Page 9

Mila

It turned out to be such a common thing to order from The Pack House that when three people turned up burdened with bags of delicious smelling food, they took a seat and joined in the meal.

“Mila, meet Tag,” Rissa said, pointing to the smallest of the three. Then she pointed to the larger man and woman. “And that’s Harper and Silas. They’re a throuple so it’s going to be hard to ignore how cute they are.”

Tag rolled his eyes even as Harper set down the bags of food she was carrying to effortlessly pick him up and snuggle him to her. The woman was as big and muscled as Silas. It made Mila wonder if they were bodybuilders. Although Tag wasn’t tiny, he seemed small compared to those two.

Being picked up must be a regular occurrence for Tag because he smiled indulgently even as he huffed out in pretend annoyance at Harper’s actions. “Harper, put me down.”

“I can’t,” Harper declared dramatically, nuzzling Tag’s cheek. “I can’t resist. Must snuggle!”

Silas chuckled and rescued the bag Tag was holding, then set everything he had down. “Don’t mind them, they can’t help being adorable.”

“Hi,” Mila said, unsure if she should hold her hand out to shake. Harper solved her dilemma by pulling her into a hug with Tag, squishing them together.

“Harper!” Tag protested with a laugh. “Not everyone wants to be manhandled!”

“Untrue,” Harper argued, but let go of Mila.

“Very true,” Carter growled, moving between Harper and Mila. He gave Harper a little shove. It wasn’t enough to make the woman move, but Harper stepped back anyway. “Don’t do that again.”

Everyone went silent at Carter’s sudden aggression. With a scowl, Silas moved between Carter and Harper who was now holding Tag protectively as if Carter was about to hurt him.

“Back off, Carter,” Silas ordered. Tag was whispering something to Harper while she glared at Carter. She was watching Carter as if he was about to attack.

Mila wasn’t sure how the overly friendly interaction had turned hostile so quickly.

“Harper grabbed Mila and didn’t ask for permission first,” Carter shot back.

“It’s fine,” Mila said, forcing herself between Carter and Silas. “I didn’t mind!”

“No, Mila,” Silas said, looking down at her. She expected both men to turn on her, but instead of being angry, they gave her gentle smiles and stepped back to give her space. “Carter is right, even if he’s being a little too forceful. Harper should’ve asked first.”

“Mila, you should sit down,” Carter said, grabbing a bar stool and pulling it out.

“I don’t want to be the reason friends fight,” Mila insisted without moving.

Carter shook his head. “We aren’t friends.”

“And we aren’t fighting,” Silas added. “We’re figuring out boundaries.”

Harper set Tag down, stepped in front of him, and gave Mila an apologetic look. “Sorry about that. We’re a friendly group, and it’s been a good day. That’s no excuse, but I was feeling really happy. I’ll ask next time.”

Mila’s mouth dropped open. For a moment, she’d been sure everyone was about to start throwing punches and now they were acting like she was the injured party and apologizing?

“She didn’t mean anything by it,” Tag said, peeking out from behind Harper. “She likes to pick people up. I think it’s so we can be tall for a little while.”

Harper looked down at Tag and chuckled. “It’s because all of you look so snuggly!”

Tag glared up at her with mock anger. “I’m not a human-sized plushie.”

While Tag and Harper got involved in a friendly argument, Carter caught her attention. “Mila?”

She looked up at the intense man. “Um, yes?”

He was gesturing to the stool for her to sit down. “Would you like this spot?”

She hesitated, only because it felt weird to share food with all these people she’d just met, especially after the oddly intense moment earlier.

“You can sit,” Silas said. “There are no hard feelings. Guys like Carter and I tend to be a little overprotective.”

Zander snorted from behind the bar “Overprotective doesn’t even begin to describe it.”

Rissa was standing next to him, still holding Babette. Feeling guilty that the other women had been carrying the dog around all this time, Mila moved to the pass through.

“I’m sorry, I can take her back.”

“No!” Rissa said, turning away with a laugh. “She’s mine now!”

Mila crossed her arms over her chest to hug herself. Rissa would probably be a better owner for the little dog than she would. It broke her heart, but she forced the words out of her mouth.

“If you want to, um, keep her,” Mila said, working hard not to cry, “I guess that would be fine. I’ve only had her for a day, and you’d probably be a better owner.”

As if she could understand what she was saying, Babette whined a little and looked over Rissa’s shoulder at Mila. She could’ve sworn Babette was giving her a betrayed look.

Rissa turned and rushed over to Mila, thrusting the small dog back into her arms. “Oh no, sweetie, I didn’t mean it like that! I was only being silly.”

