Page 22 of Mating of Convenience
Nathan had said he was over me, and I told myself I was over him too, but when he rejected me like that? I wanted him back more than anything and screw all the reasons that wasn’t a good idea. I wanted to pull him close and run my fingers through his hair and lose myself in his scent that was always just a little bit sweeter than any other alpha’s--and which made him mad when I teased him about it. Secretly I liked it a lot, though. My alpha was the sweetest alpha there was.
My alpha.
I sighed to myself, because Nathan was right that we shouldn’t marry. Not even pretend-marry.
Because I wasn’t over him at all.
11
Nathan
Ordinarily, I was happy to walk my dogs, but the day after that odd proposal, I was not. I loved all the dogs that were entrusted to me, but I was less than excited to see Kitiara’s name on my list.
Kitiara, the only dog I ever knew who went by Kitty, was an adorable three-year-old Husky mix. She was also the dog of the very guy Raph was rooming with. I did not want to see Raph today. Not after what had happened the day before, but I’d taken every other dog home by now... every dog except for Kitty.
Knowing I couldn’t just keep the Husky with me forever (although I didn’t mind the thought—Kitty was a sweet dog!), I steeled myself mentally and turned into the road where Conner lived. The house looked pretty empty from the outside. At least, there was only one light on that I could see. Maybe it was just Conner, and Raph wasn’t even home.
Or maybe Conner wasn’t home and Raph would be answering the door to welcome Kitty home.
And maybe I needed to man up and just knock. Yeah, that was probably right. Kitty seemed to agree with my thoughts too, because she was wagging her tail and chattering at me excitedly. Kitty was the most talkative dog I knew.
Which is why I really didn’t even need to knock. The door opened in front of me before I could so much as try. Of course. Whoever was inside the house must have heard Kitty.
Luckily, it was Conner.
The breath of relief that escaped me must have been audible because he raised his eyebrows at me even as he petted his dog to welcome her home. “Is something wrong?” he asked. “Was Kitty not being a good girl? I’m sorry, she’s not been getting enough exercise lately. I’ll probably have to hire you more often. It’s crazy busy at work,” he said, scratching the Husky’s ears.
“No, Kitty was a perfectly good girl. I’m just...” I paused because I had no idea how to justify my odd behavior.
“Did something happen between you and Raphael?” Conner cut to the core of the problem.
“Kind of,” I admitted before I could stop myself.
My friend tilted his head just a little bit, studying me. “He’s told me about his grandma’s riches, you know. Does it have anything to do with that?”
“Kind of,” I said again.
“You don’t want him to get married, do you?” Conner’s expression turned sympathetic. “I get it. It would be hard to watch him with someone else.”
“He asked me.” I wasn’t sure why I needed Conner to know that, but I did. Raph had asked me first, before anyone else. The fact that this still mattered to me let me know just how doomed I was.
“He asked you?” Conner’s eyes widened a tiny fraction, but then he nodded. “Of course he asked you.”
“What do you mean, of course?”
“Well, you know he doesn’treallywant to get married, right? He asked you because he trusts you. I guess he didn’t consider how hard all of this would be for you.”
“It’s not hard for me,” I lied. It wouldn’t be hard for me if I was over Raph, right? “I know he doesn’t really want to be married,” I said, trying to steer the topic away from myself. “He just needs the money for his tattooing career.”
“Oh, is that what he told you?”
I didn’t know how to interpret the look on Conner’s face. Was there more to the story that I didn’t know about? “Well, it’s that and that other thing,” I pretended like I knew exactly what he was on about.
Conner only sighed. “He didn’t tell you.”
“No,” I admitted. “What’s the real reason he needs the money?” Suddenly I felt myself grow worried. Was there something Raph needed help with? Something that he didn’t feel comfortable telling me about? How had we even reached this point when we used to tell each other everything?
“It’s really for his family,” Conner confided in me.
