Page 56 of They Love Me Knot (Starsfalls Omegaverse #2)
Daphne
S terling and Kieran arrive to find me grumbling over my masterpiece, which is behaving more like a master brat.
“Is everything okay, Daphne?” Sterling asks.
Kieran rubs my back while I struggle to keep the camellia in place and add the dahlia.
“Just fine, why do you ask?” I huff, trying to blow the hair out of my face, which keeps falling in my eyes.
“No reason,” he wisely replies, and helpfully pulls my hair back.
It’s a testament to how hard I’m focusing on these menaces that their touch doesn’t make me horny (much).
I finally weave in the stems I’ve been working on and stand up to stretch my back.
The clock tower says there’s still forty-five minutes before the fair opens, so I have time for a break.
“Do you need help with anything? We’ve finished our setup for the day, so we can help with yours,” Sterling offers .
“No! I mean, I’m almost done. Just need to take a short break,” I hastily reply.
I can’t have anyone else touching my arrangement, they might mess up my careful leaf placements or flower angles!
I need to do the finishing touches myself.
They smile and accept my slightly frenzied answer.
“Since you’re on break, did you want to try my new sugared peony and dahlia cookies with chocolate chunks and vanilla bean glaze?” Sterling offers, holding out a white takeout box.
“Yes!” I snatch it from him and rip it open to take a big sniff.
The vanilla mixes perfectly with the bright peonies and dark chocolate dahlias, the flaky sea salt sprinkled on top the perfect end note on the cookie flavor profile.
Kieran and Sterling chuckle.
“What?” I pull my head out of the box to ask, question muffled by crumbs.
I put a hand over my mouth to finish chewing before I talk again.
“Nothing, I’m just glad you like them,” Sterling says. “I can hold the box for you while you eat.”
I nod gratefully and hand it back.
“I passed the Quickie Coffee booth on my way over, and it looked like they were almost open. We could get some coffee to go with your cookie breakfast,” Kieran says.
“How’d you know I had cookies for breakfast?” I ask suspiciously, a third cookie halfway to my mouth.
Did they put cameras in my house or something? And why does that sound kind of hot?
Kieran laughs. “I meant these cookies. Is this your second cookie breakfast of the day? ”
“Maybeee,” I say, shoving the cookie in my mouth so he can’t interrogate me anymore.
I wave to Anicka to let her know I’ll be back in a minute, and we walk down the mostly empty street.
My head was on a pivot the whole way. There are so many interesting booths, and everything is flower themed! I didn’t visit the other sellers yet since I’ve been so busy trying to finish our setup.
Now that I’m looking, I don’t know how I’ll restrain myself from buying everything in sight. It’s a good thing I have to work for most of the fair, otherwise I would buy too much. As it is, I’m already planning out my shopping route for when I’m on my lunch break.
I’m so busy mentally shopping that I don’t even notice who’s working the coffee counter until we’re about to order.
“Hi!” Seph greets us.
“Hey! I didn’t know you’d be here. I thought you worked at the bookstore?” I say.
“I work there part time, the greenhouse doesn’t require all my attention. I also work at Quickie Coffee, and since the greenhouse is already set up for the festival, I could jump in here.”
Seph and I talk about the best coffee flavors while she makes our drinks.
Neither of us convinces the other that our favorite coffee order is the best one.
As much as I enjoy the fall themed coffees that Seph likes, the pistachio and orange blossom latte or an iced lavender and hazelnut coffee or really any type of floral coffee will always be my favorite, especially if they have vanilla foam and vanilla bean whipped cream.
All coffee is amazing though, so we don’t argue too hard with each other .
I get my coconut and rose iced coffee with decorative borage flowers on top of the vanilla whipped cream and sip it, barely avoiding getting cream on my nose and savor the sweet drink. Seph makes a small version of it to try for herself and agrees it is a great coffee recipe.
I leave smug, hoping I converted Seph to enjoying the floral coffees, at least during the spring and summer when many of the blooms are in season. To be honest, I drink a fair amount of pumpkin and apple coffees in the fall. Fruits are the end stages of flowers anyway.
Sterling and Kieran find us a table nearby so I can eat my second breakfast while we drink our coffees (a sugar cookie iced latte with vanilla foam for Sterling and Kieran, a chicory and dandelion vanilla latte).
