Page 13 of Amber: Deja Brew

“I should have thought of it, Bean,” Julian chimes in. “All Wes had to do was sprinkle the pre-made spell from the pouch and bam!”

“It’s good to have on hand in my line of work.” Wes shrugs. “Now, who’s hungry?”

We gather around the table, and after double-checking our chairs—or triple-checking, in Chase’s case—we sit down and dig in.

“This is delicious, Wes.” I moan over the bite of quiche, and I’m not even kidding. Wes’s cooking is that good!

“Amber’s right!” Julian grabs another forkful. “Is it spelled?”

“Wait... you can spell food?” Chase asks, frowning down at his plate.

“Dad always does. And a bunch of our Jewels Cafe drinks are spelled, too.”

“Spelled, how?” Chase glances suspiciously at his to-go cup.

“That’s just a regular Americano.” I giggle. “None of our coffees are spelled, just our specialty teas, like the Mood Teas. Oh, and remember Kaye's Brews? The ones that give you a foreign accent at first sip?”

“The accents took a bit of time to get used to the first time I heard them.” Chase nods. “How do Kaye’s Brews work?”

“I’m not sure.” I shrug. “We buy the mix for it pre-made, since the recipe is top secret.”

“Same thing with Story Teas,” Julian adds. “But they’re all perfectly safe and magic council approved for resale.”

“Huh.” Chase pauses as he mulls it over. “What about the quiche?”

“Just regular ingredients.” Wes chuckles.

“You sure?” Julian asks, moaning over another piece of quiche.

He licks a small piece of egg from the corner of his mouth, and my eyes lock on his lips. I still can’t believe I got to kiss him, to lie naked beneath him, to make love to my best friend turned mate. Heat courses through my veins at the memory, and I want to act on it, but I can’t.

If it was just Juli and me having breakfast, I might lean in and kiss him... or cover his hand with mine and hope he kisses me. With Chase and Wes here, too, I haven’t a clue how to act. Would reaching for Julian’s hand upset my other two mates? Do I need to hold all their hands at the same time? And how do I pull that off when there are three of them and only one of me?

We managed perfectly fine last night, I remind myself. Last night had been hot. Amazing. Natural!

This morning, it just feels awkward.

We go back to eating quiche and making small talk throughout breakfast. I learn a bit more about how Wes schedules clients and assigns cleaners—including the Cleanly Den Witch, Zoe, who’s covering for him this morning—and Chase starts to tell us a bit about his client work as a digital marketer.

“It’s almost time to open the cafe,” Julian interrupts, jumping to his feet.

To my surprise, I realize he’s right.

“Just leave all the plates,” Wes tells us. “I’ll clean up.”

“You cooked,” Chase gets to his feet, too, and picks up a plate. “I’ll get all this.”

“I don’t mind.” Wes smiles happily as he starts to gather plates.

The bear shifter looks like there’s nowhere else he’d rather be, so the three of us leave him and head downstairs.

“Do you think he’s just being nice?” Julian asks when we reach the main floor. “He can’t possibly like washing dishes, can he?”

“I think he does.” I smile. “He told me he loves cleaning. And did you see the way he lights up when he talks about it?”

“I could go up and offer to help, anyway?” Chase suggests. “Unless you guys need my help down here.”

“No. You go ahead.” I head behind the counter and get to work.