Eddie spent the day trying to focus on his work. People’s lives were at stake. Lucky for him, a lot of his work was muscle memory. His brain could easily recall information to treat patients. His animal, though, wanted to wallow in the fact that they had found their mate. Had her in their home last night and in their bed. His bear was very focused on those facts. Eddie couldn’t blame him.

Luckily for him, his day went fast. He stopped by HR and talked up Gemma. He didn’t say that he wanted her hired, just that she would be a great fit, and he wanted an application for her. The Human Resources manager was happy to hand it over. They were trying to fill the file clerk position and having a doctor, a much loved one at that, suggest a person – well, it was almost a done deal.

Eddie took time during a break and ordered flowers for Gemma. He swung by the florist who stayed open late just for him. The bouquet was not big, not small, but hopefully just perfect for Gemma. He had her put together a mix of sturdy flowers that would last more than a few days. He hoped she liked them and wouldn’t be mad at him for bringing them to the gas station.

He drove obeying almost all the speed limits. Eddie couldn’t imagine how tired she must be. She’d already worked eight hours at the diner; now she was facing another six at the gas station. It was a miracle she hadn’t collapsed from exhaustion. He could easily support her if she chose to quit her jobs today. He’d be thrilled knowing she was spending her days at home with Dash; she’d already missed out on so much of his life. She deserved to relax.

But he was taking his Alpha’s suggestion. Fixing things as best – and as fast – as he could without bulldozing her.

He pulled up to the station and saw that it was empty. Grabbing the flowers, he jumped out and straightened his collar. He wanted to look good for his mate. He was fairly certain she liked how he looked, but it wasn’t as easy to compliment a man as it was to tell a woman how stunning she was. In that regard, men had it easier.

Opening the door, he scanned the interior and found Gemma behind the counter, her eyes on the door. She’d been waiting for him. That pleased the fuck out of him.

“Damn, I’ve missed you, baby,” he said, pausing to take her in. She’d changed from her waitress uniform and was wearing her jeans and a semi-baggy shirt. Her hair was still braided like this morning, but looked like she’d redone it at some point. Her lip gloss looked fresh and she had on mascara when he was sure she hadn’t been wearing any earlier. She’d been waiting for him.

“Hi, Eddie,” she said, her voice husky.

Damn, he liked that, too.

Striding over to her, he handed her the flowers and was stoked when her eyes got huge; then he grew concerned when those eyes started to well with tears.

“Baby, you don’t cry when you get flowers. You are supposed to smile,” he said to her, reaching up to cup her face. Her eyes were still on the flowers.

“I’ve never gotten flowers before,” she whispered.

“No. That’s not possible,” Eddie said.

“It’s true, though. These are beautiful, Eddie – they must have cost a fortune,” she said, looking up at him.

“Nothing is too costly when it comes to you or Dash,” he said to her.

Eddie didn’t think now was the time to say he had bought her a car today. He knew she probably wouldn’t accept anything new or flashy, so he called the local car dealership and asked what they had that was close to what she was driving but in much better condition. The owner had the perfect little four-door that he swore was solid and didn’t have any tape holding it together.

He figured if he could get her to accept that, then he could work on getting her into a new car later. Baby steps.

“So, I have the application. If you need any help filling it out, you know where to find me. I talked to Human Resources, too. They are going to be calling you soon; they won’t wait for the application. I gave them your number and told them they could reach you through me, too,” he explained.

She frowned at that. “Eddie, I won’t always be with you,” she reminded him.

“Yeah, about that,” he started. “I was thinking that since you are working late, I could go get Dash and have him all tucked into bed so you won’t have to wake him up to move him. Then since I don’t have to work until late tomorrow, I can spend the day with him and take him to Jamie’s when I need to go to the hospital. We’ll get some more time together and Dash already loves me – well, he loves Keno, at least.”

Gemma wasn’t sure; it would be amazing to curl into bed with him even if it was for a few hours. Dash would get uninterrupted sleep. She might even get a little something before bedtime. She was on a short shift tomorrow; Shirley was training a new girl tomorrow, so she didn’t have to be in until noon. Common sense said this was a terrible idea. Greedy self said it was an awesome idea.