The sit-down does my mind good. Well, that and relaxing with my alphas and chatting with friends about coffee. I’m no longer so frustrated that I want to prune a flower that doesn’t need pruning.
After we finish the cookies (I think they ate some. Didn’t they?? I don’t think I ate them all myself…), they offer to show me their booths if I have time.
I’m sure I can finish my arrangement faster now that I’ve calmed down, so I excitedly follow my alphas to see their booths.
I’m so busy looking at floral-scented candles with real dried flowers mixed into the clear gel wax, I don’t realize we’ve arrived at Kieran’s stall until I’m almost nose to nose (or canvas) with one of the paintings.
“This is great!” I say once my eyes uncross.
Kieran laughs. “I’m glad you like it.”
I step back so I can see the full thing, a field of honeysuckle vines and wild dahlias, with mountains in the distance.
“It’s one of my newer paintings, though not my most recent. I’ve found a better muse for my current work,” Kieran says.
I blush, flustered at the besotted way he’s looking at me. I love the paintings he’s made for me, but I never thought of myself as a muse.
“Show me your other ones?” I ask.
“Of course.”
Kieran takes us into the booth, which has a painted sign, “Art’s Art.” There are rows of hanging paintings and tables full of smaller art on easels. He introduces us to the owner of the gallery, Art, and says it’s where he shows most of his work.
We browse the art, Kieran pointing out at least a dozen of his paintings and telling me about the other Starsfalls artists.
I marvel at the different styles they used to capture the magic of flowers and plants.
Some even painted flowers in a state of decay, the final painting in the series showing mushrooms growing in the remains.
By the end of the tour, I end up with several new paintings from the other artists, Sterling and Kieran insisting on buying them when I lingered on them for too long.
The gallery owner was quick to fill in the empty spots with more art, and we leave after determining I didn’t need to add those to my collection too.
They’ll hold all my new art until Kieran can deliver it to my house later.
Sterling takes us to Flourist’s stall where he introduces Oskar, one of the bakery’s managers.
Oskar shakes my hand vigorously. “It’s great to finally meet their omega. I’ve heard so much about you, Daphne!”
I’m pleased with the title, but I look at my alphas to see their reactions. Sterling is blushing, and Kieran looks at me like he’s trying to gauge my reaction .
“We’re not—officially together. I mean, it’s still early, but we know we want, that is, Daphne is the only one we’re seeing,” Sterling says, stumbling over his words, making him even more adorable.
I’m satisfied with his answer. It’s as much of a claim as they can make without officially asking to court me. And I can’t agree to be courted by any of them until I know if my mates will get along with each other. I need to get my guys together soon and see how we fit together.
Oskar doesn’t comment on the awkwardness and happily shows me their wares.
Flourist’s desserts already heavily feature flower and herbal flavors and decorations, but Sterling went all out with the ones for the fair.
Cookies, cakes, brownies, cinnamon rolls, pastries, and cupcakes covered in all manner of flowers, leaves, and fruit.
The display signs detail the many other invisible floral ingredients that went into making them.
I ask Sterling how he comes up with all the different combinations, which starts him off on his recipe development process.
He makes his own extracts and infused ingredients, so almost every component of each dessert has some kind of floral essence.
It’s no wonder his food is so good with the time and care he puts into each recipe.
While he talks, Sterling packs up more desserts for me to snack on if I get hungry again before lunch. I try to protest that he doesn’t need to give me anymore, but it’s a rather half-hearted attempt, and I end up with a bulging box full of treats.
They walk me back to my booth twenty minutes before the fair starts, which should be plenty of time to complete my masterpiece.
Kieran and Sterling linger, watching as I arrange the last of the bigger flowers and add the delicate blooms, until finally, it’s time for the finishing touch.
I tuck the vanilla orchids everywhere I can, the small flowers fitting neatly between the larger blooms. I use every flower from my mystery gift to weave it all together.
I circle the arrangement, ensuring every stem and petal is in place, before stepping back to admire it.
It’s quiet for a bit, and I enjoy the silence, presuming my masterpiece is so good that it took Sterling and Kieran’s breath away with its artistry and beauty and scent.
When the silence lasts for a little too long, I nervously ask, “Do you like it?”
Is it my design or the flowers themselves that they don’t like? I really hope it’s not the flowers. Although I also don’t want them to think I’m a bad floral artist.
I shouldn’t have worried, because they talk over each other in their haste to assure me it’s amazing, calming my needy urges.