“Well, well, well,” a voice called out behind me as I loaded another box of cilantro into the back of the truck. “So, this is your new sweet thang, eh, Juan?”

I turned around to see a tall blond alpha walking towards me, chewing on a toothpick, a cowboy hat on his head. He looked like a surfer dude who’d found the hat as a kind of joke and was wearing it around to see what kind of reaction he got out of people.

“Hey, Terry,” Juan said as he set a box of tomatoes down. “How are the herbs coming?”

“Oh, they’re coming,” he nodded, leaning against the truck. “How are you…coming?”

“Good one,” Juan scoffed, closing the tailgate. “Bailey, this is Terry. Terry, this is Bailey.”

“Nice to meet you!” I said, quickly extending my hand. Terry pulled off a filthy work glove and shook mine hard.

“Pleasure,” he said with a nod. “So, how’d you two meet? On one of those dating apps or something?”

I realized the pack still hadn’t been given the entire story on our meeting, as we’d been too busy doing our own thing to really run it by them. I also hadn’t even met all of them yet. But there was time. It wasn’t like I was going anywhere.

“Yeah, one of those “meet up to fuck” sites,” Juan joked, spinning the truck keys around his finger.

“Damn, son!” Terry laughed.

“We gotta get going,” Juan told him, pulling open the driver’s side door. “Come on, Bailey.”

I pulled open my door and slid into the cab. It was a warm day and the pleather seat was hot as Hell. I grabbed a rag and slid it under my butt and snatched the keys from Juan and started the engine to get the air conditioner blowing.

“Hot ass?” Terry joked as he turned back to the fields. “See you two later!”

“Bye, surfer boy,” Juan replied as he got in beside me. “Fuck, it’s warm in here.”

“My butt’s on fire!”

“Yes,” he smirked. “Yes, it is.”

He rolled down the windows and gunned it, getting the air flowing, then rolled the windows up as the AC started to kick in. As Juan pulled the truck onto the main road and started heading for town, I turned and looked at him.

He didn’t notice for a moment, and I just let myself stare at him, taking in his pure alpha prowess. He wasn’t doing anything particularly impressive—just driving the truck. But it didn’t matter. He was my man and everything he did with such ease and competence that I felt completely safe with him. Hell, we’d started off our relationship with him rescuing me from Corey, from the horrific thing Travis had done to me. How much more perfect could he get? After a moment, he noticed me staring and smiled.

“What?” he asked.

“Nothing,” I smiled, playing dumb.

“What is it?”

“You,” I told him.

“Me? Me what?”

“Just…you,” I replied. “I like looking at you.”

Juan chuckled and put his hand on my knee. “Yeah? Why’s that? ‘Cause I’m just too damn sexy.”

“No—”

“No!?” he asked, shocked.

“No! I mean—you are sexy!” I stammered, but Juan just laughed and quickly pecked me on the cheek before looking back at the road.

“I’m just messing with you, babe,” he laughed, rubbing my thigh.

“Gah!” I groaned, leaning across the bench seat and resting my head in his lap.

“Careful,” he told me. “You might awaken a sleeping giant.”

“I’ll suck your dick all the way to Austin if you want me to,” I told him, gently dancing my fingertips over his package like I was playing piano.

“No, I’m saving this for you tonight,” he told me, patting his package with a devilish grin. “You said you wanted me to give it to you—so I’m going to tease you all day until we get home.”

“No fair!” I cried out, reaching for the top button on his pants, but he just grabbed my hand and moved it aside.

“Trust me,” he chuckled. “It’ll be worth the wait. You’ll come so hard.”

“I already came so hard!”

“Well, you’ll come harder!” he laughed. “Mark my words.”

“Okay,” I replied begrudgingly as we drove. It was a beautiful clear Texas day, and I held my mate’s hand as I watched the flat landscape pass, the soft white cumulus clouds hanging in the distance like puffy pieces of cotton suspended on strings. It wasn’t long before we were at the familiar Austin exit and pulling into town.

“Your parents must love having a son who works at a farm,” I told him as we made our way towards the taco stand.

“I’m just glad I can finally give them something back,” Juan replied. “They worked their asses off for me. Came over from Mexico and worked hard. The amount of produce we give them really isn’t a burden on the farm, but it helps them out a lot. It feels good to finally be able to do something for them.”

“You’re too sweet,” I told him as we pulled onto the block. “I wonder what…”

My voice trailed off when I saw it. Juan saw it too.

“What the…?”

The taco stand was there, where it was supposed to be, but there was no line in front at all. The shutters were down and a large sign was taped to the front: CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.

“What’s going on?” I asked as Juan pulled out his cell phone to check if he had any missed calls or message.

“I don’t know,” he said slowly as we pulled into the lot. Quickly, we both got out and walked over to the back door. Juan knocked hard, and as he did, the door swung open.

It was empty.

Juan stepped slowly inside. A piece of orange paper was sitting on one of the coolers. He picked it up and his face filled with rage.

“What—what is it, baby?” I asked him. I couldn’t see it, but I could tell by his expression that whatever it was, it wasn’t good.