After Babette was back in Mila’s arms, Carter was there, drawing her away from Rissa.

“No one would ever take away your dog,” he assured her, walking her back to the bar stool.

“I don’t have much to offer,” Mila mumbled.

“Only love and devotion,” Carter countered, urging her onto the stool. “What would you like to eat? We’ve got all kinds of burgers, loaded nachos, burritos, and,” he paused and pulled over one of the containers, “oh, they made pot pie! You’ve got to try this, it’s the best."

He cut an entire pie in half, dished half to her and pulled the other half in front of himself.

“That’s a lot,” she protested.

He gave her a surprised look before a little shrug. “Eat what you want, and I’ll finish what you can’t.”

He thought he could eat almost an entire pot pie? She glanced up and down his body. Well, he was a big guy and heavily muscled. He probably needed a lot of fuel to keep that all going.

She turned her gaze back to her own dish. Her empty stomach was clambering for her to eat, but she hesitated. It felt decadent when she didn’t have any money to contribute, and Babette needed to eat too.

“Hey, Mila!” Tag called from further down the bar. “We brought something for Babette.”

Rissa moved to take the bag Tag was pointing at and brought it to where she and Carter were sitting. As Mila watched, Rissa pulled a container from the bag and poured some of it into a bowl. It looked like a combination of ground up turkey or chicken, rice, and a few veggies all mixed together.

“We called Titan, and he said this was a good thing to feed her,” Tag explained before going back to his meal.

“Titan?” Mila asked Rissa.

“He runs a rescue,” Rissa explained as she pushed the bowl closer to where Babette’s little nose was twitching about a million miles an hour.

Although the little dog was more interested in Mila’s pot pie, she eagerly accepted the dog food.

“He’s the person we go to for any animal questions.

If he doesn’t know, he can put us in contact with who does. ”

Babette wolfed down the food with the speed of a magician making things disappear.

Still, Mila couldn’t make herself eat.

“You don’t like pot pie?” Carter asked, setting down his fork and grabbing another container. “How about a burger? Whatever spice the guys use for their fries is amazing. Wait till you try it.”

“Everything looks really good,” Mila assured him. How could she explain that she felt like she was taking advantage of all these nice people? Or even more scared that after everything was eaten they’d all start pulling money out to settle the bill, and she’d have to hand over the last of her cash?

“Mila?” Rissa was leaning over the bar, her arms resting on the shiny surface.

The low-cut top meant that the position put her generous breasts on display.

Mila wished she was confident like Rissa.

The woman wore her large size with ease, moving like she didn’t care that the world treated women like them as if they didn’t belong.

Mila dreamed of wearing bright, fitted clothing like Rissa.

Every time she thought about it, she heard her dad’s voice: “They know you’re hefty, Mila. You don’t need to show off every roll!”

Or her mom’s equally bad: “Save your money to buy clothes once you’ve lost some weight. It’ll be like a reward.”

They didn’t mean to be cruel, but they’d treated their only larger sized child as if she was flawed.

“Everyone’s being so nice,” Mila whispered, unsure what to say to the self-assured, beautiful Rissa.

“That’s who they are,” Rissa said. “We all take turns picking up the tab for these big meals. Tonight Carter is paying the bill.”

“I am?” Carter asked, his words garbled by the food he was eating.

Rissa raised a single eyebrow and tilted her head a little. “I’m explaining to Mila that she doesn’t need to worry about paying for anything because we all take turns paying. Someday she can pick up the bill, but tonight we’ll be using your card.”

Carter swallowed and nodded his head. “Oh sure, of course!”

Mila heard some laughter from Harper, Silas, and Tag’s end of the bar.

“We’ll put it on your tab,” Harper called out. “Thanks for the generous tip!”

Carter gave her a rueful smile. “I think the tip is going to be as much as the meal. That’s fine. They’re a good pack, uh, of people."

Mila couldn’t believe he was shrugging it off. The only explanation was that they were teasing him. They weren’t really going to charge him so much extra, right?

“That means you’re going to eat and not feel guilty about anything," Rissa said, straightening up.

“Why would Mila feel guilty?” Carter asked. “We’re on a date. Shouldn’t I be paying for stuff anyway?”

Rissa nodded, but Mila shook her head. “I’ve never done that. I’ve always paid my fair share.”

“You’re cute!” Carter said, leaning over and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. She felt the same electric zing she’d felt when she shook his hand earlier. Carter must’ve felt it too because he froze, his lips against her skin.