Page 52 of Not My Mate

"It's him." I nodded.

He gave me a quick, sweet smile. "It was a good idea. Thanks."

I was surprised he hadn't thought of it himself, but I didn't say so. Charlie's and my brains didn't always work in the same ways, and, to be honest, that wasn't a bad thing. It meant we constantly surprised each other, and we'd always have more to learn.

"I'm glad we're boyfriends now," Charlie said softly, giving me a rather tender smile, a particularly intimate look. "I like dating you. I like taking it slow, and laughing and all the things we do."

"Me too." I was going to get choked up if he didn't change the subject pretty soon. "It means a lot to me that you're willing to try, to trust me. To have fun with me."

I'd sabotaged my chances with him for years and not known it, and he'd still been willing to give me a chance when I finally got my act together and started treating him right. He was better to me than I deserved. Plus, I'd found out that I liked taking things slowly, too. It made every day seem more valuable and special as we savored each step of the relationship rather than rushing into anything.

"I still don't believe in mates," Charlie cautioned me as he reached for his milkshake. "But I'm starting to believe in love."

I almost choked on my burger, and he smirked at that. "You can't say things like that while I'm eating!" My cheeks burned with the knowledge of what he'd just said.

He was too stubborn to ever admit to being my mate, I was sure of that, but he'd just announced he was falling in love with me. Here in public, where anyone could have heard. He smirked at my reaction and took a long suck on his milkshake straw, hollowing his cheeks. His eyes danced.

My throat went dry as I watched, trying not to be distracted. He'd just given me the world. If he only knew it.

"Me too," I managed at last. "I believe in love, too."

"What is it they say? Only fools fall in love? Then I guess we're both fools together now."

I wasn't sure if anyone actually said that, other than in a song, and if they did, I thought they were idiots. But that didn't matter right now. Nothing did but this, what he'd given me with this declaration. "I don't mind being a fool for you, Charlie."

He was my mate. I hadn't been wrong. But boyfriends was a perfectly good word — and love was an even better one.

He was mine and we loved each other, or were starting to, and we had the rest of our lives to figure it all out.

The birds sang, the sky was blue, and the world held so many possibilities, almost all of them good as long as I had Charlie, and he had me. Boyfriends, mates, what did it matter? We had each other, and that made everything right.

the end