Page 34 of Mating of Convenience
“I know you don’t like to talk about this, but someone had to say it,” Aaron insisted. He didn’t sound the least bit apologetic. “What your mom did to you messed you up a little bit.”
“Shut up.” That wasn’t the most intelligent thing to say, but the only thing I couldthinkto say. Seriously, how was I supposed to respond to allegations like that? The reason I didn’t want to try with Raphael again wasn’t because I thought he was like my mom, but because he’d broken my fucking heart.
Then again, I guess my mom broke my heart too, so they had that in common.
“Fine. Be that way.” Aaron shrugged. “You’re going to think about it, and you’re going to realize that I have point.”
“Whatever, man. I only came here to tell you I won’t be walking any dogs this weekend, not to discuss my love life with you. Raphael and I are going to be fine.”
“Oh, I’m sure you’re going to be fine all right.”
I shook my head at him and turned to leave. He clearly wasn’t going to see my point of view here. Which was that I couldn’t start anything with Raph, or rather that I shouldn’t.
I wasn’t sure what was going to happen once I was alone with Raph for the weekend. Honestly, I was a little bit scared when I thought about it.
So I simply didn’t.
18
Nathan
Flying first class really was something else. I’d been on a plane before once or twice to go on vacation, but I had never traveled out of the country before, and I never thought that I’d be doing it in so much style. I could actually stretch my legs. And all the meals and beverages were free, even the alcoholic ones. Raph had ordered sparkling wine, almost as soon as we were in the air, and I hadn’t been able to resist getting something for myself as well. Why should my friend be the only one to get a little tipsy on this trip? That didn’t seem fair. It occurred to me that maybe I shouldn’t get drunk with Raph around, but the logical part of my brain shut down somewhere between a hundred and two hundred miles up from the ground.
I still couldn’t believe we were actually doing this.
I was going to be spending three full days in Paris with the omega I loved. Under different circumstances, this would’ve been a dream come true. Raph liked to tease me, saying that I was the most romantic alpha he’d ever met, and I always tried to deny that, but in reality we both knew that he was right. I was a hopeless romantic. I’d always wanted to take him to Paris or someplace similar. Now we were actually doing it because we were pretending to be married.
How was this my life?
I downed the entire glass of sparkling wine in one go. Raph looked over at me and laughed.
“Are you trying to get drunk?”
“I’m only enjoying the trip. I mean, this stuff is free, right? Might as well make use of it.”
“You can’t fool me, turtle. I can see that you’re getting nervous.” Raph took a small sip from his own glass, balancing it between his thump and his index finger while looking at me. “You know there’s no reason for you to be nervous, right? I know what I did to you, and I know that I have no right to try anything.”
But if he knew that, then why was he calling me turtle?
Didn’t he know what that did to me?
Every time I heard him say that nickname I was immediately pulled back to a time when he used to call me that while we cuddled under heavy blankets, sharing cocoa and watching movies before turning off the television and sharing our body heat in more ways than one. Hearing that nickname called to that part of me that wanted to go back to those times more than anything.
I wished I had another glass of sparkling wine. Or something stronger.
“If you’re not wanting to try anything, you need to stop calling me that.”
“Oh, okay.” Raph tried to make his words sound light, but he looked away from me in a sort of dejected fashion that I couldn’t miss.
What did that mean?
I leaned back in my seat and closed my eyes for a moment. Raph had kissed me back and even tried to hold onto me. He was a little sad that he wasn’t supposed to call me by a pet name anymore. He told me he wasn’t going to try anything, but only because he knew what he did to me. Was that the only reason? Did he actually want us to get back together?
Was that why he had asked me to marry him instead of anyone else?
What if that was the case?
I opened my eyes again and looked at Raph, but he had put on headphones to watch a movie on the screen in front of him. That was as good as telling me that he didn’t want to be disturbed. Okay then.
