The pressof their hands together made Ryan gleeful.
Well, it was a mixture of glee, bewilderment, excitement, and concern.
He didn’t want to mess this up, and there were so many ways in which this could be messed up that he was really on a downhill streak from the get go.
But he couldn’t think of that.Couldn’t contemplate it.Just had to focus on their hands.Joined, united.At last.
He’d found her.
Theyhad found their mate.
He hated that he hadn’t fed her, that he wasn’t looking after her, but he knew if he ate anything, he’d probably puke.The only person he’d ever admit that to was himself.To the Pride, he presented a consistently strong façade.They expected it, and would have been scared if he’d shown even a hint of weakness.
His Triad brothers, Trip and Marcus, weren’t so bad.They knew he was as full of failings as they themselves were.They didn’t expect him to be a living deity like a lot of his family and Pride did, but they weren’t supposed to share their weaknesses with one another.
That was for a mate.
The softness to their hardness.
He shuddered at the thought.
Alone.They’d all been alone for so damn long.But not anymore.
Well, not if he didn’t fuck this up totally.Even then, she was their mate.She couldn’t stay mad at him for too long, right?
Huh.
He rubbed his nose with his free hand after he held the door open for her to pass from Feral LA into the gardens beyond.It was the whole package here.Not just inside but out.The terrace was one of the reasons a lot of their regulars remained regular.With the endless lanterns and thousands of candles, it was regularly tagged on Instagram astheplace in the city for a proposal.He could understand, and when El sighed at the sight of it, his lips twitched.
“Pretty, isn’t it?”
“Beautiful,” she confirmed, peeping up at him through long, dark lashes.Those glittering green eyes of hers made his goddamn heart stutter in his chest.
Jesus, how could she have so much power over him already?
Thirty minutes in her presence and he was turning into a fucking pussy.
Well, not literally.That he could do too though.And would.In front of her at some point.
The nerves.Christ.
“My partner, Marcus, designed it.He did an excellent job.Just don’t tell him I said that,” Ryan told her with a wink, a wink that had her giggling.What a giggle.
Heart.Melt.Alert.
He tightened his fingers about her, wondering why he felt as nervous as an adolescent in the throes of his first crush, then shrugged it off as normal.
This woman was his one.If there was anyone deserving of his nerves, it was El.
She eyed the landscaped yard that had bright white tables and chairs interspersed among more of the orbs the Feral brand was famous for.There were thousands of them.Big, small, tiny.Some opaque, others transparent.Then, they had custom lanterns drifting overhead on invisible lines so, in the light polluted city, it was like the stars were twinkling all around the lucky diners who ate out here—the wait list for a terrace table was insane.
They were booked out here for the next eight months.
See?Insane.
Pride filled him at her look of awe because she was a Forsythe-Drew and their billions went back to the days when railroads were being built in this country.No, he wasn’t as rich as that, and would never be, but damn, the business he, Trip, and Marc had created was worthy of her.She had something to be proud of when it came down to it.
What else mattered but her being proud of them?
