The event hadn’t opened to the public yet, but all the vendors were here early to set up their tables. I’d had all my productshipped directly here, and I wove through the aisles to where my table was ready for me, with stacks of boxes waiting to be unpacked.
Fable’s eyes were already wide, mouth gaping, as he tried to take it all in. “Is that blueberry barbecue sauce? Parmesan sage?? Ohmigods, date and rosemary, yummm. I wish our cabin had a kitchen. I have so many ideas!” he gushed, his head on swivel.
My heart gave a heavy thud in my chest. He’d said “our cabin” like it was home, and I was filled with a strange mix of longing and regret.
I put my hand at his lower back and nudged to keep his feet moving. “I’ll be stuck here at the booth for the morning, but you should go browse. You can leave your stuff here with me, then do some shopping.”
Fable chewed on his lip. “Really? You wouldn’t mind?”
“Of course not. I didn’t bring you along to be my employee. I want you to have fun. Besides, I can already hear your stomach growling, and what kind of alpha would I be if I didn’t feed you?” My beaver, on the other hand, was nagging at me to take him around to all the booths and feed him by hand, make sure he was well taken care of, before taking him back to the cabin and marking him as ours.
That’s too much, I told my beast.He hasn’t agreed to be our omega yet. Have a little patience. Just because Fable was our fated mate, that meant nothing in the eyes of a human.
I agreed with my beaver that this would’ve been so much easier if Fable had been a shifter too, but I didn’t regret the man fate selected for me. He was soft and sweet and funny and made me so curious to learn everything there was to know about him and his world.
Arriving at my booth, I took off Fable’s jacket and draped it over one of the chairs, then tugged my toque off his head and smoothed down his hair. “I wish I could go with you.”
Fable brought his hands to my waist as I ran my fingers through his soft brown hair. “I’ll bring you something to eat,” he said, grinning up at me.
And that was exactly what he did. In fact, he brought multiple somethings. It seemed like every time he found a new and exciting sauce, he rushed back with a sample for me to try. Some came in little cups to sip, some with bits of bread or crackers to dip. I’d been worried I wouldn’t see Fable all morning, but I barely went five minutes without him making an appearance. And every time he returned, his scent became richer, sweeter, spicier, with every new sauce lingering on his lips.
As soon as the doors had opened to the public, the sound in the room had risen to a dull roar, everyone hawking their wares at once. It was a great turnout, and there were multiple distributors interested in picking up my brand. I had brought a toaster for my samples, crisping up frozen waffles to cut into bite-sized squares, perfectly filled with syrup.
Toward noon, I noticed that Fable had been gone a while. I wasn’t too worried, because I could still sense him nearby, but just in case, I started packing up my leftover bottles a little early. As soon as the clock struck 12, I would go find him.
Just a few minutes later, though, Fable appeared, eyes bright behind his glasses. “You will never guess what I just did.”
“Hmm… did you participate in the hot wing competition?” I guessed, eyeing the hot sauce at the corner of his mouth.
“Wha— How did you know?” he asked.
I stepped in close and cupped his chin. “Lucky guess,” I purred, before I leaned in and licked the sauce from his lips. “Delicious.” And I wasn’t talking about the sauce.
Fable gave a little whine, hooking his fingers into my beltloops to pull me flush. “That’s cheating. You weren’t supposed to see that.”
“Then you shouldn’t have left me the clue. Did you win?” I asked.
He laughed. “Not even close. I’m a wimp when it comes to spice. I was out in the third round, but it was super fun, and I got a free lunch out of it. I wish you could’ve seen me.”
“Well,” I said, glancing at my watch, “there should be another round this afternoon, and I am getting awfully hungry…” For more than wings, but the rest could wait.
Fable bounced on his toes. “Yes! Come eat hot wings with me!”
He seemed an entirely different man from the nervous wreck he’d been last night. I loved this side of him. He was confident and relaxed, and I loved that I was the one who brought it out in him.
I felt someone’s curious gaze on us, and when I peeked over Fable’s shoulder, I saw an older woman watching us, a tight frown on her face. Maybe this wasn’t the kind of place that welcomed public displays of affection.
So, I grabbed Fable’s coat and bag, now overloaded with bottles of sauce, and led the way down the aisle. “Come on, let’s get messy.”
We spent the rest of the day at the convention. There was a whole new set of vendors in the afternoon, so there was plenty to sample. As much as I loved trying all the food, the real joy was from watching Fable’s reaction to each new sauce. He kept a notebook, writing down possible recipe ideas to try when he finally got to a kitchen.
We also competed in the hot wing competition, and Fable showed me that, indeed, he did not handle spice well. I, however, had a little help from my beaver who happened to adore spicy food. It was so unlike anything he would eat in the wild, sothis was his chance to indulge. By the time we reached the final round, my mouth was on fire, and it was down to just me and one other. “Come on, Guy! You can do it!” Fable cheered. Easy for him to say, he wasn’t chowing down on over a million Scovilles.
“Ughh, that hurt,” I moaned on the way home, a hand to my stomach. “Why did I let you talk me into that?”
“Because you can’t say no to a challenge. And to think, all you got was this lousy trophy,” Fable teased, though he was currently hugging that trophy like he’d won it himself. I’d already decided that it would be going home with him. Something to remember me by…
That thought twisted my stomach into knots. Maybe my stomach-ache had nothing to do with the hot sauce at all and everything to do with the fact that I was going to lose my mate in two days.
