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He picked up her hand and kissed her knuckles with a sigh. “I hate having to take you to your place and then go to work. It’s making my lion crazy.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“I know, sweetheart, but we’re newly mated. It’s a primal, protective thing.”
“I don’t really want us to be apart, either. But this is our reality. You work nights and I work days. We’ll have to make spending time together a priority.”
“One hundred percent.”
Once they were at her house, he stayed as long as he could, but before she knew it, she was standing on the front porch and watching him drive off until she couldn’t see the taillights anymore. With a sigh, she shut and locked the door. She had a long, lonely night ahead of her. She hoped the time went by fast.
Chapter Ten
Friday morning, Diesel got up at the ass-crack of dawn to go with Em to help out for the day at Wide Awake. He’d worked at Tails until closing time, so he was tired as hell, but he wouldn’t miss a chance to spend the day with his gorgeous mate and get to know her parents better. All week he’d been coming to the coffee shop to help out after he woke for the day. He’d spend a few hours doing whatever Chris and Amy needed a hand with, a seemingly endless list of things that he could do for them.
Em had been packing up her house after her shift and bringing boxes and bags to the house in the territory. He loved walking into his house and seeing her things mixed among his – her feminine clothes hanging in the closet, her jewelry box on the dresser, her blanket on the bed. It made him feel like they were moving forward, and even though it had only been a week, he couldn’t imagine his life without her in it.
“You sure you don’t want to sleep in and come to the shop later?” she asked, clucking with concern as she looked at him.
“I’m fine, I promise. Lucky for me there will be plenty of coffee there, right?”
“True.” She hooked her arms around his waist and smiled sweetly up at him. “I’m so glad you’re coming to work with me.”
“Me too.” Barron worked Fridays at the door, so Titus had given Diesel the night off. While it meant he couldn’t take his sweetheart out on a date on Saturday, it did mean he had the night for whatever they had planned – after they worked their shift at the Wide Awake, of course.
She’d brought him a work shirt, a black short-sleeved tee with the shop’s logo on the back. His leg had been acting up more than usual, and he’d made sure to tuck another pain pill into his pocket in case it got to be too much. Doc Flaherty, the pride’s physician, had been taking care of Diesel his whole life. While Diesel didn’t normally take pain meds – typically sticking to a special pain-relieving oil Doc had prepared – he figured with all the extra activity he was engaging in with his mate that it was aggravating the injury. Sometimes he’d wake up with a terrible cramp, or the pain would make him have to stop everything and rub the oil into his skin. He didn’t like Em knowing how much his leg was bothering him, but she seemed to notice every wince, which he both adored and hated. He didn’t want her thinking less of him, even though he did enjoy when she used the oil and her talented fingers to massage his aching muscles.
The coffee shop opened at six, but her parents were there by five to get the coffee brewing and bake the frozen pastries they kept stocked. He’d confessed to not knowing anything about coffee, and Em had promised to teach him whatever he wanted to know.
“Morning,” Chris said brightly from behind the counter when they walked inside a few minutes before open.
“Morning, Dad,” Em said.
“I’ve got an apron for you,” Chris said, handing one to Em and one to Diesel.
Em put her purse in the back office and greeted her mom, who smiled warmly at Diesel. “How much sleep did you get last night?” Amy asked as she replaced a full pot of coffee with an empty one and set it to brew.
“Um, not much, but I’m good.”
“Being up late is for the young,” Chris said. “Enjoy it.”
After Em switched the sign to open, Chris put Diesel to work power washing the patio furniture and cleaning the colorful umbrellas. It was nearly lunchtime when he finished the whole area, including the sidewalk and stone patio. The mid-July sun was boiling hot, but he enjoyed being outside in the daytime. He normally slept the day away to get ready for his shift.
Wiping his brow, he put the power washer in the storage shed at the back of the shop and walked in through the kitchen, where the scent of bread baking made his mouth water. Em was at one of the wall ovens, peering through the glass.
He thought she looked adorable. “A watched oven never bakes. I think.”
She looked at him and giggled. “I don’t want to burn the sandwich.”
He joined her, looking at the sub on a tray. A timer buzzed and she opened the door, using a potholder to remove it.
“That smells amazing,” he said.
“It does, doesn’t it? It’s my favorite. Roast chicken with sliced apples and cheddar on honey wheat. I can make them for us for lunch. Are you hungry?”
He cupped her face and kissed her. “Starving.”
“Let me get this to the customer and I’ll be right back.”
