Page 63 of My Big Fat Shifter Wedding

I couldn’t even breathe, but somehow I managed to answer. “Yes! A million times yes!”

I threw myself at him, chicken completely forgotten, and held on as he stood. He lifted me from my feet, and I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding on for dear life. There was a very serious possibility of me ascending to the next plane of existence due to pure happiness. I never knew it was possible to feel so much joy and excitement all at once. If I weren’t a shifter, I might have worried about having an apoplexy.

“Yes!” I declared as I pressed a quick peck to one cheek. “Yes!” Another kiss to his other cheek. “Yes!” A kiss on his lips. On and on I continued, picking up speed and peppering his face with all my affection until my words bled into one delighted noise.

It was only after the muscles of my lips began to tire from being pursed that I noticed the employees in the chicken shop were all applauding us. I blushed quite furiously. All right. We weren’t exactly alone. Sure, it wasn’t some grand proposal in front of a palace, but as far as I was concerned, it fit us so perfectly.

“Thank you,” Keith murmured, his face bright red. He wasn’t fond of social attention—he’d come out of his shell a lot since we’d first met—so the fact that he had proposed in front of others made me want to smother him with kisses all over again. Maybe when we got home. “You’ve made me the happiest man in the world.”

Slowly, he lowered me to the ground. My feet touching the floor quite literally brought me back down to earth. This was it. This was the branching path I had been trying to avoid for so long.

I had to choose. Keith or my family. The love of my life for my pack.

Unless...

Unless there was a third path I’d never considered possible. One I hadn’t wanted to entertain because not only was it dangerous, but it also felt like it would be littered in heartbreak. But now, as I stood at the branching path in front of me, I realized I had to try.

Our future together was worth it.

“On one condition.” God, I felt terrible about the confusion and apprehension that flashed across Keith’s face. He trusted me so implicitly, and I had been abusing that for the entire time we were together. If things worked out, I owed him so much.

“What’s that?”

“I need you to meet my family first.”

14

KEITH

FACE THE HORDE

“Nice and steady,” I told myself as I secured a bead-and-cove strip with a clamp after applying the appropriate amount of wood glue. Mounting strips to a hull wasn’t the easiest thing to do, and I was only doing it now to soothe my nerves while Olivia finished getting ready in my bathroom.

Not all that long ago, she would have had to go home to get herself dolled up, but she’d moved some of her makeup and clothes to my place so she could always dress for whatever mood she was in. I liked that Olivia didn’t mind being casual and relaxed around me but also liked to dress up. I got to enjoy the best of both worlds. And as a bonus, I always had a stunningly beautiful woman on my arm.

I focused on the hull, trying to ignore the tension in the air. I wasn’t sure if it was coming from her or me, but if I were a betting man, I’d say it was emanating from both of us.

Because I was meeting her parents today.

It had been crazy to propose in a chicken shop. I’d known that from the moment I’d gone down on one knee. Thankfully, Olivia’s insanity matched mine, and she’d said yes.

With a caveat.

Normally, that would have been a mood killer, but her finally deciding she was ready to let me meet her family proved to me that not only had I been right to purchase a ring, but I had chosen the right time to pop the question.

Granted, I supposed that her parents could end up hating me and things could fall apart, but I really didn’t see that happening. Unless they were abjectly abusive and I needed to get Olivia away from them for her to see that, there was nothing that wasn’t worth working through to keep my partner happy.

Because I’d meant every word I said in my proposal. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, no matter how long or short that was. I wanted to build furniture for the life that we made together, to grow old and wrinkled together, and maybe have kids together, whether biological or adopted. The world was our oyster as long as we were together.

“Almost done!” she called from the bathroom.

I took that as my sign to start putting away my supplies, then donned the dress shirt I’d hung by the door so I wouldn’t get it dirty with my last-minute fidgeting.

“Take your time. I don’t mind taking the fall if we’re a couple minutes late.”

I swore I heard the equivalent of a four-car pileup before Olivia appeared in the doorway of my garage, nearly completely dressed but missing eyelashes on one of her eyes and some of her hair escaping from the bejeweled claw clip I had gotten her for her birthday.

“Absolutely not! There will be no self-sacrificing from you today, good sir. As far as I’m concerned, you’re absolutely perfect, and I’m going to make sure my parents know that.”