Luna disconnected the call but sat there staring at her blank screen. It was well after one in the morning, but she didn’t want to go to bed just yet. She was too wound up over the blog, the meetings, and the work they needed to do in Raleigh. And, if she were honest with herself, she didn’t want to sleep without Jason.
One night in his arms and she was hooked.
Luna cursed herself for not asking. Not double checking to make sure he would come over tonight. She tried to tell herself it didn’t matter. She’d see him in the morning. Or the day after.
Jason
Jason stood outside the door, waiting. For what, he wasn’t sure. Indecision warred within him. On the one hand, he wanted to rush in, inform Luna in no uncertain terms that she was moving into his house, and they were getting married.
Oh, and if they were lucky enough to get pregnant, no government agency was going to convince them not to have it.
But on the other, he wondered if he had it in him. Would he be a good husband? A good dad? His own dad had been okay at best. He threw a ball at him occasionally. Taught him to shake a man’s hand, but mostly he’d been wrapped up with work.
He tapped on the door and waited for her to answer. It wasn’t long but time was relative when you were outside your mate’s door.
“Hey,” he said, feeling his heart beat a little faster. She was so beautiful. Too beautiful and delicate for a brute like him. But who else would know to take care of her?
Only him.
“Hey, yourself.” Luna looked up at him shyly. “I was hoping you’d come by after work.” She backed away from the door and let him enter.
“I wanted to talk to you.”
Her eyes opened wide before she looked away. “About what?” she asked.
Jason was so attuned to her, so in need of her, he felt her fear of rejection before she even voiced it. When she turned away from him, it was like being physically stabbed.
Good grief, how had her grandmother taken it? Jason was determined to do better. He felt for the little box in his pocket like it was a talisman or good luck charm.
“Cinderella?”
“What?”
“Why are you crying?” He felt his heart crumbling, not being able to stand the distance between them.
“I don’t know why. You just came up here. It’s late. I was just talking to my grandmother.” She pulled a shuddering breath in. “And let’s face it, we need to talk is as cliché a way to break up with someone as possible.”
Jason was dumbfounded. “Break up with you? Luna, I can’t break up with you.”
She sniffled, growing red-faced. “Of course, you can. You just say, hey, Luna, we need to talk and then out the door you go.”
Jason took her hand in his and placed it over his heart. “You’re my mate. I could no more break up with you willingly than I would cut off my own arm. No, not even my arm. I could live without it.” He pushed a few blonde hairs away from her face. “I couldn’t live without you.”
“Really?” Hope and longing appeared in her wide grey eyes.
Jason’s heart thudded heavily in his chest. “Abso-freaking-lutely.”
“But my grandparents,” she protested.
“I don’t know how your grandparents did it. But even you up here while I was down at the bar was enough to make me antsy. Wondering what you were up to. Counting down the minutes to when I could see you next.”
Her lips parted. Perfect. Inviting. “Me, too.”
“That’s why I got you this.” He dropped to one knee and held out the small velvet box.
“Oh! Oh, I wasn’t expecting. Oh!” With shaking hands, Luna opened the hinge. It creaked a little in hushed silence of the room. “Oh, Jason, it’s beautiful.”
“It’s a simple design,” Jason said, rushing his words. She hadn’t said yes, and that was the only word he was waiting to hear. He’d picked up the ring the morning after they’d met. It was tiny like she was. A small square-shaped diamond surrounded by a halo of sparkling diamonds. “We can exchange it if you want.”
Her eyes opened wide, fresh tears forming in the corners. “No!”
“No?” Jason’s heart stuttered. A band tightened around his chest with a vice-like grip. “No, what?”
Luna blinked as though not quite sure what she had said. She frowned. “No, we aren’t going to exchange the ring. It’s perfect. You’re perfect!”
“So, it’s a yes?” Jason clarified. Good grief, proposals were nerve-wracking! No wonder men only wanted to do this once.
“Yes, to what?”
Jason ground his teeth. “Yes, to my proposal.”
“Oh. Ohhh! Yes! Of course, yes!”
Jason stood, lifting her in his arms as he did it. “It’s about stinking time!” He carried her directly to the bedroom.
“Wait!”
“For…what?”
“Well, you’re a bear. And I’ve got leopard genes. What happens if we have kids?”
Jason kissed her. “Doesn’t matter. They’ll be one, the other, or both. We’ll cope.”
Luna was just melting in his arms, a warm, sensual puddle he planned on making love to for the rest of the evening and early morning.
“Put it on,” she said, holding her bare left hand out to him.
Jason growled, but she only giggled. “I’m going to have to work on that. You need to respect the growl.”
