Mini Bonus Chapter Two
A Song on the Deck
Late June
Dare was nervous about the night ahead. Which was dumb because he knew Audrey loved him. So why was he so nervous?
“You okay?” she asked as she swiped her last french fry in a puddle of ketchup as they sat across from each other at the Mill Creek Diner on their date.
“Yes.” He cleared his throat and forced his nerves to settle the hell down. “Why?”
“You just look stressed. Is it the band for next weekend? If those guys changed their mind and don’t want to play the deck without being chosen as the full-time house band, they can pound salt.”
“Sand.”
“What? Why would anyone pound sand?”
“Why would they pound salt?”
“Good point.”
He chuckled. “You’re so pretty, Audrey.”
She laughed. “Wow. That’s a nice way of saying I’m a dork, huh?”
“Sometimes. I think we’re all dorks in one way or another.”
“Even you? The great and powerful alpha?”
“I’m a dork about sci-fi movies.”
She wrinkled her nose. “Oh yeah. Well, I love you anyway.”
“Thanks,” he said with a snort. “I love you too.”
They stood and walked to the register, where he put his phone on the reader and paid the bill, leaving a generous tip. “See you two later,” Ma, the owner, said.
“Thanks, have a good night,” Dare said.
He led Audrey out into the warm June night and opened the car door for her. “I have an idea.”
“A sexy one?”
“Eventually, yes, but how about we go to The Howl?”
“Really? You have the night off and you want to go to work?”
“Just for a bit. We can listen to the band, have a drink. Make out.”
“Oh, I like that idea.”
He drove across the bridge and parked at the house, and then walked with his mate into The Howl, greeting his brothers and their mates before making their way to the deck. It was packed, the band playing under the stars and string lights.
He subtly waved to the lead singer, who nodded at him, and then Dare led Audrey to the railing to listen to the music.
“I really love it here,” she said, looking out over the water.
“I do too.”
As the song ended, another one started, a ballad that he’d asked the band if they’d play for him.
“Let’s dance,” he said, taking her hand and walking backward toward the section open for dancing.
“Oh?” she asked, her eyes glittering with happiness. “I’d love to.”
He drew her into his arms and they danced slowly beneath the lights.
She rested her head on his chest, and they swayed to the music.
And when the last strains of the ballad he’d picked for her ended, the lead singer’s voice fading out, Audrey eased back and smiled at him.
He dropped to one knee and took the ring from his pocket.
Suddenly all the nerves burned away.
“You’re my whole heart, Audrey. Fate knew what it was doing when it brought us together.
I want to spend the rest of my life not only as your mate, but as your husband.
Because you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.
You’re everything I was waiting for, and you’ve made me happier than I ever thought possible. Will you marry me?”
She inhaled quickly, and her eyes shimmered with tears.
“Oh, Dare! Yes!”
The deck erupted in cheers, but Dare barely heard it.
He slid the ring onto her finger, then stood and kissed her.
“I love you, Audrey.”
“I love you too, Dare.”
Out of the shadows, her parents and his brothers and their mates came to them, hugging and sharing in the joy of the moment.
And it was a freaking incredible moment.
He’d spent years building a life in King Lake, but Audrey had given that life meaning.
And now she’d given him forever.