Chapter 76

Rachel POV

Bella & Rachel's Apartment

I checked through the window to make sure it was Nathan before opening the door. He looked as good as ever, better even in his jeans and blue Henley which brought out the color of his eyes. I found myself blushing as I ushered him in.

"Come in, come in! I've changed the sheets on the bed for you. I'll be bunking with Bella tonight so you get to take my room."

I went to the hall closet where I put the towels away. I kept up a steady stream of chatter to try to calm the flush in my face. Nathan would have no way of knowing what I'd been talking about with Bella only a minute before, but I was still embarrassed at even the thought of his finding out.

"Here's the towels if you want a shower tonight. I didn't move your suitcase. It's still by the table in the entryway. Do you want anything? A drink or something to eat?"

"I want you to breathe," Nathan offered, giving me a low chuckle as he touched my shoulder, "You know I'm not here to report on your apartment as a potential bed and breakfast, right?"

I jerked at his warm fingers touching my shoulder. My skin felt hypersensitive which was probably a reaction to the adrenaline from nearly getting caught out having a naughty conversation with my best friend. I reassured myself I'd cleaned the bedroom well; my new toy was safely wrapped up in my luggage for the trip to Moonglow Pack territory.

Bella called out, "Nathan? Come back here to the kitchen! You have to try my tarts! I'm doing some test batches with some new recipes."

I was going to hug Bella so hard I cracked her ribs. She saved me from saying something stupid with her amazing timing.

"Easy! I think you might want to lay off the tarts. Have you had a lot of caffeine or too much sugar or something? You're normally not so jumpy."

I wasn't a jumpy person. I wondered if I had hurt Nathan's feelings for a split second before dismissing the idea. He wasn't some teen boy who was hung up on me anymore. He was a sophisticated man getting his MBA, working for a multimillion dollar real estate business.

I was putting too much importance on myself again. I needed a serious reality check. Being around all these Alphas was making me think I had more importance than I obviously did. They were only interested in me because of the crazy circumstances surrounding my rejection of my fated mate in conjunction with my unexpected pregnancy.

"I have not been sampling the tarts, thank you very much. I may have had more than one coffee though."

The truth was way worse than having too much caffeine. There was no way I was going to confess to the conversation I was having before Nathan knocked though so coffee was my cover story! It worked a lot better than anything I could have come up with, too.

I would have hugged Nathan for giving me a way to bail myself out except I would have been jumping out of the frying pan into the fire if I did.

"Have you got anything in strawberry I could try? It's my absolute favorite flavor and happens to be my favorite color, too."

Bella giggled as she gave Nathan a one-armed hug around his waist. She barely cleared his shoulder. I always forgot how short she was until an Alpha was standing beside her. I was only a few inches taller, but I liked to point out I was above average height for a woman. Barely above, but still above.

"I have strawberry, lemon, blueberry, and orange. I wanted to do a few others, but I ran out of countertop."

Nathan and I shared a smile as Bella glared at the counters as if they had personally offended her. She was ridiculous. We would never be able to eat all the tarts she'd made as things stood. I had no idea what she did with her 'sample batches' before I came along.

"Do you want to try one of each?" I asked, knowing Nathan rarely turned down sweets, "I'm stealing a lemon and an orange for myself. I may not need the sugar, but I definitely want it and Bella has plenty to spare."

"Yes, thank you! Throw one of everything on my plate. Do I use a fork to eat these or do I get to be a savage and eat with my fingers?"

Bella frowned as she handed me a plate with two tarts and a fork. I wasn't sure what was wrong at first; I had a momentary panic she was going to say something really dirty while Nathan was right there only for her to prove I was a crazy person all over again.

"You know, these are small enough I bet you could eat them with your fingers. If I make them just a little bit smaller, they'll make great poppers. Great idea, Nathan! I knew there was a reason I missed having you around."

We all laughed even though a part of my died inside at the reminder of our high school days when we'd been an inseparable group.

I missed those days more than I could fully comprehend. A part of our friendship had never died. I wondered if we had a chance to rekindle our group dynamic now we were all grown up.

Taking a seat at the table, I chose to use the fork rather than risk embarrassing myself by eating with my fingers. We were all friends. Nathan might have been my boyfriend once, but we were supposed to be friends. I just couldn't bring myself to break down my social graces in front of him just at that moment.

Nathan ate a tart in two bites and moaned, "I cannot believe this is your trial run! You have to make these for my birthday. I will tell my mother we're doing tarts instead of cake. You know she always orders the same one from the same bakery anyway. I think if I eat one more piece of chocolate cake with fudge icing? I'll become a diabetic."

"Oh shut up! You could eat a whole cake without gaining a pound. You're a man and an Alpha. I hate you for both. I will make strawberry tarts for your birthday though. You have to be the one to break the news to your mother about the cake though. I won't let you worm your way out of it."

"Hey!" Nathan protested.

I laughed while trying a forkful of lemon tart. It was just a touch too sour. I had no idea how to fix the recipe so I settled for telling Bella the truth as best as I could.

"The lemon is a little too lemon? More sour than I want my lemon to be? Does that make sense?"

Nathan reached across the table to swipe a bit of lemon filling from my tart with his finger. He licked it off with a contemplative look while I stared at him with my mouth open.

"I can't believe you just did that!" I said, unable to stop myself from smiling as he finished wiping his fingers with the paper towel Bella offered him, "You have your own right there on your plate!"

"It tastes better when it comes from someone else's plate," Nathan said, shrugging one shoulder as if he had no idea why I protested.

Bella laughed, "He's right! Stolen food does always taste better. Here. You should try the strawberry. I know you're currently on a citrus kick, but trust Nathan on this one: it's very good."

"Fine. I will accept your strawberry tart as a consolation prize for having a dirty Alpha finger ruin my lemon."

"You said it was too lemon anyway! You weren't going to eat it."

We argued good-naturedly until we were all stuffed from trying tarts. I had to admit the strawberry was the best with the orange being a shocking second favorite. They were all good enough to amaze me anew Bella made up her recipes for them right out of her head with no book for reference.

I felt the way she must feel when I played her a song I'd written. Everyone had something they were good at which made them seem amazing to others. Nathan had the most unique talent of all since his gift was making even the most awkward moment bearable for even the most awkward of people.

"I can't believe you're voluntarily staying somewhere without electricity. How are you going to survive? I think your head will explode if you go too long without your phone games."

"I will have you know I am not addicted to cell phone games! I just find them very relaxing."

"How relaxing?" Nathan asked, raising a brow as if he'd asked me about something much more dirty than a match three game.

"Relaxing enough to let me go to sleep! Which we should get to after we clean this place up. I have no idea what we're going to do with all these tarts."

"Fridge until I can donate them to the local shelter tomorrow. Help me clean up?"

Nathan and I agreed easily enough as Bella started moving dirty utensils and cooking implements into the sink for washing. The kitchen felt like a safe, warm haven for the three of us as we chatted and cleaned.

I didn't want the night to end. I knew it had to if I was ever going to get any answers about my mother who should have been there, sharing the joy of cooking in the kitchen with us.