MATE AND HIS LOVER 9

#5 Babe

Inside the house, Nate instantly smells the dark and sweet scent of the toasts. They do smell delicious, he thinks.

Nate heads straight to the kitchen.

Daisy is at the dining table, looking at her laptop and drinking coffee. She sees Nate come in. His hair is damp. His skin glistens. His short-enough shorts hug his thighs. And his vest has wrinkled up, revealing more of his body than it usually does. Seeing his post-training image, Daisy gets in a good mood. She licks her lips. "Toast?" she says.

For the sake of his ego, Nate wants to refuse, but he's famished. "I'll freshen up first."

"But you smell great as it is," Daisy says, smiling into her coffee mug.

Nate grinds his teeth and heads to his room for a quick shower.

After he comes back to the kitchen and starts eating, Daisy looks over at Nate, sitting across her on the table.

She faintly smiles as he does his best to not show he likes the toasts. Cooking is one of Daisy's strong suits, and she particularly made sure her toasts taste extra scrumptious today in hopes that Nate would eat them.

Nate reaches for the rattan basket full of warm toasts and grab two more to add to his plate.

Daisy has always liked cooking for others, but she feels like she has never been more happier than today as she sees him eat her food.

She then takes her eyes away from Nate, when she remembers this all will turn out to be just a short-lived memory for her soon.

"I've been thinking, since you've been so generous to me by letting me stay at your place and everything, I want to return the favor. I understand you are looking for support from your pack members," she says turning back to Nate.

Nate puts down the bread. "Before you say anything else, let me remind you you're not here because of my generosity, but because you blackmailed me. And, how exactly do you plan on helping me? Dig out some dirt on my pack members that we could use to threaten them into supporting me?"

"That's just one out of many options," Daisy cheerfully says.

"No, thanks," Nate says in anger, before he picks up the toast again, and takes a crispy bite off of it. He thinks how can someone so askew can make such delicious toasts.

"Sure, the decision is up to you anyway. Just wanted to let you know I'm available for you any time," Daisy says, winking.

Nate continues to chew on his toast, pretending his heart didn't just skip a beat. He knows she knows how available he wants her to be for him, yet she goes ahead and says that, just to see him suffer.

"Do you have a girlfriend?" Daisy asks after a brief silence, taking Nate by surprise a little.

He recomposes himself. "I'm sorry, there seems to be a big misunderstanding here. Just because you live under my roof, doesn't mean you can poke your nose into my business."

"Fine, I accept your apology. But I still want to know. We should get our story straight," Daisy says, propping her chin over the edge of her palm.

"Story?"

"What do you plan to say if someone asks who is this girl staying at your place?"

Nate puts down his coffee mug. He didn't think about it.

"I've an idea. Say I'm Frank's cousin," Daisy says.

"What?"

"I've been talking to Frank. Since he's not originally from this pack, people here won't know about his relatives. If you're that scared, say I'm his second or third cousin."

Nate picks up the empty mug and plate. "Frank is not your friend. Stop bothering him."

"Yeah, yeah, you don't like to share him. I get it. But I don't think he'll mind. Give it some thought. Oh, and you still haven't answered me if you have a girlfriend or not."

"That's because it's still not your business."

"Are you scared to confess about your girlfriend to your mate? Are you feeling guilty?"

Nate places his dishes in the sink and turns around and smirks at Daisy. "Guilty? Towards a thief?" he says.

Sighing, Daisy picks up her plate and mug, and goes to the sink. She stands in front of Nate, toe to toe. "You keep mentioning me being a criminal frequently," she says, stepping closer to him. Their faces, mere inches apart from each other. "Is that to remind me or yourself babe?" she seductively says while vaguely bending towards him.

Nate swallows. He wants to move away from between her and the sink. But his body doesn't cooperate. Everything about her — her scent, voice, the shimmer of her lips, the tease of her cleavage — glues him to where he is now.

Daisy knows that, and leans even closer and whispers, "Either way, you're in my way now. Unless you want to take the dishes off my hand, babe, move, will you?"

Nate snaps out of his daze, and quickly leaves after sparing her a glare. Daisy bites her lips to stop herself from laughing out loud and starts rinsing her plate.

Inside his room, Nate cusses at himself for losing to her. He sits down at the edge of his bed and takes a deep breath. Babe. Is that how she likes to call her boyfriends? Nate wonders. He decides he should tell her not to call him that if she does it again.

But she sounded so fucking good, he thinks, falling on his back on the bed. He wonders why she offered to help him. Was it because of an ulterior motive? Was it because she felt indebted? Or was it that she was worried about him?

He covers his eyes with his forearm. "Stop fucking confusing me," he says.

Back in the kitchen, Daisy puts away the dishes and glances towards Nate's room.

She had only ever known the crooked way of life. Even for those she cared about she was able to help them only through her illicit work — a work that Nate despises and doesn't want anything to do with.

For the first time in her life, since she was picked up by the Stantons, Daisy feels worthless. 

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