“I do! It’s so sexy.” Her eyes grew heavy-lidded and Jason didn’t want to waste another minute talking. He slid her down his body and picked up her left hand. Pulling the diamond ring out of its box, he slid it on her finger.
“Okay? Can I take my soon to be wife to bed now?”
She leaped into his arms, and he caught her. “Oh, yes.” She wrapped her legs around his hips. “Jason, you big stud. Take me to bed.”
“Show me the way, Cinderella.”
Epilogue
Dot Lowell got out of the car and entered Portland International Jetport. Inspired by the natural beauty and resources of Maine, the terminal features timber construction, rarely seen in airport architecture. Natural daylighting, FSC-certified glue laminated structural timbers, and low-maintenance, polished concrete floors.
Dot loved Maine. The cold winters, the miles of snow, and especially the bright verdant green of spring and summer. Yeah, winter came early, but it fit the coldness that had descended over her heart when her Nick never came home.
But now she had a lead. For the first time in over fifty years, she had some idea where her husband was. She’d been notified he was on his way home. He’d survived the Bay of Pigs. His year in Vietnam had produced a Purple Heart, but he was safely on an airplane home.
They’d had one beautiful night in a Washington D.C. area hotel where Dot conceived their daughter. But sometime between their last, blissful kiss and the breaking dawn, Nick had left. She’d been left with his duffle bag, his dog tags, and their recently conceived daughter.
Stay tuned for the short story “Claiming her Leopard” and the next full length novel in the Shifter Special Forces series, Fighting for her Bear.
Other books by Summer Donnelly
Shifter Special Forces
An all new shifter romance series!
Her Lonely Mastiff
Her Broken Bear
Her Mountain Lion’s Mate
A Home for her Hawk
Having her Jaguar’s Baby
Interview with her Bear
Claiming her Leopard (coming soon!)
Fighting for her Bear (coming soon!)
Witches of Warren County books
Where magical realism meets happily ever after
(in suggested reading order, but each book is a standalone in the series)
Cupid’s Bow Anthology – Dear Kitty
Hummingbird Dreams
Hummingbird Lost
Fae and Frost, a Christmas Romance
Dandelion Wishes
Releasing Sloane Harper (part of the Creek Corner sub-series)
Honeysuckle and Roses
The Failed Ex-periment
Earth Angel
The Three Wish Mermaid
CyberWar: Digital Battlefield Anthology (CyberPrime) – Stronger Together
Haunted Hearts I – Broomstick Breakdown
Under the Mistletoe
Harper’s Mill Historical
Dear Kitty
Harper’s Mill YA universe
Autumn Kisses
A Snowball’s Chance
Spring’s Promise
He Loves me, He Loves Me Not
Seasons of Love (collection)
Creek Corner Road stories
(Related stories set in the Harper’s Mill Universe)
Phoenix Romance Anthology – Adventures in Bobby-sitting
Holiday Heartwarmers Anthology– One Dollar and Eighty-Seven Cents
Releasing Sloane Harper
Loved by Beauty
Apple Blossom, NC books
Sweet contemporary romance
(In suggested reading order)
Haunted Hearts 1 – Make room for Jimothy
Phoenix Romance Anthology - Waiting for Poppy
Midnight Honey
Mysterious Hearts Anthology - Girls just Want to Solve Crime
By Any Other Name – Shortshanks and Sweet Porridge
Let Down Your Hair - Anthousa, Xanthousa, Chrisamalousa (Primed Fairy Tale)
The Grifter Sisters
The adventures of two runaway sisters making their way the only way they know how. Is it their fault that’s more than the law allows?
Here Come the Grifter Sisters
Back to School with the Grifter Sisters
A Dose of Medicine for the Grifter Sister
Finding Trouble with the Grifter Sisters
The Art of the Grift (coming September, 2018!)
A Home for the Grifter Sisters (coming October, 2018!)
Standalone Anthologies
Prime Fiction (Phoenix Prime Anthology)
Prime Fantasy (Prime Tales)
Journal With a View: July - August - September (Phoenix Journals)
Belle-Belle and Geirald the Coward (Primed Fairy Tales Book 6)
Bluebeard (Primed Fairy Tales Book 7
Fairy Ointment (Primed Fairy Tales Book 8)
Hearts in the Sky - Can I be Your Hero?
The Klondike Bride Series (with Mildred B. Lewis)
A sweet mail order bride series
Sweet Charity
A Touch of Grace
New Series Thistle Grove Tales
Where fairytales meet real life
Red
Snow
Ruby (coming soon)
Standalone Young Adult Fantasy book
A girl. A sword. A kingdom worth fighting for
Adela of Stone Keep
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Interview with her Bear (Shifter Special Forces Book 6) Page 8
