Page 73 of Mating of Convenience
We were finally going to be a family!
34
Nathan
On our first anniversary, my mate had a surprise for me. He told me he wanted to celebrate in style and took me out to my favorite restaurant, an Italian place called The Bella Luna. One of the few options for a nice night out in Oceanport.
Honestly, I should have known something was up when he tried to be all romantic.
But I suspected nothing, even as he put on a tux for our date.
“I feel like it’s prom night all over again,” I said over the sound of soft Italian music as I walked into the restaurant.
“What?” Raph asked in mock offense. “You don’t like my get-up?”
“That’s not what I said.”
“Good, because this isn’t prom-night. I was with the wrong guy on prom night and I wasn’t pregnant. Two things that are different tonight. Different in a good way, if you ask me.” He linked our hands as one of the waiters approached to lead us to the table Raph had reserved for tonight.
“You’re right,” I told him. “Everything is different in a good way.” As I spoke, my gaze slipped to his belly. He was only about three months along and not showing through his clothes yet, but I knew a bulge was forming beneath his dress shirt and I couldn’t wait for it to grow bigger.
Raph grinned as he caught my eyes on him. “You’re different from others alphas but in some ways, you’reexactlylike all of them.”
“Am not,” I claimed as I pulled his chair out before I took my seat.
My mate only shook his head at me, no words necessary.
I grabbed the menu and gave it a cursory glance while Raph ordered some water for the both of us. Since he wasn’t drinking, I wasn’t either.
“So what’s the best meal they have here?” my husband asked me as soon as the waiter was gone.
“I’m not sure. Most of it is pretty good. Pretty expensive too, though.”
“Don’t worry about that. We’re celebrating tonight.”
“It’s nice that you remembered our anniversary,” I acknowledged. Since Raph wasn’t the most romantic type, I felt his effort deserved acknowledgment.
He responded with a light shrug. “I guess it’s an important date, even if it wasn’t a real wedding.”
I glanced at his belly again. “I think we’ve made it real enough over this past year.”
Raphael laughed. “You’re right about that, but still…”
“Still what?” I couldn’t figure out what was on Raph’s mind tonight, but there was definitelysomething.
“This was only supposed to last for a year, you know? This marriage, I mean. We’ve kind of reached our expiry date.”
Wait, was he saying that we should be getting that divorce we’d talked about before going into this new relationship? No, he couldn’t be talking about that. He couldn’twantthat. I stared at him in disbelief.
In the background, some Italian star sang aboutAmoreover the speakers.
Had my husband seriously brought me to my favorite restaurant to talk about divorce? I’d thought he had at least one romantic bone in his body, but now I feared it was broken.
“You don’t have to look at me like that.” Raph’s eyes glittered with amusement. He was plotting something, wasn’t he?
“Would you please tell me what you’re on about? Otherwise I really am going to die of a heart attack before my great-grandma does and it won’t be my daily intake of caffeine that’s at fault.”
Raph’s grin grew wider and he opened his mouth to speak, but then the waiter came round again with our water. I didn’t want water now; I wanted to know what my mate was up to, but still, I gave the waiter a smile and a polite thank you before letting him know that we would need another couple of minutes to make up our minds about what we might like to eat. He nodded and left us alone again, and as soon as he did, Raphael got up from the table.
