The Mating Game: Big Bad Wolf(41)

Carlotta reached out and seized his hand. “Walt, I love my lifestyle, but if I didn’t have that, you know what I’d have that’s even more important?”

Please don’t say a good divorce lawyer, please don’t say a good divorce lawyer…

“I’d have you. And your crazy family. That’s worth more than all the diamond bracelets in the world,” she said, and Walt found himself blinking away tears.

He threw his arms around her and pulled her up against him for a passionate kiss.

“Don’t get me wrong,” she added, “I do love my diamonds. But I could be happy without them, and I could never be happy without you. Oh, dear, do you have something in your eye?”

“Damn allergies,” Walt muttered, blinking frantically, and he hurried off to get a tissue.





Chapter Seventeen




“First of all, I have a confession to make,” Ryker said as he spread a blanket out by the swimming hole.

“You brought me all the way out here to make a confession? You couldn’t confess in your living room?” Daisy looked at him quizzically as she sat down next to him.

“No, I didn’t bring you out here just for that reason. But I wanted to get this out of the way first. Oh, don’t worry, it’s not a terrible confession.”

He cleared his throat. He seemed unusually nervous.

“Now I am worried.” Daisy stared at him. “What is it? You like to wear ladies’ clothing? You’re involved with another girl? You’re wanted by the law?”

“Good God, woman. Settle down. Hell no to all of those.”

“Well what, then?” she demanded impatiently.

“I’ve been watching your rom-coms,” Ryker blurted out. “It started out with me thinking I’d hate them, but I wanted to at least give them a try so we’d have something we could do together, and you kept telling me that I didn’t have to, but damn it, I started watching Love Actually and I needed to find out what happened.”

Daisy reared back. “Good Lord. This changes everything.”

“It does?” Ryker said with alarm.

“Yes, now I have someone to watch my favorite movies with. Cadence and Larissa hated those movies,” Daisy said with a sigh. Then she brightened. “Okay, confession time is over. Now what? Swimming? Food? Hot sex?”

Ryker cleared his throat again, then looked Daisy in the eye. He was worried about something. She’d never seen him look like this before, and she felt a twist of worry in her gut. What could be wrong?

“I don’t want you to leave,” he blurted, and seized her hand in his. “Ever.”

“Ohhh,” Daisy breathed, and relief washed over her. “I don’t want to leave either.”

The words rushed from Ryker’s mouth, tumbling over one another. “I know in the beginning, this was all for show. But there’s always been more than that…at least for me. I just didn’t admit it to myself at first, mostly because I thought a girl like you would never want a guy like me, so I didn’t let myself hope for more. But the truth is, the minute I laid eyes on you at that restaurant, I felt something that I’d never felt before.”

“Me too,” Daisy said. “When you think about it, if we could survive a first date like that, we must be meant for each other.”

“My parents always told me that when you meet the right one, you’ll know right away. And as soon as I saw you, I wanted to be with you. And the more time that I’ve spent with you, the more sure I was. It’s not just because you’re beautiful, and sexy, and sweet, and funny, and my family loves you. It’s just…you’re the one. You’re my girl. I want to fall asleep next to you every night for the rest of my life. I want to wake up to you every morning.”

Daisy felt her throat swelling as she struggled not to cry tears of happiness. After a lifetime of feeling like a puzzle piece that didn’t fit, she finally felt like she belonged. She was loved. She was needed. And she loved Ryker, and his pack, so much that it made her ache. She felt more at home walking through the door of Ryker’s little one story country house than she’d ever felt walking through the massive double doors of her pack’s antebellum mansion.

Now he just had to do one more thing, if he wanted her to stay forever.

“So, what you’re saying is…” Daisy prompted.

“Jeez, I’m terrible at this.”

“No, you’re doing great,” she assured him.

“Ok, what I’m trying to say is that I—”

“Hurry up, you moron! While you’re still young enough to have cubs! Ask her to marry you!” a woman’s voice called out from behind a stand of bushes. Harriet.