I shook my head. “I’m not taking the crutches tonight. I don’t feel like I need them as much anymore. Plus, I want to look my best, and this dress just doesn’t go with crutches.”
Ben chuckled at the pleading in my eyes. “So, I’m more of a support animal than someone you really want with you.”
“That isn’t entirely true!”
“Well, just remember I won’t be able to walk you back to your room…but hopefully you won’t need me. You’ll have four hunks to carry you instead.”
Wouldn’t that be a dream come true? With a bit of luck, hopefully my reality as well. But I didn’t want to get too carried away just in case things didn’t go the way I wanted. So, I simply smiled and held out my arm to him. Ben led me down to the restaurant, my heart thundering the whole way. I was a little nervous about what I might find out. My mind started racing at a hundred miles an hour, trying to plan how I would deal with the rejection if it came my way. Because it had to be all the guys, they all had to want this harem or it just wouldn’t be the same. None of us would want to have something missing every single day. It wouldn’t be right.
“You’re trembling,” Ben whispered to me. “Don’t worry. You’re going to be fine. I promise you. In fact, I think this might be one of the best nights of your life.”
I smiled at Ben. I would always have him. My best friend had always been there for me, and he’d really helped me through all of this, but still I wasn’t sure I would be able to stop myself trembling until I knew. I had to be certain.
“Here we are.” Ben slipped away from me as we reached the door of the restaurant. “Have a nice night, okay?” He winked. “And don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
I sucked in a slightly shaky breath and stepped through the front door, only to immediately have all the air knocked out of my lungs. What was going on? I’d been in this restaurant many times, but it never looked like this. There was soft music playing in the background, and rose petals strewn all over the floor. Candlelight flickered and danced all the walls, revealing the only patrons in the usually very busy room. It was just them, Alek, Rory, Chase, Hatcher, and now me. We had the whole place to ourselves. Now that was super romantic. This was the nicest thing anyone had ever done for me. As my heart soared and hope bloomed within me, I clung to those feelings tightly.
Alek grinned, and Rory cocked his head to one side and stared at me with shiny, happy eyes. Chase stuck his tongue out at me playfully, which was just so freaking adorable it made my whole body sing, and Hatcher crooked his finger, luring me over to him. Not that I needed to be lured, I was more than happy to go to all these guys and hopefully have their arms wrapped tightly around me forever more.