Sizzling for His Omega (Omegas of Oliver Creek #12)

Chapter Five

Tobias

I had a mate once, or at least a significant other. He was also older, and I was very inexperienced and fell for a facade. He asked me out and treated me very well until things got serious, at which point he showed his true colors. Constant criticism wore me down until I finally realized that it was not my faults he pointed out but a reflection of his own.

I walked out the door and never looked back.

Since then, I’d been cautious and put romance on the back burner. That got easier once the plans for my restaurant began to roll out. And once I picked Oliver Creek as the location. The small town had become a mecca for foodies with new restaurants opening and food trucks setting up shop on a regular basis.

I’d heard that jackals were mean but didn’t see anything like that with Leon. He’d been so understanding after I did something that could have, heck probably should have earned me a one-star Yelp review. Instead, he invited me to dinner, and I ran off without answering. But everything about him was a green light, not a red flag anywhere. A bit of a mixed metaphor maybe, but it was how I rated people, at least in terms of romantic relationships.

Dinner would have to wait until my night off, the schedule too tight to squeeze in another earlier evening, which was fine, or should have been. We were busy all week, anyway, the weather still holding nice enough for the tourists who came to town to enjoy all the foodie experiences we offered.

As the weather cooled, we expected things to quiet down, but with the rapid growth of the town, nobody knew precisely what would happen. Every night, as I moved from the front to the back of the house, facilitating all the facets of the restaurant, instead of thinking about what I was doing, my mind was focused on the fact I had this date coming up. What would I wear? Did I even have date clothes?

My phone buzzed with my sous chef telling me he wouldn’t be in the next day because his little daughter was sick again. She had spent months in the NICU and still remained very vulnerable. The time he needed to take off to take care of her had cost him his last job, and he’d been very frank and open about this when he applied.

Who could tell an alpha dad that he was not allowed to stay home when his family needed him? I appreciated how he put them first, and my hiring decision put that in the plus column along with seven years cooking in a Greek restaurant in the city nearby. He prepared a sample meal for me, and I was sure I had the right man for the job.

Unfortunately, the owner of the place had either been angered by his need for time off or maybe he just wasn’t set up for it, but to let him go after all those years? If he’d been bad at his job…anyway, that was not how we did it here. I hoped to have a staff that stayed with me for decades, if I could keep the restaurant going that long. And that meant, if Nick needed a night off or a few nights to take care of his baby daughter, I needed to man the stove in his place. So far, I’d managed to work with him so he rarely actually lost hours, making them up later for the most part.

But this latest setback with little Felicia meant I couldn’t count on being off on the night we’d planned for our date. I would have to cancel. My bear was having fits, demanding we see our “mate,” but it just wasn’t possible. In a way, it was a relief because it made the decision for me. I’d spent way too much mind time trying to decide whether or not I should go.

Memories of that last relationship were so close to the surface that whenever I tried to imagine what it would be like to go out with Leon, all I could think of was what it had been like to be with my ex. And there was nothing pleasant about those memories at all. Sure, he’d been nice at first, but I knew now that was totally fake, just a way of getting me to let him in so he could mistreat me.

Why?

If I didn’t know that, how could I make sure it never happened again?

No. The risk was too great. I’d take advantage of Nick’s need for time and forget romance.

Picking up my phone, I texted Nick. Give Felicia a kiss from Uncle Toby and tell her to get well right away so she can come to visit at the restaurant. And, Nick, just take the time you need. Your job is here waiting.

After I got his grateful message in return, it was time to cancel.

No. Mate.

He’s not our mate. Or if he is, the timing is all off.

Mate.

There was no point in arguing with the bear. Eventually he’d see the rightness in what we were doing, or at least he’d get tired of bugging me.

Stuffing him down deeper, I sent a note to Leon, canceling, and then put my phone in sleep mode and went to bed.