Spotting him, Harper smiled as she put on her jacket. “Hey. How was your day?”
“Boring.” He crossed to her and breezed his thumb along the black smudge beneath her eye. “You’re tired again.”
“A little.”
Tanner snorted at the understatement, and she shot him a narrow-eyed look.
Raini ushered them all toward the door. “I need to lock up.”
After the studio was secure and the girls said their goodbyes and headed off, Harper looked up at Knox. “So, where are we going?”
Since Knox would rather she got some rest, he was about to suggest they go straight home when she spoke again.
“I hope it’s a place with food. I’m hungry.”
“You’re hungry?” Well, that made a nice change. If taking her somewhere meant she’d eat a little, then that was what he’d do. “Where do you want to go?”
“You’re asking me to choose what we do?”
He sifted his hand through her hair. “I like surprising you, but you’re too tired for the surprise I had in mind. You pick what we do.”
“You’re not going to be pleased about it,” she warned.
Knox stilled. “You don’t want to go back to the rodeo, do you?” Because that would be a big no.
She gave a soft chuckle. “Nothing as wild as that. I just really feel like ice cream.”
“Ice cream?”
“Yeah. And you’re more of a ‘Five Star restaurant’ kind of guy than a simple ice cream parlor person.”
“I know a good place to get ice cream.”
Her brow furrowed. “There’s a parlor on the corner.”
“I know somewhere better.”
“Really? Well, I don’t care where we go as long as there’s ice cream. Lead the way.”
Tanner and Levi flanked them as Knox led her down the strip to one of his hotels. While some places were closing, others were being opened and street vendors were setting up. The Underground would only get busier as the hours went on.
When they finally arrived at the luxury hotel and the automatic doors swished open, the cool air conditioning slid over them. As usual, some of the employees rushed to him with questions. Hiding his impatience, Knox answered them quickly and directly without breaking stride. He then guided Harper to the rear of the hotel and through a glass door. The quiet chatter of the lobby was quickly replaced by the sounds of children’s laughter, spoons scraping bowls, and the whir of a blender. “Well, here we are.”
Harper’s eyebrows flew up. It was nothing like your standard ice cream parlor, she thought. It was more like a cute, chic restaurant. The décor was white and gold, and had an almost royal look about it.
There were glass-covered cases with several tubs of different colored – and, according to the sign, award-winning – ice creams. But instead of customers lining up at the counter, they sat comfortably while waiters took their orders.
“I had no idea this was here.” Then again, she’d had no reason to come to these places before meeting Knox.
Harper plucked the menu from the stand. Damn, there were so many choices – so many different flavors, so many different toppings, and so many different syrups. They had everything, from typical flavors like vanilla and chocolate to others such as cotton candy and piña colada.
When the host appeared, she ordered a waffle cone of salted caramel covered in butterscotch syrup and little chunks of honeycomb. When the waiter walked away, she frowned at Knox. “You’re not ordering anything?”
“There’s no point,” he said.
“Why?”
“Because I’ll get so distracted watching you eat that my ice cream would end up melting all over my hand.”
Chuckling, she returned the menu to the stand and then rubbed her chilled hands together. It was a lot colder than the hotel lobby, but Harper supposed it had to be or the ice cream would easily melt. It was only right then that she noticed that Levi and Tanner hadn’t followed them inside. “Where are the sentinels?”
Knox gestured to the glass wall behind her. “Waiting for us.” Giving them some private time while also guarding them.
As a yawn crept up on Harper, she did her best to suppress it. She failed.
“You went back to work too early,” he admonished. “You should have taken the day off to fully recover.”
She gave a soft snort. “Says the guy who’s probably never taken a day off in his life.”
“There have been a few.”
“I don’t mean days where you worked from home. I mean days of no work whatsoever – no calls or texts or emails to business associates. Can you honestly say you’ve ever had one of those days?”
No, he couldn’t. “Point taken. But you still should have taken the day off instead of pushing yourself.”
“Those bastards aren’t disrupting my life.”
He sighed. “So stubborn.”
“Proudly.”
Tapping his fingers on the table, he said, “I want to ask you something. It’s probably not fair of me to ask this of you – it’s not a customary thing among demons and is more of a human convention, but I’d like you to do it.”
Dubious, she frowned. “You’re not going to ask me to get married in a church, are you?”
Mouth curving, he took her hand. “No. These rings say we’re bound.” He smoothed his thumb over the black diamond, adding, “I’d like you to take my surname.”
Her brows almost hit her hairline. “Well, that wasn’t something I’d have ever expected you to say. Maybe I should have. Your possessiveness knows no boundaries.”
“I won’t deny that.”
“At least you’re admitting it. Changing my surname doesn’t seem necessary. I mean, it’s not like people are under any doubt that we’re together.”
“It’s important to me.”
“No, it’s important to your possessive streak.”
It was more than that. “I want my mate to share my surname.”
“Keeping my surname doesn’t mean I’m not fully invested in this relationship or that I don’t believe it will last,” she assured him.
“I know that. And I fully admit that I want you branded in as many ways as it’s possible to brand someone.” Knox didn’t even care that that was unhealthy. He’d made his peace with it long ago. “But this isn’t about taking possession of you.”
“Then what is it about?”
“I understand that your family name means something to you – the Wallis imps supported and loved you while your maternal family rejected you.” For that reason, they’d always have his respect and backing. Well, all except for her father anyway. “I don’t have a family to welcome you into. We’ll be making our own family, and I want us to do that with one name.”
Her chest tightened. “Did you really have to put it that way? I don’t know how to argue that.” It was too sweet.
“So don’t.” He leaned forward. “At least think about it.”
“I’ll consider it.”
“Thank you.”
The waiter then reappeared, and Harper took the bumpy waffle cone with a wide smile. “Thank you.” She licked at the piece of art and groaned; the salted caramel ice cream was smooth and cold on her tongue. “You’re totally missing out,” she told Knox.
Eyes on her mouth, he said, “Oh, I assure you, I’m not.” He barely took his eyes off her mouth the entire time she ate. By the end, he was so damn hard he knew it would hurt to walk.
When she was done, she cleaned her sticky fingers with a lemon wipe. “Ready to go?”
He was ready to get her home where he could take her as he’d wanted to since the previous night. He let her see that in his expression, and he had the pleasure of seeing her pupils dilate and her cheeks flush. “I’m ready to go. Are you ready for me?”
“If it involves me coming multiple times, I’m totally ready.”
His cock twitched. “You’ll come as many times as I want you to.”