Eden pre-last night would have been embarrassed, but the Eden of this morning who had discovered the joys of morning sex, just answered, “Sure did. And it was fabulous.”

Asha frowned. “Dammit, I want morning sex. I need to get a man who looks at me like that.”

“Don’t we all,” Fabienne drawled before looking at Asha. “Get out of here. I don’t want you dragging ass again tomorrow. You screwed up three orders.”

Asha waved her fingers and bolted for the back room to hang up her apron before she slipped out the back door.

After she was gone, Fabienne looked at me. “You know what you’re doing with that guy?”

“Probably not, but does anyone ever really know what they’re doing with a guy like that?”

“Touché.”

Whatever else Fabienne wanted to say about it was forgotten as the door chimed and customers descended.

Six hours later, Fabienne had left and I had two hours on my own before my relief for the night shift showed. Bishop had come in during an unexpected rush, and I’d barely had a second to smile and say hi as I handed him his coffee.

The door chimed again before I could get lost in my thoughts about what was going to happen when my two lives collided, and a familiar face popped in the door.

Delilah.

She looked incredibly amused.

“I don’t know what kind of mojo you worked on Bishop, but he actually smiled at customers today.” She strolled toward the counter, the petticoats swishing under her dress. “I don’t actually want to know, because eww, but I wanted to let you know that there’s something different about him.”

“Can I plead the Fifth? Because I can’t . . . I just can’t talk about that with you.”

The door chimed again and more familiar faces walked in. Charlie, Elle, Yve, Vanessa, and Valentina.

Delilah smiled. “Then it’s a good thing I’m getting coffee and bailing so they can get the scoop.”

“Are you okay?” Vanessa came toward the counter, ahead of the others. “Because Con and the guys were telling us about last night, and holy hell, I would’ve been freaking out.”

Delilah’s smile vanished. “What happened?”

Yve filled her in on the details. “Some guy at the casino might’ve set Eden up and made it look like she was counting cards. Security wanted to drag her off, but the guys wouldn’t let her. Bishop busted in and yanked her out of there, and security ran after them.”

Delilah blanched. “Bishop went into a casino? On purpose?”

The guilt I’d felt last night about putting him in that position came back with a vengeance. “He didn’t need to come to my rescue. I would’ve been fine. Really, I’m not completely helpless.”

“Do you realize what they do to people who they think are counting cards? They will fuck you right up and not ask questions.” Delilah’s concern sounded a lot like Bishop’s, except quieter.

“I wasn’t counting cards, so nothing would’ve happened. I don’t even know how. I wouldn’t have a clue what to do.”

“I hate to say it,” Vanessa chimed in, “but I don’t think it would’ve mattered. They were adamant, from what Con told me.”

“You could’ve walked out of there with broken or missing freaking fingers! This is serious shit.”

“They wouldn’t have dared.”

Charlie watched me, and even though the other five looked like they thought I was living in Denial Land, Charlie seemed to notice more.

“Have you figured out how long you’re staying in town?” she asked.

I shrugged. “As long as I can. I don’t have a solid plan.”

“Why is that?” Delilah’s tone was skeptical. “Because if you’re going to jet out of here and break Bishop’s freaking heart, we’re going to have a serious bone to pick.”

Did she really think I had the power to do that? I needed to turn this conversation away to something else before I ended up telling them everything. The need to tell the truth was so heavy on my conscience that I could barely hold it back anymore.

“I doubt Bishop would let her go anywhere,” Yve drawled. “I know what possessive man in overdrive looks like, and he’s got it stamped all over him.”

Considering she was married to the very powerful, very notorious billionaire Lucas Titan, I assumed Yve probably knew what she was talking about.

Vanessa nodded her agreement. “Caveman mode has been activated. She’s screwed.”

This wasn’t news to me, and the feelings I’d been wrestling with for the last eighteen hours came to the surface again.

“How do you deal with that? I’m not fragile. I need to be able to stand on my own two feet. I don’t always need him coming to my rescue and then getting pissed when I tell him I can take care of myself.”

All the women laughed at me, except for Delilah, who just smiled and shook her head.

“Good luck with that one,” Valentina offered. “Rix would’ve killed anyone who tried to hurt me. Actually, he did, but that’s a long story. That kind of alpha instinct isn’t something you can turn off.”

Elle pointed at her. “You were the one who didn’t want an alpha. I believe I remember you saying that you wanted a beta. Someone to watch Masterpiece Theatre with and drink wine.” Elle’s laughing eyes cut to me. “And she ended up with a crazy badass motherfucker who wouldn’t drink wine if Jesus himself made it from water.”

Valentina rolled her eyes at Elle. “I was drunk and clearly misguided.” She turned her attention back to me. “This is what I learned, and you can take it or leave it. But if you want the guy, you get the whole package. There’s no picking and choosing between the parts you like and the parts that make you want to rip your hair out. If he’s alpha, he’s always going to be alpha. You can’t turn that off. You can’t tell him not to protect you, because it would be going against every instinct he’s got.”

“She speaks the truth,” Yve said. “But if you’ve got demons you need to fight on your own, that’s something you need to come out with and tell him. Men, despite our every wish and hope, can’t read our minds. That said, even if you want to prove that you can handle yourself, there are times when it’s okay to break. You can lean on someone and not be weak. Believe me when I tell you that I didn’t need any man to take care of me, and it took me a hell of a lot to realize accepting help when it was offered didn’t make me less. It just meant I had more in my life.”