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He explained, “I know braiding signifies being joined, but I want to do something else too.”
Harper noticed how tense he was and moved closer to him. It was instinctual for her to soothe her mate. Her body was reacting to her mate’s tension. Her beast was rubbing her skin like a thousand ants crawling over her skin, almost as if her beast was insisting to ease away his stress. She could feel the energy of her beast surging through her, creating a strong connection between them.
She could feel the energy of her beast surging through her, creating a strong and unbreakable bond. “Okay?” She waited patiently for his response, eager to hear what he had to say.
Taking a second to rub his face again, he began muttering, appearing more nervous than she’d ever seen him before.
‘This must be serious,’ she thought to herself. She could sense something was wrong, and so she waited patiently, her gaze fixed on him, trying to give him the space he needed to speak.
“Nick!” she snapped, beginning to worry.
When he finally spoke, his words were filled with emotion. “Okay,” he replied, rubbing his hand over his beard. His voice quivered as he struggled to put into words what he was feeling. This time, he glanced at her, and she held his gaze. “You want to do a mate braid, and I have no problem with that. It means a lot to Numbers; I understand that.”
He stood and began pacing, his eyes flickering all over the place. She felt her stomach drop. What was going on? She frowned as he walked over to the kitchen cupboard.
He pulled out a large black box and set it on the table in front of her, his hands shaking. “Open it.”
Pulling the big box open, she looked at it, trying to understand its significance. There were piles of papers and what appeared to be pictures.
The first picture she picked was a beautiful black-and-white image of a woman. An elegant cross necklace, perhaps gold, hung just above her cleavage, her hair tightly curled around her face. Her fingers were adorned with what looked like diamond rings, and she had elegant earrings dangling from her lobes.
There was something about her that pricked her mind. In the next second, she understood. She glanced at Nick and noticed similarities between the two.
His bone structure, particularly around his eyes. He resembled the female in the picture almost exactly. His facial features were striking, and his eyes were the most captivating of all—kind yet determined, hinting at the tenderness of his heart.
They held a hardness in their eyes, but if you knew him, they held a twinkle that spoke of tender promises. That twinkle, however subtle, conveyed a warmth that only those closest to him could comprehend.
Nick got the same stubborn tilt to his chin when he jumped headfirst into danger−never minding he could get hurt. Harper liked that about him, and the female had the same edge.
“Who is it?” she asked.
“She was my mother. She was beautiful and elegant. Before my father came along, she wanted to be a film star. When she became a mother, she put her family first. She sacrificed everything for me, but she never lost her flare.” His tone indicated his deep affection for his mother.
“Why are you showing me this?” she asked as he pulled out a picture of her and two boys who looked alike. Seeing Nick tap his mother’s fingers, who was hugging them both, she frowned and wondered what he was doing.
He flipped through the box carefully. He grinned when he found what he was looking for. “Open your hand.”
She opened her hand. Nick placed his closed palm over hers and dropped something small and cool into it. When he moved his hand away, she let her fingers go completely flat.
She swallowed hard as she looked at what he had placed in her palm, seeing the diamond ring from his mother’s finger. Her heart skipped a beat as she realised what he was asking her.
“The ring is supposed to be for my wife. I tucked it away with her other belongings since I never expected to find one. The rest of the jewellery I gave Karen,” he said.
“Why are you telling me this?” she asked softly.
“I’d like you to consider doing it the human way as well. It will be a celebration for family and friends. I want everyone to come. It will be a good thing we can all enjoy.” He shifted nervously.
“Are you…” Her voice trailed off. Was he? Asking felt like she expected him to ask. She couldn’t understand why he would give it to her unless… she choked, looked into his eyes, and found him staring at her: the intensity of his gaze spoke volumes of his feelings. “Nick?” She couldn’t contain the tears of joy that started flowing down her face.
“Will you marry me?” he asked.
She had never seen him so rattled before. A thrill passed through her as she realised what he meant to her.
Her breath became trapped in her throat, and a lump formed, causing her eyes to water. She had never seen him so out of sorts before, and the feeling of belonging that surged through her was unlike anything she had ever experienced before.
She was overwhelmed with emotion, her heart pounding in her chest. She knew in that moment that she could trust him with her heart, that he would protect and cherish her with all his being.
He was sharing something precious with her, a memory, an heirloom, and now he was offering to share his life with her as well. How could she say no to that?
