Page 51 of Fated to the Alpha

“Sounds like that felt good.” Kimberly laughed. “You know you could have asked me to drive for a while.”

“You were sleeping. Didn’t want to wake you.”

Kimberly leaned against the headrest. “I totally intended to stay awake and talk but yesterday was so exhausting.”

He smirked. “I have never known you to stay awake for a car ride longer than half an hour if you’re riding shotgun.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah, that hasn’t really changed. But the thought counts, right?”

He chuckled. “Of course. Bottom line, it didn’t hurt my feelings, and we made it safely, even though I might have swerved into the opposite lane a few times.”

Kimberly’s eyes went round. “You what?”

He grinned. “Let’s go! I’m starving.”

Shane quickly hopped out of the truck to avoid the subject and continued his stretches. She climbed out too and watched how the thick ropes of muscle bunched and pulled beneath his skin. Her tummy tightened at the show, but she averted her eyes when he looked her way. Inwardly, she marveled at the change in their situation in just twenty-four hours. Shane had been upset, and rightfully so, but he acted now as if none of the last two weeks had happened. It was as if the clock had been reset to the moment before their first kiss in her apartment, and the world was back as it should be.

Inside the restaurant was a maze of dark wood booths to either side of a long countertop with barstools occupied by old men wearing Vietnam veteran caps and colorful badges. An elderly woman grinned at them, grabbed two menus, and led them to a nearby booth against a front window. She told them their server would be along soon with coffee and hurried away to seat another older couple that followed them inside.

Kimberly hadn’t seen a single person in the restaurant without a head of gray or silver hair. “Is anyone in this town under sixty?” she whispered as she browsed over the double-sided laminated menu.

“Yes, but I’m sure none of them are awake yet.” Shane’s brows pinched as he read over the menu items. “Looks like they have a good selection. Cody is a picky eater, but there are plenty of restaurants around, too, so he shouldn’t—”

Kimberly cut him off with a gasp as her eyes fell on the beverage section of the menu. “They have Boba tea!”

Shane’s face screwed up with confusion. “Boba what?”

“Boba tea! No one has it in Tolstone. Oh my God, you’ve got to try it!”

Shane looked less than enthused. “I’ll take a sip of yours, how about that?”

“I’m holding you to it,” she replied with a wide grin. “You were saying about Cody?”

“I was just saying he needs a place where he can order the same food every visit. He’s picky.”

Kimberly tilted her head. “You’ve really put a lot of effort into finding a place that everyone will be happy with. That’s cool.”

He set down his menu and rubbed his eyes. She now noticed they had a touch of red in the corners.

“I mean, I wish I could just throw a dart on a map and call it a day, but I know I wouldn’t feel right doing that. There needs to be available jobs, good schools, restaurants, affordable housing, and plenty of businesses. Residential areas need to be only so far from grocery stores. Shit like that. If I just picked a place and dragged everyone there, they’d be miserable, I’d be a terrible alpha, wouldn’t I?”

Kimberly looked out the window at Oakfield. “I didn’t think there was so much that went into it, but I guess that makes sense. Gage won’t have so much to worry about, with only three of us.”

The faintest of frowns touched Shane’s expression as he turned his attention back to the menu. “I assume you haven’t told him about our little escape?”

Kimberly set down the menu so hard it slapped against the lacquered tabletop. “Why should I?”

Right then, their server arrived. Finally, Kimberly found a youthful face, but the woman was still a decade older than them.

“Welcome to Ralph’s!” She set down two sets of silverware, two incredibly thick ceramic mugs, and a stack of napkins. “Have you eaten with us before?”

A deceptively cheerful mask dropped over Shane’s face, and he looked up to the brunette server with a grin. “Nope. First time. We’re new to Oakfield.”

The woman brightened. “Oh, that’s great! We love seeing new faces. I’m Carla. I’ve lived here for almost my whole life. You’re gonna love it.”

Kimberly could already tell Carla would be the chatty, overly friendly sort of server who would try to strike up a long conversation each time she visited the table. For Shane, perhaps that was a good thing. He could ask questions about the town for his pack and get some insider information.

But she also caught the way Shane said we instead of I as if Kimberly could be included amongst Oakfield’s potential newcomers. The thought made her cheeks warm. The idea of following Shane, of being in his pack, was just a fantasy. His choice of words had to be for the sake of simplicity.