Don’t Go Back To 1978 #2
Nodding, lip half wedged between my teeth, I ask, “So, I could still see Ethel?”
His grip on my chin firms. “I would never take ye from her. If we travel to Scotland, Ethel would be welcomed as family—because she would be.”
I huff a quiet chuckle. “Yeah, well, she did kind of adopt you when we visited.”
I straighten a little when I remember something else Ethel said. “She told me that I need a keeper. Being your mate, it is forever, right? You won’t cheat on—”
Rowan’s eyes flash brightly and his wolf emits a growl that cuts me off.
He purposefully inhales through his nose to calm himself before he answers.
“That’s a physical incapability. My wolf could never betray the bond he would make with ye.
But it’s more than that, Milo. It’s who I am as a person; my priorities are in the importance of pack—of family—and as my mate, ye’d be the most important of them all. ”
“And of everyone in the world, your wolf chose me?” I ask, arching a brow, because as thrilling and romantic as this all is, there’s a little voice at the back of my head that’s filled with nerves and doubt.
As if sensing that, he takes my hand from where it explores the pocket on his thigh, and kisses the back of it as if I were a prince. My blush is thunderous.
“I don’t know if ye noticed, but my wolf tried to claim ye on the roof of the Colonial National Bank. He’d claim ye anywhere, public or private, time and time again. Yer it for me.”
I bring my other hand up to clamp over his, turning his large hands this way and that as I distract myself with his fingers. “And the Dogs? You said that you couldn’t keep them safe because you prioritised me?”
“Yeah, I did say that. And I was wrong for it. If I change how I approach this, I can manage them just the same as I always have. In fact, I’d be a better leader than I already am, and I’ll tell ye why. On this mission, when my unit had to split and I couldn’t keep them safe, who did?”
“Guardian.”
“Aye, because he’s my second. And that’s how all good packs work.
If I had a beta, Milo, someone who’s loyal and protective of family, who’s smart and can see the big picture, someone who’s brave enough and crazy enough to take a risk, and someone capable enough to pull it off…
Someone who’ll stand by my side, as my equal, and help me lead them… Then they’d be safe, don’t ye think?”
With my free hand, I point to myself.
“Yes, ye. What do ye say?”
“But I don’t know anything about being a Dog.”
“Yer a Dog in your heart and blood, Milo, and our unit would be safer with ye as part of it.”
I purse my lips, tilt my head, and pretend to consider his words. But inside, I’m ecstatic. Screaming, and flopping about, and just… yeah. Rowan is everything I’ve ever wanted, and he’s committing to me with every word.
However… the flash of hurt from his rejection earlier is still there, and it still stings.
“Before, you said that if you didn’t tell me all this, you’d regret it for the rest of your life.
And before I answer, I have something I need to say too.
Yesterday, after my spell cast, when I… when I kissed you, and then you…
you shut me down like you did. That still hurts.
And now it’s not even a day later… but I’m your mate? ”
Rowan scrubs a hand over his face. “Aye, I did that. And I don’t know if sorry’s enough, but I’ll tell ye it anyway. I’m sorry, Milo. And I need ye to know that doing that was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life. Ye’ve no idea how much I wanted to.”
“So, why didn’t you?”
“I thought I was keeping everyone safe that way.”
“But your wolf wanted me?”
“He still does; there’s no other for him.”
“And what about you? Do you want me, Rowan? Because it sounds like you’ll be stuck with me forever, and I can be a… lot.”
There’s that growl again, and this time it raises the hairs on the back of my neck. “Who’s told ye that?”
“My ex, who’s also Ray’s ex.”
An even louder growl, and I shudder from my head to my toes. “Yer not too much. In fact…” He kisses my hand again. “I need more of Milo.”
Laughing out loud, I joke, “Hmmm, you’d have to do something incredibly special to get more of Milo.”
Rowan kisses up my arm à la Gomez Addams, and I swoon. Who knew the stoic ginger had that move in him? “Special like… shouting it out loud? Easy.”
“What if…” I bite my lip, then tease, “You shouted it while naked?”
He looks like he’s actually making a plan with that military mind of his.
There are a lot of other people here, but all the tables are scattered at respectable distances from one another along this coastal resort.
Even down below us, on the beach where the waves once again lap the shore, the cabanas are dotted evenly along the white sands.
Rowan releases my hand with a final kiss, scoots his chair back, and determinedly unlaces his boots. I stare, bewildered. He’s not actually…
Without so much as a look back over his shoulder, his socked feet carry him quietly to the little gate, where he pauses briefly to unfasten his bulletproof vest and hang it there.
Okay, but as long as that’s all he takes off.
Except, to my amusement and horror when he draws level with the first table of happy patrons, he yanks his T-shirt over his head and drapes it over the back of one of their empty chairs.