“Let me call Jamie and talk to Dash. I don’t want him to get upset with a change to his schedule,” Gemma explained.

“Fair enough. Tell him we have leftover pizza and Keno misses him,” Eddie threw in.

“That’s low – using pizza and a dog,” Gemma said with a smirk.

“All’s fair in love and war, baby,” he said with a grin.

Gemma reached for the phone behind the counter and dialed Jamie. “Hey, it’s me, can you put Dash on?”

Eddie watched as Gemma turned away from him a bit.

“Hey baby, how are you doing? Are you having fun? Good. Hey, Eddie wants to know if you want to spend the night at his house again tonight? Momma has to work but when work is over, I’ll come over and we can have breakfast together again. Of course, Keno will be there. Yes, you can bring your truck. Okay, you listen to Eddie and Momma will see you soon.”

Gemma turned back to Eddie and he wasn’t even trying to hide his ridiculous grin.

“Fine, yes, you were right. He likes you or Keno best,” she said with a sigh.

“Hey, if I get him to like me, then I have a better chance with you,” he told her.

Gemma looked at him and felt the need to tell him, “I like you, Eddie. You know I do.”

“I hoped you did, but I didn’t necessarily know for sure. It’s nice to hear. By the way, do you think I’m cute?”

“Cute?” she coughed in a bit of surprise.

“Yeah, you know. I think you are beautiful. Do you find me attractive? Or are you just giving me pity attention?” he asked, jutting out his bottom lip.

“Seriously? Dash doesn’t even throw down the lip,” she scoffed.

“Love and war, baby,” he said before returning his lip to the pout position.

“I think you are too handsome for your own good. You’re certainly too pretty for me. I’ll always feel like I have to get gussied up so people won’t wonder why we are together,” she admitted.

Eddie paused and his goofy pout transformed into a heated stare. “You know you’re gorgeous. But I like that fact that you think we are going to be together so long that people will see us together. I plan on making sure this whole town knows about us. And the only thing they are going to wonder is how I got so damn lucky.”

Shit, that was a good answer, she thought.

“Humph,” she decided to respond.

“That’s all I get? Humph? Fine, I’ll let you have that. So how long can I hang out without getting you in trouble?” he asked.

“Well, I’m probably the only employee the owner doesn’t need to check up on. As long as I get my job done, it’s fine,” she said.

“Okay, let’s talk and then I’ll go get Dash,” Eddie said.

Gemma and Eddie talked in between customers. They laughed, Eddie stared, Gemma blushed. It was the best shift Gemma had ever had.

When it was time for him to go get Dash, Gemma was more than a little sad that she couldn’t go with him. She was craving that time together with him again. One night, and her little life that she had so carefully cultivated wasn’t enough anymore.

Just a few days around him and she was spoiled.

He kissed her sweetly before he left, promising to see her soon. Gemma knew that she would see him and her little guy in a few hours. It made her feel settled knowing he was with Eddie – not that he wasn’t perfectly fine with Jamie, but it was great that his night wasn’t so transient.

The clock ticked slowly by after he left. Then it dragged to a glacial pace. Worse, there were hardly any customers and Gemma had cleaned everything, restocked, and even went through expiration dates on all the food items.

Finally, it was time to go. Todd, the morning guy, came in and gave her a head nod; it was all she usually got from him. Gemma was pretty sure he just slept for the first few hours of his shift until the early morning commuters started coming in for their coffee.

She ran out to her car and got in. When she shut the door, she saw a Post-it note on her steering wheel. It said, Drive safe, see you soon.

“The little things,” she whispered as she stared at the note. Eddie Rochon knew how to take a wrecking ball to a girl’s defenses. She wasn’t concerned that he’d gotten in her car. She never locked it, it wasn’t worth stealing. But he took the time to write her a note. A tiny reassurance for her ride to his house that she was expected and welcomed. It meant so much to her that she had to take deep breaths to keep herself from crying. She didn’t want to show up all blotchy and red-faced.

Getting herself together, she tucked the note into her purse. The car cooperated by starting on the first try; she put it into gear and headed to Eddie’s.