Page 9 of Tawny Omega
The owner and I talked for a while, and I signed some consignment agreements including the displaying of my business card that would lead people straight to the farmstand if they wanted more. Hopefully they did. Growing and propagating plants came easy for me, my way of contributing financially to the pack.
She’d even given Laura some space for her baked goods.
“Call if you need more. I’m right up the road,” I said and waved goodbye.
Flint had checked our mail a couple of days before, so I didn’t need to make that stop. Instead, I visited the general store to pick up a few things. We bought most items in bulk, but from time to time, I needed things in between those trips to the big-box store.
This morning, I’d run out of molasses after making a big batch of apple-walnut muffins.
Could I wait to get more? Yes. Was I going to? No.
I bought a few things and decided to walk home when I noticed movement in the old bookstore. Someone was inside, and from what I could tell, it wasn’t Inga.
My wolf reared his head inside me and urged me to cross the street and see what was going on. Why he was interested in a bookstore was beyond me, but I obeyed his command.
When I looked through the dusty glass windows, lightning struck me dead in the center of my chest.
This was not the elderly Inga. A curvy woman with a big smile on her face twirled in a circle. I heard her laughter from all the way outside and wondered what in the world had made her so damned happy. Whatever it was, I had the instinct to replicate that so she could smile again.
There were several fist bumps in the air and then another dance, this time shaking her grab-worthy hips back and forth. Holy shit, this female was gorgeous. I resented every bit of grime that made it harder to see her.
I was captivated. My eyes couldn’t be torn from her form—from her glee.
Then she turned and startled. She let out a little yip, and her eyes went wide. Shit. I moved to the front door and walked inside. The place was forgotten, judging by the evidence. Shelves were thick with dust, and cobwebs decorated the spaces in between shelves and lighting.
Caught, I opened the door and stepped inside. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to stare.” I stuck out my hand, hoping she took it. “I’m Rork.”
She looked at my hand and smiled. “I’m Tawny. It’s nice to meet you.”
“I wasn’t trying to be creepy. I just saw movement in the windows and thought maybe it was Inga, but then it was not Inga, but you were so beautiful, twirling and happy and…I’m overexplaining. I didn’t want you to think I was a creeper.”
“It occurred to me. Mostly, you surprised me. I was celebrating.”
Her scent filled the air, and a deep need surged through me at her nearness. An omega who smelled like the finest, richest honey and the most decadent of vanilla beans. I could have drowned myself in it and died a happy alpha.
“May I ask what you were celebrating?”
The sun filtered through the windows perfectly on this side. It had been a long time since customers browsed these shelves. “I just bought this place. I’m going to clean it up and reopen it soon.”
My chest filled with anticipation and warmth. A resurgence of hope, maybe. No, it was too soon for that.
But she did smell like my wildest dreams. Fantasies of an omega who smelled like heaven and could be ours forever.
She even blushed while talking about her new acquisition. What a breath of fresh air.
“Congratulations. We’ve missed having a bookstore around here.”
“Do you live in town?” She ran one finger along a bookshelf, and a caterpillar of dust tumbled to the floor. “Eew.”
“We live just outside the limits. Me and my pack. The three of us. Bond brothers.”Goddess, Rork, why didn’t you scream that you three were painfully single?“And you? Did you move here recently?”
“Something like that. I’m staying above the thrift shop.”
Everyone knew where it was. Janis was a bit eccentric in the words of other townspeople, but I’d always found her endearing and kind. A person had to be a little unique to run a secondhand shop.
“That’s great. I came to town to sell my plants. I have a farmstand but the gift shop wanted some.”
“You have a farm?”
