Let Me Find Your Omega - Ashe Moon Page 0,4

street. I can change.” He tilted his head and moved his eyes in the direction of his shop. Then, adjusting his glasses, he stood up. “And I should return now.”

“Let me grab you another tea,” I said as I hurried to the back.

Dammit. Just like that, I’d made a horrible impression and ruined my opportunity to chat with him. It was just my luck.

I grabbed a to-go cup from the stack, dropped in a teabag, and pushed the button on the machine to fill it with hot water. I tapped my foot impatiently.

“What happened out there?” Ivan poked his head out of the kitchen.

“Spilled on a customer.”

“A cute omega?”

I shot him an unamused look. I didn't want to admit to him that he was right. The machine beeped—the tea was steeped. I pulled out the bag, fitted a paper sleeve onto the cup, and took it back into the dining room.

I came to a stop at the counter and felt a tug of disappointment. Two new customers were waiting at the counter. Kole had left.

“Damn,” I muttered.

“Um, excuse me? Can we order?”

I put on my service face and dropped the cup of tea into the garbage. “What can I get you?”

We hit that lull just before all the nearby office workers went on lunch break, where I had some time to eat my lunch and take a breather. I went into the back to let Ivan and Jillian know it was break time, then fixed bagel and salmon sandwiches for the three of us.

Ivan and Jillian were three years my junior and had been mated for years, probably around the time when I’d split up with Elise’s mother. Keeping up with the tradition of unconventional romance with the Plaintail boys, Ivan was an omega and Jillian was an alpha female, which had invited another level of scorn from our dear parents. An omega just wasn’t supposed to be interested in women—that was our dad’s endless mantra before he kicked the bucket, along with berating me for “failing to tame my mate.”

There wasn't much that Ivan and I could do right in the eyes of our parents, and that had forged an extra-strong bond between us through our lives. It was why we shared a business and a living space, and why they were like a second mom and dad to Elise.

“Who was he?” Jillian asked as she wiped down the countertop with a rag.

I tried playing dumb for a moment, feigning ignorance, but I knew I couldn’t get away with it.

“I’m not blind,” she said. “I saw Elise brought a guy in this morning. An omega.”

“You know how she is,” I said. “Always making friends everywhere.”

“That the dude you spilled coffee on?” asked Ivan, collecting our finished plates.

“It was tea,” I said, sighing as the embarrassing moment flashed through my mind, and I found myself glancing over at the empty seat where Kole had been sitting.

“Like I said.” Ivan grinned. “Bad luck.”

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t constantly remind me,” I muttered. “Bad luck would’ve been if he’d gotten hurt. Thankfully it was only warm.”

He brought the dirty plates to the kitchen and a moment later returned with a glass of freshly brewed iced tea for me.

“You know I’m joking,” he said, leaning against the table. “Everyone has a cold streak sometimes, right?”

“Ivan, you and Jillian have been together since you were in high school. I don’t know if you’re the right person to give me dating advice. What do you know about cold streaks?”

He shrugged. “Friends who’ve had them?”

“You don’t have any friends.”

“Well, whatever. I’ve seen it on TV. Anyway, you shouldn’t worry about it. Enjoy yourself, man. You’re single, thirty-two… You’re in the prime of your life. And you know a relationship isn’t all tail wagging. The way Jillian and I fight? ...Ow!”

The dirty rag smacked him in the back of the head. Jillian smiled sweetly from the counter.

"Love you, honey," Ivan said playfully.

She came over and kissed him where the rag had hit him. “Have you tried one of those Net dating applications? They probably aren’t as accurate as going to a reader at one of those dating agencies, but they’re a hell of a lot cheaper and I’ve heard they work pretty well. If I weren’t tied down, I’d be all over those apps.”

“Really?” Ivan asked dumbly, stroking his chin. “But who would want to date an old woman like you?”

She punched his arm and he snickered to himself. Any outsider would justifiably wonder what kind