waggoner cried, “I’ve told you, Alder, Liam was just rubbing my feet! They’re so swollen.”

“It was quite the porn soundtrack you were making in there, though, Waggoner.”

The omega opened his mouth to argue but his own alpha betrayed him, leaning down and pressing a kiss to the side of his head and saying, “It was a porn soundtrack, Foxy. Why do you think I’m always volunteering to rub your feet? It’s totally hot.”

Waggoner’s face went so red I actually worried about him.

Alder laughed, delighted by this, and Liam swept his omega away.

“Come on, I’m going to find somewhere for you to sit down and then you can watch me be all manly and strong.”

As they walked off, Alder rolled his eyes at me.

“I hate to give Liam the opportunity to show off but at least you’re getting something out of it.”

I patted Alder’s arm.

“I appreciate it.”

And I did.

I was so overwhelmed by the kindness of my friends and even these complete strangers, who’d given up their Saturday morning to help someone in need.

“You’re right about Waggoner’s alpha,” I said.

“He seems to treat Waggoner well.”

“Yeah, and Waggoner’s much better now that he’s drinking your tea. He says it works wonders for his morning sickness.”

“Good.”

“Now come on, I want to go and criticise people’s moving skills.”

Ty was walking past at that moment and he said, “I think he means ‘supervise’,” and then ducked out of the way as Alder gasped in outrage and chased after him.

I chuckled to myself, strolling around the house, checking that everything that needed to be moved was on its way out.

It was.

When I found Pete, he was talking to a couple of people and he beckoned me over.

As soon as I got there, he slid his arm around my waist.

“Do you think we’re done?” he asked.

“I think so. It hardly took any time at all, after all that.”

We’d been prepared for it to take all day, and even then we’d had a contingency plan of hiring the van again next week to shift the last of the stuff.

One of the people Pete had been talking to gave us a knowing look.

“Once everyone is here, it doesn’t take long.”

Pete told me, “Angelo here has been telling me that he comes from a large family.”

The omega man gestured at some of the others, who were standing around.

“It’s chaos but we’re fast at packing up a house. We’ll probably send half these people off before we drive the van over to your cottage, Wilfred. You don’t want everyone tramping round, but you’ll need a few hands to unload the van, especially that couch and that dresser.”

He went off to arrange that, and I glanced up at Pete, feeling a bit bemused.

He looked remarkably calm.

“I would have thought you’d be much more stressed than you are,” I said.

He raised an eyebrow at me and I corrected myself.

“Not that I want you to be stressed. I just thought you’d find it hard to have so many people around, tramping all over your house.”

Pete gave me a sexy smirk.

“I’m not worried about it. I very quickly got used to the idea that I’d have a lot of people in my life once I became your boyfriend, Wilfred.”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t know that you draw people to you? You get holiday postcards from random customers.”

“That was only twice. And they were very lovely people.”

“I rest my case. The point is, I love you and I want you to be happy. Peopling makes you happy.”

“I don’t want you to be overwhelmed, though.”

“I’m not. I like people. I’m just much more glad than you are at the end of the day when they all leave me in peace.”

Sighing, I rested my head on Pete’s shoulder.

“They’ll leave you alone soon, I promise.”

I felt the press of Pete’s lips to my temple.

“They won’t leave us alone just yet,” he reminded me.

“They’re owed pizza and beer, if you remember.”

“Are you sure you’re okay with that?”

“I wouldn’t have offered otherwise. Besides, I like them. They’re good people. That’s not to say I won’t be glad when it’s just me and you left alone in your cottage together tonight and I can have you all to myself again.”

“It’s our cottage now.”

I turned my face up to his and he lowered his head to kiss me.

“ Our cottage,” he agreed.