ChapterTwenty-Six
Gina felt like a weight had finally been lifted off her chest. Gavin was gone, and his remaining followers had been escorted out of town thanks to Sheriff McDade. Both she and Nick, along with her friends, had come out of the fight in the clearing with not even so much as a scratch. Nick had a few from his fight with Gavin at the compound, but he had healed quickly.
“A penny for your thoughts?” Nick asked as he pulled her into his arms.
She looked around at his suite, trying to figure out how she wanted to word her thoughts. “I’m glad the whole thing with Gavin and his bears is done. But …”
“But, what?” he asked.
“I’m wondering where we go from here. It seems like everything was leading up to the big standoff, fight, or whatever you want to call it. Now that it’s done, where do we stand?”
It was a question that had been bothering her for a few days, but she had kept it to herself. They had both been busy with their jobs but had been making time to see each other every evening. Either he spent the night with her, or she would go to the hotel to see him.
He hadn’t brought up the whole mating thing again, and it bugged her. If she truly was his mate, as he had claimed on many occasions, she would have expected him to act on it by now and complete the mating ritual with her. As Rick had done with Annie and Clint had done with Clara.
But a week had gone by, and nothing.
Not so much as a damn peep.
She was starting to wonder if he had lied to her about it.
“Where do you want to go from here?” he asked, kissing her forehead.
“You just answered my question with a question. Great.” She sighed dramatically.
“Aww, baby. What’s the matter?” He pulled her into his lap.
“Am I really your mate?” she asked.
“Of course you are. Why would you even ask that?” He looked at her, deadly serious.
“Because ever since the battle, you haven’t brought it up. Not a word. Not one. And according to Annie and Clara, we haven’t completed the mating ritual. They take a good look at my neck every morning to see if we have and remind me when they don’t see whatever it is they’re looking for.”
She was tired of the teasing and good-natured ribbing. She knew they meant well and didn’t want to hurt her feelings, so each day, she let it go, not wanting to tell them how she really felt. Instead, she imagined herself bursting through the café door, proudly showing off her new mating mark. But that had yet to happen. She longed for that day.
“I was trying to give you the time you needed to wrap your head around spending forever with me. I didn’t want you to feel like I was pressuring you or pushing you into something you weren’t comfortable with,” he explained.
She felt the truth in his words. She had no idea how she was positive he was telling the truth, but deep down in her bones, she knew he was being a hundred percent honest with her.
“Are you saying you want to spend the rest of your life with me?” Nick asked.
That was all she had thought about for weeks … ever since they had gotten back together after their big fight. Hell, she had thought about being his mate and spending her life with him even when they had been broken up.
“Yes. More than anything. While I want to be your mate, I want more. I want to be joined to you in every human way as well.”
“You want to be my wife?” he said, smiling at her.
“I do,” she replied.
“Well, it’s a good thing I picked this up on my trip into New Orleans earlier in the week.” He pulled a small black box from his pocket and handed it to her.
Biting back a squeal, Gina slowly opened the box. “What? It’s empty. Nick Carver! Is this a joke?”
He lifted her off his lap. He kissed her forehead once more before dropping to one knee.
“Gina Malone, you are my life, my love, my mate. I want to see you round with my children. I want to make love to you every morning, afternoon, and night. I want you to be my mate and wife. Will you marry me?”
She glanced down at his hand, where she saw a beautiful blue diamond surrounded by a ring of white diamonds set in a platinum band.